#Also if u think this is a ship post

[jangmo-othewarrior]

Playable Patty Concept? Playable Patty Concept!

Truth be told, this has been stirring in between my ears for a while now. Patty is always fun to brainstorm about, and I've seen some posts discussing her playstyle, so I've decided to put my hat in the ring.

First things first, what makes Patty unique?

Every single character in DMC has their own unique quailty to their gameplay that differentiates them from each other. Lady primarily uses guns, Vergil has the motivation gauge, which encourages precise and accurate gameplay, Dante has a revolving door of weapons and guns, you get the picture.

So, what about Patty?

Patty is the descendent of a demon summoner, and thus has the ability to summon recreations of powerful demons she has already defeated (bosses). She utilizes these alongside her rapier and her twin pistols to mow down demon hordes like a freshly cut lawn.

In a way, this style would be somewhat similar to Nero; one melee weapon and one gun weapon with a revolving door of one more thing. However, the demon summons themselves would be more similar to Dante's weapon switching, with some differences. Which leads us too...

How does Patty's weapons work in gameplay?

Similarly to Nero, Patty has her pistols and her rapier. The pistols are somewhat similar to Ebony and Ivory, but they are much more equal, both technically being interchangeable for the other rather than having specfic purposes. These pistols, whose names are Fuchsia and Magenta (she was ten and wanted to have cool, rhyming guns like Dante), are special in their ability to link up with her demon summons for combos, but we'll get into that soon.

Patty's rapier, affectionately nicknamed Harmonia after the Greek godess of unity (Vergil approved), is unique in DMC weapons in its swordplay style. Instead of slashing like the DSD or Red Queen, Homonia is designed for stabbing and disarming. Patty's sword style is much more reliant on dodging and finding openings for stab attacks than just brute force. This works in tandem with Patty more squishy nature compared to the Demon Bois. Harmonia also links up with demon summons for combos, just like Magenta and Fuchsia.

So, how do Patty's demon summons work?

Similarly to Dante and Vergil, Patty has a rotating door of different summons collected from the remnants of her bosses throughout this hypothetical game. She can switch between them just like how Dante switches his weapons, and she can summon them with a click of a button, just like V. They can also be dismissed at the click of a button as well.

Unlike V's familiars, however, these summons are autonomous and attack enemies with basic attacks with no input from Patty. She can, however, run up to a summon and link up with them to access their combos. Each summon is upgradable, and they are all unique. I don't currently have concepts for these summons specifically, but at least one should be a demon from the Anime for funsies.

Okay, but what about Patty's upgrades specifically? What is her skill ceiling like?

Now this is where the fun begins.

Patty's skill ceiling comes from the player's ability to manage summons. Which one should you use when, that type of thing. However, with a simple upgrade, Patty can have multiple summons out fighting at the same time. Obviously this can become chaotic, especially when the player upgrades enough so that ALL of Patty's summons can come out at the click of a single button.

Obviously, this can can be overwhelming for the player. Four separate, autonomous entities all fighting enemies and you want a specific one for combos but you have to run up to it in the middle of the extremely chaotic fight just to use the combos you want? Seems like a hassle. Thus, there would be upgrades that let the player map specific summons to certain buttons so that Patty can have her chosen summon immediately link up with her for combos.

Essentially, Patty's gameplay is like if V's familiars were on DT AI mode the entire game except there are 4 of them and Patty can link up with them for combos as easily as Dante can style-switch. (It would even use the D-Pad just like style-switching on a controller!)

Finally, what about her Devil Trigger Gauge?

Well, looking at the only character somewhat similar to her, V, his DT summons Nightmare. So, Patty's DT would have her summon a powerful demon, easy. But which demon? Nightmare worked because of his status as one of the last bosses before Mundus in DMC 1, and his lore surrounding his power being so great that Mundus threw him into his own dimension because he didn't want to deal with him. But DMC5 Nightmare at least listened to V, so Patty's DT summon would need to at least have to listen her, which most demons, if not all, fundamentally don't. So clearly we've run out of options, right?

... Wrong. Who better to function as Patty's DT summon than the demon she has bossed around and annoyed for a decade at this point? A demon she has managed to get emotionally attached to, and who is definitely emotionally attached to her? A demon who owes her for cleaning the office he trashed in a fight again, so Dante better show up before she drags Vergil into this mess.

Dante's doppelganger features as Patty's DT, and essentially functions similarly to Nightmare. Fully autonomous, until you upgrade him. Then, Patty will jump onto his back for a demon killing piggyback ride. The doppelganger would look similar to Vergil's doppelganger, just with Dante's SDT design and red instead of blue. Also, just for fun, when DT ends Doppel!Dante can say a funny quip as he dissipates along the lines of 'We should do this more often!' or 'Don't tell your mom about this, Pattycakes!' I dunno, something fun :)

Once I had this idea in my head, it just wouldn't go away. The idea of Patty basically calling her dad and asking him to beat the shit out of whatever demons she's fighting is so fucking funny to me. True father-daughter bonding right there.

[soranker]

tomorrow :)

[mikansei]

from the trailblazer's perspective:

we met some weird guy who wears a statue on his head, who was kind of a dick to us, but then we went on a little entomological field trip where he was oddly encouraging. surprisingly nice to us afterward for all that he literally interrogated us first. but herta runs around as a doll and we're plenty weird ourselves, so dr. ratio is whatever, i guess. we probably think of him as "that weirdo who was on the herta space station once," which is an association i'm sure he'd hate - but hey, at least we don't call him "scholar king."

from the trailblazer's perspective:

we met some flashy IPC guy because we accidentally held him up in line at the hotel check-in, himeko tried to negotiate and it turns out he's a professional cutthroat negotiator, but it all worked out and he gave us his fancy room. he also loomed over us with freaky glowing eyes and maybe threatened us, but it was kinda vague and it's not like he really hurt us. well... until he did. the trailblazer gets the opportunity to be verbally sore about that, but the fight didn't really feel like cocolia, like phantylia; like aventurine had gone mad and wanted to take over and/or destroy the world. his grandstanding didn't make any sense to us at the time, though, and fighting him sucked ass. but we lived and - as we found out eventually - so did he.

then the trailblazer boards the radiant feldspar, and we see aventurine's hologram talking with ...boothill? okay. who explicitly says they're working out some kind of shady underhanded deal to find oswaldo schneider which, subtlety thy name is not boothill, but that's none of our business i guess. but aventurine's there(-ish) and alive and not cackling mad, which is an improvement.

then we go into the next room over and see that herta space station weirdo, dr. ratio.

huh???

and the first thing he says to us is "no wonder that gambler likes you so much."

huh???????

everything about this is news to the trailblazer. since when is dr. ratio not only on penacony, but in the dreamscape, aboard the exclusive invitation-only dream cruise ship? since when does he not only know of aventurine, but was apparently on this mission with him? since when does aventurine like us??? we just got done mutually trying to kill each other! his hologram didn't seem sore about it, which is great for us, but doesn't exactly translate into "like!"

why are we hearing this from him and not aventurine? why does he know aventurine's thoughts on us in the first place?

dr. ratio really just shows up, yaps about aventurine unprompted, recommends us reading material, complains about the crowd and then is like "k i'm done here. ur dismissed."

the trailblazer had bigger things to think about but i, the player, do not. the fandom at large may feel like 2.3 fell flat, but the fall of the roman empire is still within the wheelhouse of my roman empire. i never left the radiant feldspar. i am still aboard this fucking ship.

[cozylittleartblog]

had a(nother) nightmare

[rystiel]

i feel like a fish swimming against the current in a river of angst enjoyers as someone who wants to make those characters happy for once

[beescake]

PLEASE PLEASE MEGADUMP THE ARASOL!!! PLEAAASEE MR BEESCAKE I AM ON MY KNEES BEGGING YOU

HFHGHD GLADLY aaa i’ve been adding notes to it here and there for months but just hesitant to post it bcs im 🧍‍♂️🧍‍♂️🧍‍♂️🧍‍♂

also this is just my own takeaway of the events, it doesn’t necessarily comply to the Ultimate Truth of Canon-Alignment or represent the actual facts of what hussie intended! v sentimental smh but hopefully its still interesting to read

i love when characters inform each other by proximity, it's one of my fave things to see in media :') it feels even more significant when two characters deliberately choose to stick together, so that when one operates, you can tell the other is similarly aligned in associative solidarity.

sollux is a keystone of this trope — whoever he aligns with is a wordless statement, a nod of approval. this stood out to me bcs the main four humans were alr friends by default, but once you reach hivebent you realize the trolls can actively choose who they want to hang out with.

and as we all know, after assessing every troll's biases/loyalties, sollux is the only one who maintains his selective preference for innately Good 👍 people.

aradia is such a beautiful character honestly, she evokes such incredible feelings in me. she might not have been consistently written with care but the best parts of her character are truly stunning. i think it's easy to remember sollux as the self-sacrificing one bc he's so open about it (and his friends frequently react to his Moments) but when you compare him to aradia, it's always struck me

how much more. raw it is

to be so alone as an agent of time, having to orchestrate immeasurably harrowing events nobody understands or gives a fuck about

with your role painted in the story as one who must tend to the needs of the narrative, responsible to match every next note

because when you're given the capabilities, it becomes your duty to carry it out.

it becomes expected of you to keep experimenting and arranging the machinations to work for everyone, dusting off hundreds of necessary failures to keep going

and having to be so unwavering in your drive knowing miserably that there's no one who can help you but yourself.

or alternatively: to make things fun! so other people won't think twice about letting you go off on your own.

sure she's had some very good buds, notably thanks to Team Charge v Team Scourge antics.

and yet, at the end of the day, the one friend that kept choosing her time and time again was the friend with the highest standards.

i can see why people like to define arasol as moirails/matesprits but surprisingly i find the nondescript, unlabeled aspect of their relationship more straightforward to understand.

there's no shortage of people who would accommodate sollux. most of the surviving trolls are his oldest friends bcs he’d chosen them well. his transparency with his feelings had built him strong friendships that won’t falter or break, regardless of how much of a dick he can be. they’ve already seen and accepted him at his worst, and they still like him for who he is.

contrast that with aradia, who'd been so approachable, friendly and reliable in her exchanges it was super fun to talk to her. but the moment she became depressed, all her connections broke down.

her friends became hesitant to interact with her (until she became god tier, “happy” and amicable again) because her gloom and resignation didn’t serve them. she dealt with it alone.

there’s def something of note here abt the disparity between the way male & female characters are written+perceived in homestuck (esp parallel arasol with davejade) but i won’t go into that lmaoo

with this in mind i like to think of sollux as a gift to her, a loyal companion given to complement and commend her resolve. she's capable of doing so much alone but hussie took the time to build her and sollux's relationship as one of a unit; a set.

the ambiguity of their status does complicate things, but i do believe it makes sense with their characters. aradia's relationship with romance is a rocky one, the dubious stringalong equius had with her is a pointed reminder that her feelings of attraction are ultimately controlled by the author writing her.

unlike the other trolls who can openly address and own up to their crushes, aradia had romantic emotions forced upon her (especially when hussie implies 'she kissed equius back on her own volition'). and it seems like her character is so intrinsically neutral abt attraction that even when forced by the almighty powers above, she's unable to retain it wholly.

however, looking back to pre-game when she could actually "choose" her own feelings, she did have a crush on sollux.

their soft spots for each other were so obvious to the point where other people could see it.

taunting aside, when vriska comments on their unit as bf/gf it actually informs the audience that arasol's relationship is romantic in nature despite not aligning with the quadrant system.

even while dead, aradia could still describe her care for sollux, expressing that she would like to see him happy. if they had more time to explore their relationship on alternia, it's possible they could've settled in a quadrant once they grew older.

but going back to the lack of labels, their dynamic was affected once more when aradia became god tier.

to me, her ascension was both the perfect culmination and possible closure of her character. it's the light at the end of her journey toiling through countless of timelines where she had to actively assess and participate. that's why it's cool to see her being silly and having fun giving guidance, passively exploring and watching other people do their parts.

and yet the joy of her freedom makes it hard to explore further introspection. if we take her by her word, she'd already come to terms with the hurt she's been through and forgiven those involved.

i can't help feeling attuned to how impersonal and detached it can be, to devote and meld your identity so completely with your designated position as Maid of Time until you've become hard for your old friends (and even some readers!) to personally connect to.

idk post-canon but i assume there’s some degree of similarity to be bridged here with aradia's god tier and how the hs2 humans' Ultimate forms was described as a consolidation of all their possibilities. since aradia's classpect is inherently of service to Time, going god-tier may have elevated her beyond personhood with the "game construct" possessing her entirely. sollux doesn't realize the extent of it bcs he's still mortal, but a part of him may have subconsciously understood this.

i think there is a core aspect to aradia that was lost to the dehumanizing glory of god tier — a core aspect that may have contained an element of why sollux enjoyed talking to her in the first place.

to him, aradia hadn't just been a nice girl, she was a cool girl. despite not having much in common, he's still willing to chill next to her so she's not alone while she does what needs to get done.

back on alternia, they held a mutual and equal-level regard for each other that could've definitely settled into something permanent. but now, he's placed himself in a position where he can be kept around or left behind at will. the parameters of the relationship are largely in aradia's court, so any label she suggests to identify their relationship with he's likely to accept.

but that's why it's so difficult to label it. because god tier aradia may not necessarily Want quadrants or relationship labels. rather than the initial romantic attachment, their commitment to each other had evolved into one fundamentally of companionship.

no label? ok fine. no matter what, he still thinks she's a good soul worth latching on to. the best, actually. aradia > everyone else.

even if it gets stilted at times. there's an unexpected struggle to connect when sollux's go-to default for talking points is his feelings about things, and aradia may not want to talk about emotions all the time.

not to mention god tier aradia became an observer, especially of chaos. but sollux's avoidance of involvement comes partially from his innate pressure to get involved if something goes wrong. and he can't always tell when something goes wrong, because aradia doesn't mind if things go wrong anymore.

it's a non-negotiable preference that causes them to take the occasional time apart, a new boundary that wouldn't have existed before the game and aradia's god tier.

but just like how his friends tolerated his moods, sollux accepts aradia as she is. with no quadrants, their connection doesn't break down because there's no implicit romantic expectations to be disappointed by or resentful over.

sometimes when i see hs content that deliberately distances sollux from aradia, i assume this is the dissonance people might have felt. people might find it "easier" to be cynical about them bcs of this strange tension.

but idc lmao. grab that shit by the neck

lack of easy resolutions and cleanly tied ribbons is pretty standard of homestuck and imo it doesn't make arasol's dynamic any less incredible. with the right affection and consideration, there's still so much potential to develop the nuance of their relationship outside of the popular quadrant-based depictions.

hs has a lot of really great character compatibilities but the way aradia and sollux are in their own special orbit is why i can write this much about them in the first place. it's that frail innocence between first loves that makes it so sweet to me, two kids who grew up too fast playing guesswork without being clear where they're going.

ultimately i do think you're meant to feel a little tragedy for just how much they care for each other, even if they can't quite establish it in simple terms.

maybe they keep taking breaks to progress their own paths. maybe they remain as anchor partners while seeing other people. but even if you decide to separate them, they're still (awkwardly) texting each other updates all the while. and when they reunite it feels like coming home.

and well. more than anything, i like to believe that they do want to be exclusive.

they're just afraid. after all, they're still learning how to love, beyond the projections of the foursquare quadrant system they had inadvertently distanced themselves from since young.

they might not have everything figured out, but they'll get there eventually if you just hold them together and write them there.

optional post-canon segment:

one of the limitations of main hs is that (monogamous) relationships are often written as the go-to solution to wrap up character growth; it's an easy "patch" to imagine characters getting their happy ending because they have a partner, and those who don't end up with someone don't get that closure (most notably jade).

hs2 reaffirms this by suggesting that aradia's character cannot progress without letting sollux go, because happily settling in a relationship automatically locks your potential.

that pathetic panel of sollux staring emptily into the sky is still my fave hs2 spoiler ngl i find the impact of their parting so emotionally provoking precisely bcs they were written in original hs to be each other's forever, coming back together again and again

but now, they're subject to the decisions of the post-canon authors who might choose to deviate from that.

it's not new for them to part, but now there's an underlying worry that her dropping him off this time might be the last time. while i think the prospect of shattering their stability to make them grow separately sounds fun on paper, no amount of me desperately hoping for a good execution is gonna guarantee it

idk. i guess prediction-wise im expecting sollux in classic dramatic-hs2 fashion to tell dave to back off aradia LMAO. otherwise it's just gon be sollux and karkat pathetically watching aradia and dave from a distance swimming in their unresolved feelings for narratively-powerful time players smh obvs it sounds corny as hell but who knows its still plausible

srsly tho i hope they take the opportunity to develop arasol's relationship in a fresh direction that doesn't hurt me too badly...... and i hope they force sollux out of his comfort zone. i like watching him struggle :-)

[camellcat]

"cordelia could you please drive me home?" "of course" OF COURSE she replies to buffy, softly, without hesitation. even if she goes right back to harping on about the world ending, of course she'll help buffy. head in my fucking hands

[yioxxe]

movie night! (aka "bisexual friend group.clip")

i think about the concept of sebastian, kay, and klavier being best friends a lot. i love drawing this kind of domesticity

[suntails]

a living bolt ⚡

[the-pea-and-the-sun]

are duck feathers soft

[metalgearheritageposts]

i dont think solid snake would care about winning the yaoi poll but otacon VERY much would. he would say “snake we won the yaoi bracket! we’re the yaoi of the year!” and snake would ask “hrnn what’s yaoi” and otacon would go on a long rant explaining what yaoi is, the origin of the word, and the history of BL in japan and then snake would be like “yaoi huh…i guess we are yaoi…”

[lokh]

WAIT SHUROS DAD SAID HE WANTED HIM TO BRING SOMETHING BACK INTERESTING.... AND WHO IS MORE INTERESTING THAN LAIOS....

[luck-of-the-drawings]

POOR GABRIEL MONTEZ! YOU NEVER SAW THIS COMING DID YOU? ALL YOU WANTED WAS POWER. SECURITY. SAFETY. & THATS EXACTLY WHAT YOU GOT! JUST IN EXCHANGE FOR YOUR BODY. LETS JUST HOPE NO ONE FUCKS THIS UP. LETS JUST HOPE YOU WONT HAVE TO CLEAN UP THE MESS.

[sunshades]

Would Queequeg likes to have the cute sheep plushie of Ishmael to cuddle with? (the one on ishmael's back in her holiday abno corrosion)

SMILING AND GIGGLING

thinking that in an au where they make it out of the whale just fine she ends up a lil clingy to make up for the time lost when burying ishmael... i don't see them as a pda couple but once they're alone they're always so affectionate and always like sleeping together. cozy loving pair moments 💚🧡

[buddietommys]

"Do you think we're soulmates in every universe?"

"Are we even soulmates in this one?"

[queer-bootyyy]

Greetings Captain Laserhawk fandom how the fuck do u draw Dolph Laserhawk I am suffering

Also pspspsps laserfrog nation I have some crumbs