#GOING THROUGH my screenshots. everyone’s already dead in my game :(

[doomsayings]

average day in the toxic dark brotherhood polycule your girlfriends husband keeps threatening to sexily cannibalize you

[asbealthgn]

(the thrilling conclusion. also posted on ao3! here's some art of the kitten i did. part 1, 2, 2.5, 3)

The Corroded Coffin fan base find out about Steve entirely by accident.

It starts, of course, with the kitten. After Eddie’s had her for a few days he decides to make an official post on his Instagram, which is a big deal because he normally just lets his PR people handle posting. All he normally does is post shit to his story, but the kitten deserves more formal recognition than that.

So he picks his favorite pictures of her (his camera roll is filled to the brim at this point) and posts them with the caption meet the light of my life, Lemon Verbena Deathclaw Goblikon Munson (Lemon for short). It’s like kicking a wasp’s nest, but, like, the good version: everyone and their dog shares the post to their stories, edits set to any number of Corroded Coffin’s hit songs are spread across TikTok, coffintwt is in an uproar.

Several hours later, Eddie posts a video to his story. He films Lemon on the couch and asks her, “Miss Lemon, how does it feel to be the best, most famous cat in the world?” She responds by meowing loudly and trying to bite his camera. Steve is sitting on the couch, so part of his thighs end up in the video.

Aside from having great thighs, the odd sliver of Steve’s legs or torso or arms showing up in various photographs and videos that Eddie puts on his story over the next few days does not draw a lot of attention from the Corroded Coffin fanbase. If Eddie were to guess, he would probably say they assume it’s just Eddie or one of his bandmates. It’s not until Eddie posts a video of Lemon trying to climb onto the couch on her own and Steve’s hands make an appearance steadying her that people take notice. More specifically, the Twitter account that’s dedicated to posting close-ups of the members of Corroded Coffin’s hands posts a screenshot of the video with the caption those hands do not belong to our boys.

From there, it becomes a wild source of controversy on Twitter as coffintwt tries to figure out for sure if those hands belong to anyone in the band. There’s a lot of back and forth, but ultimately they seem to agree that the original poster is The Authority on the matter. Then it becomes a game of going back through other pictures of Lemon and trying to figure out if the guy showing up the background of so many of them is also someone outside the band. A lot of screenshots start flying around with captions like none of the corroded boys would wear yellow or the rest of the band other than eddie were in LA when this one was posted and so on and so on. 

A consensus is reached: Eddie has been spending a lot of time with someone not in the band, quite possibly a boyfriend.

On a rainy Tuesday three weeks after they met, Eddie lays back on his couch with Steve laying on his chest and Lemon laying on his chest. “They’re onto you, Stevie,” Eddie says. 

“Who’s onto me?” Steve asks, not looking away from the basketball game on the TV. He’s terminally offline and has been blissfully unaware of the saga unfolding. 

“Twitter,” Eddie explains. “My fans have noticed you in the background in a lot of pictures of Lemon and they’ve started putting the pieces together.”

Steve scratches Lemon under her chin and she purrs happily. “Why are they looking at me instead of her?”

“Hell if I know,” Eddie says, reaching around Steve to rub Lemon’s head. “It’s not like you’re super drop-dead gorgeous or anything.”

Grinning, Steve turns his head to kiss Eddie. “Thanks, baby.”

Before Steve can turn his attention back to the game, Eddie hooks his finger under his chin to keep Steve’s eyes on him. “I have a question for you,” he says, “Well, two questions.”

“What’s up?” Steve asks. 

“First, do you want to be my boyfriend?” Eddie knows that three weeks is kind of ridiculously fast, but Steve has practically moved in already, spending all his free time here and sleeping in Eddie’s bed most nights. So Eddie’s not super worried about what his answer is going to be.

Sure enough, Steve smiles. “Yeah, I do,” he says. He kisses Eddie before asking, “What’s the second question?”

“Well, since you said yes, do you mind if I post something about us to stop the speculation?”

“I don’t mind,” Steve says, “But can I tell Robin first so she finds out from me?”

Eddie nods. “Yeah, of course. Do you want to go ov—?” But oh, Steve is already pulling out his phone and calling Robin. Okay then. 

“Hey, Robbie! Just wanted to let you know that Eddie’s my boyfriend now….No, he wasn’t already….Well, we hadn’t talked about it….Okay, that’s kinda mean….No, it’s okay….Yeah, Lemon is great! Do you want to talk to her?” Steve holds the phone up to the kitten and she bites the microphone. Steve puts the phone back to his ear. “That was her….Okay, I actually have to go. I just wanted to tell you….Bye, love you!”

Steve puts his phone back in his pocket and then grins at Eddie. “Alright, I’m ready.”

“If there’s one thing about you, baby, you’re a go-getter,” Eddie says, laughing. He gets his own phone out and holds it out to take a picture of them. Lemon, who is fascinated by phones, looks up at the camera as he snaps the photo. Perfect. 

Eddie posts the picture with the caption the rumors are true, Lemon has two dads. she gets her looks from Steve’s side. Then he puts his phone down and wraps his arms back around Steve. He can worry about his fans’ reaction later. Right now, he has other plans.

“What do you say, boyfriend?” he murmurs in Steve’s ear. “Should we go put Lemon in the bathtub?”

tagging: @nburkhardt @stargyles @csinnamon-fox @manda-panda-monium @silly-jellyghoty @lifeisnotsobadonceyoustopcaring @starquirk @lightwoodbanethings @dramaticwriter @adaed5 @freyaforestafay @roaringgoodshow @sherrylyn628 @stevesbipanic @stevethehairington @henderdads @artiststarme @softboisteve @gregre369 @korixae @kokoshka67 @swimmingbirdrunningrock @piningapple @iwouldsail @thesuninyaface @aftermidnightwriting @hamiltonsteele @brassreign @bitchysunflower @homosexual-having-tea @adelicioustragedy @trashpocket @dramaticwriter @eddiemunsonswife @blackpanzy @bitchysunflower @adelicioustragedy @thegingerrapunzel @overhillunderhill @beckkthewreck @glittergluekintsugi @elyondelannoy @somegirlsomewhere @pluto-pepsi @shinekocreator @goodomensgurl @savory-babby @blues-tunes @babyblender @221b1tch

(tagging is having issues so i'll tag the rest in a reply)

[crestwood-survivor]

Mythal in the Deep Roads Pt. 2: Trespasser DLC

Everyone who has played through the Trespasser DLC already knows that the ancient elves were in the deep roads, but I noticed some things in my most recent playthrough that I haven’t seen discussed. Mainly, the coffin room:

But let’s go through the area first. We exit the Eluvian and find ourselves in this weird combination of elven-dwarven ruins beneath Thedas. One of the things that stood out to me about this area is how Evanuris symbols we find (or at least I could find) are Mythal’s and Fen’Harel’s. There are two giant Mythal statues in this section, one is near the Eluvian we enter:

And the other is deeper into the area:

There's this one:

And finally two handing over the "coffin room" at the very back of this area:

There's also lots of wolf statues, some framing the eluvian:

Or caved in hallways:

On the path leading through the area:

And framing the "balcony" overlooking the coffin room:

Notice what there isn’t? Any statues for the other gods.

All the other elven ruins we’ve seen have had multiple gods portrayed in them, even in temples dedicated to one specific god. For example, the Temple of Mythal had a whole separate area depicting the other gods as well as hart and owl statues. The Temple of Dirthamen also had hart statues and statues of Mythal and Fen’harel. But in the deep roads? It’s only Mythal and Fen’harel. This to me implies that whatever operation was going on the deep roads, it was Mythal’s project.

Let’s go over some of the comments companions make in the area.

Cole has a few things to say. The first thing he’ll say is: “Songs screaming far away. It wants to wake up but can’t remember how.  No one should be here.”

This immediately made me think that Cole was referring to a Titan. Lyrium, the blood of the titans, is frequently described as singing. Cole makes similar comments if you take him through the deep roads in The Deep Descent DLC. Valta also describes what she hears from the Titan as a song, but she also tells us something else that’s important: Titans do not stir lightly. The Titan from the Deep Descent was asleep for a thousand years, and only woke up and started causing trouble because the breach disturbed it. Cole says that the songs are screaming far away, so it’s possible that this is a dormant titan that is near the area we are in.

Dorian will say: “It shouldn’t be this dark. Dwarven buildings are lit by molten rock. That doesn’t just go out.”

I’m not sure what to make of this comment, but it seemed odd to me. Maybe someone else has thoughts on this?

Further in, Cole will make a comment about the Qunari and Lyrium: “The stone sings. The song scares them. It’s the wrong song, the wrong blood. They don’t know how we stand it.”

Is this suggesting that Qunari have a greater sensitivity to Lyrium? What does the “wrong blood” mean? Is it referring to the Lyrium, the titan’s blood, or the Qunari’s blood? If Cole is referring to the Qunari’s blood, this wouldn’t be the first time someone has commented on their blood in the game. Kieran can comment on the Qunari Inquisitors blood at Skyhold if he has the Old God soul:

Kieran: You're the Inquisitor. You're very tall. Mother didn't say you were a Qunari.

Inquisitor: Oh? I'm told it's the first thing one notices about me.

Kieran: I noticed your blood. It doesn't belong to your people.

Here’s where things might get a little tin-foily.

When we get to the end of this area, the part looking over the coffin room, Cole will say:

“They’re all singing. Coffers, coffins, corpses that aren’t dead. A song crying out in the dark.”

The type of coffins/tombs we see in this area can be found in other parts of the main game. Here is an up-close screenshot of the tombs in this area:

And here is an example of the same type of tomb from the Solasan Temple, which is also associated with elves:

Based of Cole’s comment, I think the tombs we see in this room may contain ancient elves that are in uthenera. The “corpses that aren’t dead” part is what really makes me think this is the case. Uthenera is described as an alternative to dying for the ancient elves. When they didn’t want to be a part of the world anymore, they went into uthenera. It sounds similar to a coma. Abelas calls it the blissful sleep that never ends. The Mythal statues poised above the tombs, looking down on them/watching over them, makes me think that these are some of her people that have been put into Uthenera.

I’m not done with this topic yet; I still want to discuss the notes left behind by a dalish Qunari, but this post is already stupid long so it will have to wait.

[lynxgriffin]

Theories on Kris’s soul and Ralsei’s identity

Hey everyone! This is not my usual thing, but after thinking on it a whole bunch, I decided I wanted to fully write out my theory/backstory explanations based on the last two short Deltarune comics. I usually express theorizing through fanworks rather than just talking through it, but since it's still stuck in my brain even now I figured it'd be fun to also just describe it all. I hope you all find it interesting! Who knows what future chapters will bring us, and anything can (and likely will!) happen, but as of right now I'm pretty convinced this is how things are with Kris and Ralsei. It's long and there's lots of screenshots included, so check below the read more for everything. And huge thanks to DemoPhone for getting all these screenshots for me!

So, Kris is adopted by the Dreemurrs at a young age. As the only human in a town populated by monsters, they already stick out significantly. Considering Toriel checked out a book from the library on how to care for humans multiple times, the Dreemurrs were likely going through a big learning curve with Kris, too. 

Kris is not just different physiologically from everyone, but they’re quiet and weird, often mischievous, and just don’t fit in. As a kid, they wear a headband with red devil horns to try and fit in with their adoptive family, and especially to emulate their older brother Asriel, who seems to be everything that Kris isn’t.

He’s popular, kind, well-loved by the town, and is always willing to make friends and do the right thing. Despite how different they are, the two kids clearly care for each other, and Asriel in many ways is Kris’s anchor to this town and this life.

Growing up, the Dreemurrs are friends with the Holidays, and the four kids spend lots of time together. Dess appears to be the more bold and outgoing of the two Holiday girls, but is tempered by Asriel’s responsible nature. Everything between them is going well until one day, when out exploring in the woods south of town, they come across the hidden bunker, and something goes wrong. It’s not clear yet exactly what it is…but it resulted in Dess going missing. Of the four kids, Dess seems to be bold, Asriel responsible, Kris mischievous, and Noelle fearful…so it seems likely that Dess and Kris investigated something in the bunker that the other two stayed away from. Kris witnessed or may have even been involved in what happened to Dess. Dess currently appears to be lost in a dark place, perhaps a place between Dark Worlds, perhaps “stuck in the code” of the game itself. Whatever it is, Dess has gone missing and may even be presumed dead by her family, and Kris witnessed it and may feel directly responsible. This is why they’re still nervous around the bunker, and perhaps even why they’re apprehensive about the appearance of the dark world in the school supply closet.

Dess’s mother, the Mayor, is not going to blame the little kids for what happened…however, she IS going to place responsibility on Asgore, who was chief of police at the time and clearly should have been watching the kids more carefully. Asgore loses his job, and as things slowly deteriorate between the Holiday and Dreemurr families, he also loses his marriage.

The kids stop hanging out together so often, and when they do, it’s more strained. Kris will be playing with Noelle when they stop, getting hit with the memory of what happened, and wander off to the piano to try and play out their feelings.

Kris builds up years of these feelings…underlying guilt for messing up the friendships and even marriages of the monsters that adopted them. Their interests are weird, their habits are offputting, and they can often only express a desire for attention through pranks.

Despite the fact that the monsters in the town act friendly towards them, they still feel outcast and misunderstood. Their popular and beloved brother Asriel is their one solid anchor to everything, and Kris often wonders “wouldn’t things be easier and better if I was just like him?”

But eventually, Asriel gets old enough and leaves for college. Kris is left alone in the town with all their feelings, but no anchor. In some ways, it gets worse, as the other townsfolk continue to talk about how great Asriel is with him absent. And Kris agrees with them…but that doesn’t help at all how they feel.

To top it off, a new girl arrives in the town, who immediately presents herself as a troublemaker. She seems to have some deep problems of her own, perhaps stemming from her own rough upbringing, and takes out her aggression on Kris, the only human in the town. Despite the bullying, Kris takes it all in stride, even amusement. Susie isn’t saying anything about them that Kris doesn’t already believe about themself. If anything, Kris admires how unapologetic Susie is about her behavior, and sees a kindred spirit in her. They’re both outcasts, after all, with gross and offputting interests. And it is pretty funny how clearly Noelle is infatuated with Susie, too. 

And yet, Susie doesn’t seem interested in actually being friends now, and while Susie is admirable, she’s not helping Kris’s long-standing guilt, loneliness and depression. They start resenting how things have gone. They start looking for unconventional solutions. Perhaps they try the church, but the church doesn’t seem to have answers, so they look elsewhere. Maybe things would just be better if someone else was running their life. Maybe someone bigger than them can fix these seemingly insurmountable problems. They start looking up how to do magic online. How to summon demons, stuff like that. 

When that doesn’t work out, they turn to the local goth girl for help. After all, they’ve done occult spells with Catti before…protection spells for Noelle; something to ease Kris’s worries so that Noelle doesn’t suffer from the same misfortune Dess did.

One night, Kris asks Catti to perform a spell to summon a spirit. And surprisingly…something seems to happen. Kris is suddenly confronted with a strange figure who seems to be the devil. The figure says that it can bring Kris what they want: a spirit that can possess them and potentially even solve all their problems. But the figure requires something in exchange: their soul. Kris is at first reluctant, but the devil figure promises that the arrangement is only temporary: they’ll get their soul back when the spirit is no longer possessing them. So Kris agrees, and gives up their soul in exchange for another one. 

The deal supposedly goes over, but Kris finds that it doesn’t seem like anything has changed once the spell ends. They’ve gotten a new soul, but it doesn’t seem to do anything. If anything, everything becomes harder. They start operating on autopilot…saying very little, only doing what’s required of them, and sleeping for huge amounts of time. 

The joke around town now is that they seem like a walking corpse. Sure, they’re not dead, but it often kind of looks like it.

Maybe this spirit was just a total dud? Maybe that devil cheated them out of their own soul after all and they didn’t get anything in return. They try more than a few times to remove the new soul on their own, in the hopes that maybe taking it out by force will get them their own soul back. They find that they can remove the red soul with great effort! However, without it, they’re even slower and it’s even more difficult to move or act in any way. Removing it at least grants them a small degree of agency, and it seems to prove that their own soul is definitely around somewhere, because they’re still alive. But they can’t go for too long without putting the new red soul back in, because moving without it is such a strain.

Meanwhile, Kris’s request for something to possess them has worked, just not in an obvious way. The player experiences the passage of time very differently than the game characters they’re playing as, after all. To the player, they’ve suddenly gotten an invitation from an unknown character that they suspect they recognize from another game they’ve played. They don’t know what the invitation is for, but they’re more than ready to find out, even if it means downloading an unknown and potentially shady “survey program.”

Conveniently enough, this invitation and download become available on Halloween. A bit of an odd day to choose if you want a lot of people to download and play your game right away, since it’s a major holiday and most people already have plans. However…Halloween is a great time to summon a demon.

And to Kris, they wake up one morning exactly a week before their brother is scheduled to return home for a visit, and suddenly find that something else is moving their body for them. That new soul wasn’t a dud after all.

No time to even get really used to suddenly being physically possessed, as Kris and that school bully they admire just go to pick up some missing school supplies and get swept up into a strange place that Kris feels might be distinctly familiar. Once there, they meet someone else who, strangely, already knows who they are: Ralsei.

While Kris has been shambling around town with their player soul not in use, their own soul still needs to be kept in good condition. You can’t just leave a human soul out on its own for a long period of time. It at least needs some kind of container…a vessel. And the devil figure works out a perfect vessel for it…an object close to Kris, that they have a lot of sentimental value around. Something that symbolizes their desire to fit in with their family, and be just like their brother. Kris might have given it to the figure willingly, or it might have been taken without their knowledge, but the result is the same. 

But hey…why not make things even more interesting? A dark fountain can bring objects to life in their own dark world. What happens if you were to take an object currently carrying a human soul, and bring it to life with a dark fountain? What would it look like if Kris’s soul, filtered through an object that symbolizes their desire to be just like their beloved brother, was given its own form and identity?

You get Ralsei. A “lonely prince” who looks an awful lot like Asriel, but seems to more closely match Kris’s age and stature. He seems to be more like a remixed version of Asriel than identical to him. He already knows who Kris and Susie are, and he knows where things are located in the light world…because Kris knows all that. 

He’s able to travel between different dark worlds without being affected by them the way other Darkners are, because he carries a Lightner’s soul. 

While it’s unclear if he is talking directly to the player, just to Kris, or to both, he is at least aware of an entity distinct from Kris, since he names the castle town after the player. It would certainly make sense for him to be aware of the player’s presence and influence because he was a part of that whole exchange between souls in the first place. There’s even implications that Ralsei is, perhaps, communicating with Kris in ways that don’t involve speaking aloud to them. When asking Kris to pick up the items from the classroom, he uses parentheses, which typically seem to indicate a character’s thoughts rather than dialogue.

Since the player is able to read other characters’ thoughts, Kris can even respond to them if no one is speaking.

If parentheses for Ralsei indicate thinking rather than speaking, he is perhaps aware of how to communicate with Kris and/or the player in ways that other characters won’t hear…or perhaps is only even capable of it at all because he has Kris’s soul.

He is always deferring to Kris, even when Kris makes questionable choices. While he’s eager for friends, he seems desperate for Kris’s approval in particular, and takes great pains to not upset them…or allow other things to upset them. He seems to be confident in who Kris is, but struggles more with his own identity.

For Kris, seeing their own wish to be like their brother come to life, and then to have the spirit possessing them keep directing them to hug him…well, it’s kind of awkward. 

Just to speculate on the future, if it is true that Ralsei has Kris’s soul, this has the potential for some serious drama, and even setting Ralsei up as an antagonist without him being generically “evil.” Ralsei hasn’t had contact with anyone before meeting Susie and Kris. However, as they go on adventures together, he’s meeting lots of new people and gaining new perspectives. He’s steadily growing more independent from Kris, and establishing his own identity apart from them. What happens if Ralsei comes to the conclusion that Kris was right to trade him away all along…that not only does Kris not need him, but that he’s just fine without Kris? That he, perhaps, prefers being Ralsei to being Kris’s discarded soul?

Considering the player can’t keep playing the game forever, and Kris really can’t be left the rest of their life with a nonfunctional soul that leaves them on eternal autopilot, they’ll have to get their own soul back eventually. And after several chapters of the player themselves getting really attached to sweet and friendly Ralsei, that opens up the potential for some truly heartwrenching conflict. 

[1moreff-creator]

Firstly, as always, good luck with the David video Secondly however, I would like to know your thoughts on the hidden text that can be seen when you inspect the about page on the DRDT Tumblr. I saw it on a Youtube community post and I honestly thought it was fake for a while because no one said where it could be seen, and I only now found out that it's in the about page. I have seen literally no one on Tumblr analyze it so I wanted to know your thoughts on it. Thank you !

Hey! Thanks for the usual well wishes! I’ve edited comfortably past the halfway point of the script by now, so hopefully my suffering will end soon! It only took… like an hour and a bit to get to the halfway point! Haha… ha…

Anyways, About page text. Yeah, it’s a weird one, there’s a reason there’s not much discussion around it. It’s hard to point down exactly what it means, but I do have some things to say about it. I was actually already thinking of making a post about it, so this is a good excuse :v

Anyways, a fair bit of my interpretation come from a lot of other posts around Tumblr, but there are a few things I want to bring to the table, especially regarding the mastermind’s feelings towards the killing game and the potential connection between the DRDT mastermind and Mukuro Ikusaba. Sure, that sounds insane enough for my average post.

CW: Murder, mentions of starving

So here’s the About page text for the uninitiated:

“You don’t understand, do you? I used to be like you. I barely remember, but I used to be like you. I cared so much about people, I cried everytime someone was hurt. I suffered for a long time stuck in here caring about people." "I know what you’re going through. You’re going to hold on as long as you have, with hope that you can make it out of here with everyone. Then you’re going to despair. That lasts a while, too." "Then you’ll get bored. Like me." "And you’ll wish you were still suffering. Anything else is better than boredom." "I wish I could feel something, anything else, other than being bored. I’m stuck in here for eternity, and I know everything that could possibly happen. I know how everyone reacts to a murder, what makes people turn to despair, what fills people with hope and make them survive until we all run out of food and starve to death." "I wish I could feel terrified, or afraid, or angry. But I can’t anymore. I don’t feel anything at all except boredom." "Do you understand, Teacher?" "This is why I’m letting you suffer as long as possible. Because it’s better than the alternative." "I’m sorry. I don’t envy you." "You’ll understand eventually.”

As you can see, it’s pretty weird. You got some character monologuing to some “Teacher” about hope and despair and boredom, saying they can predict what everyone’s gonna do and feel and how that makes everything boring.

This definitely makes them sound a lot like Junko, and the connection is certainly clear. They both hate boredom with a burning passion and are able to easily predict people’s actions and feelings. But there’s actually one crucial line we have to keep in mind which separates them:

“I don’t envy you.”

The character speaking doesn’t enjoy despair, they only prefer it over boredom. This separates them from Junko herself, who does explicitly enjoy despair even without factoring in her hatred for boredom. Keep this in mind, I’ll bring it up later.

But what’s most important about this character, is that they’re likely not a DRDT character, but rather the protagonist of “Forever Dead”, the book Veronika talks about in her introduction. Take a look at how she describes it (and sorry the screenshots aren’t perfect, the text flashes too quickly).

Veronika: Oh oh oh! Speaking of horror, let me tell you about the horror bookI'm currently reading! It's called Forever Dead! You see, it's about a boy stuck in a time loop and forced to watch his friends die for eternity. While he is horrified at first, he eventually becomes more concerned over his growing boredom in t[he face of the] terrible tragedies because he sees them over and over again. The book is written like a normal autobiography at first, but as the protagonist descends into insanity over time, the writin[g style] starts to fall apart and take on a more sinister tone. Format twists like that are so fascinating, don't you think? Honestly, I would really love to know just how it feels to be in his shoes and experience something so horrible over and over and over again. And then, my favorite scene in the book, is one time he's impaled by many metal spikes and left to slowly bleed to death while he's left c[ontemplating] his thoughts. He's forced to apologize for everything he did... while... he... um... ohh..."

“Forever Dead” (FD) is a completely fictional book, as in, it doesn’t exist in real life. You can actually tell because it isn’t censored the way the dev usually censors real things, like A****a C*****e’s name [Agatha Christie]. So if it was made up specifically for DRDT, that would imply it holds some significance.

And you can see a lot of the same ideas as in the About page text. A character who ends up becoming bored of their environment, turning to unethical acts to entertain themselves. But what’s really striking is the repeated mention of the “Teacher” in the About page text.

(Is that a Rei Mekaru reference?!)

There… really isn’t a DRDT character who would be called that. I’ve seen it related to Mai before, and while the teacher could be an allegory for Mai, it can’t literally be her. Mai is a student, and not a particularly academically gifted one at that; she’s not anyone’s teacher. The only other person who could apply is the teacher Min is implied to have had at the end of her Bonus Episode, but… like, what would that mean. Why is he important?

No, I think it makes more sense to assume this is related to Forever Dead. That would also explain why the character claims to be “stuck for all eternity” even though they know what to do to make everyone “survive until [they] all run out of food and starve.” And also because of a little theory-bordering-on-headcanon I have.

Don’t you think it’s strange how the character uses the word “Teacher”? People in the US, to my knowledge, don’t speak like that. I believe they use “Mr/Ms/Mx [Name]” or something like that. So, could this be an in-universe translation quirk? For example, if “Forever Dead” is originally Japanese, the character could actually be saying “Sensei”, which I think is more common, and is sometimes directly translated to “Teacher” even though it sounds a bit weird in English. I personally love this idea because it conjures up the frankly amusing idea of the dev making up not a book in English, but a book translated to English from Japanese just for shits and giggles.

Anyways, rambling aside, the point stands. I think this is a (fictional) quote from (the fictional book) “Forever Dead.” So what does it mean for DRDT?

Well, seeing as it’s literally in the About page, it’s likely closely linked to the very nature of the killing game, right? It makes sense to assume we’re meant to relate the mastermind to this quote. The attitude is mastermind-y, the actions are mastermind-y, the context is mastermind-y, we’re calling mastermind.

But wait. Since this Forever Dead protagonist constantly speaks of boredom, doesn’t that instantly relate them to Veronika?

Well, yes.

…

But… it’s Veronika. It would honestly be weirder if something related to the mastermind doesn’t link back to her. She’s the biggest mastermind bait I’ve ever seen, and unless she has an early reveal, I don’t quite see her as the mm (I’ll just start shortening it).

Other theories have also connected it to Whit’s intuition. I find these interesting, and about as plausible as any other good mastermind theory. However, since the “boredom < despair” angle is something which I feel is quite intuitive for the average DR fan who knows anything about Junko and Izuru, I actually want to dive a bit deeper into what the connection between the mm and the Forever Dead protagonist could mean, since that’s an angle I’ve seen explored less often.

For one, there’s the time loop thing. Now, I don’t believe DRDT takes place in an actual time loop, but I think there’s an argument that there is a repetition of events at play. As in, things which happened in the past, and are repeating in the present.

Yes I’m talking about the pre-prologue cutscene.

... Fuck!! Fuck, fuck, fuck, this really hurts... Ouch... I really wasn't expecting her to attack me like that. I made a massive mistake to trust them. I can't rely on anyone. All by myself... I have to end the killing game. And even if I can't do that... I have to kill Teruko Tawaki. No matter what.

I’ve talked about it before, but as a refresher: that fork with blood on it implies whoever is speaking got attacked with the fork, which fits Xander’s eye injury suspiciously closely.

(Believe it or not, the David MV might have an allusion to it as well but I am not getting into that)

So if Xander is the one speaking, if you think about it, it must mean he was involved in a killing game previous to the one we see in DRDT. Which, in fact, Teruko may have some vague memories of.

Teruko: And also, as a way to reference that "past killing game," right?

That could be about the THH killing game, which frankly sorta makes more sense in context, but seeing as Veronika then claims nothin like a killing game had happened before, I find it most likely that got completely erased from history.

So what’s the important thing here? Well, for one, if Xander’s eye injury came from a previous killing game, then we are definitely not talking about an actual time loop, as that would have erased his eye injury. However, it could be talking about a repetition of events. Perhaps there have been multiple killing games before this one, a la V3 but without the “fiction” aspect presumably.

This is nothing new by itself, but it does have an odd implication when related back to the About page text. Think about it, the FD protagonist doesn’t enjoy the time loop. If he could, he would end it. So if he’s meant to reflect the DRDT MM’s attitude, could this mean the mastermind doesn’t actually enjoy the killing games?

It sounds insane, but hear me out. We’ve already established the FD protag doesn’t actually enjoy despair, so if they’re meant to parallel the MM, then that could imply the MM doesn’t enjoy despair either. And if they’re being forced into the MM role repeatedly for one reason or another, the same way the FD protagonist is forced into the time loop, wouldn’t they grow bored of it, despite the despair? It’s the same thing as the FD protagonist:

“…I used to be like you. I cared so much about people, I cried everytime someone was hurt. I suffered for a long time stuck in here caring about people.”

If we apply this with the idea that “time loop” = “repeating killing games”, and that “FD protag” = “Matermind”, then what we have is a reluctant mastermind forced to go through with several killing games for reasons unknown, who only grew slightly fond of despair once they grew bored of everything else.

So, uh, there’s definitely unhinged point #1. However, there is another thing to note, the one I mentioned in the beginning. And since I mentioned it, you probably caught it. The FD protag dies the exact same way Mukuro does, and since the FD protag is connected to the DRDT MM, it’s possible there’s some connection between Mukuro and the DRDT MM. Most likely related to their mastermind-iness.

Of course, what the connection could actually be is very vague, and there’s a ton of options. Still, here’s a few possibilities I find the most interesting:

>The mastermind is a secret extra student, hiding somewhere in the school. So Mai. I don’t quite like this one since it’s sorta silly and I just don’t see Mai as the mastermind, but it is there.

>The mastermind deeply adores a loved one, and may even disguise themselves to look like this loved one. Like Mukuro does with Junko… and like Whit does with his mom. This is to appease the people who love the Whit MM theory, because I know some people are really passionate about it and it’s frankly always fun to see those people talk about it! It is also just objectively funny to always find ways to pin him as the MM imo.

>The mastermind fully disguised themselves as another person. So, Veronika = Mai crack theory. Sure, at this point.

>There are two masterminds, and one of them died early on. Basically thinking of Xander here, given the whole “kill Teruko Tawaki” thing. The second would probably have to be Mai unfortunately, so I don’t quite see it. Though I guess it could also be David, or just anyone else in the killing game for that matter, but you know.

>The mastermind faked their death. You know, we never saw Min’s corpse… So we’re off to delulu land! Min is still alive! Min is still alive! Min-!

Blatant favoritism aside, that’s pretty unlikely. I doubt the mastermind would want to straight up lose an arm in a fake execution. Though I guess if she’s a reluctant MM maybe she doesn’t get a say in the executions, so…

Min is still alive! Mind is still alive!

>There are two masterminds, and one of them is disguising as the other. This fits shockingly close to the J & Ryan double mastermind theory I swear exists somewhere on Tumblr and I’m not going insane I just can’t find the post. Essentially, the idea that Ryan and J swap places constantly, taking turns on who is the more traditional mastermind and who stays in the killing game, explaining that one time Rose seemingly didn’t recognize J in chapter 1. So two siblings, where one of them disguised as the other while the other just presents as themselves? Exactly like Mukuro and Junko.

But I feel the most grounded ideas are usually the likeliest ones, which is why I think this connection to Mukuro may simply be another way of saying the MM was manipulated/coerced into their position, instead of choosing to be the MM on their own.

It’s a less conclusive answer, but it’s less farfetched than the other ones. And it sorta fits… uh….

Well, see, I’m making a post with AUs for all possible MMs… and I kinda accidentally convinced myself Rose might be the mastermind? I might make a more detailed post about it later, but basically this more vague connection to Mukuro fits, so.

Anyways, those are all the possibilities I can think of for unhinged point #2, the connection between the MM and Mukuro. I don’t have much else to say, as I feel this is something that’s gonna make more sense as we move forward in the series.

Hope that was satisfying! Take care!

[pupkinpumpkin]

BOOM PART 2 OF MY LAVELLAN ALREADY BECAUSE I AM UNWELL

I took a lotta screenshots of her, but I don't have access to that computer rn, so take one of my old playthroughs of her before I changed her a little bit

So, Lavellan basically already learned how to deal with people depending on her and looking to her for everything from being The First, so the Herald of Andraste gig is still incredibly stressful, but she's used to it

I think inherently, she's a very goofy and sarcastic person, but she has just molded herself into being very diplomatic, so that mask slowly comes off as she becomes friends with everyone

She's 25-26 at the beginning of the game

Her eyes glow green anytime she uses the mark, which I really think adds to Trespasser with the anchor freaking out so much and there just being points where her eyes are green for minutes at a time and fully green by the end before her arm gets cut off

She never had alcohol before the Inquisition so she gets drunk very fast

Whenever she is blackout drunk, she gets really good at building or fixing things. Like, she could build accessories to Bianca levels of good. But only when she's blackout drunk.

Once, when drunk, she said that running her fingers through Cullen's hair felt like petting a baby Halla's fur, something which no one has ever let her or Cullen live down

Varric is the first one to make Lavellan laugh, Sera is the first one to make her snort laugh

Immediately after becoming Inquisitor, Lavellan asks Josephine and Vivienne to teach her about The Game and Fereldan politics

Sera is the first person Lavellan tells about not believing in the Elven gods

Lavellan had a panic attack during Wicked Hearts and Wicked Minds

I like to think that, since my Lavellan is scared of fire, whenever she defeats her first dragon, Iron Bull takes her out drinking not only to celebrate defeating a dragon, but to facing a really big phobia of hers and coming out alive

I purposely have Morrigan be the one to drink from the Well of Sorrows because my Inky has enough religious trauma. Can you imagine having heavy religious guilt over never believing in your religion and then having a bunch of old dead priests from that religion in your head constantly?

Lavellan's best friends are probably Cassandra, Dorian, Cole, and Josephine (Sera and Solas are close seconds)

Cassandra because Lavellan had a big gay crush on her originally which led her to get to know Cassandra better and become very close to her, of course not in the way she originally wanted, but still. They bond out of duty to the people and raise each other up to think about their own happiness for once. Also trashy romance books.

She knows Dorian's gay from minute one and the fact that he's so unwaveringly himself really makes her admire him for being something she could never manage to be. In Dorian's personal quest, there's an option to say that Dorian was very brave for being himself and taking no shit and I really think my Lavellan means that. She hid who she was for so long and being friends with Dorian really helped her walls go down and build her self-confidence. Like, early in the game when you recruit Dorian, I like to think that with everyone else she's very nice and mild-mannered, but whenever she's around Dorian, her real personality comes out which I think confuses some of the companions at first on why she's so different with him, and some see it as them being 'together' but really they both just get each other and their struggles implicitly

(also I love the head canon that Cullen purposely plays chess with Dorian to see what his and the Inquisitor's relationship is, it's so funny to imagine)

With Lavellan being very "I need to put everyone above me and never complain", I think having Cole around would stress her out because he can feel all her hurt she tries so desperately to hide, but she learns that he just wants to help and she often joins him or helps him help others. She eventually gets comfortable enough around him to open up, but I do think she makes him promise to never make her forget anything. Then of course, since I always make Cole human, I like to think she starts playing a more active role in helping him help others since he can no longer make people forget him.

I feel like Josie and Lavellan would just vent to each other a lot. They both need to vent so much and they both have had obligations pushed on them since they were young. Josephine's side quest really pulls them together

And then of course there's Cullen and Solas. So, I romance Cullen every time. I just like him a lot. But I started thinking narratively, and now I flirt with Solas for a bit, then immediately end it after Skyhold and go full in with Cullen. The reason I do it is all very soap-opera-y

So, my thinking is that Lavellan is so conditioned to do whatever her clan wants of her. She needs their approval. Solas is a male Elven mage who she really likes and gets along well with. On the surface level, he is exactly who her clan would want her to pursue. Elven. Male. So, she convinces herself that because she enjoys his company, she must like him because that's who her clan would want her to be with. And he likes her, so, she goes along with it.

And then there's Cullen. A human templar. Just like the rogue templars who killed her lover. Cruel and malicious and evil. But he's not. He's awkward and sweet and yes he's headstrong, but he genuinely wants to reform the Templar order and he's trying to better himself. She tries so goddamn hard not to like him because liking him would be saying no to her clan and she can't. Liking him would be moving past her trauma and looking forward and thinking about herself and her wants and she can't. But she also can't help herself from spending time with him and laughing at his jokes and getting flustered when he laughs at hers.

But as time goes on she feels so bad for flirting with Solas when she doesn't feel that way about him but she HAS to feel that way about him, doesn't she? Because just like with the Elven gods, something must be wrong with her if she doesn't like Solas. So after they find Skyhold and she's in the Fade with Solas. She has to test it. She has to kiss him to see if her feelings are real. So she does. And he kisses back. And it's a good kiss. But it's not right. It doesn't feel right. Then Solas also apparently says this isn't right, so once she wakes up and goes back to talk to him, they agree to end it (She tells him later of course why she flirted with him and apologizes profusely for it, she feels horrible about it for the rest of time, but they stay good friends because they genuinely enjoy each other's company).

But with Solas gone, that means that nothing except her own insecurities are holding her back from being with Cullen. And she is shaking when she asks Cullen to go on a walk with her and she is TERRIFIED when she admits how much she likes him, but god, nothing will ever compare to how she feels after he tells her he likes her too and they kiss. And she feels so...free. She made a decision for herself that wasn't tied to her clan's wants for once. They were 100% completely her own. And she loves it. And she loves him.

Anyway, that got a little fanficy. Basically once the Inquisition ends and she's with Cullen, she is the happiest she's ever been because she doesn't have to deal with politics anymore. She definitely gets stressed introducing Cullen to her clan, but if they don't accept him, they don't accept her, and she learns to be fine with that.

Also she has four kids and a dog with him. One warrior, two rogues (one who specializes in making prosthetics), and one mage, thank you and good night!

[greyias]

So @kitsonpaws visited me this weekend to be my +1 at a work function, and we rolled up a widdle guy to take through the BG3 prologue for shiggles (and so she could take pictures and send to her husband and go "Look! It's you!").

Anyway, when I was going through the last save file to take some quick screenshots for posterity, something... odd happened. Ol' Purple Beard is grasping the controls, holding on for dear life. The screen cuts to black like normal.

It remains on the black screen for sixteen long, agonizing seconds.

The finally, as I start to wonder if the game froze, we fade up on the beach.

WAIT THE BEACH? WHERE WAS THE OTHER CUTSCENE?

A very salient question. But more importantly, after another two seconds the screen populates:

Three figures stand. Purple Beard is in the foreground closest to the camera already standing up. Shadowheart is in the far background also standing up. A third figure looms in between them.

Just a small question. A teeny one.

WHO IS THIS THIRD FIGURE? No, really. WHO IS HE? I can move the camera around, we are not in a cutscene. (But we have no menu/controls either). So I start zoooooming the camera to see and--

We did not roll up a multiplayer/co-op game. This was a solo session! Is this one of the dead fishermen who's supposed to be lying around??? If so, why is he standing? Why is everyone standing? Where did the cutscene go? Anyway I was spooked by this bloody man and had to exit the game anyway. The world will never know.

[animesllut666]

JJK MANGA SPOILERS CHAPTER 236 BELOW CUT 😭

This is all my own opinion by the way, screenshots are my own, and please feel more then welcomed to give your view as well :).

Well for starters, I truly believe that Gojou is dead, everyone is there in his “dream” at the airport. But some take seats, I wonder what gojou told whomp to tell megumi about his dad? That if he were to die and what to tell him? Gojo admitting that SUKUNA IS strong and that he was holding back on him, which I do believe, and even admitting without the ten shadows he still wouldn’t have won. But Getou, saying “does it matter?” After satoru asked if it was a dream, maybe this is something similar that happened with him when Toji killed him but we never saw anything. Maybe, he is having one last moment before he comes back? Idk… it’s something though. He clearly is having regrets though. Regrets of losing his best friend, regrets with megumi, regrets with Nanami, Yaga is there, even others. All his regrets are in this airport.

———-

I believe, that we can all agree with gojo. That, no matter what or who you speak to about things, you still can’t make others understand what you are going through in life or in general. It’s just like with Toji, satoru and sukuna, those three would really be the only ones to somewhat understand the isolation they went through.

3. NOW NANAMI SAID IT, we all know what happened with Getou, I would also include noya or whatever you spell it but that was due to him not dying from cursed energy. A curse can possess a body, though you gotta have something I bet, idk I just found it interesting they included that…why even say it 👀👀👀… I’m reaching I know but idc. Plus ya know … SUKUNA brought Yujii back 👀

4. Though, they said it twice already, everyone in that airport lounge has regrets, Yaga with his students and maybe with how his technique works with using people souls and making them into cute toys. Saturo for obvious reasons, same with Getou. Nanami, with his bestie Yu, and probs with shibuya, riko and the maid (I can’t remember her name 😭, I’ll edit it once I find it again). But … a room full of people with regrets, but I want to know if there are others that have regrets that are dead aka Nobara. And they are all their younger selfs, is that when Satoru had the most regrets when he was young? I wonder if it plays a factor in it all, when it all started and how it started, it most certainly does it when everything went down hill.

5. MY MANS AHHHHHHHH, I … really don’t think gojou will come back.. he clearly is now at rest .. sort of, he is in a room full people he loves and missed. He doesn’t want it to be a dream but.. at the same time, I think something will happen in the following chapters where he comes back. Or something tries to take over his body, his essence someone tries to use it (look what happened to Toji with the beginning of the arc) I just don’t see this .. beginning the end. But I also DO see it beginning the end for Satoru Gojou.

6. Now, if I’m understanding this right, basically Mahgora adapated to his technique, but was trying to adapt to his infinity to get through it? If, they were able to break through that, then … game over for our man. But he was going PAST that, he had to get past everything else to get through to it, … so really the whole time they weren’t trying to adapt to his techniques but the infinity instead?? so when he had an opening when he was letting his guard down.. he took? Idk, I’m still trying to figure it out AND I’m just… in denial but want to be DULULU. Idk, if anyone can dumb it down that would be GREAT. Also, I wonder if this is how the battle between the zenin clan and gojou clan ended 👀

7. My last thing…..

I wanna beat Gege ass like .. he can’t STOP ALL OF IS. WHY TAKE OUR MAN AWY. I KNEW THERE WAS A REASOM JE CAME OUT TO BEAUTIFUL. LOWKEY though it looks like

He smiling.. home boy at rest.

[fanfiction-artist-prototype]

favourite act 3 dialogues so far, a collection

(i love this mainly bc im like. ah. the 'looking back after killing cazador as a spawn and realising you were acting not dissimilarly to the man you hate so much and that you could have become just like him all over again if you'd gone through with it' is just delicious)

Lae'zel is just so tired, she's really going 'for fuck sake we have withers, a selunite demigod and her wife, scratch and the owl bear. must we take in *more?*'

CASSANDRA! YOU'VE KNOWN YOU WERE A CHILD OF BHAAL FOR A FUCKING DAY! STOP TRYING TO TELL EVERYONE! ALSO??? Babes im trying to redeem you so hard why are you making it so difficult for me to *not* pick 'recently unemployed, i quite like murders?' bc your intelligence stats make that so in-character

--

(honorary bloodweave 'and they were bunkmates' setup)

--

(back to quotes)

(i love Orin. I love the relationship she has with Durge. She'll kill them, want them dead and to take over their life from their position in life to their room to *everything* that could be them because she needs to know what made her the lesser choice; why did Bhaal have to *make* another bhaalspawn when she was right there?

But it's the inflection when she says he's been whispering in their ears; it's the anger, the indignity. I like to take it not as a 'you are shameful for falling for it' even though she obviously references that he could twist them when they had their memories, i take it as aimed *at* Gortash. He's taken her sibling, her rival, and twisted them against what Father wanted to the point she found she had to and then was able to usurp them! And then, then he dares to take advantage of their amnesia and try and turn them against Bhaal once again. Anyway. Love this gal, she's a hoot.)

(also i forgot to screenshot but what do you MEAN Orin thought that the best way to impersonate Gale (who i had be the companion who got taken from camp - which i immediately reloaded to avoid bc im trying to do stuff for his character quest rn damnnit and it isn't time to go straight to the temple!) was to imply he ran away and that she castrated him??? that's so funny)

(Orin being described as a sulky child has got the brainworms (ha!) wriggling ngl)

(also it's always lae'zel. she's at max approval each time as well!! like couldn't it be Yenna or smthing? like have a whole 'look at the murder-kin thinking it can *protect* life? Trying to make up for all those you've cut shorter than this one?? Also i kind of need Lae'zel for heavy hitter stuff as well but we can push through for now!)

(Us in general is my fave part of this game. What do you mean that technically to the outside world my durge looks like she's wandering around with a dog, a cute kitten/cat and a raven (from the He Who Was reward gloves) trailing after her!? AHHH.)

DENIAL IS A RIVER IN EGYPT-

Durge why are you like this.

Is there truly anything bouncing between their tadpoles that isn't some form of sarcastic comment?

WHEN I TELL YOU I WAS KICKING MY FEET AND GIGGLING.

Like. Durge. this is so funny, you've known you were a bhaalspawn for like a *week* what do you MEAN you've already figured out appropriate blasphemes?"

THIS LINE RIGHT HERE IS WHAT INSPIRED MY ENTIRE FUCKING TAKE ON DURGE IN SCION ON SCION VIOLENCE. THIS IS THE FOUNDATION FOR MY INTERPRETATION OF 'THE URGES'

Literally i am not kidding when I say this is one of my fave lines. The context, of Karlach seeing her friend (maybe even her best friend, her fucking *sibling* in all but blood) getting to fix themselves, getting to choose to live knowing she can't, she's fucked it isn't going to work. And yet, she can only be proud. Makes everything hurt so bad-

*stares in that one playthrough where i didn't realise letting her kill the nightsong was her bad route and was like 'yeah lets let her become a justiciar* Yeah babes. It'd be a real shame wouldn't it. (also love her just as much as Karlach, like parallels)

look. I'm an astarion simp through and through and I DO NOT CARE THIS LINE GETS ME EACH TIME!! He's like. This is great and all but since we're not questioning what the fuck withers is im going to focus on the sickening sweetness and BLEH too much. Too much emotional trauma yet to be resolved this is a little nauseating ' i love him. so much.

[scammydoesstuff]

Saw your post about meeting Neil and honestly to say he only cares about Astarion is kinda I dunno... not cool. I mean Astarion of course means a lot to Neil because he's been with him for more than four years! He means a lot to Neil because I don't know maybe the fact that the man has poured a lot of his time into a character that was so faceted and deep has something to do with it? I don't think it's really fair of you to say that he only cares about Astarion now since he's new, because if that were the case then he'd have stopped caring for Astarion as soon as Fibonacci from Warframe entered the scene or other roles he has done post Astarion. I met Neil and I didn't whine or cry about him not having any Kamski or Simon Walker or Luke Davenport pics when I met him at the Game expo back in Feb, especially since his role as Simon Walker meant a lot to me. Heck I didn't even cry about him not having any Nyx Ulric pics for my friend who's comfort character is Nyx (Neil did all the mocap for him). At least you got a Resident Evil photo. And heck if anything you could have looked on his Streamily that usually gives everyone an idea of what prints he might have.

As for him not being oh my god shocked at your plush, have you any idea how many people that man meets at every con who shove things they've made of his characters in his face? He was probably tired but he did attempt to do the voice for you! Is there no gratitude in that? Neil is a human being, he doesn't OWE you anything, he's not a dancing monkey and you as well as all of his other fans should be thankful that he cares to even come to conventions and spare a few moments of time to meet us all given his work schedule.

Instead perhaps maybe realize that your disappointing interaction with him is all on you and not Neil himself. Any one else who's met him all seem to be happy they even got to stand before him and share a moment with him. Your moment with him was ruined by your own expectations of someone who is just a normal human being.

Cool. Thanks for the comment.

I definitely agree with you that I was disappointed as a result of my own expectations and I fully acknowledge that I took it way too personally. I could swear I mentioned as much in that post or at least the follow up in the ask I received after, but maybe I didn't. In which case; my bad. Should've been more clear on that.

The other thing I could've swore I've mentioned in regards to this whole weekend was that I was already in a bad mental state at the time. The interaction with Neil was just something that put me over the edge. That's also on me and I'm not blaming Neil for anything I was going through. Just that I was already having a bad time and that didn't help. I was very excited to finally meet him because I hadn't had the opportunity to do so after Resident Evil Village came out until literally this weekend. He otherwise hadn't come to any conventions near me that I was aware of (though, maybe he did and I just genuinely didn't know. Really hard to say at this point). Also, not to beat a dead horse or anything, but he was advertised for both Baldur's Gate III and Resident Evil Village as you can see in the screenshot below. So...fuck me for thinking he'd have prints for the games he was advertised with, I guess...

Now, while I understand Neil's attachment to Astarion - I saw a few streams of his when he played through RE8 and he was talking about him even back then - I can't deny that I do kinda find it shitty to just ignore the characters that came before that people still love. It's also very odd to see any voice actor doing things like this. Like, we met Roger Craig Smith as well this weekend and my boyfriend got the one print he had available for Hirako Shinji from Bleach. That's a character Roger hasn't voiced in, like, a decade, but when he saw the print my boyfriend chose, he got really excited. Despite pretty much everyone else coming up wanting autographs for Sonic, he was still excited about this character he doesn't even voice anymore and who he doesn't have much of a connection to at this point in time. It still meant something to see someone showing love for that character and he was excited by it. So for Neil to really only focus on the one, most recent character and not really show much attention to the others was just kinda surprising and very much against the norm. It's not a bad thing necessarily. Just not what I expected, as you so eloquently pointed out.

I'm genuinely sorry if anything I said offended you. I wasn't trying to start anything with that post. I was just sharing an experience from a weekend that was overall rough for me. I thought that was the point of a personal blog, but maybe I'm wrong there too...

All I wanted to do was get out the negative feelings and move on. At this point, while I'm still disappointed about that interaction and definitely regret going to this convention at all (I definitely wouldn't have if I'd known he wouldn't show much interest in his older characters), I'm mostly over it and I'm moving on. It happened, it was a bad time, and it's over. It doesn't make me 'hate' Neil Newbon or think ill of him nor would I discourage people from meeting Neil if that's what they want. You're right, he doesn't owe me anything. I acknowledged in my previous response and extensively in the tags on the original that I still think Neil was very nice and I know I'm the outlier in all of this. It was a long day. He was probably really tired. He'd already met so many people that day alone. It was the end of the day. Et cetera, et cetera. Like, there are so many variables here that contributed to that interaction winding up bad for me and I don't blame Neil for them.

TL;DR: *I* had a bad time and just wanted to vent with an art piece that made *me* feel better, but I don't hate Neil nor do I think Neil's a bad person and I'm glad other people who met him this weekend had a good time with their interactions.

Hope that cleared a few things up...

[stop-breaking-my-heart-telltale]

Oh god I just finished Book 2 and it was so bad… I went into this with an open mind just like I did with Book 1 and god did I hate this. Clem just annoyed the hell out of me for the entire book. I liked everyone BUT her, Ricca and Morro. And I don’t even hate Morro she just showed up randomly to say weird ominous shit and then went to do her walker autopsies. Idk… it just sucked so hard. I miss Amos.

I've reread it and I'm working on my review so I won't go into a whole spiel but yeah. I mean, I still think I like Book Two over Book One... until we get to chapter 7. It has the same problem as Book One where the ending is just bad.

Clementine still feels out of character when you compare her to game Clementine, but she's consistent with Book One Clementine. I get what her character's supposed to be and why she's going through these things, why she approaches things the way she does but it makes it hard to enjoy when you have context from the games. I've already seen Clementine grow up and face hardships in the apocalypse, and the games have the advantage of showing all that across four games whereas this series only gets three books, so we don't have time to waste, y'know?

But Morro was the biggest wasted opportunity, like... what a disappointment. When I read it the first time, I was giving my first reactions in chat with Pi and we were both like, "So it's gonna be revealed that Morro's actually doing science experiments on walkers, right?" but no.... she's literally just doing autopsies like c'mon, walker science experiments and abominations would've been amazing!

And Ricca... honestly, I like the idea of Ricca because let's be real, a lot of us wear glasses or contacts or have some sort of vision impairment, myself included, and a zombie apocalypse would suck! If my glasses broke and I had no means of getting a new pair and it's the zombie apocalypse, I'm dead. And Book One set up this interesting story where Ricca's brother was an abuser who purposely broke her glasses so that she had no choice but to rely on him, then when she finally found pair that worked, she left him. But now her eyesight is worsening, and that's scary, that's something I could sympathize with...... but it's almost treated like an inconvenience? Because her and Clementine's relationship is the emotional drama that takes stage and frankly, I don't like clemricca. Not just because it's not clouis. I went into it with an open mind wanting to ship it but... meh.

I don't like how Ricca's like, "I'll wait for you," and then later she gets butthurt because Clementine won't get on the same level as her fast enough. Clementine doesn't owe Ricca anything, y'know? But Ricca is like "I love you, and I know you love me too, but I need you to love me always, not start and stop. It's not fair, you want me to wait for the impossible!?" Stop trying to guilt her when she's clearly not ready for a relationship? I get the frustration but c'mon.

And then there's chapter 9 which... I'm honestly this close to losing my shit with people. I don't think I've ever been as disappointed or disgusted of the fandom than I have seeing people send threats to Tillie on her instagram over chapter 9. She posted about how Book Two released AND she gave birth to her son on Oct 4th, and you go to the comments and there are just people calling her a pedophile and writing threats-

On a post. From Tillie. About the birth of her son. What the hell is wrong with you???

And then there are people just straight up LYING about shit.

I read a comment on reddit where someone compared Clementine Book Two to 50 Shades of Grey because there's an explicit sex scene and uhm NO??? There's absolutely nothing explicit, Ricca is not like Christian Grey like?? What the fuck is wrong with you? It's like these people read the summaries on the wiki- WHICH BY THE WAY if any of you happen to see this screenshot circulating anywhere-

^this is not a real quote, this is obviously fake.

Please don't mindlessly believe people on the internet about shit, especially when they themselves haven't actually read it.

Anyway, it's like people read the wiki summaries and decided to spread false and exaggerated information about the comic because they want to paint it in the worst light possible to trick people and it's working and I'm so...UGH.

Sorry to nosedive into this but it pisses me off. There's a lot to discuss about chapter 9- shit, there's a lot of criticism to be had with Book Two, and I will go over everything in my review, but for right now I'll just say yep, Book Two isn't very good.

I miss Amos, too.

[ghoulpepperv]

I decided to do this for Lamia from @weregoingtokillthequeen!

She's actually a changeling in her original story, but I'll probably have to make her a drow as a Tav.

I still have to wait until I can get my own copy of the game to actually create her and get screenshots.

Baldur's Gate 3 Companion!Tav Ask List

What if your Tav was a recruitable companion, instead of the main character?  (contains major spoilers for the game, and for some dark urge runs as well)

General

Where can your Tav be recruited?  Are they first encountered on the Nautiloid, or in the Nautiloid crash region?  Or are they not recruitable until a later act? She'd be at the Emerald Grove and she'd be disguised as a wood elf. There's a personal reason she often chooses to disguise herself as a wood elf. She would have also read the room and realized a wood elf would be the best fit for the space.

Do the other companions have special comments or reactions upon recruiting your Tav? At first, they would be fine with her presence. She's just some wood elf, right? When/if they discover she's a changeling, there'd be differing opinions on if she should stay. Hesitant but lets her stay: Karlach, Wyll, Astarion (he's curious where this goes), Gale (kinda wants to study her because hanging out with a changeling is rare), and Halsin Wants her gone: Lae'zel, Shadowheart, Jaheira, and Minthara

Does your Tav have any comments or advice when you recruit other companions? Astarion: "Careful with this one. He's got moxie, but that might also mean he'll kill you in your sleep." Gale: "He's got the air of a former gifted kid about him. He'll be desperate for approval. We can use that." Karlach: "She's a like a golden retriever. I already love her." Lae'zel: "A little standoffish and she could snap my neck in an instant. I don't see any reason not to want her around." Shadowheart: "She's definitely hiding something, but aren't we all? As long as her secrets don't get us killed, she can keep them." Wyll: "The Blade of Frontiers, huh? I figured he'd be taller. If you want him to come along, I won't complain. He seems like a good egg." Minthara: "You might want to really think this over. Unless you want to constantly test your food for poison." Halsin: "I have heard nothing but good things about him. We'd be stupid to leave him behind." Minsc: "He's not the sharpest, but he's useful. We could probably talk him into anything, too...." Jaheira: "I'm afraid I've never heard of her before, but if Karlach is sold on her, so am I."

What sort of general actions raise or lower their approval? She likes it when the PC takes charge and is more forceful. She enjoys doing things because it'll be funny or entertaining. She always wants a reward for doing a good deed. She also likes it if the PC lets her steal or gives her gifts. She just doesn't like it when the PC hurts children or is mean to them, especially orphans.

Are there any instances where your Tav can permanently leave the party, depending on player character actions? She'll stick around for most things. You have to really target her to get her to leave, like constantly undermining her or insulting her. She's pretty sensitive to insults. You can kick her out when you find out her secret.

Do they have any secrets that can be revealed?  What are the prerequisites for this secret coming to light? She's a changeling. When she first appears, she's pretending to be a wood elf. When you find out, it can go badly. You can see through her if the PC has True Sight or Volo’s Ersatz Eye. Even if she's in disguise, if the PC has Volo's eye, they will always see her as she really is. If the PC's relationship is high enough, she'll eventually come clean, especially if the PC romances her. The PC can talk her into telling everyone the truth. If she's knocked unconscious or killed, she will lose her disguise. If brought back from the dead, the jig will be up.

Do they have their own personal quest that spans the course of the game?  Can it take different branching paths depending on the choices the Player Character makes? She recently escaped from prison before being taken aboard the Nautiloid. She's still a fugitive. If her disguise falters for any reason at Baldur's Gate, she's at risk of being arrested. If the PC wants to, they can turn her in and have her arrested. This will turn her from ally to enemy. The rest of the party might judge you, too.

What do they say when the Player Character asks them to stay in camp?  How about when the Player Character asks them to come adventuring again? Stay in camp: You really wanna go out there without me? I'm just saying, you're safer with me watching your back. And if you have Scratch or owlbear, she'll add: At least I have the dog/owlbear here to entertain me while I wait. Adventuring Again: Yes! I was about to go crazy from the boredom.

Does your Tav have any escalating conflicts with one of the other companions, like Lae’zel and Shadowheart’s knife-fight? Her status as a changeling ruffles feathers. Depending on how things play out, tensions can get worse.

Are there any unique NPCs associated with your Tav that can show up during the course of the game? Allie the Dragonborn who is also in @weregoingtokillthequeen! Allie escaped prison with her. Paloma Blancheflower, her childhood friend and an actual wood elf. They grew up together. She can reveal more about Lamia's past, including why she often picks a wood elf form so often. Gwenna (half-giant/half-fairy) and Shirley (half-orc) are two guards from the prison who are hunting her down. The PC can run into them at Baldur's Gate and they'll tell them that they're looking for an escaped changeling. The PC can turn her in to them if they know Lamia's a changeling. The PC can also help hide Lamia from them.

Are there any moments in the game that trigger unique dialogue for your character? (Like Gale’s anecdote about the barfight after you save the goblin prisoner)  There would be a few unique stories the PC can get out of her. It'd be throughout the game where things can remind her of something from her past, especially since she knows so many weirdos. She's lived a colorful life.

Story Specific

How does your Tav advise the player character when it comes to the Dream Visitor? "They seem to be the only one who knows what's going on. It doesn't hurt to listen to what they have to say."

How do they advise the player character on Raphael? "It's tempting, but be on your guard. You always have to keep an eye out for the fine print with devils."

How do they react to Astarion biting the Player Character? "So, is his bite actually worse than his bark? What? I'm just asking. He always did seem like the kind of guy who likes to sink his teeth into a full bodied drink." And when the PC doesn't laugh. "...Nothing? Really? Hm." She would then go on to ruin Astarion's life with vampire puns and jokes.

How do they react to the Player Character letting Abdirak whip them? "I didn't know you were into that sort of thing. Duly noted." Devnote: She's into it.

How do they react to the Player Character taking their first tadpole power? "So... how does it feel? Painful? Powerful? You know, if you ever have any extra, you could toss them my way."

Will they stay with the Player Character regardless of siding with the goblins or the tieflings, or is it possible for them to leave the party permanently? She'll stay despite what you pick. She won't be excited about the goblins, but it won't chase her off.

What can they be found doing at the tiefling/goblin party? She'll be at her tent with a drink in hand, looking for someone to chat up.

Do they have comments on who the Player Character chooses to spend the night with?  Any comment she'd make is telling the PC she approves. All of their companions are hotties, she gets it.

Do they have unique dialogue if the Player Character lets them die when they steal the Blood of Lathander? "You're lucky I don't kill you where you stand. Why would you do that?! Gods! My feelings are a little hurt right now. You absolute jerk."

How do they react if the PC licks the dead spider in the Gauntlet of Shar? "Huh. You know, I used to know a guy who was also into licking spiders. Never thought I'd meet another person whose into it. ...Want me to hook you guys up?" If you do it a second time: "Is this a thing I just don't get? Like some kind of psychedelic?"

What do they say if the PC tries to force them to go up on stage with Dribbles the Clown? When she first sees him: "I can't hate him when I see how much misery he brings to so many. It's a little endearing." Suggest she volunteer: "Wait, you want me to go up there? Oh, no, I'm here to watch someone else have a bad time." When you send her up: "You best sleep with one eye open from now on."

Is it possible for your Tav to be kidnapped and replaced by Orin?  How is Orin's deception revealed?  How do they react to the PC rescuing them in the Temple of Bhaal? Orin actually leaves her alone since she's a fellow changeling. It's too much of a mindfuck.

How do they react to the PC either allowing Astarion to ascend or convincing him to spare the 7000 spawn? She understands a desire for power. Power = protection. But she'd miss old Astarion. She'd much prefer that he remains Spawn Astarion. She'd be hesitant to let the 7000 spawn go. If the PC talks to her, they could persuade her that it'll be okay.

How does Tav react to the PC becoming a mind flayer?  Can they offer to become one themselves?  Does their reaction change if they’re romanced?  It'd depend on the play through. You can teach her to be more selfless and, in that case, she would offer to do it. If you don't encourage her to be more empathetic, she'd be far too selfish to sacrifice herself. She'd do everything to talk the PC out of it though. There has to be "a better way." However, if they go through with it, she won't abandoned them: "We made it this far under weirder circumstances. I'll get use to... whatever this is."

How do they react when the Dark Urge first reveals their amnesia and murderous thoughts to them? She'd try to help. "Who hasn't had a murderous thought or two, huh? Look, I don't know what's going on with you, but we'll figure this out. Unless you murder me before we do, of course."

How do they react to the Dark Urge killing Alfira? "I didn't realize you hated bards so much. You could have just told her to leave, y'know?" When she finally gets serious: "You must be scared. I would be, at least. If it helps, I'll try to keep a closer eye on you, keep you from murdering again."

If romanced, how do they react to the Dark Urge trying to kill them in Act 2? "Well, this isn't the first time someone I've dated tried to kill me." Once she's taking it seriously: "I don't know what any of this is, but I'm going to help you. I'm not that easy to kill so you're not gonna scare me off. We're going to get through this."

Romance

Is your Tav a romanceable character?  Are there any specific requirements to romancing them? Indeed, she is.

Does your Tav need to be flirted with to start the romance, or will they approach the PC themselves if approval is high enough? If approval is high enough, she'd approach the PC. The PC could also higher the approval rating through flirting.

Are they a polyamorous or a monogamous option? Polyamorous.

Do they have a special romance scene at the tiefling/goblin party? She definitely would. The PC can choose to sleep with her or enjoy cuddling under the stars. If approval is high enough, she'd confess that she's a changeling at the party. If the PC knows she's a changeling, they can decide to have her in her real changeling form when they're together. The PC could also ask her to keep her wood elf form. It kind of hurts her feelings though. (She'll get over it.)

Does the romance have different branching paths, or just one route to take? The PC can get her to start going down a more righteous path, moving away from her criminal behavior. They can also leave room for some criminal shenanigans, but teach her to be a better person overall. Or they can encourage her to go full criminal queen-pin and commit even darker deeds. The PC/Lamia end game can be Lamia rebuilding a life in Baldur's Gate as an upstanding citizen or as a petty criminal, or you can run a criminal empire together.

How do they react to the player character breaking up with them, or choosing another character over them? She would be petty as hell. She's very sensitive and she'd probably hate whoever the PC chose. She'd insult them and try to do the "Fine, you can just be jealous of me living my best life without you" to the PC. But she would not be living her best life. She'd be hiding the fact she wants to go cry and eat a bunch of comfort food. If the PC doesn't leave her for Gale: Gale will talk about having made her some kind of cake or apple-based sweet because she "seemed depressed." If the PC asks her about it, she'll pretend everything is fine.

What questions can Zethino ask the PC about Tav in the Love Test?  "The heart is fraught, so let us begin with the joyous. When is Lamia happiest?" 1. While swimming in the ocean. 2. When she has a lot of money. ★ 3. Camping in nature. 4. When she's with loved ones. ★ "Many things delight the heart, but only one makes it sing. Tell me, what does she desire more than anything?" 1. Wealth. ★ 2. A harem. 3. Love. ★ "Life is a difficult and tumultuous thing. with every smile, a tear often follows. What is Lamia's greatest regret?" 1. Getting caught and thrown in jail. ★ 2. Becoming a criminal. 3. Letting Paloma down. ★ (Only appears if you've met Paloma.) 4. Stealing from a wealthy Baldurian couple.

If they’re poly, do they have a reaction to the PC engaging in a relationship with Halsin? She's all for it. She'd be down to get with him, too. But she'd give the PC space to explore their relationship with Halsin without her.

How do they react if the PC has sex with Mizora? The Emperor?  Haarlep? She wouldn't be angry, just a little disappointed. Because, really? REALLY?

Will they join in with the PC and the Drow Twins, or no? Yes, she would. She'd also be down for Halsin to join.

What are Tav’s plans for the future?  Do they propose to the PC, or is marriage not something they’re interested in? She's happy to go where the PC goes. If they want marriage, she's in. If they don't, she's happy as long as they're together. As for what they do, it'll depend on the path the PC chooses for them.

Free space! Share anything from your companion!Tav au! I first created her for my very first DnD game I was in. Nobody ever figured out she was a changeling to the point where I just had her drop her disguise. I wanted to see what would happen. Absolutely no one took notice or said anything about it, including the DM.

[lampmanliveblogs]

Season 2, episode 20. The penultimate episode of the season. Am I ready for this? Probably not, but whatever, let’s just go!

If you are only just now joining me, be sure to check out the two previous posts I made. In one of them I go over some of my theories and predictions for the finale. In the other, I tell you about the exciting game we’re going to be playing together during these two last episodes of the season.

Now. Let’s do this.

The portal has been moved to a cave in the head of the Titan by now and an abomaton is making the last few preparations.

I’m gonna be honest with you guys, the only reason I decided to grab this particular screenshot was because I noticed no less than four faces hidden in this image.

This really is it, huh? The end of the world as we know it.

We get a short scene between Belos* and The Collector. The Collector is impatient, begging to be freed from his eternal prison, with Belos countering that the draining spell has to work first. We get to see more of The Collector’s childish personalty, as they talk about all the games they wanna play. And this is the guy who’s apparently responsible for wiping out a race of island-sized giants.

(*sidenote: I kinda wanna start referring to Belos as Philip. Eh, I’ll wait and see. If Luz ever calls him Philip, I’ll start calling him that too)

Belos mentions that he doesn’t want to make another grimwalker until he’s dealt with Hunter, so I guess we can rule out other grimwalkers appearing. Unless Belos has reason to believe Hunter is dead I guess, but let’s not delve too much on that hypothetical.

It seems that Belos intends on returning home to the Human Realm once it’s all over, which makes sense I suppose. Gotta bring the good news right? The thing I’m wondering though is how long exactly he expects to survive there. Even without the violent mutations his barely human body goes through, he still relies on absorbing palismen life force to survive. There are no palismen in the Human Realm, so I imagine that he’d eventually run out of juice to keep him going.

(which may or may not be how he ultimately dies)

((I think Belos is gonna die, btw. i think i’ve mentioned it before, but just in case you forgot, or missed that post, or this is the first liveblog of mine you’re reading)

(((the jury is still out on the collector’s final fate)))

Another thing that I thought of while typing this: I’ve speculated that The Collector is going to betray Belos and not kill all life in the Demon Realm. But this could go the other way too; Belos might betray The Collector and not release them. Or at least try to keep him sealed, at this point I think it’s safe to say The Collector is going to be set free.

Oh, and another another thing I realized when looking at this screenshot. I wonder if the creepy robes and hoods is to make it easier for the animators to draw large crowds? I imagine that with how diverse the Boiling Isles are, any shot of a large crowd would be a nightmare to draw. Dressing everyone in single-colored robes makes that easier. I think, I don’t know all that much about animation.

Clouds on the Horizon

I’ve already gone over most of my predictions in a previous post already and I don’t really have anything to add as of now based on the title or what I’ve seen so far.

We can see some abomatons being loaded onto an airship while Odalia talks to Kikimora. I honestly did not expect Odalia to really be important, but who knows, maybe she will be.

Amity, Edric, and Emira are here, with the intention of telling their mom about the draining spell.

Emira points out that Odalia won’t believe them, which I could see her not doing, she is pretty stubborn. However, Edric follows that up with that even if she does believe them, she ”won’t care.” Which… yikes. Belos plans to kill everyone. Odalia’s no saint, but I don’t know that she’s such a  bad person as to not care at all about her kids and husband dying. And if nothing else, she is part of everyone, surely she has some sense of self-preservation? Even a lot of hardened supervillains know that there is no profit to be made in the destruction of the planet; it is very bad for business.

…or maybe she really will be that evil. This is the season finale, the Day or Unity is here, anything can happen and everything can change. I gotta keep my mind open.

She mentions a new product… that they’re going to test on Kikimora. Or maybe Kikimora will test it? Maybe it’s like an abomaton mech or something. That might actually make Kikimora somewhat threatening again.

(Odalia called Kikimora a gremlin. Is that her species… or is gremlin an insult on the Boiling Isles too?)

[kingofdinosaurs]

3 6 8 9 12 14 24

feel free to answer however many of em you want for any media you're into (that I actually know)

sorry, unrelated, I just found out they let you DM people images now? What the fuck?

no yeah you can send people images now it rocks thank you for the bridge. going through all of them because im airport bored

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

ok well the worst one EVER was someone saying they thought potemkin should have died in xrd IN THE TAG which was. fucking rude and also totally stupid. honourable mention to that time so long ago i barely remember how it happened when i saw a pokespe fan assert that "wally could never have done what emerald did!" hey why do you think that. when wally was literally in the oras version of the battle frontier (I know oras was out because that's how i was a fan of wally. is it because he's disabled. i want you to fucking say it.

6. already answered!

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

hmm... idk if it's even a common thing anymore because i avoid it like the plague but if i ever have to see "the knight doesn't have a mind or will" arguments again I'll like find whoever started it and put them in a jigsaw trap fuck you fuck you fuck you did you even play the game??? the delicate flower quest alone should be enough to prove you wrong. if the knight can't have its own agenda why the fuck would it go out of its way to do this small unnecessary kindness? also the narrative itself doesn't make sense if you assume the pale king is right about the knight, both in terms of "what was the fucking point then?" and because of the fucking. REASON THE KNIGHT CAME BACK TO HALLOWNEST. BECAUSE THEY WANTED TO HELP THEIR SIBLING. idk if this one is even common anymore but it was frustratingly common back in the day

9. worst part of canon

for persona there's so many choices i feel paralysed, as with blazblue, so I'll go with a wild card: dead cells! anyway anytime when someone acts like the beheaded is just cut and dry easy peasy The King like it can not be that fucking simple that's fucking stupid. he's literally the ship of theseus but a slime piloting around a headless corpse. like at this point you're just giving annoying youtubers ways to be more annoying quit itttttt

12. the unpopular character that you actually like and why more people should like them

SYSTEMMMM i love system so fucking much I'm crazy about her. nobody gives a fuck about her because she's a relatively easy boss in a fighting game many people do not like (a crossover, no less!). but she fucking rocks so hard!!! she's so funny in every scene she's in, i really appreciate that about her. she's kind of like queen from deltarune if that helps anyone. it's not even hard to go watch like cross tag story mode it is literally all on youtube everyone who hasn't go meet her! she deserves some attention!

14. that one thing you see in fics all the time

actually i can't lie i just like don't have it in me to trawl the fanfic mines anymore so idk what they're doing right now like it is No Longer my problem

24. topic that brings up the most rancid discourse

oh god i have no clue. i don't get involved in arguments like this anymore for my health so i have no clue

[eleanorfenyxwrites]

Random Idea junk drawer

So I had a great time doing my Wangxian-centric Breath of the Wild AU last year, and when I finished it I definitely left the epilogue open-ended enough to do more Zelda AU’s/Fusions in the future (I still don’t REALLY know how big the difference is between AU’s and Fusions and which one my other-content-inspired stuff usually counts as but I DIGRESS) because here’s the thing. The Thing(TM). Zelda games are my JAM. They were baby’s first special interest. Literally.

When I was 7 years old my parents bought a GameCube and a game disk that had 4 remastered Classic Zelda games on it (two 2D, two 3D) as well as a 20-minute playable demo for Wind Waker, with three different starting locations to choose from that you could play as many times as you wanted. And you bet my little 7-year-old ass played every bit of it that was within my skill level (which was not much lol), until I got my next Zelda game at 10 (that was Twilight Princess, and it was the first Zelda game I ever finished). I have the Wii walkthrough book for Twilight Princess that I bought used online and it reeked of cigarettes for months after I got it. I chose a screenshot of one of the characters out of it to paint on one of those horrible school industrial ceiling tiles in my 8th grade art class (sadly the photo of it is lost on an old dead phone, but it was really good, I mixed up all my own custom colors of paint and everything which was like. Impressive for 13 year old me :( ). I have and treasure the Hyrule Historia book. I had shitty ill-fitting graphic tees that said things like ‘Good things come to those who break clay pots’ (really funny to me now that I’m a ceramicist and could easily make pots for myself for the purpose of smashing if I were so inclined [I’m totally gonna]). I have massive Zelda tattoos on the insides of both forearms and I’m planning more so that I’ll hopefully end up with two Zelda half-sleeves. Like ZELDA IS MY THING. WHY I’m not writing more Zelda AU’s and playing around in my expanded sandbox of hyperfixations, I have no idea.

But anyway, I’ve started playing Ocarina of Time again, I have no idea how many times I’ve played it at this point within the last 19 years, and I’ve done it on every Nintendo console possible (except, ironically, the N64 as it was originally made for). So obviously I’m playing along and getting lost in the story because it’s a fuckin good story, as one does, and I was like ‘hey what if Wangxian tho’ and thus. Today’s junk drawer was born. Have I already started an outline of the fic plot points as well? Yes. Did I have to stop myself 800 words in and say that no I can’t just write out the entire plot tonight and no it can’t all go into this junk drawer post because I should actually just write the damn thing instead? Yeah. When will that happen? I don’t wanna think about it, so let’s just have fun talking characters and locations and their implications, shall we?

I’m going to post my notes completely unedited and let y’all see the whole ugly process, and I’m gonna put it below the cut because this is already long enough to scroll past but all I’ve done is gush about Zelda and in doing so further cement my well-established status as a huge fuckin nerd lol:

Jiangs/Lotus Pier as Kokiri Forest -- Deku Tree is Jiang Fengmian (Does this make Madam Yu the giant nasty spider inside????? ew)

- Wei Wuxian -- taken into LP/Kokiri Forest as a young child, young enough to fit in with the other children, but he'll soon be old enough for everyone to know that he isn't one of the lake/river children, he's from Elsewhere. - Jiang Cheng as Mido, small and angry and won't let anyone see JFM/YZY without really fucking good reason but also takes the leadership role in LP/Kokiri Forest once JFM/Deku Tree is dead - Jiang Yanli as Saria, gentle and sweet and fond of music and wandering through the woods that keep their lake hidden from the rest of the world. She'll awaken as a Sage in WWX's adulthood.

Cloud Recesses as Hyrule Castle, Lans are the Royal Family and Sheikah combined

- Lan Qiren as the king of Hyrule, though as the second brother he's supposed to be leading the Sheikah, not sitting on the throne - Lan Xichen (already in his 20's) as Impa. He'll awaken as a Sage in WWX's adulthood. Although he's supposed to be in line for the throne, someone has to be the leader of the Sheikah since LQR can't be, which leaves: - Lan Zhan as Princess Zelda -- plagued by dreams and visions of evil coming to take over the world, but no one takes him seriously because he's still so young. People also forget that in the line of succession he's supposed to be the one protecting the royal family as the next leader of the Sheikah, so it's actually his destiny to have these visions, not to be a politician. He sees in Wei Wuxian someone who's willing to break the rules and society's expectations to be the true hero he's been dreaming about. He'll take up the extremely active role of Wangji/Sheik as an adult, having learnt the Sheikah secrets under Lan Xichen's tutelage and taken up his rightful place as one of them since his escape from the palace as a child.

Kakariko Village -- inhabited by average people (akin to Caiyi town, close with the royal Lan family but not directly cultivators?)

Nies as Gorons in Death Mountain/Goron City/Nie Fortress

- Nie Mingjue as Darunia -- hot-tempered and built like the mountain, willing to swear brotherhood with the boy who came to save his people. He'll awaken as a Sage in WWX's adulthood. (NHS as the snot-nosed kid who hero-worships WWX in adulthood? lol)

Jins/Jinlintai as Zora's Domain -- The Zora are a proud people who live high above the rest of Hyrule at the top of their waterfall (tower). (Golden Carp Tower has a lot of water motifs and they decorate things in teal and gold like the zora do too)

- Jin Guangshan as King Zora - Jin Zixuan as Princess Ruto, eaten by their deity god (who is still a giant fuckin fish, I dunno what else he could be lol) and who thinks he has to be engaged to WWX after giving him the Sapphire (maybe because he was told from a young age he'd have to get engaged to one of the lake children anyway and just didn't know who/hint at unrealized Xuanli?) He'll awaken as a Sage in WWX's adulthood. - Jin Guangyao as (????? :( :( :( where will my boy go?? I need my boy for emotional support)

Wen Ruohan as Ganondorf -- a cruel king wreathed in shadow and flame....I mean it writes itself lol

- Baoshan Sanren as Rauru, the Sage of Light -- withdrew from the mortal world an unknowable amount of time ago to protect the Sacred Realm and has watched over WWX these last seven years as he slept. - Jiang Yanli as Saria, the Sage of Forest -- she awakens into her powers to protect her childhood friend/brother(s), though this will mean having to leave Jiang Cheng on his own in Lotus Pier - Nie Mingjue as Darunia, the Sage of Fire -- he awakens as a sage to honor the Brotherhood oath he swore with WWX in the past - Jin Zixuan as Princess Ruto, the Sage of Water -- he 'dumps' WWX because he has to do the more important work of stopping the apocalypse, try to contain your disappointment WWX, you can still be coworkers and save the world or whatever, if you even care. - Lan Xichen as Impa, the Sage of Shadow -- Lan Xichen must leave the mortal world behind to take up his mantle as the Sage of Shadow, leaving Lan Wangji to carry his worldly responsibilities instead (sort of half-retreating into seclusion like canon) - Wen Qing as Nabooru, the Sage of Spirit -- Wen Qing is the leader of the all-female band of Gerudo thieves who in no way endorse Wen Ruohan's domination of the world. When she leaves to take up her role as the Sage of Spirit, she leaves her cousin Wen Yun (my OC Madam Lan) to lead the Gerudo in her stead. (need to find a role for Wen Ning? Except zelda lore is that only one man is born to the Gerudo at a time every hundred years and he’s always their king. Maybe WN is meant to be the new one but WRH has reached immortality/won’t die and let him succeed him?)

Plot would follow Ocarina of Time fairly closely (Unlike my BOTW AU where I tried to make it...relatively more like canon??) because there's a very definite plot there, while BOTW is so much more fluid it was easier to adapt to something else.

[serenado-exe]

hey im the person who originally made the post on tumblr (not the twitter one that cherrypicked screenshots) and thank u for ur post. the main talking point in my original post was the tribe cheese and i hate that everything was boiled down to only the older screenshots because it ended with me being harassed & my life being ruined because people misinterpreted an age regression term i was using as me being a pedophile. like my life was actually genuinely ruined by this shit. so thank you for actually focusing on my main point and talking about it because i dont have any legs to stand on anymore atp

i would answer this privately if not for anon, because you've been through a lot, but i'm sorry this has happened to you. i've been doxxed several times over just, speaking as a queer afroindigenous person online and it's never easy being picked apart and lambasted. it never really sticks in a way that matters, but i know what that's like. your life will return to normalcy even if everything is on fire right now. people only care about the controversy for as long as it's trendy to talk about. if you haven't already, back up your blog(s) and consider changing your url, going private, or migrating to a new account. you're not obligated to watch everything burn, and you can choose who you reach out to and who gets a hold of you this way. if you need to talk to someone, i'll be here. i never got to see your post thanks to all the twitter screenshots flooding the discussion :( the second i saw screenshots, i knew everyone would zero in on the date and do what they did. it's heartbreaking to know that you were trying to focus on the anti-indigenous racism and even that context got snatched from you, because it always does. someone saw your intentions, decided your point about indigenous people wasn't relevant (people think we're all dead and don't play games) and divorced it from your post.

you didn't deserve that. thank you for speaking about it regardless, and i hope things make sense again for you soon.