#(the thing im actually having difficulty with is balance

[moonstandardtime]

struggling a little with chapter 5 of try it again cheater. and the reason why. is that i am giving loop a good day

[matchanon]

you know that doomed apocalypse isekai plot had given me some thoughts too and as the inspirator for this im holding u responsible for these ideas so im dumping these in your inbox (im sorry haha)

<<being isekai'd into an rpg-like otome game>>

- first of all, unlike the other reader, this one had lowkey highkey been playing this game and all its routes so they KNOW their shit. maybe this game is notorious for its difficulty and bad endings, maybe it's rng bullshit all together, who knows but the reader lmao

- the moment they wake up they either go panic mode until they realize what world is this or they excitedly roam around and figured out which faction they had woken into.

- if they had awoken into castrum kremnos, it's the hardest faction to stay alive and keep yourself afloat in the original game. it has so many hard events and scenarios, not to mention even meeting the main guy of this route (mydeimos) is a task and a hurdle. but wooing him is probably the easiest when you can prove yourself worthy and stay by his side.

- waking up in the grove is the easiest place you could start at as the beginning stages are the best places to level up and grind, only at the end is where the big harder events come in (and in game by the time you get there, you should be fully equipped and leveled) the hardest part about this route is no doubt the guy (anaxagoras) as he takes nearly as long as the entire route even for him to begin acknowledging you as he's much more interested in uncovering the secrets of the tide.

- the third route in okhema seemed to be the most balanced out of the three. There would be random battles and scenarios that would be hard when you are unprepared but it's nothing brain-numbingly hard like in castrum kremnos. and the main guy (phainon) isn't half bad or too easy to go for either! no, the main game isn't the hard part--it's the endings he would pursue. care too much and he becomes the villain deadset in only caring about YOU and not the world. care too little and why would he bother with anything else except for his revenge? make a minute mistake and he ends up as flame reaver rather than the deliverer. forget to do something and he fails his final trial.

so, what where would reader end up in and what route would they choose?

i didn't want to air out this ask cuz we were VERY close to anaxagoras banner, so i waited a bit for it, though it doesn't make particular difference in this case, the outline remains pretty much the same. anyways... have you ever watched overlord? i personally find it fun when game translates terrifyingly into reality :3

since we don't have an actual otome plot to go off from, i will be free balling this.

————

you, the reader, do not have the luxury of choice.

and of course you don't have a choice. if you did, you wouldn't be here. you would've never chosen this world from all the games and novels you could've chosen. you wouldn't have chosen to transmigrate, period. in this reality that should've remained a game, you do not choose the hows, the whys, the whens, or the whats.

games are games, novels are novels, they are fun to play or read after 8 hours of work, but the real thing is decidedly not fun.

in fact, it’s downright horrible.

no matter where you start off, it’s a very horrible world years (in the two digit numbers at most) away from utter annihilation. the people are on edge. the regulations are strict. the food is managed and the population in each city kept an eye on. the monsters are hideous and smelly and terrifying. they have dinosaurs for pets and one of them almost crushes you beneath its foot. this world sucks balls.

a world based off an otome is still a shitty world. you are not protected by a screen nor do you get to go back and redo your mistakes. you work, eat, sleep, except this time you're utterly alone. you're also kind of useless in stuff except game knowledge.

you can't use swords or bows. you don't know how to plant corps, sew a straw basket, or even skin an animal. you don't know the protocols and unspoken rules set in place. you only know that the world is real. you bleed. you hurt. you can die (or worse). a seven year old here has more survival skills than you do and had even comforted you when you had broken down like, twice, patting your back like your mom used to do when you were small (and what humbling experience that had been).

no one knows you. no one cares about you. you are truly, horribly, indescribably alone. you are terrified, and you must fight for your very survival now. the world is going to end soon. you are going to die if you don’t do something, but what can you do?

if “you” try to “wander” around, you are going to die either by monsters or fellow humans. if you stay without doing anything, the world marches to destruction. any day there is danger of corruption swallowing the place you live. what is knowledge worth when you had been a law-abiding civilian form the modern era and cannot act, fight, or survive on your own?

you know the characters. you know the routes. you know the items, the cheats, the lore. things you used to pour over in forums and discussion groups for fun are now things you desesperately try to recall and depend on for survival.

after mere weeks living in this game world, this knowledge is exactly why you can understand just how fucked you are.

the world is infamous for its bad ends, fights, and rng (oh god, the rng is the worst, you are NOT lucky), and so far none of it looks pretty in person. you certainly haven't been very lucky. if a single dromas can almost accidentally send you to heaven (not a fun experience, 0/5 stars review, despite the cuddle afterwards that left your face wet from licks), what makes you think you can survive fighting by the capturable targets' side and aid them?

drastic circumstances, you think, call for drastic measures.

ROUTE #1: YOU WAKE UP IN 《 "MURMURING WOODS", GROVE OF EPIPHANY》

one of the most hated routes ever because the gameplay used to have math problems in real time :) in the real world, it's even shittier.

after you transmigrate, you suddenly have to cram religion, quantum physics, history, agriculture, arquitecture, magic voodoo, alchemy, and math. you are not going to survive. might as well lay down and wait for death.

time is ticking. you don't have the time - nor the brain cells - to get into any of anaxagoras' classes. just thinking about studying masters degree levels of stuff makes you want to pass out. he might think you are lying, and by the time you can for sure prove you're not, you are pretty sure it's going to be late and you're all going to die.

this is the real world. you are not constrained to routes and choices in a screen. you must use think outside the box. think hard, and realize this: your only option is not professor anaxagoras.

instead, before doom decimates the grove of epiphany and you become a faceless face amongst the statistic, you must find a way to attract the gaze of cerces, the titan of reason residing at the core of the academia.

alriiiight, time to prep yourself to spout some of the biggest bullshit in your two lives.

gods, you can't believe all those hours pouring over game lore for shipping purposes is going to save your life.

(of course, your other option is to shoot all your subjects to hell and get yourself expelled, but that runs the dangers of being sent to a city that is not okhema.)

ROUTE #2: YOU WAKE UP IN 《 "BLOODBATHED BATTLEFRONT", CASTRUM KREMNOS》

simply put, you are fucked.

figuratively speaking, the dynasty of castrum kremnos had long since become an abandoned fortress by the time you meet the warrior of okhema, mydei, in the main storyline. it becomes a plot device used to bond with mydei and something many fans had gushed over and cried about. despite being a mere plot device, there is enough lore on castrum kremnos for you to know enough and understand that when you wake up in the still standing city of castrum kremnos, you are in deep, deep trouble.

the city was not felled by the black tides, instead, it had been taken down in rebellion against its current king eurypon by the banished and presumed dead crown prince, mydeimos. by the timeline of the main story, castrum kremnos is only an abandoned wastelant of madness and rubble.

(you don't know, you don't know when and where mydeimos is...!!! what year did castrum kremnos fall? when did he finally leave the sea and meet his comrades? how many years did he spend wandering? how long did the rebellion last? has aglaea already sought him out in alliance?)

it is not a kind city for the weak. glorious though its walls and warriors might be, its customs are steeped in might and war. people die for pride, glory, and senseless slaughter, something you have read in the game but cannot truly understand when seeing it with your own eyes.

even now, lurking in the whispering crowd, you watch as men and women venture into a labyrinth and come out as mangled corpses. more keep going in, and just as many come out. the kremnoan warriors are proud and seek glory through strife. your problem here is not the supernatural forces that will destroy the world, but the human civilization you find yourself locked within, like prey surrounded on all sides by predators.

you have to survive until the rebellion. you must.

but hey, at least you didn't wake up in the castrum kremnos ruins of present day, right? you would've died five minutes in, either because of titankins mobs or the boss monster itself, lmfao.

ROUTE 3: YOU WAKE UP IN 《 "ETERNAL HOLY CITY", OKHEMA》

you spill the beans to aglaea.

before aglaea decides you're a threat and kills you, you seek her out and swear to help okhema reach the most optimal ending to the prophecy. you would've even fall to your knees if necessary (it doesn't come to that, gratefully). of all the characters, she's the one you know will believe your words because you cannot lie to her strings.

all routes, all hidden endings, all enemy weaknesses, all hidden npcs, all the tricks, all the hidden items and weapons, all the knowledge you can remember-- you will offer it all up to the flamechase prophecy. you have seen the endings and the devastation of the world. you cannot presume to be smarter than aglaea or tribbios or even crown prince mydeimos, but by the gods, you will offer everything and also use your tiny brain to pour through everything like a good, obedient, obsessed fanfiction writer and seasoned reader of novels and games.

you do not even consider taking phainon's route. his routes are infamously easy to enter and just as infamously hellish to progress. even on other routes, he is the epicenter of the game and is embroiled in all manners of political nitpicking and conflict.

of all the targets currently stationed in okhema, he had been one of your favorites otome targets ever, but the fondness for character does not translate well to reality when you realize this is the very same man involved in approximately 325 endings (both his and the others'). haha, no, you are not touching him. you don't have the brain cells to deal with him. get out.

no, no, your best bet is the golden weaver, aglaea.

she's beautiful and smart and scary as hell. you regret not taking her seriously in the game. she is your most dependable benefactor for survival in this world-game. her goal is the completion of the prophecy and the era nova of amphoreus. just as well, they coincide with your survival.

no, your survival depends on her.

ironically, despite your allegiance to aglaea, anaxa might be interested in you if you land first in okhema, because you can't lie your ass about your faith and aglaea's strings pouch for it. your knowledge (which is affirmed as your truth by aglaea's strings) will also keep him close.

.

[medstudentblues]

Happy saturday!

It’s our last weekend break (the last golden period). I worked out this morning which was gorgeous, then I went to a cafe to have breakfast, read a book, and journal. I also bought flowers for my kitchen because they looked and smelled so good this may be a weekly thing now.

An update recently.

ER was just a waste of time because there wasn't much responsibility put on us. They just thought, "Hey, let's make the kids go in," but our roles in the ER has been unclear so basically we did nothing other than saved (we did CPR and such) and monitored some of the patients.

Now we are in Psychiatry, where we take care of our mental health. Our duty is only from 8am-4pm, everyone's nice -- the residents and nurses, and we see some interesting cases (Schizophrenic patients, bipolar people in their manic phase, and so on). I'm actually a little sad that the rotation is ending next week and we'll start our Surgery rotation because in Psychiatry, there's life-work balance. People are good at listening. People know that mental health is important, and Doctors can sometimes feel things too and go through some difficulty in life. It's still not challenging for me like IM (internal medicine), but my rotation in Psychiatry has made me insightful without realizing it. The past few months had been a roller coaster because we were in IM. Our adrenaline was always on peak, but we were also mostly tired and we took the toxicness as a challenge and therefore, we enjoyed the past rotation. It is only in Psychiatry that we are finally slowing down. We are finally able to process our emotions, our mental and emotional state, where we stand, etc. Even if we didn't have our break in ER rotation, perhaps this slowness in Psychiatry rotation is just what we needed.

[qoldenskies]

I will say that for Donnie’s characterization, I think it comes from a place of not knowing how to identify the line between his autism and his personality, and a difficulty with portraying the balance between those things influencing each other.

“Donnie is autistic, but this isn’t all he is” and “Donnie’s autism influences the way he views the world, and thus influences his character” aren’t mutually exclusive. In the case of flattening his character into the apathetic, flat “bad boy” persona, I think this one is actually from a bit of ableism—albeit unintentional.

Donnie is low empathy; this is something that is related to his autism. However, despite this being TRUE, he’s not LIMITED to this. Donnie is low empathy, but Donnie’s personality is someone who is deeply loyal to his loved ones, someone who loves to show his affection through his work (and the intertwining of his special interest and how he shows affection to his family is another example of this intersection!!). By assigning all of his actions to just a quirk of personality, you’ve left yourself with contradictory pieces of character—and some parts of it that are just easier to leave out entirely.

And on the other side, Donnie being rude and sarcastic isn’t necessarily because of his low empathy, either. Because Leo is also these things—and it’s… his personality. Donnie is rude and sarcastic because it’s a bit, and it’s funny, and he plays the straight man in his family dynamic. He loves playing around with his family as much as they like messing with him! By doing this, we’ve gone the other extreme of assigning all his traits to his autism, and leaving out the potential of him being a person with his own sense of humor and personality.

TLDR; it’s hard to dive into the intricacies of characters, especially ones who have disabilities. You have to balance the extent of the influence the disability has on the personality of the character. A lot of times it’s easier to flatten someone into one end or the other, and that’s partly why we have an Emotionless Donnie pandemic.

^^^^^^ yeah i agree with this as well!! i mostly hesitate to accuse it of being ableism because i dont want to accuse a lot of well-intentioned people, especially those who are neurodivergent because fandom is a very nd-heavy space, of doing something like that, i just think its a folly of getting caught into fandom archetypes and then either staying there or overcorrecting in a way that is similarly exhausting, implicit bias is just a difficult thing to understand and call out in yourself even if youre the afflicted group youre applying this behavior to, and i really dont want to just be hostile to people who mean well

but GOD it pisses me off more than it probably should. the weird donnie sidelining in the fandom has actually destroyed a lot of my enjoyment of leo to an extent im a little embarrassed to admit, i cannot IMAGINE how raph and mikey stans must feel

[kwimii999]

how do you balance sims with university? i’m having a hard time with that and was wondering how a fellow university student simmer handles it

Hi ! I'm more so in college than university ! I'm from Québec so our education system is quite different because of a thing called CÉGEP. It's a bit similar to what a college would be :)

To be truthful, at first I didn't manage it well at all. I had various breakdowns, it was actually kinda hard for me. So I took a break from creating content so I could stabilize my college situation. Now, I maximum always take 4 classes and during semesters I always make sure I dont work more than 12 hours per week. I make content when I feel like it and do not pressure myself at all. I learned it the hard way that when you pressure yourself to make content it just leads to burnout. Seems obvious but sometimes you have to experience the obvious to truly learn :) Taking less classes and allowing myself atleast days off on my weekdays is what truly changed it for me. Sometimes with only 4 classes I might end up having 2 or 3 days with no classes if Im lucky ! That's some good time to take care of myself and especially go outside by myself or with friends.

Knowing your limits

Overall, how I would say that I do it ? I think it was learning what amount of workload would overwhelm me when it came to my classes, I learned that 4 classes is perfect for me. I started college with 6 classes and that made me burntout, and then I did 5 and the same thing happened. I then tried 4 classes and I had no difficulty nor was it too stressful. However, I'm someone who isn't interested in finishing school as fast as I can so I don't care that it might take me 5/6 years to finish college !

Stressful work environments

Another factor is, if you're working, having a job in an atmosphere that isn't stressful. I luckily landed a good job with very kind coworkers, compared to when I worked in fast food, it was really stressful and I couldn't even handle that job anymore. So I quit. Having a job that stres you out can mentally drain you and can make you feel less inclined to work on school work/content creation from my experience.

Taking care of you

it's truly about managing and knowing how much pressure you can take but while still allowing yourself to breathe, to take care of yourself, making sure you eat, basically body, mind and soul ! But the key with content creation is that only do it/make time for it once everything else in your life has been taken care of and that includes you. You are very important.

Stay organized with your content

Make lists, folders, to-dos, anything that helps you and that you usually use for organizing yourself, use it. It makes you more inclined to get back to work once you have some free time to spare on making content and you end up enjoying it more !

Higher education can be very hard, but it taught me so many things about myself and showed me that I could trust myself more than I thought. Don't give up ❤️ :3

[dandysworldconfessionbooth]

super duper long ask warning because sadly im starting to get tired of major flaws in the game straight up not getting fixed at all.

honestly ive started to feel like the only reason dandys world is fun to play anymore is because i almost exclusively play it with my really funny friend who always makes the experience better.

with the lack of gameplay-focused updates, the game has just started to feel really bland with nothing new ever happening on floors. i dont care if any new toons are added past this point, i just want to see changes to the actual gameplay to make it less static and monotonous. the only difficulty curve is adding more twisteds and machines, making floors take even longer, and if the gameplay outside of that isn't very stimulating then really what's the point of making the floors longer??? this game feels so monotonous and unfinished in many different ways and i hope this gets fixed soon.

ive been playing since late October of last year and nothing has changed in this regard. i know a lot has happened in that time that could prevent this from happening, but 12 different toons have been added since then (counting holiday toons) as well as animation overhauls, skins, and more but we haven't gotten a single change to the actual gameplay???? im getting tired of seeing the same thing over and over every update with character designs that are 85% of the time OKAY at best and toons that don't necessarily need to exist.

also, huge hot take, i don't want any more toons to be added. we dont need any more besides some extra event toons. eventually, there will be massive game balancing issues if they keep adding more characters. not to mention the fact so many things can be done before they stop making sense in the world, or characters start being way too similar to each other in a way not purposeful.

i want the majority of the characters to be redesigned to reach their fullest potential. they feel unfinished, like they need a few more iterations to actually be complete and satisfyingly fleshed out. i could go on and on about the flaws in many of the character designs, but im going to save that for a redesign video im planning on making. i want the lore to actually come out. i want game modes, a new skill check system, new floor events, and better difficulty scaling. i need variety, and the fact im not seeing it is making me go crazy.

i think my fixation on this game is slowly starting to go away because it doesn't feel like anything is actually changing, not in the game or the fandom. it's always the same few things every time and im getting so so tired of it. vee really is the one of 2 things keeping me here, but she's not popular enough in the fandom to get fan content that matches my personal standards very often and i doubt canon is going to focus on her again any time soon after the latest update. i want to love this game more, but im starting to see it for its very apparent flaws now.

sorry for the long ask,

▪︎ burger king foot lettuce anon

Genuinely love this rant, I do wish the game was more stimulating. It’s all generally the same gameplay now and since floors just get more complex but nothing else really changes it doesn’t fix anything. It’s a horrendous gameplay loop and I don’t play as much because of it.

-Knight

[andromedasummer]

do you have any tips for someone that is very socially anxious and awkward, and also that has to do everything alone, on how to start working out for the first time? idk if you feel like this question isn't appropriate for you to answer or not, but i recall seeing you talk about a while ago getting back into exercise and now you keep up with it regularly. i always have a hard time starting cause i can't hold myself accountable for anything, but then i also have no friends to go with as a way to hold me accountable lol, so idk. what motivated you to take that first step?

for me it was that, back in 2018, my hall was at the bottom of a very large hill and my uni was at the top of it. walking up that hill was a nightmare that took upwards of 40 minutes for me. there was a bus that went up and down it but the problem was, it was $2 every time for a 5 min trip and i was on a student allowance. that money added up every day and my friends were always walking up there but i couldnt. so i decided i wanted to get fitter so i didnt have to spend that money.

from there i downloaded a random 30 day exercise app that i dont even remember and did 5 minutes of exercise a day from there. theres a lot of them on the app store that give you a set of exercises at a low difficulty and add one or two reps each day. i did that, while also walking around town for a few hours every day to try and get 6,000 steps a day, then 8,000 and then 10,000.

for me it was easy to stay with it because my goal wasnt losing weight. it was getting up that stupid hill. i would get faster and faster until finally i was walking up it in 20 minutes like my friends. i left that hall years ago, but i still use that kind of reference. i want to be able to finish my neighbourhood walk in a set amount of time, so i work out and increase my exercises or the intensity every day.

the app ive used for a long while is fiton. it has downsides like not being able to listen to music because theres a trainer that runs throuhh the whole thing and upsides like whole programs and professional trainers and athletes that create the videos with multiple having different body types (trainers who are fat and fit, muscularly built women and etc). the only thing is it can feel weird exercising alongside a person, even on a screen, and it took some getting used to for me.

you got to start small if youre going into it having never exercised before. for months i only did 5 minutes a day and that was enough to make a difference in how long i could jog for and my general stamina. your body has to be given time to condition itself. exercise isnt just strength and cardio, its also flexibility and balance, because your muscles need time to relax and lengthen.

you dont notice the change physically for like, 10-12 weeks, which is why so many people who focus on losing weight give up. because at first you actually gain weight, because youre gaining muscle before youre burning fat. its why the best thing to do is give yourself a goal, whether thats being able to jog for a minute straight and then working up from there or being able to do 100 squats a day and working towards that point.

plus 5 minutes is easy to do and less daunting than 20 or 30 or even 40 minute workouts. i dont do 40 min workouts! fuck that! i just do 20-30 minutes every day. and if im not feeling up to it i got for a 10-15 minute one because a little is better than nothing. hell, i was in so much pain last night i didnt do my cardio or strength. i just did stretches and that was it because fuck making myself feel worse.

its not easy by any means but you can do things to make it easier for you. setting achievable goals, finding an app that will send you notifications, doing smaller versions of moves (i still do wall pushups. i hate actual pushups and if i try i just will stop. by doing wall pushups instead i actually am working out and not getting mad.)

exercise is also easier if you enjoy it so if you find you dont like doing this kind i would recommend looking into learning dance through youtube or a class (ballet, swing, etc) or just doing a bit of swimming every day. swimming is REALLY good for you like crazy good. if you dont enjoy it you wont do it so focus on the stuff you enjoy. hell you could pick up a martial art! karate, fencing etc!

im not like, an exercise expert by any means so definitely do your own research. but this stuff i wrote here is what helped me start exercising and it really changed my life, a lot of people dont recognise me because i look very different now. ive found a lot of confidence in feeling strong with how much i love strength exercises and though i could definitely work on my agility and stamina im really glad i started exercising because the bonus to my general health has been huge. I'll never be stick thin and i dont really feel the need to be? i just exercise because it feels good and its fun. i hope you can find something that makes you feel a similar way!!!!

[luvo27]

Hi luvo!! Since you're into d20, do you think steph or cass would ever play dnd? I feel like the set of circumstances would have to be very contrived, but what classes do you think they'd play as?

ohhohoohoho what a fun question!! so while im a huge d20 fan i dont actually play dnd myself, although i love watching ttrpg shows and hanging out with my friends while they play, so i know a littleee but nottt a lot but first we gotta talk about circumstances in which steph or cass would play dnd!!!

first, tim's a good candidate for getting them into it. For steph, we raise a question i like to think about, which is what was her social life like outside of the bats before she died and then went to college? personally, Im a big fan of steph has no friends for purposes of her being socially isolated and struggling as a result of her dad's criminal history, and how this lends towards her desperation towards acceptance. I bring this up because we have to wonder who steph is playing dnd with!!

somewhere in the lost lands of my mind there is like. a fic about tim + reconnecting with his civilian friends and starting up a dnd group and steph is. she finds out about it or some such and starts out just hanging out in the corner but eventually joins in and the fic is about reconnecting and rebuilding relationships and and a campaign that they didnt think they'd put down for so long and you can't go back but you can go forwards and its about the difficulties of scheduling play sessions and its wish fulfillment for having monetary resources for so much snacks and tech resources for the coolest battle maps and ambiance etc etc. in my heart of hearts this is about tim finding the balance between civilian + vigilante life and his hopeful childhood + his more jaded adulthood, and it's about stephanie making friends and playing a game because so much of her life isn't one, for tim it's about reconnecting with his childhood and for steph it's about discovering the childhood she didn't get to have you know what i mean? and it's about how tim + steph relearning how to be friends in the wake of all the difficulties they've faced since they met.

all this to say that in my heart of hearts steph has the most fun playing a barbarian

now cass!!! you know me, you know cass, she's got to go through like. some whole entire character arc or the other to get to a point where she can play a game for fun. fun starting points though could be, tim needed an extra person for a game, or dnd pitched as a team building exercise, or it could be something like, babs working at the library and the library is hosting a game and cass ends up helping out that way (shout out libraries!!) maybe as like. adult supervision that isn't strictly necessary in any way other than legally there should probably be an adult there? I think that she could have a lot of fun with it though, because in my heart of hearts, acting with other people is fun for cass! just the kind of very much, feeling things and doing things with all the feelings but with low stakes just feels like something that would be good for her if. you know. she gets around to getting in there. I do think that she does cap out at a certain amount of time spent playing because she wants to actually go out and fight people instead of rolling dice about it, and i think she eventually ends up like. gameifying vigilantism from there on out. I think she'd love a larp.

but i think she'd probably end up playing like, a paladin or maybe a monk!! in the same way that i think she would like acting though, i think she'd have more fun than steph in terms of exploring different classes while to me, steph tends to stick to one.

anyways what a fun question!!!! loved thinking about this and loved writing this silly answer!!!

[timetravelstudies]

what do you like to cook for yourself on the daily? i find cooking really exhausting so im trying to find more ideas and see if i can make it more healthy :(

hi my darling <3 sorry if it took me a while to get to this but i wanted to give it a proper indepth answer so i waited until i was on pc, free of obligations etc. im warning u this ended yp 1) long 2) really disorganized and stream of consciousnessy lol. sowwy.

ok first of all my definition of cooking&eating "healthy" is to eat a variety of filling, nutricious and digestible foods. i dont count macros, i dont count calories, i dont restrict or avoid anything unless its smth i cant digest, i dont believe in any of that bullshit. im gonna have to avoid a lot more foods from now on bc ive recently discovered i have a ton of pretty severe intolerances lol and its pissing me off. but im gonna give you recipes etc based on what i was eating before

secondly idk what foods are cheap/easily available/available fresh vs frozen where you are + how much storage space you have etcetc. so again this is all gonna be based on my circumstances. that also goes for the effort & difficulty level of the recipes. these are around a low to moderate level for me as of say fall 2024, but i know some of them would have been way too exhausting in planning, prep work, organization etc for me a year or two ago. i hope at least some are usable for you though!

heres some advice that made my life easier:

whenever u boil rice always make extra. it stores super well and is really filling and versatile and can turn a random &/or meafer assortment of leftovers into a meal when u fry them together.

buy frozen veggies rather than fresh, and even if u get them fresh, cut them up asap and freeze them. having fresh veg in the fridge feels anxiety inducing bc its a commitment to cook meals from scratch more than once. if theyre in the freezer they can stay there forever even if youre in a rotting period yourself. i do the same with bread, buy a fresh loaf (or more likely half) and slice and freeze the whole thing.

whenever u make frozen veggies always make double portions. u can save half for dinner/lunch the next day. tada! you have your veggie portion for that meal. worse comes to worst you can fry or boil a single egg and itll stil be a nutricious and relatively balanced meal. if you unfreeze a bread slice itll be filling too.

heres how i cook frozen veggies so they dont taste depressing: for leaf greens (spinach, chicory, something wordreference tells me is called "chard") i get a deep-ish pan (NOT pot) and dump 2 frozen cubes in there with enough water that theyre covered about halway thru. i put as much salt as i want in the water, put a lid on the pan and let it cook at low-medium so they unfreeze. this way they get salted evenly. once theyre unfrozen i drain the extra water (some ppl drink this bc its good for you, i think its gross but if u wanna get 100% of the nutrients u paid for u may wanna try this, if so then i guess skip the salt step and salt later lol) then push them slightly to the side in the pan. i put some oil on the free half of the pan + some chopped up pieces of garlic and let it warm up a little bit at medium fire (until it makes a slight noise.... ur veggies will be fine bc theyre so watery still but u may wanna move them around a little so ur 100% sure they dont get stuck), then i mix it all up, raise the flame higher and fry it essentially. only for a few minutes. some people add dried chili pepper flakes too before frying, i only do that sometimes bc i get gastritis by too much spicy food lol. this is actually a way of cooking long veggies that is typical here in rome ("verdura ripassata", veggies cooked twice)

for non-leaf veggies i mostly eat zucchini or peas. in this case i do the same thing to unfreeze them (pan, water, salt, lid, wait) with the caveat that peas take FOREVER esp bc i like them soft. then when i fry, in the zucchini i add onion instead of garlic (my personal preference) and in peas. actually wait i will tell u a really easy delicious way of cooking peas i have later.

some foods to buy:

besides frozen veggies, get precooked legumes (in the can or the jar) since those also store forever. i always have 1-2 small jars in storage that i replenish when i eat them bc #youneverknow.

also get a few bottles of herbs and/or spices that you like bc you can use these to upgrade any food instantly, not just in taste but also in how elaborate and fancy it feels -> how good u feel about urself for cooking it. my staples rn are curry (just generic curry..... generic white people curry from the regular white people gocey store....... it does the job), turmeric (#orangefood tell ur friends. really good in fall/winter warms me up from the insideeeee smile), black pepper and coriander. i kinda dump these into whatever when i wanna feel like im A Chef creating Art. these get kind of expensive so tbh last time i just shoplifted them thanks to my big pocketed cargo pants.

onions and garlic are also staples in any italian kitchen i always have them on hand. any type of onion tbh but better any kind of big round one bc they last longer. but also i buy onion sprouts(?) sometimes and chop them up and freeze them to put in omelettes and make them feel special and taste more delicious.

also i semi-regularly buy lactose-free cream cheese bc i use it in a lot of foods + its a no-cook easy source of protein for when i cant be bothered to even take a pan out of the cabinet. but thats a fresh food so u have to commit to eating it within the week-10 days obv

heres a few "recipes":

pasta with pesto: buy pesto from the store. cook pasta. drain pasta (wet the drys...... dry the wets......). put pesto on it. boom. food. this was, no joke, 70% of the cooked food i ate in 2022 & 2023.

soup from premade soup: easy as it sounds. i buy big bowls of premade vegetable soups, theyre v cheap at my local store and i get 2/3 meals out of each. i dont get the pureed ones bc i think the texture is gross, i get the ones with chonks. i recommend the ones with lentils or some type of bean and/or cereal in them, not just pieces of veggies, bc theyre a lot more filling. in order to make them taste better and also feel more satisfied, i warm them up in a pot with olive oil, garlic, a pinch of salt, plus some stuff like powdered turmeric curry ground cumin or whatever other spice or herb you like. once its warmed up i also usually add a big spoon or 2 of lactose-free cream cheese to improve the texture + add some fat to counterbalance all the spiciness + "round out" the flavor. overall it takes 10 ish minutes. sometimes if i have leftovers i dump them in too (like idk boiled eggs and or potatoes, or a little bit of ham thats getting dry in the fridge, or smth) sometimes if i feel like it i will boil some rice too and eat it with rice mixed in as a curry. that usually makes it so i have leftovers for the day after bc i dont eat as much soup.

onion sprout cream cheese goat cheese veggie whatever omelette: ok first of all obv u can make an omelet with anything so this is ur chance to dump any leftovers in there too. but i have a couple of omelet "recipes" ive been doing in the past year which are specifically super delicious. n1 is omelet (2 eggs in a mug + pinch of salt + black pepper + whisk) then i unfreeze chopped up onion sprounts in the Michael Wave, chop up some solid goat cheese, dump it all in, mix so its even. in the meantime i warm up oil in a wide and short pan. its ready when u throw a teeeeny bit of water in and it hisses (dont hurt urself, back away immediately when u do this. by a TEEENY bit of water i mean i wet my fingertip and let a single drop fall). pour the entire substance in the pan, the bottom will cook almost immediately, the top will stay liquid for a bit which allows u to move the filling around with a fork bc it will inevitably get all in one place lol. then take a wide spatula and try to flip it. i can only sort of do this after a year of practice and only about half the time. tbh as long as u dont hurt urself its fine if it break. who gaf. anyway. the other side will cook MUCH faster about <1min. turn off the fire and put on the plate. sometiems i put an absorbent paper towel on the plate to soak some of the extra oil up. unfreeze a bread slice if ur feeling fancy. enjoy :) omelet n2 is the same but without the goat cheese. u can hold the onions too. basically just egg and salt. fry. once its done dump ur extra long leaf greens from yesterdays dinner on one half. cover the other half in cream cheese. close. its a crepe now :)

Delicious Peas: dump frozen peas in small pot, add a lot of water (say until the peas are more than covered), salt. put on a low-medium fire with a lid on. in the meantime u can cut up onions (regular onions will do) and ham (i eat presliced ham from the store so rather than cut i just tear it apart with my fingers into bite sized pieces lol). once the peas are cooked but still hard (like, they perfectly split into 2 halves when u bite them) u can dump the onions in and add oil. at this point u should still have some water but not a lot. like the peas are only a bit covered. if u have too much water np just throw a little out. once the peas are almost perfect softness say when 2-3 mins are left put the ham in. keep stirring throughout + u need to stir more often the less water there is (at the beginning when u have a lot of water u dont need to stir at all). this is a slightly more advanced recipe in my mind bc its slightly higher effort for slighly lower nutrients (only peas and some ham) but its very delicious #ToMe plus u dont need to pay a ton of attention to the pot so i do this sometiems in the evening and in the meantime i will clean the kitchen for the day or sit down when i can and play sudoku or whatever. anyway peas are also very filling for a veggie. also if you make this exact same thing but in a bigger pot u can bring the water to boil (with the peas in it) and dump some little pasta then keep cooking slowly at low fire while stirring in whatever ingredience you feel like. tada. pasta soup with peas and some other bits and bobs :) super filling and nutricious + once u know how to make this u can make a big batch and save for the day after or even freeze it in individual portions and eat it forever.

anyway. i didnt say anything abt fish bc i dont eat fish a lot and i didnt say anything about meat bc i just unfreeze whatever meat i have, say a burger, heat up the oil, dump it in, cook one side, flip, salt the cooked side, flip again, salt the other side, burn up a little, serve, eat. nothing special. sorry theres so few recipes but i dont know your cooking level or energy levels etcetc so i wanted to focus on relatively simple stuff that also makes for leftovers. i have some other recipes i like like #orangepasta (pasta & chickpea soup-style with turmeric) or a really delicious but kinda high effort everything-pasta bake i make on sundays with family or by myself and then i freeze a bunch of it. but those have more steps & ingredience so i avoided them.

i hope this helps even a little! sorry i wrote so much im kinda the yapper. lmk if you have any questions :) and from the bottom of my heart good luck. i know it can be hard and frustrating and depressing as fuck to be "bad" at food but it CAN be done i promise. i believe in you and love you soso much. MWAH! <3

[jackieandwilsonbyhozier]

hi hello is anyone out there ? i need real life adult advice or maybe i just need ppl to pretend to listen to me so would anyone mind pretending for a moment. ok thank u

ill make it quick for the poll but put my actual thoughts under a readmore bc i have a lot to say sry....anyway vote in the poll reply reblog send me asks whatever just somebody help me for the love of god.

basically i hate my job and its killing my soul but im making pretty good money ($20/hour) but now they want to promote me to a manager which will kill my soul even more, but ill be making $27/hour. i kind of just want to quit but now theres that, plus if i stay for 2.5 more years i can sell my company stocks and get another big bonus. but again its fucking killing me working here

so i have been at my retail job for 2.5 years im a department manager and im very comfortable and confident in my position also im making $20 an hour which is great. i just got like a semi promotion i guess so now on days when they dont have a manager to close (usually 2 days a week) im the manager on duty and those days i make $22 an hour

however now they rly want to promote me to a manager full time. like the store manager and assistant manager r both telling me how great i would be and even the fcking district manager apparently agrees and wants me. i would be making ! $27 ! an hour which tbh is the only thing actually tempting me

i honestly kind of hate being a manager. i mean i like working with like the product and planning and paperwork and that stuff im confident in that but i hate hate hate actually having to manage PEOPLE. coworkers AND customers. im an extremely sensitive timid pushover-y person i just am and that is where i face the most difficulty. angry customers make me panic and i cant make myself be assertive enough for any of my coworkers to listen to anything i say

and most of all i hate the like manager culture/attitude. if uve worked in retail or probably anywhere else maybe ull know what i mean. like laughing at ur workers bc they asked for accommodations, making fun of them bc theyre all stupid and useless, chasing homeless ppl out of the store and shouting insults at them, basically just being a bully bc u know u can cuz ur in charge. and i rly rly dont want to participate in that and wont but then the other managers wont respect me lol

and actually bottom line is im sick to death of retail. this job is already draining me and if i become a manager im afraid itll be worse. obviously customers kill me and i would be happy if the rest of my life i never had to serve another customer. but even besides them. it takes me over an hour to bus to work and that wasted time adds up. i kind of put my all into work so when i get home i dont have the energy to do literally anything else. i dont know how to have a work/life balance i only know how to work. im a little bit living in filth it feels like bc i cant make myself do chores or take care of myself it feels like my life is just work, and then being at home waiting to have to go back to work

i havent gotten new piercings or tattoos in a couple years, and i havent cut or dyed my hair in over a year, its back to plain brown which i havent seen since i was like 17. its kind of killing my spirit not to be dramatic but thats the truth. art and creativity are the most important things to me and i feel like im losing myself bc i dont have the energy to keep up with stuff like that anymore the stuff i rly care about like my self expression, i feel like im killing myself in order to turn myself into a normie ass-kissing servant. i dont even draw anymore i dont do shit. im honestly kind of depressed as fuck. i mean i also havent been on my meds for over a year now which im sure isnt helping

but.........if i keep this up i could be making $27 an hour :-) the position is more than just being handed to me theyre practically begging me to take it. also another thing about my job is that u somehow accumulate/earn (?) stocks in the company, and after uve been here for 5 years u can sell them. but only if uve been working for 5 years. if u leave before that u lose them all. so if i stay another 2.5 years ill get another big bonus when i leave. but the thought of staying here that long kind of makes me wanna die😭

because thats the thing too and my final point, i honestly dont need the money. im 100% fine financially where i am rn. i have enough that i can pay my bills and put a lot in savings and buy my fun treats and whatever and i literally never ever worry about money this is the most money ive had in my life ive saved up quite a bit too. even if i just quit my job rn i would be good for like at least six months probably more. but i rly love being in this position financially lol. like im literally just like i love money yes i want more money thats the only thing making me want to stay

so i guess after typing all that out i can confidently say i dont like this job at all i just love money. im earning a lot already but i could be earning even more if i take the promotion but i AM losing my mind and kind of dont even want to work here at all anymore. i honestly dont know whats worth it i know all work is soul sucking and miserable so like should i just be grateful for what i have?? and what im being offered??

what i rly actually want to do is become a tattoo artist. i think i would be a lot happier and freer but my income would be a lot more uncertain as well which im very scared of like idk i havent been like tight on money and struggling in so long i dont want to give it up like ive been running like this so long idk how to stop. i rly dont know what to do

[doyouknowthischaracter]

RANDOM ASKS GRAB BAG

Putting a bunch of answered asks in one post so I don't spam your dashes too much. Under the cut because it's a very long post. If your ask isn't here, don't worry! The ask box is far from empty, and I'm sorta trying to group them by topic. Enjoy?

Anonymous asked: you mentioned in another ask that there were a few things you were probably going to check out from doing these polls and I was just curious which ones those are, if you don't mind sharing fjdjsj

I don't mind sharing! I had to go through the archive to remember which ones I wanted to check out, but a few of them would be The Walten Files, Red vs. Blue, The Murderbot Diaries, I Am In Eskew, and The Mistholme Museum of Mystery, Morbidity, and Mortality. Many of the characters posted here look interesting, but I'm such a slow watcher/player/reader/etc. that it'd take me decades to go through everything lol

Anonymous asked: Have you considered doing like uhhh idk how to explain properly, but statistics/data from loads of polls in a summary every so often? I've seen some poll blogs do a most known/least known type bar graph every so often. And I would be super interested in seeing this sort of thing for this blog!! It's fair enough if not though, obviously this would create a lot of extra work for you. Anyway, thanks for running this blog :-) Anonymous asked: I just asked a question about seeing the data statistics/ bar graphs - please ignore it! Just reread your pinned and realised I'd missed that bit :'). BUT, last point remains, thank you for running this blog and putting up with repetitive anons I bet aksjskdjsk

I haven't put the data in a graph yet, but if I figure out how to organize that in a way that's both comprehensible and actually tells us something new, I'll give it a try for sure. Until then, we do have the spreadsheet. And no worries, I'm glad you're enjoying the blog! :)

Anonymous asked: *sees a poll blog* "I must answer each and every poll I can"

Godspeed on your journey and remember to stay hydrated! 🫡

Anonymous asked: this is my favorite blog! Every morning I wake up and check the polls like they're the paper, just to say "I don't know them" Truely a humbling experience!

Happy to be your neighborhood paperboy!

@iceice-baeby asked: Are olyou fearing the day someone submits Solid Snake from MGS and you will choose the wrong picture Because everyone always seems to choose the wrong picture

The only difficulty will be in not using this one:

Anonymous asked: Just scrolled back through your blog up to posts from Dec 3rd and I know why those polls are closed now but I cannot describe the genuine anguish I felt seeing Mr Orange and going NO I KNOW HIM - I KNOW HIM!!!! Anyway I found this blog like ten minutes ago and I love it

Don't worry, he's A-OK! 👍

(Also, thanks! I appreciate your dedication.)

Anonymous asked: scrolling through to catch up on the characters and knowing a whole three of them was so bizarre. im not supposed to press the yes i know them button, im supposed to do my sworn duty and vote no with unending confusion. the world has been flipped on its head 😵‍💫

I bet the next 30 were characters you've never heard of, just for balance to be restored.

Anonymous asked: Whenever i misclick I feel sooooo bad like im sorry my dear friend for not recognizing you I apologize for my rudeness

No polls so far ended with only one vote difference between answers, so you don't have to feel too bad. For now. 👀

Anonymous asked: this is fun cause i’ve definitely submitted some characters but i’ve immediately forgotten who. so i’ll also be pleasantly surprised to see my beloveds on the blog.

A gift from you to you, courtesy of unreliable memory! Sweet!

Anonymous asked: Devastating. I keep missing the voting for the only characters I know.

You'll do it one day, I believe in you!!

@iceice-baeby asked: Would you consider writing in the tags if YOU know a character or not You have done it sometimes before, but I'd be curious if you do recognise some of those random niche as all hell blorbos Also I can't wait for my Blorbos turn. Because either He-and-she is gonna take most obscure place, OR I will actually find maybe more than two people, myself included, who know him-and-her and who I can ramble at for hours until they block me

Oh yeah, for sure. I didn't think anyone would be interested to know, but I can do that when I remember to!

Did your blorbo show up already?

Anonymous asked: I have been having the opposite problem of everyone else, apparently. I'll see a name and be like, "I don't know who that is". But then I see the picture and realize… Yes I do!

That's why I take the time to include fitting pictures, helps jog the memory!

Anonymous asked: I feel very superior every time I know a character most people don't

Hey, nobody likes a show-off. (<- Joking)

Anonymous asked: Wait, has Beetlejuice not been submitted?? I could've sworn I submitted the musical version! Anonymous asked: Oh wait no I didn't submit musical Beetlejuice to you, got you mixed up with @/every-character-ever-poll lol my bad

Indeed he hasn't been submitted yet, maybe next time!

@thetisming asked: sorry for saying something negative in the replies to a post someone was being a dick about jukebox musicals

No worries, but don't let it get to you. People are allowed to dislike your favorite things even without any good reason. It's a matter of taste, which is highly subjective. It's more constructive to focus your attention on people who do enjoy the same things as you!

@autism-criminal asked: What is your favorite color of the rainbow (red orange yellow green blue indigo purple) ?

Orange! 🍊 What's yours? :)

Anonymous asked: "data is not accurate" bro if ur going to a tumblr poll blog for accurate data you NEED to reassess some things asdfghjkl; anyway this blog is great thank you for running it it's a lot of fun and has resulted in some very funny interactions between me and my fiance. notably "what the fuck do you MEAN 6% of the sans undertale website doesn't know who sans undertale is" and "i'm sorry i simply don't believe that ANYONE doesn't know who DRACULA is"

Different people come here with different expectations, I suppose. Which is fine, I don't mind, but they're bound to be disappointed if they expect 100% accuracy all the time. But anyway! I'm happy to hear I can provide a new form of enrichment for you and your fiancé!

@sweetpollyolliver asked: So many manga and anime characters and I know like 1% of them 😭

I'm ngl, I'm not a big manga/anime connoisseur either, so I'm just as lost as you most of the time lol 🤝 (<- shaking hands in solidarity)

@cringelordofchaos asked: If I go insane one day I am going to try to make an English translation for Mesec Boje Purpura so everyone can know who veštica Noks is

I'm fully behind you! Keep us updated if you do.

Anonymous asked: I scroll through your blog. I don’t recognise any of these characters. ‘No,’ I click, ‘no,’ ‘no,’ ‘no.’ I am content in the darkness of the rock I live under. But, alas, all things must end. I continue my scroll, the glee of the irrelevant rampant in my veins. But what’s this? It can’t be… My shelter is cruelly ripped away and the brutal light of knowledge seeks me out like a bloodhound, it gives me no place to hide. ‘Yes,’ I sob, defeated, ‘Yes, I do know the jjba character.’

A modern-day Greek tragedy, truly 💔

Anonymous asked: was really surprised to vote and see that a character was 100% know them. then I noticed I got there early enough to be the only vote

For one shining, brilliant moment they were 100% known and surely that counts for something.

Anonymous asked: You should make up a character and make a poll for them and see how many people lie or misclick

Well....... I'm not going to comment on that. 🐰

Anonymous asked: I follow this blog and another blog that does smash or pass and occassionally I will come to one of your posts and examine the images to decide and then remember this blog's gimmick before trying to hit smash

Imagine voting smash there and then coming here to vote "I don't know them at all" on the same character. Brutal.

@ink7blot asked: *sees big naturals* I hate that. *reblogs*

A job well done, then 😌

[stardew-obsessed-ora]

HIIIII TUMBLR. SINCE IM NOTICING PEOPLE TAKING AN INTEREST IN DOBSON (and a certain mutual reblogging one of my posts mentioning wanting to know his lore :3), I'M GONNA GIVE YOU THE RUNDOWN OF IT. THAT WAY, YOU TOO CAN UNDERSTAND THIS ENIGMA OF A MAN.

Here's all I know from bits and pieces I've gotten from ConcernedApe comments I've seen + the original cutscene

Here's the cutscene dialogue I was referring to for your viewing pleasure.

Dobson would've been the original Joja-Based rival for Stardew Valley. Meaning, if he was present in the game there's a chance we wouldn't have Morris instead. Imagine that

I imagine if Dobson were added there would've been more planned in terms of the ending of the Joja Route. During his beginning cutscene, he mentions getting enough signatures to instate a Joja Hypermarket. I imagine this would've introduced something similar to the end-game Joja Route Supermarket SVE introduces.

Adding onto the Dobson Asshat mention, Dobson would've been significantly more confrontational as opposed to Morris. There's a reply to a comment on youtube where ConcernedApe mentions that Dobson would've done more to inconvenience you throughout the year. He was also bolder, and overall less afraid of masking his actual feelings about those around him/his goals. Again, in order to make who to support less clear, keeping this would've muddied the narrative.

Based on the timeline, I want to assume his development was around the time that Stardew Valley was going to have a completion requirement of around an in game year. It would've been easier to complete the community center I assume, so he would've been there to balance out the lack of difficulty. This was removed due to the fact that ConcernedApe didn't want players to feel rushed, and instead wanted them to go at their own pace in their gameplay.

Given he would've inconvenienced the farmer through the year, I like imagining he would've pulled extremely underhanded things in order to temporarily halt your progression. Like... ripping cables from the mine elevator to keep you from getting geodes and other things, putting something in the rivers to keep you from fishing that day, destroying crops, things of that matter. I said this in my first HC post but he was literally built to cause chaos and mayhem.

There genuinely isn't much about him online, but I do love the fact that he would've genuinely been an absolute little shit regardless. Man has many enemies and not a care in the world.

I'm planning on making a few HC posts about him later, but here's what I know about the existing information revolving on him and why it's so so so so so hard to get a grasp of his potential character. (And why its so fun seeing different, yet oddly similar portrayals of the guy)

[sieglinde-freud]

so the way endings in awakening work is a bit off if you have the gay mod because it reads single people normally, but married people have the man’s ending read, and then his wife just. attached. and so that alters which ending you see for both of them. unfortunately, that means if i have f/f pairs, which most of them were, i dont get to see any because none of them were read. and at least with the second gen, i did almost entirely f/f pairs, which dont show up, or m/m pairs, which had nothing written, so. everyone please give it up for gerome and cynthia, the only second gen ending i got to see!

😭😭 good for them!!! anyways unorganized final thoughts under cut so i dont have to make a whole other post for it

awakening lunatic sucks! but project thabes makes it suck a little less. in all honesty i had a lot of fun, awakenings a good game to revisit, and finding a way to make it challenging while being able to use my favorite units (awakening second gen) ever was awesome. normally having all 13 (or 14 in this case, with both morgans) would break the game, but lunatic kept the enemies strong, so it didnt matter what my units had. i actually got overwhelmed a lot 😭 HUGE difficulty jump between hard and lunatic all i’m saying. and then the games like “hey now u have lunatic+ if that interests you” NOOOOO THANKS.

anyways. here are my top three guys according to the medal thingies at the end

im so proud of them :3 of all the kids really but yeah these three were huge standouts. virion actually got a change in the mod where one of his subclasses was swapped for myrmidon, so yarne got to inherit astra which was actually insane? it procced ALL THE TIME so. that was crazy. chrom!inigo and fred!cynthia are always good thats not new but they were really clutch in the last few chapters. i had them both hopping around classes for most of the game bc thabes redoes skill progression so. IT TOOK CYNTHIA SO LONG TO LEARN LUNA. ITS FROM WYVERN LORD. GOD. she went through a LOT of classes yall dont even know. also honorable mention to marc and morgan, the best rallybots ever, and dancer lucina, who was outserving everyone she was in a scene with. my girl.

like ok serving cunt on the back of the god youre about to kill? get it girl!

anyways so for second gen pairs i did: lucina/f!morgan, owain/m!morgan, inigo/laurent, yarne/brady, severa/kjelle, nah/noire, and cynthia/gerome and you know what. i think i have a great taste. a lot of these were born from being unable to do other pairings but thats ok. i liked how it turned out. though i was gonna do nah/noire anyways because they were actually like. an insane duo. honestly im surprised noire didnt get a medal thing bc i feel like her nostanking with nah backing her up got me out of so much shit. maybe its because i didnt see her ending… oh. oh wait thats probably it. well. anyways.

i think awakening is not a properly balanced game, nor are the maps made for a difficulty like this. towards the end game especially, the maps are just. flat. most of them anyways, and they just become really repetitive and bland and boring. and despite this being the game with the tactician character of all the time, they dont really allow you flexible strategies, because if youre not pair up stat stacking, you will die! and that sucks. mid game is alright, but the last arc is really weak and kinda dampered my whole experience. im glad i did it, but i wouldnt actually reccomend it to anyone unless you like to play like that (which is totally fine! its just not my thing). definitely requires some solid planning as well. all in all, not the worst fire emblem ive played but… well. im not doing it again. ok anyways heres inigo mouthing off at grima

[uzurions]

Yk what, shin may be considered an adult, but when we think abt it, he’s just 21, which makes him a college student if he had a normal life. Students his age usually just study, work part-time, hang out with friends and their lovers, and only start facing life’s difficulties when they become seniors or after they graduate. That matches Shin, who’s just starting his journey toward living a normal life.

Despite everything he’s been through since childhood, I’ve always loved how balanced his personality is (it's fits his age, unlike nagumo tbh) He’s not a teenager (like Mafuyu and the others) and not a mature adult (like Sakamoto, Shishiba, etc). He’s just a young man doing whatever he can to protect his family 💛💛

That’s why I love that company au where he’s trying to fit into his job and gets support from everyone. It really suits and feels in line with how he is in the main manga 🥹

When we take all this into account, his dynamic with natsuki is really special, not just bc they’re close in age (we have Heisuke) but bc of that school setting and the whole senpai–kohai thing btwn them 😭

Shin was the first actual friend Natsuki ever made, and for Shin, Natsuki was his first real school friend 🥹 That’s why I love that they got to hang out and enjoy some normal student life together before all the fighting started.

Natsuki was literally the biggest part of the school life Shin always wanted to have 🥹

Iktr 😭😭😭 he should have been in club!!!! Okay clubs arent his thing but at least let him read his fave manga series, eat his fave foods, go out and drink with his friends 😭😭😭😭 im hoping that at least he is gonna do these kind of things after they saved japan! I want to see him living his best life and be happy forever 🥺💗

Yess!! Thats perfectly summarized it 🥺 awww, company au was really so fun and the way shin trying to make a good job so he can prove himself 😭 he is such a hardworking guy, just like in the canon <3 and i agree!!! Shin is the older one and yet he calls natsuki 'senpai' jdhsjd its just so cute. (I hope natsuki calls him senpai too one day...) and not just that but also they are both big brothers in their families but when they are with each other, they are acting childish (especially natsuki 🥰) to me, when they're together, they can forget their worries and be silly 😭 this is why i love their dynamic sm....and i think they are completing each other!

For example this scene was literally one of my fave foreshadowings (im not sure if this count as it but i think its very funny and cute 😭) shin explored jcc with natsuki aka 'mr i dont need friends' and later they became closer and finally this friendship was born 😭 now they cant stop thinking about each other....

[Natsuki was literally the biggest part of the school life Shin always wanted to have 🥹] <- STOP MAKING ME EMO THEY WERE MEANT TO BE TOGETHER 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 this truly is our shoujo arc, right? Hahha

[sexhaver]

i've been playing a bunch of Pesticide Not Required recently and might do a more in-depth writeup soon going over the characters and weapons, but this game is fucking infuriating if you don't figure out the objectively correct strategy so im posting this to hopefully save someone some stress:

NEVER BUILD INTO CRITS. Crit Chance and Crit Damage sound good on paper but unfortunately due to human nature it works out that you actually get a way better build by picking every single levelup perk "balanced" out by reducing your crit damage/chance. there are like three perks and one weapon that maybe justify a crit build and none of them will get you past the massive difficulty spike on day 6 or 7 in higher difficulties

mine a few ores during the first day so you go into the first shop with around 600-800 gold

your top priority with shopping during the first few days is to fill out all 5 of your weapon slots so you'll only see those weapons in the shop (making upgrades easier). this is basically the only thing you'll ever need the rerolls for so don't be shy with them

although some weapons are better than others, all of them can be viabahahahahaha im just fucking with you! half of the weapons are straight up useless and should never be picked. when rerolling, you're looking for the following weapons in this order:

weed whacker. S-tier, unquestionably the best weapon in the game, you cannot get past day 6 on higher difficulties without this. like all other weapons that spin around you (i.e. the next two) this benefits highly from projectile speed and attack duration: faster spinning + spinning for longer = more hits per activation

scythe. "weed whacker at home". A-tier, hits the same area as weed whacker to keep enemies off your back while weed whacker is on cooldown. i know im making it sound boring but "slightly worse weed whacker" is still far and away the second best weapon in the game

sprinkler/water sprayer. "weed whacker but big". doesn't really hit its stride until level 4 or 5 but is essential in the late game to soften enemies up before they get in range of weed whacker + scythes. ALWAYS take the +4 amount upgrade on the left for level 5, ignore all of the buffs on the right side, shooting 8 beams out at once is the reason you took this weapon

toad oil. very mediocre early on but once you hit level 5 you can have pretty much the entire screen as a damage-dealing area

DO NOT BUILD CRIT. I MEAN IT. YOU WILL UNLOCK THE CRIT CHARACTER AND THINK "OH MAYBE THIS GUY CAN MAKE IT WORK" AND YOU WILL GO INTO WINTER 3 AND FEEL GOOD ABOUT YOUR BUILD AND THEN THE DAY 6 WAVE WILL TURN YOUR ASS INSIDE OUT EVERY SINGLE TIME WITHOUT FAIL BECAUSE YOU HAVE NOTHING BUT DAMAGE AND EVEN THAT DAMAGE STILL ISN'T ENOUGH. THIS IS A PSA.

[smallpapers]

I'm not usually a fan of hunger game AUs cuz they usually don't take into account the actual characters and are just about the games, which is dumb and not really the point imo, so the fact that you tied in seam vs merchant class stuff, and even made Odalia's hair dye obsession make sense in-universe is so cool.

Also Amity being Peeta fits so incredibly well that's so genuis??? She's got a thing for dramatics and so does Peeta, she'd do anything for the girl she loves and so does Peeta, she's good at defensive close quarters combat(usually chosing the abomination glove rather than more long range attacks) which kinda fits in with Peetas wrestling..... I'm obsessed.

I have so many questions tho! Amity is also very different in terms of attitude/general personality. Would she have trouble acting charismatic for people who want to see her dead like Katniss did?(considering she dgaf about the abomination presentation in canon, she doesn't seem to like pretending. At least not after she befriends Luz bc pre-Luz friendship Amity and post-Luz friendship Amity are admittedly very different) or be more like Peeta and be a really good liar.... Luz seems better for the charismatic role(at least considering canon since she befriends lots of people and often fakes smiles for those she loves....) but otherwise makes for a very good Katniss. Her attitude could be very different from canon and closer to the small snippets we see of her when she's mad. Given that she'd be forced into a role of primary provider in-universe. Fiercly loyal and willing to fight tooth and nail for those she loves is extremely fitting. And on top of that you have Katniss's strained relationship with her mom due to her dad's death and Luz's strained relationship with Camila and her Dad also died when she was younger... omgggggg

Obviously lots of stuff would be different, but the fact that so much fits so perfectly is insane as a massive toh + hunger games fan I don't know how i never saw it.

Also......... would Finnick (the golden child of the capitol) be Hunter (the golden guard of the emperors coven)? :(

Sorry for rambling i just love this au so much 😭

Hi!!! Thank you so much!!! Im happy to hear you like the AU!! I wasn't expecting people to respond so positively hehe

Honestly im just as surprised as you of how well certain characters fit! I didn't really plan, just kinda went along and things clicked into place!

I agree their personalities would be quite different given the extreme situation, but thats the difficulty with these sorts of AUs 😔 but i guess it's something thats got to be balanced to not go too OOC especially if its written! Esp on the lumity dynamics~ Oh i didn't even notice the combative abomination matching with Peeta's wrestling until you mentioned it!! Someone on twt told me that Peeta's camouflage bit could be Amity camouflaging in a puddle of abomi-goo haha

And yes i think Hunter would fit into Finnick's role here compared to the other TOH characters!

No worries for rambling, i enjoyed reading it💛💛 tysm 💛💛💛