#✷ replies ， maria.

[galoogamelady]

@maria-ruta replied to your post “So. Multiple companions bugs out Automatron. Heres...”:

Meg undresses Buttons at night too have a good time with him and gets blinded with bright blue flashlight nipples

​

[thatshadowcomic]

Might be more of a headcanon but if Shadow can swim, how did he get that "skill"?

Would it be something programmed with his creation or something he learned naturally when on earth? I don't imagine the Ark had swimming pools?

I think they would have had pools on the ARK, partly for his training. He was suppose to go to Earth as the ultimate weapon, they surely taught him to swim.

A HC of mine is that they had a small central hub area with a little nature section that helped with water purification and oxygen production, apart from the gas/water import. Maybe some kind of CO2 reclaim too.

If anything, swimming might have been one of the few fun activities Maria could do as she got sicker. It's thought the lower gravity of space helped with her NIDS, according to the wiki. I think Gerald would have built her one, regardless of what he was allowed to do, and Shadow would make a perfect lifeguard for her and the other kids on the ARK. :)

[jaylynx1412]

"oh cool, a sonic artist that draws maria and shadow."

[katyspersonal]

who do you think fucked up worse…gehrman or maria?

This is an interesting question, and I kind of didn't think of it before! Time to take a closer look at their crimes I guess. Some of these will be held on the possibilities and 'safe assumptions' though and addressed for the full picture!

1) Both were involved in Fishing Hamlet massacre!

With Maria, we can conclude as much because she discarded her weapons in the well at the place specifically. Her version in the Nightmare realm, a Hunter again, is supposed to be what punishes her, and she is focused on keeping Kos/OoK away from rummaging through. Considering the nature of the Nightmare, as well as the Doll who has spiritual connection with her, it should come from her guilt and regrets rather than.. I dunno, discarding the hunt over natural 'character development' and just picking a cool place to forsaken her past!

Gehrman sleeps better according to the dialogue Doll has after you kill OoK and free it's soul, so if it tortured him so, I think it is safe to say he had to be personally involved too rather than stay back while his students did the job:

They both were involved with Byrgenwerth, following their quest for obtaining the eyes of the dwellers from their skulls, and I suppose cord of OoK?

The thing about this point is that the description is written as though it was Gehrman's curiosity which ruined Maria's "idealisation" of him, or WOULD ruin it had she learned of it! This makes me wonder whether she was really involved in Byrgenwerth all that much, or whether she was aware of the real purpose of Fishing Hamlet massacre beforehand? Her goal, within the Nightmare, is stated to mercy-kill us so we don't allow that curiousity corrupt us to the point of "rummaging through corpse" and similar things, further supported by her visceral attack being an embrace if it is lethal!

I am just saying that here the balance might slightly shift towards making Gehrman 'worse' than her. Maybe she was not aware that it all was not just killing "monsters" but also a pregnant mother with her divine baby, but "well you didn't ask :/". Maybe Gehrman deceived her to use her aid. Maybe he didn't think it would be a big deal for her seeing that Maria was also interested in evolution through talking with Great Ones, and assumed she'd be just as callous about which means to accomplish the goals with?

2) Both were grave-robbing, or at least okay with that!

This one is a little less obvious, but Tomb Prospectors were not the first to go to the Chalice Dungeons! ...It were actually Willem, Dores and Gatekeeper lol:

BUT ALSO it were Old Hunters! We can see the remnants of it by Old Hunter Vitus being one the summons in Chalice Dungeons, hear Gehrman encourage us to go into the Chalice Dungeons to become stronger as via "tradition" of the Old Hunters,

and the fact that one of the things that torture Maria (again, remember that Nightmare Realm is Hell that punishes) is a Chalice:

(A video ( x ) for a better look at the Chalice from a figure)

I'd say that it is not very nice to disturb the undead Pthumerians just struggling in remains of their civilisation! Interesting thing: we can conclude they are even staying there to protect the Great Ones or their remains!

There has been some sort of civil war between ancient great-ones-respecting Pthumerians and who late became Cainhurst nobles! Maria, ironically, fell onto the side of "entitled guys" descendants! But yes, I could see why bullying zombie guys to get more history and archeology relics from them might not seem like much for her at start. Experience in the Fishing Hamlet likely retroactively ruined this period of her life for her: delving into Chalice Dungeons was likewise 'not leaving the corpse alone'. The remaining Pthumerians were right having some honour and dignity. So, that came to haunt her in the form of Pthumeru Chalice. Gehrman is.. well he's here too I guess dfshfdhs

3) Both knew a little too much about Laurence's shady business and did nothing?

Old Hunters used to be friends with Healing Church's Hunters and even had their workshops located close to one another! Gehrman was friends with Laurence and Ludwig, who are both quite strongly involved with Moon Presence (Ludwig's sword and guidance, Laurence's affiliation being known since Byrgenwerth times), as well as the key figure in creation of Hunter's Dream:

This was most likely a bait-and-switch, seeing how the cord itself is still in the real Workshop, and not in the grasp of Moon Presence (unlike, say, Wet Nurse taking Mergo's cord)! I think the purpose of creation of the Hunter's Dream was to "buy time" for the research conceived by the scientists! Remember: Gehrman was known to have "madness of curiosity" that Maria resented, or at least would resent had she known! He might have been fully aware of what Laurence wanted to do and support it! My point here, that with such proximity, he must have known of all Laurence's crimes and agreed with them!

Maria was at least overseer of the Clocktower's Research Hall, which, again, was just beta!Choir.

This last line IS a bit confusing, because it makes it sound as though the nerds looking for the Eyes Inside and the Blood Ministers got split. Laurence and Ludwig make it weird, as Moon Presence is also an Eldrich creature and Ludwig is for sure full of eyes! What also makes it strange is that Choir, and then School of Mensis, are both upper echelons of the Healing Church, but Laurence is supposed to be above both of them.

I think this can be worked with! Let's say what if Choir formed after Laurence's death, which also happened after Maria's death, and Vicars after him were somewhat "powerless" and walked over by Choir and Mensis, only leaders in the name! But that still leaves the bit that the mentioned "division" happened after Choir was formed! Maria and Adeline, however, are locked to the existence of the Research Hall, so, the timeframe when doctors and blood ministers were 100% working together! We find the Eye Pendant that opens the access to the Research Hall in Laurence's hand, and human Skull of Laurence on the platform that hides the secret elevator to that Research Hall. Again, by the Nightmare Logic, they must be connected with Laurence's sins: he started this research, or sponsored it, or was overseeing it, and so on.

This point is not an absolute thing though, because one or both of them might be freed from guilt here. Maybe Gehrman was not as informed and agreeable as we could assume and Laurence did lead him around? Maybe Maria wanted but could not do anything being caught in the web of complicated connections, blackmail and risks for the people she cared about?

4) Both are willingly involved in questionable practices (Maria with research, Gehrman with the cycle of Dream and Hunt)

This point I feel like transcends the morality a little bit, as it touches the matter of 'it is bad if you do it, but it is also bad if you DON'T do it'. I really love Soulsborne universes for having guts to say "you can't win, just pick your poison", but I think it is still worth addressing!

It is up to interpretation in which quantity Maria is involved with the Research Hall! Nothing states whether she founded it, joined in the research later, stepped in and turned the tides (ba dum tss) of the research, or simply was a caretaker/nurse/etc of the broken mess while Research Hall was getting ready for a bit of rebranding. She can be very guilty, or she can be barely guilty but in either case if that was her "redemption arc" that was a pretty bad way to go about it. ...or was it?

Fauxsefka turns people into Celestial Emissaries so they physically can't become beasts instead, and is even stated to be a hero / heroic researcher by Miyazaki:

First, I don't do Death of the Author (in terms of interpreting media I mean, not in terms of a style of writing)! Like, nope. Never. It is just not for me. Creator's word is the final for me; Fauxsefka is the good guy in the story, apparently, and it makes sense considering the fundamentally broken place characters are in! Maria has similarities with Fauxsefka: not only both of them have Cainhurst roots, but also both of them seem to favour 'Stars' line of evolution for humans!

Whereas other patients are afraid of the horrors of the Deep Sea, a concept Miyazaki could not get over well into DS3, Adeline desires them! Other patients seems to have gotten it right, and you can see one of them also clings to Maria mentally to "not drown"; Adeline "didn't understand"! The balcony that Maria wants Adeline to go to so she can forsaken the Deep Sea and seek something "happier" holds unique kind of patients who can shoot cosmic arcane spells:

Herself, Maria is associated with these lumenflowers: their petals are all over her boss arena, and the way to her lays through a much bigger batch of flowers, where Living Failures, other 'Stars' Kin are, whose song lyrics also feature lines 'ave stellar' and 'ave Maria'!

So, how this is different from what Fauxsefka is doing, who is stated to be as much of a good person as possible within this context and with the burden of her knowledge? Fauxsefka was doing more or less rinse-and-repeat practice, with maybe a few patients not surviving the procedure but we don't know what happened: maybe that person was already at the brink of death and she tried to make them live like this.

^ This guy I mean. Maria, on the other hand, is in the time period where the doctors and scientists were only testing the waters (BA DUM TSSS) (ok I will stop) and it was not SO certain what was at the stake, what were the alternatives, what was awaiting the humanity. It is even possible that the beasts problem was not yet bad to the point of "you'll either become a beast, be eaten by a beast or become a Kin, humanity is DONE for!" ! This was an unethical research at the cost of real people! The weight of Maria's sin here really depends on the interpretation, though

As for the cycle of Dream and Hunt, this is complicated and lingers on one's interpretation of what the purpose of the Dream even IS! Its existence provides two things: 1) a hunter who is immortal for the night, thus can sustain the beasts with efficiency like no other, but also effect the continuity of the night ( x ) and 2) supposed sustenance to the Great One Flora of the Moon, who holds the hunt as a concept!

I used to be a bit more set on the idea that if beasts are not sustained and hunted, they will simply overpower those who are yet humans and eat them! It is a self-feeding cycle of people needing to self-defend from beasts, thus having to consume the blood as urgent means of healing and power-up since beasts are too strong, thus risking to become beasts themselves because the blood they consumed during that hunt corrupts them. So, the Hunter's Dream would be a good thing, as it'd help to 'buy time' during nights of the hunt in which not only beasts are more active but Great Ones too! While the Dreaming Hunter holds everything together, the greatest minds of the Healing Church can efficiently study the ways to end beasthood, or ANY problem of humanity, once and for all! It is just better to throw the hunting resources on the Dream, so the scientists don't worry about the beasts and can focus on research. However, I almost forgot that:

This implies that had there not been Mensis Ritual ongoing, people WOULD have the chance to simply 'wait away' the beasthood problem. That, since Rom is not stopping Mensis Ritual but just conceals it, what really makes the inner beast within everyone who consumed the blood inevitably come out is Mergo's cry that draws the Bloodmoon close!

So yeah, the point about Hunter's Dream being helpful for the research of evolution still stands, especially under assumption that the deal with Moon Presence helped to bring more Eldrich Arcane close for "feeding" her. The point about how if the beasts are not hunted they'll simply eat everyone, though, is vague. It is safer to assume that the Hunter's Dream and Research Hall both are both example of hubris of man even if approached differently. Attempts to draw in something dangerous and horrifying, but it is "justified risk" because if you manage to 'tame' arcane/blood, sure, humanity will prosper!

Like... yeah, sure, there IS dangerous and undesireable nature of man that ruins everything and might or might not still linger in humanoids' genes after Loran. But did humanity ASK any of you guys to keep trying to fix it with so many victims and sacrifices? Like, was it WORTH it?

This point is closely tied to 'knowing Laurence's bad antics and doing nothing', yeah. Maria didn't seem to like blood ministration very much, as she disapproved of Adeline becoming a Blood Saint, but she also didn't even approve of blood antics of her own clan! I am not sure what would be her opinion on the Hunter's Dream had she lived to the point when it was created, just that she herself is not willing to ever hunt, so I am leaving this point aside. Is this just blood ministration that she opposes but proximity with a Great One Moon Presence would be something she can see the potential of? Or would she and Gehrman have a pointless cat fight about whose methods are better when they are both hubris of man? In both versions they are 'guilty'! Besides:

In the end none of THIS matters either and everyone was fooled ( x ). The blood offering is a blood offering in any way; whether it is through spilling blood violently during the hunt, or offering the blood's 'red' with how celestial Kin all bleed red. Moon doesn't care what paints it red, in the end.

___________________________________

My conclusion is: both of these characters fucked up almost equally! I think the balance shifts just a little bit and Maria is slightly better than Gehrman since she had some limitations set on how far she was willing to go. Her motivation was not in "curiosity" but strictly in helping humanity, even if in unfair ways, which is apparently not the case for Gehrman?

I'll say this though, NOW I am hooked on the idea of Maria and Gehrman being petty "rivals" ideologically (for as long as they could before Maria's own demons caught up with her). Especially since neither approach is better than the other and they are both cringe loosers! Again, lost comedy gold over Fromsoft making Gehrman's tender and warm feelings for her before and after her death plain. What is not lost, however, is the fact that the two should just kick Laurence and go home :pensive:

[total-drama-brainrot]

Scuttles up to you hey do you have any jomaria thoughts?

Not really but I think they'd be very cute together.

Jo and Anne Maria are both different flavours of hater so you know they'd be talking mad shit about everyone together. Jo in an "I'm gonna wipe the floor with these losers" kind of way and Anne Maria in a "these guys are literally the most dysfunctional human beings I've ever had the displeasure of meeting" sort of way. They have a mutual respect for each other as the only relatively sane and reasonable bitches on the island.

Also I think Anne Maria would be a perfect counter to Jo's control issues; i.e. she'd challenge Jo's authority without making herself an outright rival, which is something Jo needs to overcome her innate need to be large and in charge. In turn, Jo would also challenge Anne Maria's prioritisation of her looks over the competition/the money.

They'd definately feed into each other's competitiveness though. Potential for an in-competition alliance-turned-romance perhaps?

[sweet-punch]

Continued from x

@fatesapart said: Another hedgehog? The girl stared at the pink hedgehog and a soft smile appeared on her face as she extands her hand out and shook her gloved one. "Yes. I'm Maria. Shadow's friend. It's nice to meet you, Amy! You..took a train here to meet me? But why?" She asked, curiously.

"I wanted to bring you a gift before the new year came!"

The pink hedgehog pulled out a potted plant from behind her back. It was a cluster of many stems of small white flowers, bunched together like the head of a cauliflower sprout.

"These flowers are yarrow plants: they're used to promote good health and soothe inflammation and wounds."

[mercless]

🗡 dozing off writing replies but im curious how others go about writing out stuff/the order you write particular parts, and if you have a different way of writing depending on if it's a reply, ask, or a drabble 🤔 in most cases I find I write out any spoken words first, then the tones or actions done while talking, and then depending on the writing purpose add trains of thought, other actions or specific actions that convey emotions. stuff I looove getting lost in writing include describing scenes, settings, environments, food or the time of day! for drabbles I usually start with these descriptive elements to get into the mood of it.

[dragon-spaghetti]

Maria meeting Rouge (sisters in found family) and going for a flight!

Smash bro you have no idea how hard I fought these poses for 20 minutes straight 😭

[moonstalk]

maria & jesse for @nocityfolk !

the sharp sting in maria's wrists was a reminder of the brutal hours she'd spent strung up. she could feel the raw skin, the slick warmth of blood seeping from the torn flesh as she finally managed to loosen the ropes. a metallic taste coated her tongue, either from the coppery scent in the air or the bile threatening to rise with each inhale. the room was dark, its foul stench suffocating and unmistakable—death had made a permanent home here.

a shudder wracked her frame as she dropped from her binds, knees hitting the dirt-caked floor harder than expected. pain shot through her, but she swallowed it down, listening intently to the footsteps echoing from above. they were a haunting reminder of what waited beyond the next creak of wood or turn of a doorknob. each step felt like a countdown, pushing her further into the shadows that swallowed the corners of the room.

it was then that she noticed him. suspended like she had been, struggling against the ropes cutting into his skin, face half-hidden in the gloom. maria’s breathing came shallow and rapid as her gaze darted between him and the ceiling, tracking the steps with the precision of prey.

reaching out, fingers trembling and raw, she pressed her palm against the rope binding him. it wasn’t easy; every movement made her bones scream and muscles threaten to seize. but she worked at the knots, loosening what she could until the tension gave way just enough for him to help himself.

❛ shh, ❜ she whispered, eyes wide with urgency, the shadows around them quivering. her hand went to her own mouth, fingers smearing blood across her lips as she stifled any sound. the smell of rot and decay burned the back of her throat, but she pushed the panic down. they couldn’t afford noise. not now. not when the footsteps were so close.

[sparkles-oflight]

Me, to the Spanish: they are.... Uh.... How do you say it in Spanish? How do you say "dutch"?

Spanish guy: Alemán (German)

Me: no, no, no. The other one

[ask-meowscarada]

( Previously, from @askthepaldeanpassenger )

Prince: “Evolving is actually really important with my family. It's almost, like, expected that you'll evolve one day. The sooner the better, too.” Maria: “It is... a complicated situation. The expectation is always present, but all of the cousins admire the older family members. They want to evolve and be like those in the generations before them, but... There is not really a choice being made in the matter.” Prince: “What about you, though? How did you come to evolve? Were you as cute as *me* before? Heehee!”

Finding the joy has quickly vanished from her face, Charade casts a gaze at Maria, giving the Umbreon a deliberate, knowing stare. She musters up a sad smile before turning her attention back on Prince, gently giving him a fond ruffle on the head.

Charade: “Your family is very important to you, isn't it? Here's a little story about me. When I was a kitten, my... family... was important to me, too. They wanted me to evolve so I could be a strong battler when I grew up. And I thought that's what I wanted! I thought I wanted to evolve and make the family proud.”

Charade: “Here's the thing: your family shouldn't make you feel pressured into doing what they want you to do. In my case, not evolving would have been... unacceptable. They were a terrible family for a lot of reasons, but that was one of them!”

Charade's expression turns to disgust, briefly enough that it was possible for Prince to miss it as just as quickly, a cunning smile appears beneath the Meowscarada's mask. As she speaks, her eyes flicker over to Maria several times.

Charade: “I did feel some regrets when I was a Floragato. But when I evolved into Meowscarada, it was because I wanted to. I haven't regretted my evolution at all since then! And, I found a family that loves me for who I am. Remember that, Prince! You're allowed to decide who your family really is.”

[mvndrvke]

@wastheheart : i’m here, nothing can harm you.

“It’s not me I’m worried about.” Bella looks down at Maria, curled up asleep in her arms. She’s so small. She’s terrified any little movement she makes will break her. She listens for a moment to her daughter’s heartbeat before she looks at Esme. “I’m so scared I’m going to do something wrong. That I’m gonna’ raise her wrong, or something bad will happen and I don’t know what to do. She’s so little, Esme.” She looks back at Maria. “I don’t know how to do this.”

[nosensedit]

⊹ ִ࣪ এ credits on twitter ִ࣪ ⌁ like or reblog if you save! ♡ ¸. • *

[meijackchuckchils]

Darnit, halflings are getting arrogant. What makes you think you have a choice? I tried to be nice, but you're coming wether you like it or not! I have to make a living too.

BACK the FUCK UP, I will STAB YOU, I SWEAR. GET OUT!

[katyspersonal]

if you could ask Miyazaki a single question on Bloodborne lore and he had to give you a complete and non-obscure answer, what would you ask?

"Why the Doll from Bloodborne is dressed like this?". In a heartbeat.

There ARE some other things I really want to know, of course! All Fromsoft, not just Bloodborne. Like who was Djura's third companion, because it is absolutely not obvious since Joseph is not unique but just a summon variant of a generic invader enemy 'Izzy's Follower'! Or exact list of parents of Gwyn's children, so the family tree is solid! Or how exactly Rom ascended, because whereas Micolash claims she was given eyes by Kos, she is a Spider (Nightmare/Amygdalae affiliation) AND is found as a corpse near weeping Ebrietas in the Choir! Or who exactly Gloam-Eyed Queen was... All that!

However, simply answering all these with theories and headcanons and interpretations does not have consequences! The Doll's clothing discourse, however, does!

It is obvious that we as a fandom are not ready for Miyazaki's genius, and above all, not ready to be mature enough to respect each other's takes! Doll discourse brings out the worst in people! No other unresolved lore question makes people block each other on the spot for """wrong""" reading of this. People even block Gehrmaria shippers as if to distance from "impurity uwu" instead of just blocking the ship's name, like Tumblr allows to do! No other question makes them vagueblog absolutely vile shit about another, or sometimes put their hate for character/ship in the tags. No other question makes people call their opponents misogyny-apologists, braindead, weirdos, media-illiterate or straight up claim they "just want to woobify the cis white man" (seriously what the fuck RACE has to do with this?) ..... this is the part where I should address the wrongdoings of people with charitable Gehrman reading as a 'both sides bad' matter but I can't recall anything lolololololol

Yeah, I might not believe there was any sort of misogyny tradwife stuff planned for the character. It is not just a matter of "even the doll should it please you" and "his curious mania" being inventions of localisation team:

Doll says '私をお使いください' ('Watashi o o tsukai kudasai', so, please use me), referring to using her for channeling Blood Echoes! Gehrman says '君さえよければ、あの人形もね⋯' ('kimi sae yokereba, ano ningyō mo neso', so, 'doll too if only you are okay with it', or '...if that is alright with you') in the context of talking about the Hunter tools in the Workshop, again, pointing us towards the fact that she is, too, a 'tool' in a way. Some tools fortify your weapons, others (herself) turn blood echoes into your power.

The "mania" mentioned in this line also uses the word 狂熱 (kyoonetsu), which refers to madness and insanity. Meanwhile, the "mania" mentioned in the description of Doll's clothes uses the word 偏執 (henshuu), meaning to be absorbed in the process very much, being very fixated etc. So, he was so absorbed in his work on the clothes of the Doll that he lost track of time!

It is... everything. Him being put up as a tragic character with a tragic song, when Fromsoft is always blunt when they want someone to be a weirdo or disliked. It is Doll crying a tear of joy upon feeling how Gehrman cared for Maria through Hair Ornament. It is Doll being based on Victorian grief dolls and not being a sex doll or whatever Reddittube said and Twitbr parroted. It is bifauxnen archetype being more often about a woman who did not even want to be masculine but something, or someone, pushed her to, than about plain masculine woman, paired with how much Maria regretted joining the hunt and her hunter attire being the 'masculine wear'. If not and transition was genuine, grief doll implies Maria at least used to be this way, and Gehrman clings to the past version of her, away from what killed her.

But in the end, it doesn't matter which! I try to not have biases besides 'what works better' or 'what feels more natural'! But even if Miyazaki said that yes, he did imply misogyny tradwife forced femininity whatever whatever for this character, what would matter is a concrete answer! Again: we as a fandom, heck, as a species, are not intellectually ready for the concepts like 'up to interpretation'. But removing interpretation factor from THIS thing would've saved so, so, SO many unnecessary petty dramas and conflicts!

[total-drama-brainrot]

Of all the girls in Total drama who do you think was robbed the most?

Well, in-universe I'd have to say Leshawna. Practically all of her eliminations were entirely unfair in my honest opinion, especially her Island one. Even her Action elimination seemed like a bit of an overreaction, but that one at the very least was sort of her fault. And don't even get me started on how her "throwing the challenge" in World Tour didn't make any sense.

But from a meta standpoint, I have to say Lindsay. Her Island elimination was just as unfair, if not more than Leshawna's, and her Action boot was just as ridiculous. Even her World Tour elimination seems staged; you're telling me the character who was pre-established as a fashion expert would lose a makeover-themed tie breaker? Of course, I'm one those people who subscribe to the "Lindsay intentionally got herself eliminated in World Tour and All-Stars" theory, but the point still stands that Lindsay was consistantly done dirty by the show's writing team.

Outside of the first gen girls, I'd say Nichelle was also pretty robbed, even if I think both of her "eliminations" were for the best from a narrative standpoint. Anne Maria, too, now that I think about it. Pretty much anyone who volunteers for elimination was "robbed", since they weren't actually voted out.