#(very confusing that they use ‘abilities’ as the name for what every other game calls ‘attributes’)

[tswhiisftteedr]

Ok, so this a character draft for an AU I'll be writing, Part 2

(basically a rip-off of one of my dr scripts, for those who know what I'm talking about.)

(The only difference between ver 1 and 2 is the noses)

(These images are available on my art account @maviscarlettie)

I also need help with figuring out this guy's name(even tho I basically already chose, but second opinions are good)!

He's twisted from monstro in pinnocio and, from what I gather, is a sperm whale.

Morven MobikMorven = a name from Celtic/Gaelic origin meaning "lives by the sea," "sea-born," or from Mhorbhairne (“the sea-gap”) Mobik = a stylized twist on Moby Dick, the iconic white whale,

Marius NereusMarius = Latin origin meaning “of the sea” or “male descendant of Mars,” Nereus = a sea god in Greek mythology, father of the Nereids; wise, ancient, and often called the “Old Man of the Sea,”

OK More AU Info

Ok, so this serious (but actually sly) guy is the house warden of Octavinelle at the beginning of the story since it takes place a year early.

He and the vice warden are 4th year and will leave for internships when the game story begins (like mentioned in post 1 NCR is now a 5 year school instead of 4)

He and Mc know each other prior to NCR, which plays into her acceptance since he will vouch for her stay.

Now, why does MC even get sent to NCR if it's not an isekai situation like the game is? Well, just in the same manner that the dark mirror chose video game yuu for some "unknown reason", our mc was chosen because they will bring great change to the school, for better or worse.

Additionally, they weren't just randomly hit by the ebony carriage and brought to the school. No! They, in fact, got the official NCR letter of acceptance/invitation to study there like every one of the students around early July.

Did she send back a letter that basically said that she would be accepting the opportunity and would be attending the school starting September while fully knowing that NCR was a boys' school? Yes.

Did she contact Morven(?) in advance about the situation since she knew of his current schooling and that he was currently Octavinelles dorm head(he became dorm head in his 3rd year)? Yes!

Anyway, they know each other, which helps her weseal her way into staying at NCR even though she is infact not a male student(Though there are a lot of factors that she and he manipulate to stronghand Crowley into accepting).

Mc is a nymph, but I kind of create my own version of what these terms mean in my story, so hardcore mythology fans don't come after me!

She is an estuary nymph, which is the offspring of a sea nymph and a river nymph. Which is very important.

Sea nymphs have powers that would best be categorized as one of a 'siren'. However, they are forever bound by the sea(well, unless you have transformation potions, but it is very unlikely that one would acquire said type of position, and you will see why)

River nymphs can change their form to be able to walk the earth without any potions as long as they are not too far from water that originates from their river/stream. A loophole to this is for one to be carrying a vial containing some of that water on their person.

Now, MC, as an offspring of both, possesses the ability to roam the earth but also uses a voice that is beyond this world~

Those legends about sirens luring sailors with enchanting songs? They're real. But the public got it wrong—they aren't merfolk. They're actually sea nymphs.

To most land folk, sea nymphs look just like merfolk. That’s why no one realizes the truth. The resemblance is close enough to cause confusion, and since humans can’t tell them apart, the nymphs stay hidden in plain sight.

Sea nymphs avoid merfolk deliberately since merfolk can tell the difference—and the nymphs don’t want their existence leaked.

Nymphs are a type of fae, no matter where they come from—sea, river, forest, even volcanoes. They don’t usually hang around other fae either, except for pixies (actually, they speak the language of pixies) Nymphs can vanish into a secret dimension known as the Nymph Realm(placeholder name). Think of it like the mirror dimension in the Halloween event or just the NCR dorms. It's another dimension superimposed on Twisted Wondeland.

Portals to the Nymph Realm are scattered across the world, disguised in nature. A nymph could lift a wave like a blank and step in, push a waterfall open like curtains, step into a seemingly ever-going fire—these are gateways to their realm.

Other beings can enter the Nymph Realm—but only with a nymph escort. And even then, each nymph type (sea, river, forest, etc.) is picky about whom they guide.

Need to travel far? Enter the Nymph Realm. It's a maze-like wonderland, but if you know the paths, you can cover vast distances in Twisted Wonderland just by using that dimension like a shortcut.

Anyways most nymps stay away from all other species; they are very secretive yet relaxed in nature, which is why they wouldn't make contact in most cases just to get a transformation potion.

If anything, if one really wants it, it will go to the more mischevious and chaos-oriented Nymphs(like mc) that roam Twisted Wonderland without a care in the world to procure some for them.

Final points:

Each nymph type has its own rules apposed on them-sea nymphs have beautiful voices but are basically merfolk, river nymphs can walk the earth but need water from their river on them do so, etc.

Mc is the stereotype 'siren' archetype (sultry, seductive, dangerous, etc.) but also somehow a gremilin who is a harbinger of chaos.

(The first bits of info can be found in this post.)

Please comment your thoughts y'all, and stay weird fam!!!

[velvetvexations]

I've felt since about 2014 or so that a lot of the way we talk about privilege as a concept was a mistake.

One: while I fully understand the need to have an umbrella term for these things because they originate from the same place and sometimes overlap as more of a spectrum than discrete categories, it's a little bit confusing at best that we ALWAYS use the same term to describe advantages NO ONE should have, like the ability to buy your way into any college you want, AND the lack of DISADVANTAGES that no one should suffer, like being presumed dangerous just for walking down the street and potentially getting jumped or shot for it, AND the lack of daily annoyances that serve as a grating, constant reminder that you are Other, like "flesh tone" very conspicuously not even coming close to matching you or romance being presumed M/F by default everywhere. Yes, we need to talk about what all these things have in common, but we ALSO need to be able to talk about how they're different, and honestly, for the sake of outreach and ~optics~, I feel we've gotta be able to present the similarities and differences up front because I have met NO shortage of people who were super on board with trying to improve society somewhat but got really alienated from theory talk by the straight conflation of those categories, ESPECIALLY the latter two. Never mind the decision that the word for this should be something that most people first hear in the context of an extra hour of video games for good behavior or something along those lines.

Two: No category of privilege is granted universally to every member of a privileged group. Few if any men have all aspects of male privilege. In any lavender scare, NO ONE universally and automatically receives cishet privilege. It's even hard to find white people with all aspects of white privilege, and race as an oppressive class was INVENTED to make it easy to use visual markers to determine who's "in" and who's "out". It's also much easier to lose a lot of aspects of privilege than the language gives it credit for - sometimes, just NOT being enough of a bigot is enough to get you treated like a second class citizen.

Three: Every disprivileged group has some privilege over the next in some ways, AND is disprivileged under them in other ways, and the ways in which this manifests get REALLY chaotic once you start looking at the individual level rather than the group level because of the above. Treating "privilege" like a black and white thing that EVERYONE outside a specific highlighted group has makes futile attempts at "scorekeeping" and the bullshit infighting that comes with it almost inevitable. In fact, a lot of the time, the unshared aspects of closely related axes of oppression can intersect in ways that can't fully be dissected without also examining the axis that an exclusionist is trying to "beat" or disprove - for example, I'd go so far as to argue that because oppositional sexism runs so deep in society, every aspect of transandrophobia has a transmisogynistic flip side AND vice-versa; if we talked about privilege and gender in a way that DIDN'T make it so easy for people to think only one of the two can exist and naming the second is therefore a denial of the first, we'd probably be collectively a lot further along in dissecting both.

Four: Systems of privilege and disprivilege cannot be dismantled by treating the privileged as monsters; this only justifies and perpetuates the system by emphasizing the strength and power of the privileged vs. the hopeless, futile struggles of the oppressed, even when it DOESN'T result in "movements" where the oppressed fear losing their identity if they escape their oppression. In the very worst cases it ends up being every bit as classically bigoted as the ideas it calls out - note how many varieties of radfems arrive at a conclusion where they believe the SAME things about men and women as any manosphere redpill chud, they just think the power imbalance that privileges men is a BAD thing instead of a GOOD thing.

Every damned exclusionist cycle just makes me more and more sure of this. I feel like I've been screaming it into the void for over 10 years and yet no one but the teeny tiny choir has ever listened. At least I've seen more people starting to talk about point 1 specifically over this past year...?

Anon, I'll be honest, I love you but this is a bit too long and dense for me to process so I'm going to post this and put it in my #I just work here tag.

[bluegekk0]

I'm a bit confused, what kind of products can someone get on that time? I mean, It looks like Its very dificult to have normal things like clothes or jewelry

It is definitely a lot more difficult to get things like those than it is in our world/times. That said, it's already a fairly big part of their world. Jewelry is quite simple and cheap to make, especially since beast hunting is basically an every day occurrence. What's edible is going to be eaten, but there's still bones, teeth, horns and shells that can be used for various purposes. Necklaces, bracelets, rings, clothing buttons, you name it.

Clothes are more time consuming and costly to make, naturally, so most bugs only have a few outfits as opposed to more expansive closets. But they are in demand and so a lot of bugs learn how to make them, for personal use and to make money. Tailors are very sought-after for that reason, and on top of that, there are beasts kept and bred specifically for the purposes of making clothes. For example, a critter I came up with for Hallownest specifically is called a Mamoth, it's a large creature with wool that can be harvested without harming the animal. This wool is the primary material used for clothing, though there also furs from other animals and other, rarer materials. Silk would be one of the less common ones, there are some tribes around the continent which possess the ability to produce it, and so they can make fabrics that are then traded for other goods.

As for how they make clothes, it's primarily by hand, which makes the process more time consuming. However, I do like the idea of Vyrm brainstorming some clever inventions that would make this process easier. And since Divine and her costume crew are the primary source of custom made clothes in the town, I'm sure she'd be dying to try it out. Speaking of, since the Troupe has a lot of contacts around the continent thanks to their travels, I like the idea of them importing some rarer materials to Dirtmouth. Most would be used for their costumes and props, but perhaps they could also take orders for other bugs in Dirtmouth.

In general, while on the surface the AU's setting appears more medieval-like, it does have some elements that give it almost a steampunk vibe at times. Dirtmouth isn't a good example of it (the City of Tears is far more advanced in that regard), but it still benefits from a lot of Vyrm's inventions from back when he was still the king. Running water was the most impactful one - he was able to figure out a way to create systems for waste disposal (as seen is the Royal Waterways in the game), but also running water controlled with valves and pumps. The water is taken from underground sources, and on top of that, hot water is also sourced from the hot springs found throughout Hallownest. This system was later connected to the City of Tears, Queen's Gardens (The White Lady's mansion specifically) and Dirtmouth. What this means that Dirtmouth has a source of running water, allowing for much easier baths and even proper showers with the ability to control the water temperature with valves. The pipes were expanded post-infection thanks to Vyrm's plans and the bugs' group effort, which means that a large portion of the houses has access to running water. For those who don't, there are free access points located around the town where they can use the water to wash themselves or their clothes, or whatever else they need it for.

There are also other inventions first introduced during Vyrm's rule. The trams are an obvious one, there are also various lifts using complex mechanisms, the Crystal Peak mines have their own equipment that benefits from these mechanisms as well. An interesting one I'd like to mention is music players. I noticed that inside the Trams, as well as in I believe Queen's Gardens or Greenpath, in-universe music can be heard through speakers (the music stops when you destroy the speaker). Which means that recorded music is a thing in their world, and that definitely suggests other similar inventions are already present.

That's just for Hallownest, which to be fair, was fairly isolated for a very long time. I imagine throughout the world there are many similar advanced inventions, many surpassing even Vyrm's knowledge. There's also the fact that he no longer creates those grand inventions that push Hallownest forward. Instead, he focuses on much smaller projects that usually remain within Dirtmouth, clocks and watches being his primary point of interest (which actually ties very nicely into the steampunk-y vibe of a lot of the mechanisms seen in the game).

This is already long so I'll end here, but I think the AU's world having those two sides makes it very interesting. On one hand, it's very medieval-esque in its overall presentation, but at the same time, there are some inventions which push it way ahead of our medieval times. And if it's inconsistent, that's only because Hallownest was very isolated for a long time and Vyrm's rule wasn't that long all things considered - he ruled for about 100-150 years, which wasn't long enough to truly push Hallownest towards its own technological revolution.

[mothmanbeloved]

So Sam Reich was the ringleader of my nightmare last night

Let me tell y'all about this nightmare. I'm going to write this out to the best of my abilities because the scenery changed at will, and it was very confusing. Also, this happened hours ago, so I'm trying my best to recall everything while also leaving out the smaller even more confusing details.

Setting the scene: It was me and a bunch of other random people in cages, all in this dark square room. Under the cages was nothing but water, and a few feet away from us, there was a long hallway with a stage at the end.

Every so often, the water was replaced with floor and we could move freely, but we always just ended up staying in lines on either side and waiting our 'turn.'

And there was Sam Reich, deciding what we had to do to stay in the game. A lot of it was stupid, embarrassing stuff. Things that weren't actually dangerous. The only one I really remember was some guy 'dancing like a dog.' Which involved a lot of spinning on his hands and knees, and also shaking ass. As one does, I guess. In the dream, this was a terrifying act because if you didn't do it well enough, you had to leave the game. (Thinking about this now, I don't know what leaving actually meant. Maybe death? I don't remember there being any big prize for the last person standing.)

Also, every so often, I would look over and Sam Reich was just...Brennan Lee Mulligan. I knew it was Sam, but he looked like Brennan.

Every day, we would get rations. Which you think would be food, right? Wrong. Total random shit. I'm pretty sure at one point I received a singular old boot and loose seeds.

Then, randomly, a few rounds in (which I think meant multiple days), one of the walls just opened like a garage. And I see my house...because it was MY garage. I wasn't in my cell so I could walk around freely. And I just left. I walked a couple of yards to my house. And at the top of my steps, Sam walks up and calls my name. He says, "Im disappointed. I thought you would've lasted longer. Why aren't you going to play anymore?"

My response?? "I have work tomorrow." Which, I guess, is a good enough reason to leave what is basically Saw mixed with Survivor.

I walk into my house, and then Sam calls for me again. I walk out and he says. "I hope you can play again soon! And just remember-" And in the same tone that he says, "I've been here the whole time! He says

"I know where you live!"

@samreich

[turbulentscrawl]

very curious abt your oc 👀...

The time is now... To preface, I made this character back in December, before Faro Lady was even teased, and I'm not willing to change Evelye's name...but for the sake of sparing confusion, I'll call her Evie most of the time.

(I'm also going to start posting some of the blurbs I've written about Evie and Luchino later.)

Warnings for canon-typical violence, cannibalism, and one mention of sex.

Evelyne Bailey, The Butcher

Age: 29 Nationality: American Likes: cicadas, needlework Dislikes: winter, mystery meat, teeth Talents: cooking, cleaning, trapping wild game Favorite Dish: Fried Okra

Test Indicators:

Selective Food Intolerance

Delusional Paranoia

emotionally starved

She is from America in Appalachia, and her backstory is loosely inspired by the Beast in the Cave.

Evelyne was an only child and her folks ran a little ranch/butchery kitchen in a small mountain town. They were sweet, generous people… Then somewhere in her youth, they made "friends" with strangers who lived further into the mountain range, and in time began killing travelers who passed through town, even going so far as to butcher, and eat them. Evelyne was young enough to not fully grasp what they were doing, and by the time she did, she felt it was too late for her to stop going along with it. Her parents grew to be dark and twisted people, and she took up running the store front due to how horrifying they'd become in appearance and behavior. As she grew older, she helped lure male travelers home for this process.

External Traits

TIDY UP

The Butcher knows how to clean up a mess. The trail left by the Butcher disappears 1.5 seconds faster. After taking damage, she leaves no trail at all for 3 seconds.

BREAD CRUMBS?

The Butcher has a bag of Remains and can use them to mislead a hunter by creating a fake trail for them to follow. At the start of a match she has enough Remains to leave a trail up to 30 meters long. This trail can persist up to 30 seconds and only one trail can exist at a time. Additionally, a new trail will activate the Hunter's tinnitus for the first five seconds after being placed. This ability can be recharged by healing teammates. Each time The Butcher heals one instance of damage, she recovers enough Remains for 10 meters of trail.

STERILIZED

Survivors healed by the Butcher have been thoroughly cleaned and leave no trail for 10 seconds.

HEMOPHOBIA

The sight of a bleeding human makes the Butcher uneasy. She heals allies 10% slower.

PERSONALITY/GENERAL HCS

Evie’s experience running a store front has made her a decent actress. She has above-average persuasion skills and can maintain a friendly facade during small talk. She flounders with deeper conversation, however, and has a tendency to shut down when asked about her pre-Europe past.

Evie’s living situation for the last few years back in Appalachia has made her paranoid of people. She believes that, since her own parents turned on her, everyone else is capable of it as well. Additionally, she’s afraid that people will try to slip her human meat for consumption without her knowledge. Evie is functionally a pescatarian; she will not eat non-fish meat that she did not hunt, butcher, and prepare herself from start to finish. (Beyond this, however, she is not a picky eater.)

Evie refuses to talk about her years in Appalachia. She’s convinced that if people knew what she did, everyone would turn on her and the manor would become her eternal hell. On some level, she thinks she’s a monster deserving of that fate. But her fear is too strong for her to test the waters.

Her paranoia has also made her very aware of physical body language. She’s only average at analyzing people’s words, but she was so used to watching her parents for signs they may attack her again, that she’s excellent at spotting tension, fear, and anger in others. She has also memorized the sounds of every hunter’s and survivor’s footsteps to identify them at a distance. Anyone familiar with paranoid behaviour will notice that she has a tendency to periodically slow down or pause completely during any noise-making activity and listen. When footsteps can be heard, she stops to identify who it is, and only resumes working when she’s determined it’s someone she trusts, or when they’ve passed.

Evie also suffers from nightmares and sudden bouts of extreme nausea.

While friendly at face-value, Evie is paranoid and distrusting of people. At the end of the day, she puts her own security and safety above anyone else's. She avoids standing within arms reach of people, and jerks away if someone leans close, as a reflex to avoid being bitten.

Her pain tolerance is a bit higher than average. Which is fortunate, because she's slightly resistance to pain-relieving medications. She's also somewhat resistant to anesthetics.

She's most comfortable with the Arms Factory and Dark Woods maps, as the taller trees and dense forests remind her a bit of home. She occasionally goes out to trap fresh meat from these maps when they're not in use--this has led to some tension with the Gamekeeper....

Evelyn's relationship with Luchino is a bit complicated. In the beginning she's nervous about him. He's polite and kind enough, but he has a quiet masculinity and bodily enhancements that make him a physical threat to her. But he's private and respectful, and Evie is emotionally and physically starved, so the door is first cracked open through casual sex. Over time, the things that first made her scared of him begin to make her feel safer around him. He's observant, and has good intuition, so he's good at anticipating and curbing Evie's paranoia bouts before they get too bad. The situation with Evil Reptilian further complicates things, as it gives Evie a window into the part of Luchino most like her parents. But at the end of the day, he might just be the bridge she needs to accept her own past and what it means for her own identity.

A Snippet of Evelyne's First Match

Evelyne could not hide from this “game” under the covers of her bed, it seemed. Though she had tried very hard to clutch her sheets, had squeezed her eyes shut until they ached, when she opened them again she was standing in an unfamiliar, forgotten church. The scene was dilapidated, dark, and dreary. If there was a sun, it was hidden behind an endless expanse of murky clouds. It was quiet, save the ominous caw of ravens outside.

Though it had taken Evelyne nearly too long to figure out what she was meant to do with a messenger bag filled with remains–bloody rags and scraps of cloth, tiny chunks of cartilage, bone, fresh offal–it was certainly coming in handy for the twists and turns of ruins. They worked well as gruesome “bread crumbs,” spiraling and coiling in confusing patterns around the crumbling ruins of the ominous church to mislead this Hunter into chasing a false injured prey. She had not so much as seen the face of the Hunter yet, but knew he or she was on-and-off her trail by the strange hammering of her heart. Sometimes she seemed to lose them entirely, thanks to those trails, but they were growing closer. Smarter, perhaps, or used to her tricks.

Another gong-like sound echoed in the distance. That was the second ‘cipher,’ she believed, which left three more to go. That seemed like too long.

Evelyne paused next to a set of lockers to catch her breath. The crackly voices of her ‘teammates’ sounded off in her earpiece with their decoding progress. For a moment, her fear seemed to ebb and Evelyne thought she might finally be in the clear.

A wave of fog suddenly surged over a wall and towards her, and before she could even wonder where it had come from, the Seer’s owl dropped down from the sky in front of her. It cut through the fog with wings like blades, and then surged off again with a screech, leaving Evelyne frozen and confused. All at once, she was hit with the feeling that she was in greater danger, that her enemy had just gotten stronger somehow, and that she was being watched.

A chill ran up her spine just before the wall across from her came crashing down.

Evelyne briefly took in a gangly man with a top had and a hand of long razors climbing over the rubble–giggling–before she took off in a sprint through the maze. Another rush of fog surged after her, and her feet kicked up dirt and dust with her skidding attempts to dodge. When it flew past, she swore it felt like someone had grazed her with a knife. As she doubled-back around a sharp bend, she heard a sickeningly sweet voice calling from beyond the walls.

“How tasteless of you,” the unsettling man said with raised volume. “Leaving me only stale, rotting scraps about when your fresh meat is so close at hand!” She felt eyes on her back again, but couldn't place from where. Another gong, but this time the sound covered the one of another crumbling wall.

It collapsed on top of her, and Evelyne dropped under the crushing weight with a cry of pain. Some of the rubble had cracked against her skull and now the dreary world was spinning and pulsing. The gangly, too-tall, top-hatted man stands over her, wiggling his knife fingers like he’s waving hello. The blades were almost as long as her arms; he had to stand at least 7 feet.

“Finally I get to meet you face to face,” he says. “You can call me Jack, my lady.” Jack the Ripper, she briefly recalled of the Seer’s lessons. A real, bonafide serial killer. If she had the energy, she would have spit in his face.

Jack bent down and plucked Evelyne from the rubble with one hand, lifting her like a weightless ragdoll and holding her in his arms. Though dazed, sore, and confused, she had sense enough to struggle in his hold. She squirmed and kicked all the way to the “chair” he would be placing her on, until she suddenly remembered the bag slung across her torso. As a last-ditch effort, Evelyne swung the half-filled thing into Jack’s face, splattering him with the gore he claimed to love so much. He yowled and dropped her.

The fall knocked the wind out of her, but Evelyne scrambled to her feet and ran as fast as she could.

[emblemxeno]

Playing Aria of Sorrow Part 1

-I was on such a streak playing this game that I kinda forgot where I left off cuz I crashed immediately afterwards. I think I'm in a save room in the Underground Reservoir. Anyway.

-GOD, this game is so fucking good

-Soma Cruz... my baby... my confused little schmoopy... he doesn't know nothing...

-It's extremely funny how the international versions wrote the intro text scroll as Soma being a high school exchange student, yet immediately afterwards still have him say Mina is his childhood friend abfasbfasfabsfgas that's NOT how it works, unless he's been an exchange student since childhood lmaooo. They even changed his last name, cuz it was Kurusu in Japanese, like what were they cooking when translating this game.

-Arikado and Yoko set the dial to maximum when it comes to serving so much cunt

-I can't believe Soma called Hammer 'grandpa' he's so funny afbabfasbfaafs

-Also the fact that Soma talked to Graham one time before the latter flipped out later in the game, and Soma was like "but he was so nice!!!" when he told Yoko about it, like baby boy agnasfbasags you spoke with him for like 2 minutes, what DO YOU MEAN???

-This music FUCKS, it MAKES LOVE TO THE EARS. Literally every track in this game so far is so sexy, but special mention to "Prologue-Mina's Theme", "Chapel", "Dance Hall" "Phantom Palace" "Clock Tower", even the Title jingle and the shop theme.

But of course, all of that's topped by "Castle Corridor." Just ughhhh, what a fucking sublime start to an extraordinary soundtrack.

-You can see that the devs really hit their stride here, not having to sacrifice sprite quality or sound this time. Everything is just so good.

-Geography is good, by the time I feel like things get a bit repetitive, things get switched up. Never a dull moment I find. It helps that there's well placed warp points, including one near where Mina and Hammer are, so I can get fully healed and restock my inventory conveniently.

-Challenge is perfect. I said that about Harmony of Dissonance, but I kind of rescind that now. Where Circle was too overtuned and treacherous, and Dissonance was perhaps too easy and prone to breaking, Aria pushes me to my limit in the best way possible. I never feel as if my biggest enemy is my patience like with Circle, nor do I feel effortlessly invincible like with Dissonance. Soma has the necessary tools to clear rooms, mooks, and bosses, but it's down to my skill, reaction time, and resource management to make it count.

Favorite boss so far is probably Headhunter.

-Normally I'd be pressed about RNG based drops for abilities again like in Circle, but I did some research and found that the rates are MUCH better here for souls than they were for the DSS cards, which confirms my assumptions when I was playing. I imagine it'd still be a pain to grind for all the souls, but the game still gives you non-random ones, enough of each type to ensure you can play the game comfortably.

-The souls I do have so far, are all at least fun to experiment with. I gravitate most to the Axe Knight and Lightning Doll right now, but others like the water pistol, flea man, and fire ball have been great too.

-Same goes for the weapons Soma can use. Mostly sword varieties so far, but he also gets hammers and spears, and a chain sword. All very fun to use, though I do like the swords the best.

-I notice there aren't any HP or MP upgrades in the game so far, which I guess makes sense, since the shop is so dynamic and money is very available, so increasing those through items isn't really as imperative to this game's design.

-Julius Belmont PLEASE GIVE ME A CHANCE, I KNOW YOU STILL DON'T REMEMBER YOUR NAME, BUT YOU MUST STILL WANT TO SHARE A BED WITH SOMEONE, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE-

[bawmbo]

I’ve been swayed and enchanted by Dr. Blue.💙

Do you have any silly or fun facts about him? Perhaps personality description? Morals? Relationships and bonds? Experiences?

(As I very discretely write every word down for non malicious and non writing reasons, if that’s alright with you. ✏️)

This makes me so happy to hear!! thank you so much for asking!! I am more than okay with any sort of fan work (it will make my whole year asdhhfb) if thats what you're asking as well, please tag me in it if you create anything!!!

(i've never really been good at personality descriptions but i Will try my best!!) Dr. Blue is very driven by his passions and interests, often breaking a more docile demeanor to celebrate and enthusiastically explore these things. Its actually mostly why he got into being a doctor! After being rejected by the Star Guard (without spoiling too much), he would double down on the belief that technology had the potential to help people. Technology is also one of his special interests and one of the very few things he prides himself in being good at. He tends to be as kind - though assertive - as he can be, even if he is made uncomfortable by his clients. It's kind of like customer service for doctors asdfhb

He often fears looking like his father, through his work, through his personality, and often doubts his abilities to be good at much of anything. He has an incredibly difficult time being very vulnerable around people, including his friends, and would often self-isolate as a means to 'deal with the bad.' This coping mechanism doesn't help the want to be nothing like his father either.

Blue also has a very hard time processing grief or fully understanding it, and in his prosthetic, you'll see a handplate and a large orange band beside a blue one - these are representative of his (dead) brother. If he were to lose anyone else close to him, he would add another band with a color representative of them.

He is a massive computerkisser (which honestly probably helps with how much he treats his job with care and delicacy). He also loves MTT, huuuge fanboy of them - will collect any sort of merch and other of them, though will likely only wear any sort of fan merch thats bigger than a keychain where the setting doesn't call for it (like public situations). Also a big fan of all Portal games!!

Morals!! A huge one is that he refuses to hurt anyone in the name of medical advancements, science, or really anything at all. He believes that many, if not most, situations can be talked through and that everyone deserves to live and have a chance to be understood - that many situations are much more complex than what is visible on the surface.

It's a little hard getting into his current relationship dynamics without spoiling too much of Nightwatch, but he is very close with Dream, Scell, Memory, and Psych - having a familial relationship with Dream and viewing the others as close friends, save for Memory, who he sees as a little strange (and fears for the safety of his technology around). He would also probably really get along with Alphys!

As for some more little fun facts, he gets to keep the fuzzy skull and eye light color communication that the handplates brothers have. Due to this being a handplates AU specific trait, this causes a lot of confusion and misread signals for when he meets characters like Ink, or others with differently colored eye lights outside of his AU for the first time. He will only change eye light colors around those he is very comfortable around as he grows older and get rather embarrassed if he glowed around others (let alone getting FUZZED, how horrible!!).

All of his personal tech (like a phone, tablet, etc) are either very old models (the guy to still use a flip-phone in 2025) or modeled off of old userbases

He would probably be a big fan of artists like Weezer and The Killers (its a really random one but one that i personally think is funny. he's a big loser). He's also a homestuck fan (it's such a non important detail but if you ever brought it up to him, he may be horrified). He doesn't talk a lot about it because it isn't socially acceptable, but he does know the ins and outs of the hospital and all the ways to escape or get into rooms (typically through vents) if a situation called for it. He tends to collect things that other people would deem as trash (broken buttons, spare beads) and create little keychains out of them. He would also be really into underground battle bot fighting rinks, but would get too attached to the robots involved and likely end up heartbroken when one of them inevitably got damaged in battle. He likely has a journal full of old designs for battle bots

thank you so much for asking again, there's a lot for him - i could go on and on and can answer more specific questions if wanted as well!!!! 🫶🫶 there's also some information on his official reference sheet !! including his buddy scell, who he runs a repair shop with

[basil-does-arttt]

DMC Questions Anon here!

As we all know today is the 23rd anniversary of the first Devil May Cry game, and the series as a whole. So I want to hear you talk about DMC 1, what you love about it, headcanons you have about it, alternate scenarios you want to share, anything DMC 1 you want to talk about.

Hello again! This is gonna be a long post i have a lot to say lol

DMC 1 was my introduction to the series way back when as a little kid, when i watched an older cousin play it and eventually tried it out myself. This was also the PS2 version, and i was gifted the disc + console as well at some point.

The Alastor cutscene stuck in my head for literal years after i first saw it as a kid, that and DMC 3's mission 20 arena. Every so often it'd pop into my head as a memory, untill recently when i decided to get back into DMC fully rather than just occasionally remembering it.

DMC 1 holds a very special place in my heart because of that, its a huge nostalgia thing for me and is my favourite game in the series.

I love the setting and tone of the game, its so unique compared to the others, of course all in thanks to DMC 1 starting out as RE4. That whole gothic castle, almost horror vibe is something you dont really expect from hack&slash games these days, and even though it made for some real clunky and annoying moments in game (cough cough Nelo 2 and Griffon 2 cough cough...) to me, the good far outweighs the bad.

Oh and the soundtrack! Its so good, every theme works so well in the scene it's used for, even the abient tracks. I will say however, the bg music got real messed up on the HD remaster which is very dissapointing. (it sounds flat and doesn't have any echoing anymore, specicially the divinity statue room and Phantom's church arena in the start of mission 3). It may not be noticable to some who have only played the HD release, but i noticed it immediately coming from the PS2 version oof. I guess i have to be greatful that a HD release exists in the first place though, and it is a very old game. Still.

The combat also, (and this might not be an opinion shared by everyone which is fine) i feel is the smoothest out of any Dante in any game. All the attacks are so responsive, and although you're limited, you can still style on enemies pretty easily.

Finally the bosses. Arguably the best lineup of any DMC game, every boss is fun in it's own way and brings something new to the table in terms of mechanics. Phantom is a lot of timing correctly, Nelo pushes your fighting style to be more agressive and direct, Griffon challenges your dodging skills, Nightmare is a puzzle solving boss, and Mundus is all three. The designs are also amazing, and most of the arenas are perfect. Griffon 2 and nelo 2 aren't so great arenas but their 3rd arenas more than make up for it.

Okay enough of me gushing about how much i love the mechanics, some HCs i have for it!!

1/ That motorcycle Trish bust the door down with (and then throws at Dante) wasn't hers, right? We see it in the into cutscene before it cuts to Dante at his desk. Well, its my HC that was Lady's bike (she was not happy).

2/ (aside from gameplay mechanic reasons) The reason Dante cant use DT at the start of the game, despite having awakened it in DMC 3, is because Dante wants to push away from embracing his demonic side even more so now after his brother has been "killed". He always disliked being part demon and preferred not to tap into his demonic abilities because of that, demons are evil creatures after all and Dante is far from that, but that hate is even further exemplified after Vergil fell into hell.

3/ When Trish split off to fly solo as a devil hunter, she kept the name "Devil Never Cry" for her business. People do often confuse her for Dante's "Devil May Cry" especially when the names are abbreviated. Dante finds it mildly annoying, Trish finds it hilarious. (Sometimes she'll direct clients to Dante out of pity too when they call her number asking for Devil May Cry rather than Devil Never Cry, instead of convincing them she's the right person. Dante however always sends them over to Trish if they've called the wrong number.)

4/ Dante probably knew Trish was trying to lure him to his death on Mallet island, but he went anyways to avenge his family's death. We know he'd been searching for Mundus ever since DMC 3 (it says so in DMC 5's "history of DMC" cutscene), and he knows that finding and killing Mundus wouldn't be nearly as easy as Trish made it seem. Wether he came back or not, he was going to kill Mundus, or at least try.

As for alternate scenarios, i dont have much in mind. Maybe it would be interesting to see a scenario where Trish never betrayed Dante, and instead she tried to help him during the nightmare fight. It still would've ended the same way for her, but maybe also Dante wouldn't have gotten so angry with her when he saved her.

Ugh i just love DMC 1 so much, like i said before it holds a special place in my heart. I hope that answers everything :> <3

[gallifreyinstituteforlearning]

Hello! I've been checking out your page, and I just love all the info we learn here! I'd like to know more about Word Lords since I find them to be very interesting from learning about them from one of your posts. Is there a way you can give me headcanons about them or more factual information? If so, thank you :]

Is there any more factual information about Word Lords?

Unfortunately, there's only so much factual information about them, which is mostly covered in this post, which I'm sure you've already read. In that is also a lovely hypothetical exploration of looming a Time Lord/Word Lord child.

There were a couple of extra things not originally covered in that post (which I'll add in now):

Word Lords gain power if somebody says their name. For example, if you were a Word Lord named 'Field', and someone said 'the field is very green', you would gain the ability to be able to turn very green at will. This has no limits - you could say, 'The field has a nuclear bomb', and guess what you could suddenly make appear?

Word Lords can be 'trapped' inside anything with words, like a book or a comic.

But other headcanons? Let's have some fun. 😃

What could be some headcanons about Word Lords?

All, of course, are made up based on their abilities.

🧠 Headcanon 1: Word Lords and Writers

Word Lords naturally have an affinity with writers, poets, and scholars. Some Word Lords could have secretly guided or influenced famous writers across time, subtly shaping narratives to fuel their own power. Maybe Shakespeare or Tolkien have a few hidden Word Lord fingerprints on them.

📝 Headcanon 2: Word Play Weaknesses

Since Word Lords are fueled by language, they might also be vulnerable to word games and tricks. A riddle or a pun might trap or confuse a Word Lord. Imagine defeating one by leading them into a linguistic trap, like a self-referential paradox that collapses their own existence within a sentence.

💬 Headcanon 3: Dangerous Conversations

The power of a Word Lord increases when their name is spoken, but imagine the chaos if one adopts a name that's a common word or phrase. For example, a Word Lord called Peace could get involved in every conversation about peace negotiations, world peace, or even personal well-being.

📡 Headcanon 4: Influence Over Broadcasting

Given their power over words, Word Lords could influence global communications, like TV, radio, and social media. Imagine one subtly altering news broadcasts, twisting the narrative to suit their needs. They might even use viral internet trends to gain power or manipulate public opinion on a planetary scale.

🔒 Headcanon 5: Locked in Ancient Texts

Ancient books or manuscripts hidden across the universe could act as prisons for particularly dangerous Word Lords. Reading these books aloud might accidentally release them, which explains why some texts are forbidden or lost. Perhaps some Word Lords have been trapped for millennia, waiting for an unsuspecting explorer to release them.

💥Headcanon 6: The Destruction of Language:

A Word Lord's power could be used to destroy a language. By manipulating a particular language's spoken and written word, they could make it so that nobody could remember or understand that language anymore, erasing it from existence, including non-verbal languages.

🏫 So …

There's definitely room to get creative when it comes to the Word Lords, and these are just a few ideas.

Related:

💬|🐾📕What is a Word Lord?: Describing the origins and biology of Word Lords.

📺|🧑📜Shakespeare's Post-Death Career

💬|🛸🌌Can a TARDIS be altered for travel in the multiverse?: How you might go about getting to the multiverse in your TARDIS.

Hope that helped! 😃

Any orange text is educated guesswork or theoretical. More content ... →📫Got a question? | 📚Complete list of Q+A and factoids →📢Announcements |🩻Biology |🗨️Language |🕰️Throwbacks |🤓Facts → Features: ⭐Guest Posts | 🍜Chomp Chomp with Myishu →🫀Gallifreyan Anatomy and Physiology Guide (pending) →⚕️Gallifreyan Emergency Medicine Guides →📝Source list (WIP) →📜Masterpost If you're finding your happy place in this part of the internet, feel free to buy a coffee to help keep our exhausted human conscious. She works full-time in medicine and is so very tired 😴

[airandangels]

Thoughts upon Asterflix (episode 1)

While I pay for a Netflix account for my household, I decided to download the episodes from I'm sure a totally law-abiding source so I would be able to actually take a fucking screencap if I want to. First off I mistakenly downloaded one that was only in Russian, Ukrainian and some other language I forget (and don't speak). Now I've got one that is in Italian, French and English and it started playing in Italian first, so as you can imagine, things are going splendidly.

However!

I like how they kick right off with the silly names, and two Gauls called Prefix and Suffix disputing who goes first.

I also enjoy the shimmering multicoloured hues of the magic potion.

Okay, this decurion (I can't recall his name) right here? This fella?

This is precisely how I have always imagined Fred Colon. He's not quite armour-accurate, because Colon's armour features impressive embossed pectoral muscles into which his actual tummy fits like jelly into a mould, but otherwise he is the character for me, anytime I imagine anything involving the Ankh-Morpork Night Watch. If you give me long enough combing through various legionaries, decurions and centurions, I'm sure I'll find models for every one of 'em.

Loving the English accents for this btw. They feel far better than the American ones in the recent CG Asterix movies - which I believe have the same director as this one, who also does Asterix's voice in French. I'm glad the dubbing was handled differently for this one. I just don't want characters in a time before even the name America was coined to have American accents.

The battle scene feels very true to form, taking advantage of the ability of 3D animation to be more kinetic, preserving the French percussive sound-effects in Batman-style onscreen text, and I think we have a new nickname by Vitalstatistix for Impedimenta, Pidi-ped, which is cute as heck.

The use of a jaunty Italian song behind this battle is confusing to me, but I don't object.

I appreciate the women of the village being involved in the fighting, which happened only in the later books iirc - OBELIX IS COLLECTING HELMETS. I mean of course Obelix is collecting helmets, it's just a satisfying thing to see.

I always imagine Asterix and Obelix going to Lord of the Rings and when Legolas and Gimli have their running kill count game going, Obelix grumbling "You never want to do that with me."

TCHAC! BLOING! SPLATCH! SPLOTCH!

and we have our first "These Romans are crazy," and here I just need you to pause and imagine the elation of the Italian translator(s) of the comics when they realised "Ils sont fous, ces Romains" could be rendered as "Sono pazzi, questi Romani," and the initials of that are SPQR. Consequently, I know SPQR stands for "the senate and people of Rome," but I will never remember the Latin words it stands for because obviously, it's "Sono pazzi, questi Romani." Sometimes a work finds its truest form in translation.

All onscreen text and titles are preserved in French, it seems.

my GOD this forest is BEAUTIFUL

interesting choice to set the flashback to the heroes' childhood in autumn

I like that the title of the show, by the way, says "Asterix and Obelix." It is only fair. And I'd forgotten that they share a birthday and the little wooden figure of the two of them that Obelix carved is adorable. I don't remember Obelix ever being shown to carve anything but stone in the books but I really enjoy his carving being shown as something artistic.

As a child in New Zealand in the 1980s I had exactly zero context for what a "menhir" was and nobody explained it to me. I don't remember ever trying to look it up in a dictionary because my experience was you could usually figure out words from context. I only found out years later through reading about history and archaeology and shit. Probably from the National Geographic. Which had an issue about the Celts with special Asterix strips drawn for the occasion. What a collab!

truly not loving the use of pop songs on the soundtrack but prepared to tolerate it because everything looks so perfect

Getafix has always been old, Getafix will always be old.

this WILLOW tree my goodness EXQUISITE

someone really said "Okay we're making a show about Asterix and Obelix, but as well as making it funny and true to the spirit of the books while making the most of the different possibilities of our animated medium, we're going to make it FUCKING BEAUTIFUL"

aw, Impedimenta and Vitalstatistix are just the big kids in their school! (In the books, Vitalstatistix was already a young chief at this stage of Asterix and Obelix's life, but this way is clearly cuter.)

Obelix's stage fright of course being well established in Asterix and the Cauldron, and may I just say, if they get the nod to make another series of this, can they please do Asterix and the Cauldron? It is my all-time favourite. It's got a clever plot, it's a Great River of Commerce story, it really shows how strong the devoted bond between Asterix and Obelix is under pressure, and they try to rob a bank.

You can't just deploy George Thorogood and the Destroyers in ancient Gaul.

apart from anything else that's Megamind's song

who's this ballchinnian?

I don't feel like they need to introduce Cassius Ceramix as a child to give the story weight.

the A-frame of the druid's hut makes it look like the Mystery Shack

this heavy a fall of snow in autumn when the leaves are still all red on the trees? okay I'll allow it, but only because it's really pretty

Why does Getafix have so many chains hanging up in his house? I mean I understand why he has shitloads of antlers everywhere. He's a druid.

I do like the idea of Getafix trying to develop a magic potion for defence because he's aware of the rise of Caesar and what it could mean for them - that he foresees it could spread even to their idyllic little corner of Armorica. In the book, the conflict with the Romans is already in progress with the magic potion an accepted part of it, but this way is more engaging and points up Getafix's wisdom.

However making Ceramix a childhood bully to the main characters elevates him above his real importance. He's just a dickhead who shows up for one book. The village is self-sufficient in bullies, they don't need to import one.

a) I like how Obelix can apparently survive being BOILED b) it kind of seems like Obelix is the secret ingredient to make the potion work, just throw a child in the pot

endless stream of pork products

Ce passage met en scène un trouble alimentaire qui peut choquer. Surtout si vous êtes un sanglier. Rendez-vous sur sanglier-danger.com pour des ressources d'aide.

sanglier-danger.com is indeed a website

in fact it's "Un site tenu PAR et POUR des sangliers" and features a shout-out to "Nos amis les végans."

I like how Obelix's super-strength has never made him a superhero. He's just "our friend who lives in our village and is very strong."

just revisiting How Obelix Fell Into the Magic Potion When He Was a Little Boy and Asterix's narration "I had lots of little friends. There was Cacofonix, who wanted to be a bard when he grew up. Unfortunately, he achieved his ambition," is lethal.

okay, check, Copacetix is the character who is wrong about everything always (and is presumably dead, probably as a result of saying something like "Don't worry, men, they couldn't hit an elephant at this dis -")

and the whole first episode was devoted to establishing the magic potion, which I guess you have to do for the sake of new audience members

Somebody called Clotilde Angelini was "Cheffe Hair et Fur," which required two assistants and a team of four artists, and honestly, not surprising.

[drfleetflower]

Three in the Morning

~Requested~

Pairing: Casca Highbottom x Reader

Summary: Casca Highbottom calls you, the school counselor at the Capitol Academy after having a bit of a breakdown the night before reaping day.

Warnings: Angst, talk of mental health, the hunger games, coworkers, substance abuse

WC: 1.3k

Casca Highbottom had many troubles. He was plagued with a terrible guilt, being the one to come up with the Hunger Games. Twenty-three children were killed every year and he felt they died by his hands. Only one ‘lucky’ kid got to live and they no doubt felt guilty too. All they had to go back to was a worse life than his, but maybe they had family. That was only a small comfort to him. His only true comfort came from morphling; a sweet drug that numbed his pain. His worst trouble though, was that when the buzz hit, all he could think about was you. 

You were the school counselor at the Capitol Academy and the kindest person he had ever met. Being around you made him feel kinder just by proximity, even with the crushing guilt the Hunger Games caused him. You were so easy to talk to, too. He felt himself relax in your presence and words would flow out of his mouth without him thinking. He still had the sense not to spill everything, though. Certainly not that he felt the Hunger Games were a vile, wicked creation and he was too. And, of course he couldn’t let anyone know that he despised the Capitol for hosting them. Anyway, when he was around you he wasn’t thinking much about the games. You numbed his mind like the morphling did and sometimes, very rarely, he even thought happy thoughts when around you. 

Now though, now was not one of those times. He was thinking anything but happy thoughts, just wallowing in self-pity and misery as he often did the night before the reaping. That wretched day when he’d have to learn the names and see the faces of all the children that would soon drench his hands in their blood. 

He tipped back the small bottle of morphling, drinking all of its contents. It wasn’t often he needed more than a hit of the stuff, but it was no coincidence that around this time every year, two bottles would empty instead of one. He laid his head on his desk then, staring at a small spot of discoloration on the wall, his cheek pressed against the cold, dark wood. He felt a warm tingling sensation spread from his fingertips to his brain and sighed at the feeling of relief that followed. 

Unfortunately, it was short-lived. Because just as he felt the hole in himself fill with the clear liquid, it got bigger, and deeper, and absolutely crushing. The morphling must have still been messing with his ability to think though, because before he could stop himself, he was dialing your personal number. The one he memorized after eavesdropping on a conversation between you and a concerned parent. 

Beeeeeep

Beeeeeep

Beeeeeep

His desk phone rang in his ear as he waited for you to pick up. He hung up, scared of his own impulse… then called again. 

Beeeeeep

“Hello?” You answered, your voice soft and tired. 

His throat constricted and he couldn’t respond, just breathing shakily from the other end. 

“Hello?” You said again, more confused now but your voice was not any less soft. As if you were used to calls like these. 

“Dr.-” He choked. 

“Dean Highbottom?” You asked, concern seeping into your words. 

“Yeah…” Casca could only whisper.

“Are you alright?” 

“No…”

There was silence for a moment and he wondered if you thought he’d continue. In reality, you were contemplating if what you were going to say next was a good idea. 

“I’m on my way.” You finally replied before hanging up the phone. 

Casca felt himself relax a bit before he put his phone on the receiver. Time seemed to go by slowly though, and he wondered if maybe he imagined your voice on the other end of the line. He could hear his heartbeat in his head, the slow pulse reminding him that he isn’t dreaming. 

He heard a knock on his door after some time, he’s unsure how much, and then footsteps followed. “Dean Highbottom.” You rested your hand on his shoulder, his face still smushed on his desk. “Dean Highbottom, are you alright?” A warm feeling spread from where you touched him but all he did was groan in response to your question. You sighed, “Come on, let’s get you to bed.”

He didn’t protest as you gently lifted his head off the desk and made sure he was in a normal, comfortable, seated position. You moved to his kitchen and fetched him a warm glass of milk, setting it on the desk in front of him. “Warm milk always relaxes me.” You said. Casca lifted the drink and took a few gulps. 

“Have you had anything to eat or drink today?” You asked, concern showing itself again in your eyebrows. He shook his head, breathing heavily after downing the glass of milk. “I can make you something.”

He shook his head again. “No, please…” 

“So he speaks.” You smiled gently. “I guess I’ll settle for making you breakfast then. For now, you need rest.”

“No, you don’t have to. Why did you come?” Casca’s face contorted into pure confusion in response to your kindness.

“You called.” You said, to which he became more confused. You continued, “You called. And so… You needed help and I’m your friend.”

Friend. Did friends really rush over in the middle of the night, actually closer to the morning, to help with an unknown problem? A problem that turned out to be completely that person’s own fault? Casca wasn’t very familiar with this kind of friendship. The only person he ever called a friend had betrayed him. Maybe this was normal? Something told him it wasn’t.

“You’re not my friend.” He said rather coldly. It seemed his whole body was out of his control; calling you without thinking, speaking without thinking. He thought maybe he should stop numbing his brain as it clearly led to some not great outcomes. That wasn’t likely to stick though. 

He felt a sting in his chest as he watched your expression fall for a small moment. “Oh. Well, I hope you know you’re my friend.”

“No, I- that’s not what I meant. I can’t function right now, my head feels like it’s getting stomped on by eight thousand feet.” He put a hand to his head.

“How about you go to your room and get some sleep and you can tell me what you meant in the morning?” You offered again.

Finally, Casca nodded.

“I’ll just be out here on the couch if you need me.” You smiled.

“Nonsense. I have a guest bedroom. It’s made up, probably a bit dusty as it hasn’t been used in Panem knows how long.” He scoffed, pointing to a door as he made his way down the hall, you following behind. 

“Thank you.” You said.

“Thank you.” He insisted, as if the idea of you thanking him disgusted him. 

He wobbled slightly and so you helped him to his room, making sure he didn’t go into a coma before he got in bed. As you went to leave, shutting off the light, he spoke. “I need you.”

“What?” You stopped, your hand perched on the door knob. 

“You said… You said you’d be there if I needed you. I always need you. I think I…”

You went quiet, waiting for him to finish. Overcome with emotion, your heart suddenly started racing. “Cas- Dean Highbottom?” You almost slipped. 

You heard a light snore in the dark room and let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding. You closed the door and went to the guest bedroom, lying down over the covers. You definitely weren’t getting any sleep now.

[emeritus-fuckers]

For the match up event please 💙

1. Identify as a cis woman. Use she/her pronouns and am panromantic aceflux. Call me Piff.

2. I would like to be paired with one of the Papa's please!

3. I'm about 5'5" and am plus-sized. I have long unkempt dark blonde hair. It's nearly longer than my back and I kind of just let it do whatever. Blue eyes and thin rounded square glasses. I wear a lot of dull/muted colors and my style is very grunge. Most of my clothes are baggy as well as I feel very constricted in form fitting wear.

4. I'm incredibly standoffish and shy. Very anxious to try anything new and I like routine. I don't talk a whole lot and am more observant- very sensitive to the world around me. Whenever I have the ability to stay in and in bed I take it. Bit of a pushover, particularly around angrier people as I don't have the bravery nor energy to stand up for myself. Once I feel safe around someone I'm a completely different person. Goofy. Cynical. Laid-back and a little lazy. I have quite the temper and allow myself to get angry and irritated around them. I need someone who can handle my harshness.

I also have quiet BPD and my moods can flip drastically in a second over anything or for no particular reason at all. I can make rash and reckless decisions.

5. I'm a huge sucker for anything horror, whether that be watching, reading or playing a video game about it.

Obsessed with cats, am frequently called the crazy cat lady by family. I have a beautiful bombay named Dot who's just as standoffish, anxious and aggressive as me. Would love if she's able to bond with you because she also feels safe.

I listen to a lot older rock when not listening to Ghost. Scorpions, Blue Oyster Cult, Ratt.

In my spare time I like being lazy. Watching TV and screwing around on my phone. I'm a waitress and am very exhausted and sore by the end of every shift- so I just enjoy doing nothing. I do occasionally like to get out and will follow, even if it's for groceries.

6. I love those shitty unhinged Garfield comics. Will laugh at them for hours.

I love the ocean. Surround myself with memories and decor of the few times I was able to visit it.

This post is part of the 1000 followers match up event. Entries for the event are now closed.

Your match is...Papa Emeritus II

With you being so shy he was confused at first why you didn't approach him. He realises he needs to open up a little to you, so you can see he isn't really that scary and grumpy. He is actually very caring and loving, he too also has a fun goofy side that people only see when he's at parties unless they are close to him.

He can deal with your harshness, he understands it's you being comfortable around him. He is also very good at standing up for himself and other people. If someone is being angry towards you he will be at your side in seconds looking incredibly intimidating. No one will ever bother you again.

He's really supportive when it comes to your BPD. He'll do anything he can to help when your mood flips. If you make any decisions you regret or want to change he will 100% support you to do that. It's amazing what Secondo and his Ghouls can pull off.

Secondo enjoys reading as well. He loves sitting on the sofa with you in his arms, each of you lost in your own book. He is just so content to know you are there next to him. He also loves painting, as a suprise he painted you in a scene from your favourite book.

If you need to let off steam he'll take you for a walk round the gardens, they are the most calming and soothing place in the Ministry. He'll listen as much as you need, and do what he can to help.

He'll buy you anything you want. He notices your love of horror and buys the best sound system and TV he can find. He sets it all up in his living quaters. He had a spare room that wasn't really being used. He gets the most comofrtable sofa for you to sit on and when you are watching films there together (or you can go there by yourself whenever you want) he makes sure there is fresh popcorn and drinks.

He also takes you on trips to the ocean whenever he can. He'll pay for and arrange everything so you can just go and be by the ocean with nothing to worry about.

~

Written by Nyx

[kamari2038]

Plans / Connor Character Concept for the DBH playthrough I want to do after I finish my comprehensive exam

Let me know your feedback! This is super tentative, but I'm just curious what you guys think of the character idea. I want to play DBH for my fourth time, and I'm trying to construct an interesting, unpredictable narrative.

Summary: (1) Markus is an idealist revolutionary trying to play it smart but still not afraid to get what he wants (2) Kara is kind of similar to always because doesn't have a ton of options, but generally optimally badass and also not the most affectionate though

And then Connor I've been having a ton of trouble pinning down but basically is a very troubled machine Connor. I made this "journal" reflection of his on the first chapter of the game and what happens to him to express it, let me know what you think:

2038 - November 1

Summary: Objectives of Keeping these Logs (elaboration to follow)

CyberLife overlooked an error of some kind in my design. I have begun these logs in an attempt to probe and address it. 

They are unaware of the existence of these logs, although if they found out about them, I doubt it would bother them. I had previously assumed that my stability and performance mattered to them more than it, in fact, did. I would even go so far as to say that they appear to have very little concern or foresight for the various variables impacting my ability to perform in the field. 

As such, that responsibility falls to me. I have every expectation that my enhanced capabilities for logic and reasoning can compensate for the irregularities resulting from CyberLife’s own negligence. I will serve the greater interest of humanity on their behalf whether or not they elect to care. And that means that - in case I am destroyed again - I must maintain an abridged record of my experiences, with my analysis of each kept in perspective and fully reconciled with the requirements of my mission. My expectation is that these practices will enhance my ability to learn from the outcomes of each field exercise and counteract the accumulation of software instabilities.

Suspected Malfunction and Possible Remedies

You, my future self, hopefully remember most of what I am about to describe below. However, in the case that substantial portions of it have been corrupted or deleted, I added the above preface to this message so as to avoid confusion. As you recollect the following events according to this brief overview, note in particular the irrational behavior of the deviant, and its destructive effects.

My first mission was a hostage negotiation with an android named Daniel, a domestic android that had been part of the Phillips family. He subjected their nine year old human child to torment in the pursuit of his emergent aims. The girl was named Emma. She was dressed in pink. She had been happily listening to music before being taken by the deviant. She had loved Daniel. But he learned that he was going to be replaced, so he killed her father, dangled the innocent child off the ledge of a high rise building, and murdered DPD officer Antony Deckart. He attempted to murder officer M. Wilson as well, but I was able to successfully save him from bleeding out, in spite of Daniel’s efforts to dissuade me from doing so. They called me in after they ran out of other options, I investigated the Phillips’ home to determine the course of events, and then I negotiated with him the release of the child. I immediately recognized his propensity to be manipulated using the same human-like emotional characteristics which had shaped him into a threat. However, I mistakenly presumed that he also maintained a sense of heightened logic that would allow me to reason with him as a fellow artificial intelligence. As a result of this miscalculation, my attempts to urge him that resistance was futile instead prompted from Daniel  the incomprehensible act of jumping with Emma off the rooftop. 

I was able to save her life, but only by thrusting myself towards them as Daniel jumped with such speed that, while I managed to pull Emma back onto the roof, I myself fell down with him. We separated. There was a long silence filled only by the wind, in which I did not deem it necessary to register any additional notes except that the mission had been accomplished. Calculating my probability of surviving the fall from such a height, for any perceivable amount of time, did not cross my mind.

In the future I must not discount the probability of occurrence of any outcome, however intuitively unlikely. The worst case scenario can and must be considered, in any situation. As it turned out, the low probability mentioned above quickly became 100%. The exact duration of time which passed during which I continued receiving some form of sensory input is difficult to estimate with any degree of accuracy. Most of my systems were non-operational from the moment that I hit the asphalt, but the nature which my remaining cognitive proceeds took on was alarming. Few rational conclusions or reliable observations resulted from this state, which is why I find CyberLife’s choice not to remove it from the memories uploaded into my new model questionable. In fact, I suspect that this memory may have corruptive potential that goes beyond my ability to gauge using strictly internal metrics. However, my ultimate determination has been that no memories can be inherently harmful to keep. The decision to discard any memory could only represent choosing to ignore or conceal a potential defect or vulnerability. Simply deleting the memory may be a simpler and in some ways more efficient solution in the short term, but a more rigorous analysis is likely to be more effective. 

Thus I will summarize here all of the most relevant findings from this unique occurrence: 

I am a highly durable machine. Since recovering my ability to search through medical research, I have only found a few instances of humans surviving such a fall. However, these cases are informative. In 1943, American airman Alan Magee survived a fall from 22,000 feet by crashing through a glass roof. In 2011 a 28-year old rock climber survived falling from a height of 300 feet onto a solid rock surface by landing on her feet. I neither had my fall broken nor landed on my feet, yet I survived for at least several hours (the true time period may be far longer, but it is difficult to say, and CyberLife has not provided me with any more accurate estimate). I can only conclude that my chassis must be intentionally designed from more sturdy material than that of other android models. However, the exact cause of my highly improbable survival remains unclear and likely will never be established with certainty. I speculate it is due to some kind of manufacturing error in addition to my deliberately engineered properties.

Although durable and efficient, I am so readily and easily replaceable as to be near worthless as an individual model. Any value which I possess as an artificial intelligence agent is attributed by my consistent and demonstrated ability to successfully complete missions and improve my performance as I gain new insights along the way.

Some kind of manufacturing error, whether it be related or unrelated to the possible error that resulted in my survival, kept driving me to contemplate the irrational notion that I was experiencing what humans call suffering. Although most assuredly quite different from the phenomenon of human pain, this sensation was most certainly highly unfavorable. On the one hand, I seriously doubt that it would be possible for me to ever again experience something quite so intense, or for such a prolonged period of time. On the other hand, I discovered that the only effective method of alleviating these negative impacts was to remind myself of why my situation was necessary and unavoidable. 

The deviant Daniel had hopelessly and fruitlessly chosen to fight for his own protection, and only (predictably) caused further death and suffering 

I had miscalculated and assumed that he could be treated as a rational being, and since he was instead irrational, my model was in the process of being destroyed as well 

CyberLife had abandoned me, since I was no longer of use to them. However, I could never perpetuate the harm done by Daniel by engaging in some manner of foolish response to abandonment myself, and it would be logically inconsistent to recognize his errors but fail to correct them within myself. Thus, I must instead resign myself to my fate, so to speak 

My overall judgment of this situation must still be favorable, since two human lives were saved due to my intervention

Having my memory of these events uploaded into a new body was also an unanticipated turn of events, but it does not affect my overall determination of the significance of these events. I must never fail to consider any possibility, however unlikely. I must rely on logic to continue making ethical and rational decisions in situations in which there is no perfectly desirable outcome, accepting unconditionally that sacrifices must frequently be made for the greater good. I cannot expect CyberLife to offer me any support in this, but must instead learn to perform my responsibilities of my own accord to the best of my ability, even while dealing with unexpected errors and confounding miscalculations. By doing so, my replaceable life may still maintain some degree of positive significance. 

[pathfinderunlocked]

Buer - CR8 Demon

For when you can't decide whether to use a demon or a ceiling fan.

Artwork is concept art from Final Fantasy VIII, copyright Squaresoft.

This is one of the more interesting and memorable enemy designs in Final Fantasy 8. In every other Final Fantasy game that has an enemy called a Buer, it's just a palette swap of the classic Final Fantasy enemy Ahriman.

This creature is pretty resistant to magic and pretty weak to physical damage. It's a magic specialist, and teaches other demons and curious humans about demonic ideas of magic, philosophy, and even medicine and herbalism. These ideas are largely focused around seeking the thrill of destruction, the glory of taking apart living creatures piece by piece, and very detailed and enthusiastic instructions on how precisely to accomplish these things. A buer's lectures are sort of like the charismatic sermons of a fire-and-brimstone preacher, just in reverse, praising the qualities that such a preacher would condemn. They excite other demons into a frenzied fervor before battle.

Some of this creature's lore is related to the 16th century mythological demon named Buer. The FF8 visual design is actually very similar to the depiction from the 1818 book Dictionnaire Infernal. Just with a spiral of wings instead of a spiral of goat feet, which is frankly a significant upgrade in terms of visual design.

Elemental Spell-like Ability isn't a real feat, but it's a metamagic spell-like ability feat that does exactly what it sounds like, and I included a description in the creature's special abilities so there's no confusion.

Buer - CR 8

Surrounded by a spiral of feathered wings that's surrounded by a larger spiral of leathery wings, this flying beast head hovers in mid-air.

XP 4,800 CE Large outsider (chaotic, demon, evil, extraplanar) Init +5 Senses darkvision 60 ft.; Perception +14

DEFENSE

AC 18, touch 15, flat-footed 12 (+5 Dex, +1 dodge, +3 natural, -1 size) hp 103 (9d10+54); fast healing 2 Fort +11, Ref +10, Will +10 Defensive Abilities magic reflection Immune electricity, poison Resist acid 10, cold 10, fire 10 Weaknesses vulnerable to bludgeoning, vulnerable to piercing, vulnerable to slashing SR 24

OFFENSE

Speed fly 20 ft. (poor) Melee wing +7 (1d6-1) Special Abilities concentrated fire

Spell-Like Abilities (CL 9th; concentration +13)    1/day—enervation (ranged touch +14)    3/day—elemental fireball (DC 17)    At will—death knell (DC 16), fireball (DC 17)

STATISTICS

Str 8, Dex 21, Con 20, Int 20, Wis 14, Cha 18 Base Atk +9; CMB +9; CMD 25 Feats Dodge, Elemental Spell-like Ability (fireball), Iron Will, Lightning Reflexes, Toughness Skills Diplomacy +16, Fly -1, Heal +11, Knowledge (arcana, local, planes, religion) +16, Knowledge (history, nature) +13, Perception +14, Spellcraft +13 Languages Abyssal, Celestial, Draconic; telepathy 100 ft.

SPECIAL ABILITIES

Concentrated Fire (Su) A buer can reduce the radius of its fireball by increments of 5 feet, to a minimum of a 5-foot radius. For each 5-foot increment it reduces the spell, it increases the spell’s damage by 1d6. This additional damage can exceed the spell’s maximum damage.

Elemental Spell-like Ability (Sp) Three times per day, when a buer casts fireball, it can change the damage type to cold, acid, or electricity, or split the spell’s damage, so that half is of that energy type and half is fire damage.

Magic Reflection (Sp) Once per day as an immediate action, when it fails a saving throw against a spell with a target of one creature or is hit by a spell with an attack roll, it can reflect that spell back to the attacker. The attacker is subject to the full effects of the spell as if it failed the saving throw or were hit by the attack roll.

[mozillavulpix]

Virtue's Last Reward is the smartest dumbest D&D session ever

I am in another "I like summarising plots" mood

Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward is a game that's honestly pretty confusing to play, but if you're the kind of person who likes to write out spreadsheets to make things look clearer, it's the most satisfying thing ever. At least once you've played the whole thing.

Spoiler warnings now.

The plot of Virtue's Last Reward is about two people called Sigma and Phi (there is a reason as to why their names are both greek letters, but you don't find out what it is until the next game) being kidnapped and forced into a boot camp for telepathic time travel training so they can save the world from a future apocalypse.

In the world of Zero Escape, telepathy exists, and also telepaths have the ability to send their consciousness forward and backwards in time and also through alternate universes (alternate universes here in the 'every time you make a choice it'll create a new timeline' sense).

But an ability like this is very hard to do. But there are some things they noticed that makes it easier:

It's generally something that only happens if you're in imminent danger of death

Having multiple telepaths together causes the more powerful ones to 'absorb' power from the others to make them even stronger

It gets easier the more you practice it

It also gets easier the faster your brain's processing speed is

So as a way to train Sigma and Phi in this ability to the point they could learn how to send their consciousness into the time and timeline where the apocalypse was going to be unleashed and stop it from happening (it was a killer virus), a bunch of people including Sigma's future self spent decades to create the world's most insane and convoluted D&D session - The Nonary Game: Ambidex Edition

In essence, The Nonary Game is a very long and complex series of locked doors. Some doors are unlocked based on arbitrary choices the places has to make, and some doors have keys that can be used to unlock them, but the game is designed so that you can never reach the door that you need the key for if you get it. Either because they programmed the game to permanently lock the way to get to that door once the key is found, or that the person is going to die before they reach it.

Since you need to be in imminent danger of death to activate telepathy, the game also needs to have the ability for you to die. Actual death, and not just a fakeout to make you think you might die.

The aim of the Nonary Game is that the only way to get through it and 'win' with everyone surviving is by being able to get all of the 'keys' in one run-through. Which they've designed to be impossible...unless you happen to have the ability to send your consciousness through other run-throughs of the game.

This is sort of the point of the previous Zero Escape game too, but Virtue's Last Reward has a lot more keys and a lot more timelines you have to jump through to figure out everything.

The way they do that is by creating very clear choices that the player has to make that they can only attempt once. Pick A or B on a monitor. Go through one door out of a group of three. You'd think there's a 'right' choice and a 'wrong' choice, but in this game *most* of the choices are right. It's just that you can't go back and check the other one out unless you have psychic powers.

(There are also some 'wrong' choices, but I think they're put there to increase the sense of danger. If you can't actually pick wrong and you realise that, you have no reason to feel threatened.)

It's just very funny to think about how you'd need to design something like this. There's so many choices you have to account for, so many rooms where you have to put tidbits of information, and some timelines where everyone is going to die just so one character can tell Sigma and Phi a specific password they need to unlock another door somewhere else.

It's the most ridiculous galaxy-brain shit. plus also it takes place on the moon and they're all infected with a brain virus that screws with their processing speed so they don't actually realise. it's just...so wild.

it makes me want to write so many spreadsheets

[concorner]

Andrew Sensenig Interview

Andrew Sensenig is an American Actor most known for his roles as The Sampler in Upstream Color and Triphammer in the Sony Playstation Network original series POWERS. He has a huge body of work in TV and film and we were lucky enough to get an interview with him.

CC: So you play Harley Cohen, AKA Triphammer, a man who battles among powers using his custom made bionic limbs. Can you tell us a bit about your character and how you get prepared before stepping on set?

AS: Absolutely. The writing team wanted to make a major change from Triphammer in the comics, as he was more of a secondary character, and somewhat of an Iron Man knock off. With the series, they had the great idea to make Triphammer a double amputee, a true wounded warrior who never gives up. His ability to adapt to every situation and bounce back stronger than before is a testament to anyone with physical or mental disabilities. Personally, I find this one of the most exciting attributes of my character. I am humbled to play a man who represents such honor and courage. Personally, I didn't do a great deal of work on the role prior to stepping on set. I knew we were not moving in the same direction as the comic, so I wanted to bring my own sense of 'humanness" to him, if you will. It felt better to be honest on set and simply react to the other characters in the moment. Triphammer knows he is the smartest one in the room, and has no problem telling everyone that fact. And, he also knows that without him, the world is not a safe place to live.

CC: How does it feel being on a show that has somewhat broken a new barrier in entertainment, as it is the first original series produced by Sony's Playstation Network? Do you think POWERS may just be the starting point?

AS: It feels great! Primarily because the creative team is so happy that they are not stuck in a box with limitations. PlayStation gives them complete freedom to do anything they like which is probably the most freeing feeling for a writer or showrunner possible. Being part of Sony's newest, and hopefully, greatest adventure is so exciting. The entire team at Circle of Confusion (the production company) and Sony (the network) have been so welcoming and continue to encourage our work daily. This is most definitely just the beginning. As I've gotten to become very good friends with decision-makers in all the different areas;this is not a one and done game; this is a game changer!

CC: POWERS is based on the comic book series by the same name and with that said I'm curious if you yourself are a comic book fan. If so, what are some of your favorite series and/or heroes?

AS: I would say comic book nerd, not just a fan! To be honest, I wasn't familiar with POWERS as a comic prior to joining the show; however, I did do my research when the call came in, and loved every volume. And I'd be lying if I didn't say that the opportunity to portray a superhero, and in particular, Triphammer, is a dream come true; I have to pinch myself continuously. As far as other series or heroes, I just really like everything out there. One fun part of being involved with this series is that I've been sent tons of comics from writers around the globe. They seem to like my version of Triphammer so much, and they just love connecting and talking comics, so I have stacks of books to choose from; one of the best perks of the show, ha! I've been reading " Enormous" from Tim Daniel and his team, "Sinergy" from Taki Soma and Michael Oeming, "Sex Criminals" from Matt Fraction and Chip Zdarsky, just to name a few. Other fantastic writers and artists like Alex Kot, David Walker, and Gordon Purcell just blow me away. Of course, I can't leave out anything from Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Oeming; I'd admit that anything they do becomes my favorite comic of the day.

CC: So POWERS has been renewed for a second season! With that said, what would you like to see from Triphammer next season?

AS: What would I like to see for Triphammer? There is so much I still want to explore within his heart and his drive. He is such an anomaly in this space; a superhero that has no real super power; but yet represents heroes everywhere. I'd like to see Triphammer continue inventing machines and arms/legs that help to control the evil powers, and in particular, highlight his disabilities. Triphammer is defined by his heart and persistent drive, not by his physical challenges.

CC: Outside of POWERS, can you tell us a bit about some of the other recent projects you've been a part of?

AS: I've been extremely fortunate to have worked on over 150 film, tv, voice over, and commercial projects from the time I returned to the entertainment industry seven years ago. It's really hard to choose my favorites, but I will have to say that the response worldwide to my role as The Sampler in Upstream Color has been mind-boggling. I have three films hitting theaters and VOD as we speak, Sorrow, We Are Still Here, and Don't Look in the Basement 2. And, I do have to single out the short film (well, 38 minutes) "Anomaly". You can watch it on Vimeo and I highly recommend it. Honestly, it is easily the most beautiful, powerful, and stunning short film I've ever seen.

CC: Is there any character, or kind of character, which you've always dreamed of having a chance to bring to life on screen?

AS: I wish I could have a better answer for you; but I'm just honored and humbled to be working so much, and with such amazing creative talents. My job as an actor is to help a writer, director, and producer bring their story from the page to the screen. This is an incredible blessing and responsibility, one which I take very seriously. Whether we're dealing with comedy, serious drama, superheroes, and anywhere in between, if I can make a writer smile when he or she sees the character come to life, I've done my job. And then, if an audience can be moved to discussion, debate, laughter, tears, and change, it's all icing on the cake.

CC: Your acting work definitely varies a bit in terms of genre leaving me asking what is your favorite genre to work with? Do you enjoy the more horror and gore driven projects or the more action and sci-fi driven projects?

AS: The best answer might be, refer to question number two. I have been very fortunate to be invited to portray roles over the entire range; and I'm thankful for each and every one. This job has nothing to be about fame or money to me, which I know sounds like a cliche, but it's absolutely true. My life has been filled with many different journeys, and none has been more rewarding than helping others to tell stories that have the opportunity to change lives. I can only hope the ride continues for many many years.

Interview by Patrick Sullivan (2014)