#I already know which of my characters I'd pick for my camp!!!

[skitterjitter]

the urge to resubscribe to WoW but I am not in a good enough financial situation to do so...sucks to me I guess

[eveninglakehomeworld]

hi friends and lovers, I've gathered a small collection of dialogues from Zevran in DA:O regarding Antiva & the Crows.

I got this together mostly for myself, but thought I'd share in case anyone who is maybe looking to flesh out their new Crow OC, write fanfic involving Crow characters, or is looking for a refresher on early Crow lore would like something to reference. I trimmed down dialogues a bit, so mostly just information relevant to the Crows, Antiva in general, and Zevran's own attitudes about being an assassin are present.

this post has dialogues from Zev's recruitment event and a couple of early game camp conversations. because it's only a handful of dialogues, this is, ostensibly, part 1 of several. I plan to post more as I progress through my replay of origins. enjoy! <3

Recruitment

Warden: "What are the Antivan Crows?"

Leliana: I can tell you that. They are an order of assassins out of Antiva. Very powerful, and renowned for always getting the job done... so to speak. Someone went to great expense to hire this man.

Zevran: Quite right. I'm surprised you haven't heard much of the Crows out here. Back where I come from, we're rather infamous.

Warden: "You came all the way from Antiva?"

Zevran: Not precisely. I was in the neighborhood when the offer came. The Crows get around, you see.

[After being asked if he's loyal to Loghain]

Zevran: Beyond that, no, I'm not loyal to him. I was contracted to perform a service.

Warden: "And now that you've failed that service?"

Zevran: Well, that's between Loghain and the Crows. And between the Crows and myself.

Warden: "When were you to see him next?"

Zevran: I wasn't. If I had succeeded, I would have returned home and the Crows would have informed your Loghain of the results... if he didn't already know. If I had failed, I would be dead. Or I should be, at least, as far as the Crows are concerned. No need to see Loghain then.

Warden: "How much were you paid?"

Zevran: I wasn't paid anything. The Crows, however, were paid quite handsomely. Or so I understand. Which does make me about as poor as a chantry mouse, come to think of it. Being an Antivan Crow isn't for the ambitious, to be perfectly honest.

Warden: "Then why are you one?"

Zevran: Well, aside from a distinct lack of ambition, I suppose it's because I wasn't give much of a choice. The Crows bought me young. I was a bargain, too, or so I'm led to believe. But don't let my sad story influence you. The Crows aren't so bad. They keep one well supplied: Wine, women, men. Whatever you happen to fancy. Though, the whole severance package is garbage, let me tell you. If you were considering joining, I'd really think twice about it.

Warden: "Aren't you at least loyal to your employers?"

Zevran: Loyalty is an interesting concept. If you wish, and you're done interrogating me, we can discuss it further.

Warden: "I'm listening. Make it quick."

Zevran: Well, here's the thing. I failed to kill you, so my life is forfeit. That's how it works. If you don't kill me, the Crows will. Thing is, I like living. And you obviously are the sort to give the Crows pause. So let me serve you, instead.

Warden: "And what's to stop you from finishing the job later?"

Zevran: To be completely honest, I was never given much of a choice regarding joining the Crows. They bought me on the slave market when I was a child. I think I've paid my worth back to them, plus tenfold. The only way out, however, is to sign up with someone they can't touch. Even if I did kill you now, they might kill me just on the principle of failing the first time. Honestly, I'd rather take my chances with you.

Warden: "Won't they come after you?"

Zevran: Possibly. I happen to know their wily ways, however. I can protect myself, as well as you. Not that you seem to need much help. And if not, well, it's not as if I had many alternatives to start with, is it?

Warden: "Why would I want your service?"

Zevran: Why? Because I am skilled at many things, from fighting to stealth and picking locks. I could also warn you should the Antivan Crows attempt something more... sophisticated... now that my attempts have failed.

A few early game camp conversations

Conversation 1 Warden: "What does it take to become an assassin?"

Zevran: Well, the Crows would have you believe that it is an involved process that takes years of training, the sort that tests both your resolve and your endurance. Survive that process and maybe, just maybe, you're good enough to start being considered one of them. But quite frankly the truth is that all it requires is a desire to kill people for a living. It's surprising how well one can do in such a field.

Warden: "It doesn't take any special skill?"

Zevran: I don't know about that. It's simply a slightly different skill set from your average killer, as I see it. An assassin simply specializes in striking from stealth... and in maximizing that first attack to be as lethal as possible. Debilitating your foe, either by poison or by crippling their limbs, makes any follow-up combat you need to engage in that much simpler.

Warden: "That sounds like it could be useful."

Zevran: See? Getting paid for the act is beside the point. An assassin is more a tactical choice than a lifestyle. Of course, the Crows like to pretend that their abilities are trade secrets, shrouded in shadows and wrapped in a blanket of mystery. So let's just keep this between you and me, shall we, hmm?

Conversation 2 Warden: "Why did you want to leave the Crows, exactly?"

Zevran: Well, now, I imagine that's a very fair question. Being an assassin, after all, is a living, at least as far as such things go. I was simply never given the opportunity to choose another way. So if that choice presents itself, why should I not seize upon it?

Warden: "You didn't choose the Crows?"

Zevran: Mm? To be truthful, I didn't even know the Crows existed when I joined them. I was but a boy of seven when I was purchased. For three sovereigns, I'm told. Which is a good price, considering I was all ribs and bone and didn't know the pommel of a dagger from the pointy end. The Crows buy all their assassins that way. Buy them young, raise them to know nothing else but murder. And if you do poorly in your training, you die.

Warden: "That sounds awful."

Zevran: "Oh, I don't know about that. The Crows who are actually good enough to survive come to enjoy some of the benefits. In Antiva, being a Crow gets you respect. It gets you wealth. It gets you women... and men, or whatever it is you might fancy. But that does mean doing what is expected of you, always. And it means being expendable. It's a cage, if a gilded cage. Pretty, but confining. [note: I transcribed the first line of the last section as it was written in the subtitles because it seemed to make more sense in context, but when Zevran speaks it aloud he actually says "That does not mean doing what is expected of you." presumably an editing error, but can't be 100% positive which is the intended message.]

[After being asked what he thinks his future might hold]

Zevran: As for what I'll do in the future... presuming that there is one... I truly can't imagine. It might be interesting to go into business for myself, for a change. Far away from Antiva, of course. For now, naturally, I go where you go.

Warden: "Won't the Crows eventually find you?"

Zevran: [laughs] Eventually can be a very, very long time if one plays one's cards right. Come, now. Enough chit-chat. Talking about the Crows summons them, you know. Any Antivan fishwife could tell you so.

Conversation 3 Warden: "Do you actually enjoy being an assassin?"

Zevran: And why not? There are many things to enjoy about being a Crow in Antiva. You are respected. You are feared. The authorities go out of their way to overlook your trespasses. Even the rewards are nothing to turn your nose up at. As for the killing part, well... some people simply need assassinating. Or do you disagree?

Warden: "You've never killed an innocent?"

Zevran: Now there's an interesting word, "innocent." How many men do you know who can claim to truly be innocent? But if you're talking generalities, such as children and relatives and bystanders and such... never on purpose, but it happens. It's unfortunate, but death comes to us all. If not me, then some wasting disease. Or a fall down the stairs. Or at the hands of a darkspawn. It's all relative in the end.

Warden: "I suppose that's true."

Zevran: "Death happens," as we like to say. And when I get paid for it, death happens more often. As far as enjoying the act of killing itself, why not? There is a certain artistry to the deed, the pleasure of sinking your blade into their flesh and knowing that their life is in your hands.

Warden: "I know what you mean."

Zevran: There are many things I did not enjoy about being a Crow, of course. Having no choice, being treated as an expendable commodity, the rules... oh, so many rules! But, simply being an assassin? I like it just fine. I will continue to do it, if I can, even if I am not a Crow. Honestly, could you picture me doing something else?

Conversation 4 [note: I trimmed this one down a lot bc it's just one of the ones where he tells you about a job and there's not a lot to be gleaned about Antiva, how the Crows operate, etc] [In response to being asked, "The Crows were willing to anger the Circle of Magi?"]

Zevran: In Antiva, nobody is too important to escape the reach of the Crows. They have killed kings and queens. That's simply how it is.

[After elaborating on how he fumbled an assassination attempt and the mark died accidentally, instead of by his hand]

Zevran: Then I found out she had told the driver to take her to Genellan instead. She has planned to lose me in the provinces. I would have looked very foolish to the Crows. As it was, my master was very impressed that I had done such a fine job of making it look like an accident. The Circle of Magi was unaware of foul play, and everyone was happier all around.

Conversation 5 Warden: "Tell me a little about Antiva."

Zevran: Oh? You wish to know about Antiva, do you? The only way to truly appreciate it would be to go there. It is a warm place, not cold and harsh like this Ferelden. In Antiva it rains often, but the flowers are always in bloom... or so the saying goes.

Warden: "Don't you want to go back?"

Zevran: [sighs] It is not really a matter of wanting to go back. I cannot go. At least not yet. I hail from the glorious Antiva City, home to the royal palace. It is a glittering gem amidst the sand, my Antiva City. Do you come from someplace comparable?

Warden: "I'm not from any glittering gem, no."

Zevran: No? That is too bad. If you were, then surely you would spend as much time boasting about it as I do! Hmm. You know what is most odd? We speak of my homeland, and for all its wine and its dark-haired beauties and the lillo flutes of the minstrels... I miss the leather the most.

Warden: "Is that some kind of euphemism?"

Zevran: [laughs] It may as well be! But not this once, no. I mean the smell. For years I lived in a tiny apartment near Antiva City's leather-making district, in a building where the Crows stored their youngest recruits. Packed in like crates. I grew accustomed to the stench, even though the humans complained of it constantly. To this day the smell of fresh leather is what reminds me most of home more than anything else.

Warden: "That's a little bizarre. There's leather everywhere."

Zevran: Ah, but it's not Antivan leather, is it? I do not know what the Antivan tanners do that is different, but ther is no leather more supple nor more fragrant.

Warden: "You sound like you've been away from home forever."

Zevran: Oh, not so long, I know. It is my first time away from Antiva, however, and the thought of never returning makes me think of it constantly. Before I left, I was tempted to spend what little coin I possessed on leather boots I spotted in a store window. Finest Antivan leather, perfect craftsmanship—ah, but I was a fool to leave them. I thought, "Ah, Zevran, you can buy them when you return as a reward from a job well done." More the fool I, no?

Warden: "Your home is still there, Zevran."

Zevran: True, and it's a comforting thought. One simply never knows what is to come next.

Now, if it is all the same to you, I would prefer not to speak more of Antiva. It makes me wistful and hungry for a proper meal.

Bonus banter snippet because I found it amusing:

Morrigan: You assassin types have a death wish, I see.

Zevran: [laughs] Only the really good ones.

[fearowkenya]

camp digimonth 2025!!!

oh my god has it for real been one entire calendar year since i joined @campdigimonth?? INSANE

i couldnt even really think of a goal to set because other interests and life in general happened to football-tackle me in the last week of january last year. i can barely remember what i set out to do. in fact im reading my goals from last year right now and rediscovering that i'd split them into projects, sub-projects, and sub-sub projects. which is kind of ridiculous… but exactly the kind of ridiculous that works for me specifically! i think i'll actually just copy-paste my explanation because it still holds:

"the projects are MANY , and it’s impossible to say which ones i will have the impulse to work on and which ones i wont. i dont want to commit to a specific project and then decide ‘actually i dont feel like working on this one’ so i thought it would make sense to just list a bunch of things i want to do and knock out the ones that i have the most motivation for." -me, circa 365 days ago

so true, me from 1 year ago!!! i'm going to keep the same goals as well:

GOAL: complete 5 sub-sub-projects SECONDARY GOAL: complete 10 sub-sub-projects TERTIARY GOAL: complete 1 entire sub-project OR 15 sub-sub-projects

details on specific projects under the cut because i don't know what brevity means nor am i interested in learning it. WARNING FOR DIGIMON SURVIVE SPOILERS AHEAD. i will mark spoiler start points in RED and end points in GREEN so that you may scroll past them if you so desire

PROJECT 1: Finish Winds of Change winds of change my beloved. i am so sorry that the editing schedule for your final chapter coincided with the realization that final fantasy 7 rebirth was set to release the next month. i regret absolutely nothing - honestly i was starting to burn out a little by the end and i think the break from survive, so it was a net positive. either way id like to finish this fic , perhaps even this month! who can say. i do feel a little apprehensive in that it's been a minute since i wrote for survive and i worry id be a little rusty with the character writing. but these kinds of worries are always not as bad as they seem so fuck it we ball

SUB-PROJECT: Winds of Change Chapter 9

rewrite the parts i want to rewrite

go thru edit checklist

post

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SUB-PROJECT: [REDACTED]

[REDACTED]

[REDACTED]

post (dont worry 😇 )

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PROJECT 2: Redesign Survive Partners context from last year: "I am very charmed by the idea that a digimon’s design is affected by the events and relationships in their lives. For example, a digimon may change a little in appearance in a way that reflects something about their human partner."

so i've been kinda working on this on-and-off for the past year, mostly doodles that i didn't plan on doing anything with because they weren't polished enough. i actually really like the redesigns i did although i never posted them, so im thinking i just redraw them and colour them with markers this time. or digital. idk we'll see. i'm gonna pick three of the survive digimon and not all of them because if i did that we would be here all day

SUB-PROJECT: Lopmon Redesign

Redraw the one I did already onto marker paper via light table

Colour and ink

Scan at work (my scanner at home HATES certain colours)

Touch-ups

Write mile-long post about design choices

Post

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SUB-PROJECT: Labramon Redesign

Find a cool dog pose to reference

Draw a Labramon

Move onto marker paper via light table if necessary

Colour and ink

Scan at work

Touch-ups

Write mile-long post about design choices

Post

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SUB-PROJECT: Agumon Redesign

Remember what the hell my workflow was; I've started this one already except that it's 100% digital which i dont usually do. i seem to recall that i'd found a vaguely similar workflow to the one i use with traditional mediums but i dont remember at all how i managed that. i will have to try to remember how i got that working

Finish colouring

Simple background???

Post

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PROJECT 3: Survive Alternate Evos (Digifakes) i refuse to elaborate. i think that doing a big finished colour illustration is not going to be helpful for this since these would be the first passes of all these designs, so this would probably be just some sketches with minimal colour??? maybe??

SUB-PROJECT: Blackavarmon

find & look at blackavarmon's original sketches again to remember what on earth i had in mind

idk just do a bunch of sketches and keep 3-5 of the best ones

low-effort ink/colour

scan at work

post

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SUB-PROJECT: Tigervespamon Burst Mode

find the few sketches i did last year and try to push them further; i remember feeling like some of the design elements weren't working the way i wanted them to and i gotta tinker with them

tigervespamon burst mode is very much 'what if i take the machine aspects out of this design and add others that cater more to me specifically'. tigervespamon as-is doesnt look enough like a wasp OR a tiger to me and im taking it upon myself to fix that. im going to stare at pictures of tiger jaws and wasp mandibles for six hundred hours until i can mash 'em together in a truly horrific way to make a guy who is SO upsetting to look at <3

close-ups of weird design aspects, probably jaws, arms, face, perhaps wings if i dont fear god

low effort ink/colour

scan at work

post

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SUB-PROJECT: Mothmanmon

slap together a bunch of reference pictures. mothmanmon has a specific purpose that i refuse to explain, but i also want it to have the vibe of a digimon that isn't necessarily relevant to [REDACTED] or [REDACTED]. unlike blackavarmon or tigervespamon burst mode, i havent even STARTED work on this one so a finished polished definite design isn't the intent

doodle a bunch of concept sketches

ink/colour the one that looks the most like i want it to

scan at work

post

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PROJECT 4: Survive Snippets so this probably doesn't come as a surprise to anybody but the survive fics ive posted are barely scratching the surface of what a version of me with infinite spare time would like to explore. ive been tossing ideas around for a while that i want to at least write down. i dont know that i'd post any of them since they'd likely be part of other bigger fics that i CERTAINLY do not have time to write

SUB-PROJECT: Conversation (& fight?) between Dracmon and [REDACTED] you get no information on this (:

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(DIGISURVIVE SPOILER WARNING START)

SUB-PROJECT: Alternate Kunemon Champion evo scene listen as much as i love survive and love kunemon and think its funny that his big dramatic evolution scene was triggered while battling against (checks notes) actual babies, i dont necessarily think that it was… the uh, most elegant way to go about ryo's partner's first evolution?? the tone of the scene gave me whiplash. i would like to know what it would be like for that scene to have stakes that are more in-line with the other champion-level evolution scenes. i DO know how im going to do this though, vaguely, ive been thinking about it for like over a year. it'll actually also require some changes to syakomon's champion evo scene most likely! the challenge with this one is going to be to boost the impact of flymon's first appearance while not minimizing the impact of shellmon's first appearance. it's a balancing act that im not SUPER intimidated by; i managed something similar in winds of change, but it's still a little different.

--

SUB-PROJECT: Alternate Lopmon Champion Evo scene This would sort of be an epilogue to winds of change! without spoiling much, winds of change is a different outcome of part 5 Truthful where shuuji manages to survive the waterway, but something very very bad still happens. this bad thing would delay lopmon's evolution into turuiemon, and that delayed version would have a different vibe to it than how it was presented in the game's truthful route.

(DIGISURVIVE SPOILER WARNING END)

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PROJECT 5: Digimon TTRPG Stuff I play digimon ttrpg with my friends. yet i rarely draw any of our funny little guys. i wish to draw our funny little guys

SUB-PROJECT: Lys the Muscle Wizardmon currently for playtesting i am playing a melee damage wizardmon who did not get great grades in wizard school. so she hits things with a stick instead. good for her!

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SUB-PROJECT: Delaney & Herculeomon beach episode Look™

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SUB-PROJECT: Nova (Terriermon-x) (& maybe Xander??) beach episode Look™

*********************************************

many things to consider! and neither you nor i know which i will attempt first (: good luck fellow camp digimonth participants! lookin' forward to seeing your progress!

[zenkindoflove]

ACOTAR tag game ���

Answer the questions below & tag whoever you want, or make it an open tag!!

Thank you @the-darkestminds!!! Your answers were so fun to read!

Who's your favourite ACOTAR character?

Lucien. He's always going to be #1. 🦊

Who's your least favourite character?

Azriel. I fluctuate between I can't be bothered and actively being a hater. Also the fandom's obsession with him has soured me further because I'm contrarian like that. I can't be helped. I got the ick early on and I'm afraid I'm likely not to come back from it.

Say something nice about your least favourite character.

God damn it. Um, he's pretty.

Who's your favourite High Lord? (If you picked one for your fav character, then who's your second fav!)

I love me some Tarquin. I love that he wants to tear down power structures and that he doesn't trust Rhys and Feyre (as he shouldn't).

Favourite MINOR character?

How minor is minor? Does Eris count? He's not minor in my heart. He feels more major than minor. If Eris doesn't count then I would say Jurian. I need more of that chaotic hottie.

Favourite ship? (Crackships included!)

Elucien is my OTP forever. ☀️🌷

Favourite court and why?

I think it's a mix between Day and Autumn since I think about those two the most. Day because there is so much mysterious magic going on there, with their powers, the libraries, and the Pegasuses. And Autumn because they have all the interesting intrigue, story, and the aesthetics and atmosphere is my FAVORITE. Sooooo.... I'm gonna go Autumn.

Make up a brand new court RIGHT NOW, NO PREP JUST VIBES.

Since there are the seasonal courts and the solar courts already, maybe there could be courts that can be different ecosystems (like desert, tundra, rainforest, etc). And I would do the Ocean Court so there can be mermaids, mermen, and mertheys. For no ulterior motives whatsoever.

What relationship would you have wanted to see more of in the books?

I need more with Lucien and Eris like I need air to breathe. Please oh please, SJM, give us that brotherly angst and love.

What's your unpopular opinion?

Let's be real. It's probably many of my opinions on Azriel. But since I already gave him a hard time. I would say probably that I'm firmly in camp Elain's book is next and that I disagree a lot with people who say "we just don't know enough about Elain" or "Elain has no development". I've made several posts about this, so I won't rehash it. But I think Elain is very well developed for her book and we've been through several life changing moments with her already. We might not "know" Elain in that she is more reserved and we haven't had her POV, but we know a lot about Elain, her history, her narrative conflicts, how other characters perceive her, and the direction that her story is generally going to take is pretty easy to visualize. Basically, I care about Elain. I pay attention to her. I see what Sarah has been doing and I'm ready and here for it. We know just as much if not more about her than most of the other side characters in this series.

What's your favourite headcanon/fan canon?

That Eris is GAY (or bisexual).

If you were swept away to Prythian, what's ONE thing you would want to do?

Fuck Lucien and if he won't have me the next available redheaded Vanserra. Preferably Eris. Oh, I'd also want to eat some food cause wtf does this faerie food taste like that makes human food taste like ass?

If you could have ONE faerie ability seen in the books, which would it be?

Healing I think would be the most useful.

No pressure tagging: @crazy-ache, @olenvasynyt, @ataraxiasflame, @teddyhoneybear, @lucienarcheron, @animezinglife , @starsreminisce

[sam-loves-seb]

weely tag wednesday

thanks for the tags @energievie @metalheadmickey @deedala !

which character from any media would you like to have as a father? jed bartlet (the west wing)

if money, laws, time, and effort were no object, what animal would you want to have? probably just a cat tbh i'm not a big animal person (i think they're neat, i just don't really have the desire to own any of them)

what is your Chinese takeout order? pork fried rice and chicken fingers

what's your favourite emoji? this one: ✨

would you rather have a library, greenhouse, or home theater in your house? a home theater. a library would be sick but i read mostly ebooks so i think a theater would get more use out of me.

what childhood tv show do you think of the most fondly? Spongebob Squarepants. me and my sister used to watch this every single night with our dad when we were little, but if we wanted to stay up and watch it we had to be all ready for bed by the time it came on

what was your tumblr like when you first joined? it was a lot of reblogs of aesthetic photographs because it was 2012 and i was 14. not long after that tho it turned into a sebastian stan fan blog which is how i got my url, and over time that slowly morphed into the multi fandom madness you see today

what clothing style do you love but don't feel compelled to replicate yourself? god i don't know, my closet is a little bit of everything because i always wanna try a new style when i see it. i honestly don't think i have an answer for this one, i really do love fashion and my style is constantly changing

if you were plopped into a fictional world, which one would you know the layout of the best? i have no idea. acotar maybe? solely because i've read those books so many times? yeah i guess i'll go with that

what is your favourite piece of art? café terrace at night

do you have a water bottle? what does it look like? i have a light blue wide mouth nalgene water bottle that is covered in stickers and has two friendship bracelets dangling from the cap strap. it's giving major camp counselor vibes.

what fanfic trope is a quiet fave? look, if i go on a quiet hunt for fics tagged aftercare every now and then, that is between me and god so shut the fuck up about it

do you carry a daily bag? what does it look like? what's the weirdest thing in it? nope. i don't have an office bag bc i wfh and on the weekends i absolutely despise carrying a purse. i have one of those phone cases with card slots on the back and it holds everything i could possibly need.

if you had to ship Mickey with another Gallagher, who would it be? sexually i think it'd have to be lip, but if i could platonically ship him with someone i think i'd pick fiona. idk i just think they'd get along better than anyone would think.

what is a fanfic trope you didn't expect to like and then very much did? friends to lovers kinda snuck up on me in my adulthood. i used to be very against it as a teen, but now that i'm grown and have actually seen the trope done well in fics and in media, it's one of my favorite tropes of all time.

Do you think s11 Mickey can still carry s11 Ian? yes 100% absolutely and anyone who says otherwise is lying. (did we all see noel's s11 body? we saw the abs right? mans was ripped in the last season even tho the writers like, never showed it, and it is my personal mission to avenge this wrongdoing) i'm kidding about the lying part but yeah, he absolutely can still carry s11 ian, being able to lift his husband is the only reason he still goes to the gym

who got custody of the killing bat when they sold the house? debbie. i think carl wanted it, but he already has a gun so he gave it to debbie instead.

tagging: @suchagallabitch @gallawitchxx @callivich @michellemisfit @iansw0rld and anyone else who wants to play !

[abuddyforeveryseason]

It's the Buddy for April 22nd! He's wearing the Capricorn Cloth (being a capricorn himself) of the classic Masami Kurumada manga Saint Seiya.

I loved Saint Seiya. I have all the paperbacks, even, I liked it when I was a kid. It's an interesting manga, in that it doesn't make much sense in retrospect, but when you're reading it, you're more interested in the beat of the plot than in the big picture.

The plot, as I understand, is that this rich girl Saori is the reincarnation of the goddess Athena, so her dad arranged for ten boys to get trained to be her protectors (the saints), wearing bronze armors based on traditional constellations. Then they get into a martial arts tournment to win an actual gold cloth, but complications start making it so they need to stop fighting amongst themselves, and start fighting actual bad guys.

In a way, it's a very toyetic story - each character has their own unique armor (or cloth) which is fits both them, and can be assembled to resemble its constellation, so kids had a lot of expensive toys to collect. And since the golden cloths (belonging to the strongest saints) are based on the twelve zodiac signs, kids already have a favorite character picked out for them.

Me, I'm an Aquarius, so my favorite was Aquarius Camus. The one with the ice powers. He also won a Literature Nobel, you know. But I never related to him, really. He's an ice guy, which is cool I guess, but, not the power I'd choose.

The manga's also very camp. The art's really old-fashioned, looking almost like sometihng from Tatsuo Yoshida's generation. Not a lot of attention is paid to proportions and depth, and the fight scenes are not dynamic. But that's one of the things I like about it, to be honest. It feels like there's a closer dialog between the artist and the reader when the art is so direct. It's the opposite of something like the manga version of One-Punch Man, for instance.

And the designs of the cloths, characters and enemies is also pretty unique, it's got that simplified design quality of eighties manga that's not as popular anymore.

One aspect that Saint Seiya, like Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, isn't shy about is the gay subtext regarding some characters... it's most obvious with Andromeda Shun and Pisces Aphrodite, but also Virgo Shaka, Aries Mu... it's an intentional aspect of the story, but when me and my friends were kids watching it, we thought it was pretty "gross".

Even though it doesn't really make sense and it's pretty much designed to appeal to kids' love of shiny stuff and fight scenes, Saint Seiya is one of my favorite franchises. I'll be honest, I didn't know much about greek mythology when I first watched the anime, so I assumed a lot of the stuff Kurumada made up was actual part of ancient Greek myth. Still makes no sense why Capricorn Shura had the power of Excalibur, though... what does Excalibur have to do with Capricorn? Should be a Draco thing, or even Ursa Major...

The Capricorn print in the background is a public domain image.

[destinygoldenstar]

AnalyzGolden Sees The Disventure Camp All Stars Cast

So a friend set up this Instagram story for me and sent it to me. (They wanted to remain anonymous)

Basically, these are all the character reveals for the Disventure Camp All Stars cast from OddNation's Instagram, before the season came out.

So I am going to play this story to see it for myself.

I know some of them already just from some redesigns I've seen. And some of y'all spoiled it.

But I think this will be fun, to let you guys know that I am finally entering All Stars territory.

I'm doing it this way so I can't see any other images they have on their Instagram that spoils the season itself.

So let's see what we've got!

So idk how I feel about the name 'All Stars' for Season THREE.

I mean, Total Drama All Stars is dogshit. Everyone and their grandparents know that. But at least they waited till Season FIVE.

At the same time though, I kinda get it. And I do appreciate that unlike Total Drama, both season's cast had equal amounts of screen time to get us endeared to them.

(That is, if you were me and didn't watch the Beta.)

Krystal is hosting again.

No shock there. They said she was gonna do this in both seasons. Especially since the Season 1 hosts are in jail, so obviously they're not coming back.

I mean I like Krystal more than those two, so it's a win in my book.

I know there's redesigns. She looks the same.

Idk how I feel about drastic redesigns just because they mess with silhouette. And if you're gonna redesign, there needs to be a purpose for it that is saying something about their character.

This is why RWBY's first designs were easily the best ones. And after that... eh??

I study character design. I know what I'm talking about.

So I guess we get to cast reveal now!

YUUUUUUUSSSSS!!!!!

👏

I LOVE LAKE! I LIKE THIS ONE!

Is she wearing pants now?

Oh my god she is.

I mean I like that. I like that for that. That's a redesign choice that makes more sense to me.

Her red wig looks a bit more stylized than the Season 2 one. There's a bit more detail to it.

Maybe it's because of the animation upgrade they were able to do this. Because the Season 2 wig is definitely a very simple bob cut. I loved it, but still.

Very happy. Nice redesign. Love the flower too.

I'm happy to see her again. She was definitely a standout in Season 2.

Idk what she can do here though. Cause her story was kinda wrapped up in Season 2. They didn't leave that much hints for what she could do later.

We'll see. Either way I'm glad she's back.

I can't wait for them to butcher her character /j

YEEEEEEEEESSSSS!!!!!!!

SHE'S BACK!!

THE QUEEN IS BACK!!!!! YEEEESSSSSSS!!!!👑

GRETT I LOVE YOU!!!!

She better slay. I don't care if she wins or not as of right now, but SHE BETTER SLAY.

And she's wearing something that's ACTUALLY FASHIONABLE!

Like, I love Grett, but her Season 1 romper was just... NO...

This one looks so much better!

"For the second one, read the description." -Sender of this story

Oh.

Oh okay...

Oh yeah she did lose weight.

XD

I'm a fake Grett stan. I didn't instantly pick that up.

I'll see it and then make my judgement, how about that OddNations?

I mean, stories touch sensitive subjects all the time. Some portrayals are very questionable. And for some works they implement sensitive topics just for the sole purpose of being edgy. Which... NO.

I do appreciate they gave this trigger warning though. That proves to me that they are aware of what they're doing and are considerate of their audience.

That does not prove they're actually handling it well. It just proves they don't intend harm towards others.

They can still fuck it up. But it's the thought that counts.

Me personally, I'm not really sure how I feel about it. I'd have to watch the Season and understand the story context. As much as body positivity is something we strive for, and I like having fictional characters be plus sized personally, I do understand that at the end of the day, excessive weight is a detriment to physical health.

But I can't make that judgement as a scrawny person.

So... I'll just wait and watch the season.

I'm just so glad to have Grett back! My bad bitch queen!

PLEASE tell me Riya is in this! THESE TWO WOULD BE BESTIES!

Well, besties, and then Riya would fuck it up. But besties for a brief period of time.

My preference for Disventure Camp characters is the definition of "I support women's rights" "Well I support women's wrongs".

You can both be terrible people together!

OOOH TOM!

I was spoiled about this one. I knew Tom was coming back.

But still! YAY!

HE'S WEARING NORMAL CLOTHES NOW!!! HALLELUJAH!

Honestly, the more I'm looking at this, the more I'm kinda LOVING this redesign?!

It's a glow up because it feels like a progression of his character.

He's not hiding under a mask anymore. That's the first thing you notice. Assuming the police force is treating him well.

I can't wait for them to butcher his character /j

Okay but seriously, I think he's gonna at least make Merge. Season 1 left a cliffhanger on his character and him trying to find himself better. He's insecure of himself like that.

There's also, you know, his relationship with Jake.

I mean, if Tom is back, Jake is probably back too. I don't see a world where that wouldn't be the case.

If you ask me, I think Jake is the one with more baggage to work with. But Tom has some too.

But I'm not looking forward to it. Cause I don't ship them at all. Mm mm. Nope. No I don't. Nope. (Affectionate)

I just think Tom should be more authentic, ya know? It makes sense. In Season 1 he was the closed off one shrouded in mystery, and dude failure moments. XD

I feel like there's a lot more to Tom that we haven't seen yet. So I am very interested in this one.

Oh. Yay...

You already won. You're not making it far.

Like, IN WHAT WORLD, does the winner of one season make the Final Four in another?

The answer is Priya.

He looks the same.

I think going into this season, everyone knows he's a strategic threat, right?

I mean look, I may not be fond of James, but I will take it.

I think most of my issues with James bottled down to 'the execution wasn't great'.

Now with upgrade animation, and upgraded writing experience, I feel like that can change and I might grow to like him here.

All I really want is for James and Aiden to not be on the same team.

Unlike Tom and Jake, James and Aiden resolved things. They're a couple now. Their couple story ended there.

Not saying they can't do drama with them being in an actual relationship.

But uh, I don't trust Total Drama with that. And until I see it, I don't trust Disventure Camp with that either, for that reason.

I just think cause they were so bound together, it would be nice to get a taste of them interacting with other characters.

Oh. Girl. What is that?

I mean, I love Tess. Nice to see her again.

But what is this design?

Her Season 2 design wasn't the best, but it gave you a good idea on what her character was.

Why does she have a bun now?

And what is this top? Why do you have a black camisole on top of a white T-shirt?

What is the reason behind that choice?

I just don't get it.

You could argue the Season 2 design made it so that her top gets lost in her hair. And I can understand that.

That's why you have the white circle on her shirt to separate the two.

Would I have done something different with the white on the top? Personally, yeah. It's weird.

But you have her wearing a bun now. You can make her top as black as you want now. You've eliminated the consequences.

So... why?

I would've just had her wear her orange jacket.

That orange jacket looks like it would look good on her! Why is it still on her waist?

Idk what Tess could do here. Like Lake, her story is kinda wrapped up with little hints of the future.

I guess we'll see.

Oh.

Oh what did they do to you?

This man just has a basic white shirt now! Why?!

HIS VEST IN SEASON ONE WAS STYLISH.

WHY WOULD YOU REMOVE IT?!

He looks so much less interesting now!

I guess the divorced life wasn't treating him well.

That's what I think happened, right? He said he was going to get a divorce.

Um... I got no comment. I like Alec, he's fine, but I don't find him super interesting.

GABBYYYYYYY!!!!!

YEEESSSSS GABBY!!!!! 👑

If I had to make a prediction on a finalist, it's her. Right here. It's gotta be her!

I love her! I'm so happy she's back!

Makes sense too if Ellie is here.

I feel like after Season 1, there could be some relationship conflict with them.

Idk, in Season 1, I kinda got the impression that Gabby does know what Ellie did after she left, but is just so in love with her and needs her for emotional support that she's okay with it.

Ellie could try to murder someone, and Gabby will support it.

She also looks SO CUTE. I love the big bow omg ❤️

My queen. I love you.

Now we just need Riya and Rosa and we have the Quad Queens!

I'M SO HAPPY!!!!

*Next slide*

SHIT!!!

*groan*

Thanks for spoiling this one for me btw. I feel like my reaction would've been better if I didn't know.

GODDAMMIT!!

Welp, this season is gonna be shit.

Okay maybe not. Maybe he's a first boot. I would be very happy about that.

Cause what the actual FUCK do you think this character has of ANY substance WHATSOEVER?!

NO ONE LIKES YUL. WHY DID YOU BRING HIM BACK?!

I mean, maybe that's cause the Yul stans blocked me. Nobody has actually come to me to defend Yul.

I mean at least his bowl cut is gone I guess? The new hairstyle looks... better...?

Idk, complimenting Yul makes me feel like a bad person.

LOOK AT HIM!!!!

LOOK AT THIS STUPID ASS GRIN!

HE LOOKS LIKE HE'S SCARED TO SEE ME!

GOOD!!! YOU BETTER BE!!!

FEAR ME BITCH!

First boot. Get him outta here.

If Yul make the Final Four I am unsubbing.

Ooh! Aiden!

That's a good one!

No design changes. I think that's fine. I love his design anyway.

Again, I want him and James on separate teams just cause I want Aiden to shine on his own, and also interact with other characters.

Him being on a team with Jake would be so funny. Just cause they have similar flaws.

I would NOT say they have the same personality or are the same character though. FYI.

He was a finalist. He won't be a finalist again. But, you know, you can do quite a bit with him.

Can problematic gays coexist? That is the question.

...

WHY IS A CHILD HERE?????

I mean, I like Fiore as a villain. But uh... who approved of this?

I don't like the new design.

I'm assuming she's older, and part of her character is her wanting to be seen as an adult who can take care of herself. So maybe?

But her old design was ADORABLE. Why would you change it so drastically?

I think it's the ponytail I don't like. Just the way it's stylized in the model. I don't like it.

Fiore does not read to me as a ponytail girlie.

If it was, idk, a down braid, it would look a lot better while still making sense.

Not sure what you can do with her. Finalist. She ain't gonna be finalist again. On top of that, her relationship with Alec is... in the toilet.

So she is going into this with NO allies.

I would say she would mature into a better person, kinda like Heather. But from that pose, I feel like she hasn't changed one bit.

Everyone knows you're a little shit! You have nowhere to hide now!

😃

YEESSSSS!!!!!!

I knew it, but YEEEEEESSSSS!!!!

HE'S BACK!

THE BEST BOY IS BACK!!

EEEEEEEEEE!!!!

I am grinning ear to ear right now.

I mean, I CAN'T WAIT FOR THEM TO BUTCHER HIS CHARACTER /j

Everyone I have talked to prior to me watching Disventure Camp told me this man sucks ass.

But here we are. After watching the show for myself, I can say y'all are a BITCH to this guy.

I will not give a shit if he is a Grade A Asshole in this season. I will still choose to stan.

And, also, because I think that makes sense story-wise.

Jake got in a pretty bad place after Season 1. I mean the last talk he had with Tom kinda cleared a bit of air, but how much does that really do?

He still got used by someone he thought was a friend. He still got his relationship ruined. His grandma is in Heaven. And his love wants distance.

He's not doing so great. He is barely keeping it together.

It makes perfect sense to me for him to be bitter, and an asshole, and trust absolutely nobody.

He's gonna be the problem person on his team.

Then he either gets booted at the end of Pre-Merge, or early Merge. Because with everyone getting sick of his shit, I do not see anyone wanting him around.

But they kinda have to keep him that long, because he is linked to Tom. And they need closure.

Whether that's love, or moving on, idk. That could go either way and it would work.

I'll cry-I mean smile if it's the latter, but that's a story decision.

Me and my GF made a joke. She said Jake is gonna come into the season with part of his hair swept over his face like an emo.

Nope.

He actually kinda looks more mature than he does in Season 1. Maybe it's cause he ditched the hoodie with another jacket.

I don't know how I feel about the man ponytail. I'm gonna have to get used to it. But I don't hate it. It's... a choice.

Love ya son, very happy to see ya.

I am Team Jake. Even though I am most definitely losing.

👑

SPEAKING OF WHICH.

WHO DO WE HAVE HERE?!?!

HELLO QUEEN!!! HOW ARE YOU DOING?!

Um... I'm in awe right now.

And I thought Season 2 Riya design was hot.

SHE IS GORGEOUS.

OMG I LOVE THIS LOOK.

SHE LOOKS LIKE AN ACTUAL QUEEN.

The sunglasses and the jewelry and the thick fur coat? COME ON.

I'm assuming Bollywood praised her wrongdoings. Which... bad influence.

I-I love her. I love her. I love her, your honor.

She was a finalist. She won't be finalist again. I KNOW.

But dammit, I think her story isn't done. She's at least making Merge.

She can go either way. She can either see the light and be redeemed, or she can double down and butcher her life.

And I will keep saying "I can fix her."

I can't wait for them to butcher her character-OKAY I'LL STOP.

LOVE YOU QUEEN!!! 👑

Hunter.

I mean, yeah, of course. If Tess is here, Hunter is gonna be here too.

And Allyson. We haven't seen her yet.

He looks the same. His story in Season 2 was kinda wrapped up so idk what you can do with him.

No comment.

Oh hello.

So we meet again.

She looked pissed at me.

I meant every word I said, girl.

Hopefully your strategies are better this time. Even though you won't win cause you were a finalist last time.

Again, I think Gabby and Ellie can have a lot going on. Especially in regards to what Ellie did.

I definitely think she's gonna have to be involved with Jake. Just cause of what happened.

She can either feel sorry for it, but Jake's an asshole so it's too late.

Or she could just say "Nah, bitch deserved it."

I think it would be funny if everyone actually supported and stanned Ellie for what she did to Jake and everyone hates Jake because he's Jake.

"Everyone's hate for you gets me money!"

I think she'll have a story, but I don't see her making it to Final Four.

I think of the two, Gabby has a better chance at winning.

I can also see an arc where Ellie decides Gabby is more important than money.

CAUSE CURSE YOU ECONOMY. IT'S SHIT.

As for the new vest...?

Eh?

I kinda liked her old one better????

Like, it's more colorful cause the blue is more prominent. But there was something about the greyscale being a majority of her look that your eyes are drawn to her ginger hair.

And the blue undershirt matched her eyes. So it popped.

But, maybe it's just this image, but her eyes look more dull now.

So the blue can't compliment it.

I still like it. Her design is wonderful. But I just preferred the old one.

And hello Not Ellie!

I call her Allyson for this very reason.

I will NEVER be able to tell the two apart when I'm talking. So I call her Allyson. It rolls off my tongue more.

Anyway, expected after revealing Hunter and Tess.

I think her shirt is different. She had a.... Pac Man last time? I think?

It's real simple, but it's real cute.

She also put her hair up. It looks nice.

I would personally say she'd look better in braided pigtails cause she's a geek. But whatever.

Of the polycule, I would say Allyson is the one who could make the farthest here. Tess had her story wrapped up. Hunter had his story wrapped up. And Allyson meanwhile is more focused on the love drama itself. She's a nice girl, but still.

She's such a strong emotional anchor character that she might even be able to carry other people.

I also really want to see her backstory with her grandfather get expanded upon. Cause that felt so tacked on in Season 2.

She and Jake would be great friends.

Jake would be an asshole, but I think Allyson is the type to see through that and understand what's going through his head. Even if he rejects her help.

Jake needs a friend that won't betray him. So who better than Not Ellie? XD

She can have a lot of nice interactions I can see. So I'm actually very interested in seeing more of her.

...huh?

Connor?

What?

He was booted in Episode THREE.

What...?

I don't get it.

I mean, he's tied to Riya. But that's it.

Why is he here? Other than for Riya's development?

I don't want to say he's a nothing character. They could flesh him out.

I mean, they'd have to, cause otherwise why bring him back at all?

I-I'm kinda baffled. I don't see the vision here.

At least not yet.

WHERE'S ROSA? WHERE'S MY GIRL ROSA? WE HAVEN'T SEEN HER YET.

If this is a world where Connor comes back but Rosa doesn't, I might scream.

Aw, hey Miriam.

You're not making it far.

Poor woman.

I love her, but I don't see why she would be back either. Cause she won last time.

And she's all Jake has. So that tells me she's an early boot.

Her story was kinda completed in Season 1.

I like her outfit though. I like the shirt.

I'm happy to see she's alive.

Ashley.

Okay, that's an interesting one.

I liked her, but she didn't really get to do much in Season 1.

They can do more with her though. Her story's interesting.

Ashley and Rosa.

Where's Rosa?

WAIT.

WAIT NO THAT'S IT?!

WHERE'S ROSA?!?!?! WHERE'S MY GIRL ROSA?!?!?!

Are you... ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW?

YOU BRING BACK-fucking-CONNOR, BUT NOT ROSA?!?!?

WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?!? WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT TO ME?!

YOU CAN'T JUST X OUT ONE OF MY FAVORITE SEASON 2 CHARACTERS LIKE THAT.

COME ON, SHE HAS AN INTERESTING STORY, SHE CAN BRING SO MUCH TO THE TABLE. WHY?!?!?

WHAT DOES CONNOR HAVE THAT MAKES YOU THINK "Yeah he's a more valuable character than Rosa."

Fuck off. I'm not happy.

Oh my god, you can't do that to me...

Anyway, so uh... I was wrong.

The Season 1 hosts ARE back.

Why though? Krystal is hosting.

Is Trevor back too?

Yep.

I mean I get he's voiced by a TD YouTuber, or whatever else he does on his channel, but I wouldn't want to assume it's that.

I'm a bit confused by the decision, but okay.

I'll... I'll consider what you're giving me here.

Oliver's here. Of course.

These guys too??

Why?

And why would you change Nina's dress? The pink is so much better.

These are gimmick characters from Season 2. What do they have to offer?

...and you're adding a new character on top of all of this?

Who the hell are you?

I-I don't get it.

You already have the contestants, why would you bloat the cast with the hosts?

You just need Krystal, Oliver, and maybe this new girl. That's it.

And of course Krystal. We already know this.

AWWWWWWW LOOK AT THIS!!! THIS IS CUTE!!

THEY'RE NEXT TO EACH OTHER!!! ❤️

GUUUUUYYYYSSSS, THEY'RE NEXT TO EACH OTHER.

Gabby and Ellie in the front.

They're the front and center characters. I'm telling you that right now.

Connor looks like he is regretting all of his life choices.

Why does Allyson look pissed at Hunter?

Oh no. Relationship drama. My favorite /s

GET YOUR HAND OFF OF GRETT.

YOU DICK.

GET OFF HER.

I'm actually very excited for this.

I heard shit things, but fuck it. I'm rolling with it.

This is a nice cast.

You know, ignoring the ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM WHY IS HE BACK GODDAMMT-

And I also will mourn the loss of my beloved Rosa Maria.

JUSTICE FOR ROSA!

My Predictions (In no order):

Pre-Merge Boots: Lake, James, Tess, Yul, Fiore, Hunter, Miriam

Merge Boots: Grett, Tom, Alec, Aiden, Jake, Riya, Ellie, Connor, Ashley

Potential Finalists: Gabby & Allyson

[reksink]

for the ask thingy, how bout 4 or 7?

4 - Favorite iterator? MOON. NO CONTEST. She's wonderful, sweet, beautiful, and I love her so dearly I do have to say I am a bit bias because I already really love 'Summoned by tragedy but this chooses to be kind' type characters, but Moon takes everyhting I love about them and expresses them tenfold She was already nice to begin with, that's why she named herself Big Sis Moon after all, and even after all the pain she's gone through, if you're kind to her, she'll be kind to you right back. Which I find so very sweet Especially with her conflict with Pebbles. Even after all the hurt he's caused, even when it's in her right to completely cut contact with him forever, she still chooses to care for her brother. And together, while they're both still doomed, they have each other now. They're still family after all is said and done and I love that so much And I just love how sweet she is the slugcats. I did a pearl-quest on my Survivor run, and while getting all the pearl was incredibly diffcult, the pilgrimage to Moon made it all worth it, hehe. Her dialouge is so charming and is such a treat to read, and they way she talks back to the scug while reading every so often melts my heart. And the way she starts calling them little archaeologist after enough pearl reads is perfect ALSO IN GOURMAND CAMPAIGN WHERE SHE SAID 'My last vistor was even sick' I CAUGHT TEAR. SHE CARES ABOUT THE SCUG, SHE TAKES SO MUCH Also another thing I like it how she's responsive to how you treat her. Again, she's kind if you're kind to her, but if you've hurt her/if you're rude she response to that. That just makes her more grounded to me, that she's a person that's already gone though enough and she won't tolerate rudeness especially in her weakened state A run-up for a favoite iterator would be No Significant Harrasment. I will admit I haven't read all of the brodcasts yet, so I could be missing important information about him, but for now to me he's a silly goofball. A goofball that truly loves and cherishes his friends deeply and is willing to do anything to make sure they're okay I think about his Garbage Wastes brodcast a lot. How he sounds so deseprate and broken hoping for Moon to say something. For her to be okay. I also really like he's talks with Red Sev, they feel like such good friends and they're great comforts for each other during Spear's campaign. Also I have a running joke in my head that he's 'Green Zacharie from OFF'. It makes no else laugh but me, and I've expected this 7 - Favorite in-game creature? SCAVENGERS. I LOVE SCAVS SO MUCH!! Again, very bias pick because I absolutely love observing intelligent life without human (or in this case Ancients) interfence BUT LOOK AT THEM!! Scavs are such smart creatures and their animations and gestures truly reflect that these are intelligent creature worth understanding and loving They have personality, moment to moment goals, fun interacts, and I could wish them for hours OMGA I also feel to special when a scavenger/a groups of scavengers starts following me around. I feel like I'm part of a family, that the scavengers are geniunely interested in my slugcat and want just be around me or protect me Sadly my love for scavengers is the reason why I can never play Artificer's campaign. I can't bring myself to hurt scavenger, when I do it on accident I reset the game pfffff. I can't imagine the heartbreak I'd go through knowing I can't even look at a scavenger without being ready to kill it If I ever finally sit down to do it, I'd love to analysis the art around each Scavenger Toll/Territory. My goal would be to pick apart their artwork and camp layouts to see that it means about the region's cultures. Like what they vaule in their art, what patterns certain patterns could mean, what's similar what's different, the works!! I love scavenger so very much, they're so precious to me, and if we ever get offical merch for them I'd buy like 10, hehe

[not-poignant]

@hellish-cleric replied to your post “I think it will come as no surprise to anyone that...”:

Yeah, everyone in my party, plus most of the players in my d&d group *hated* Astarion as soon as they met him. Meanwhile, I'm Team Ride or Die for Astarion. I'm a little confused at all the hate he gets.

​Oh actually I can answer at least some of this!

He's an obviously camp character who was in a gay relationship (a forced gay relationship but w/e) in an AAA game that is mostly going out to dudebros, and frankly the people who overwhelmingly hate him or kill him immediately the most are straight guys. (The biggest complaints for BG3 are not actually the bugs, but the LGBTQIA+ rep, including being able to have a nonbinary character, or trans character). Within that context, there was already latent Astarion hate in the community that was easy for everyone else to pick up on. So some of it is honestly straight up homophobia!

Then on top of that they gave him PTSD over being saved by someone who then tortured him for 200 years and enslaved him in exchange for that rescue, so he reacts badly every time you save someone, because he doesn't trust that.

And then on top of that he's a complete chaos gremlin. After all, he was tortured and forced to torture people for 200 years, and just about no one maintains much of an ethical backbone after that kind of treatment.

And I think the combo of 'so much of the (guy) community hates Astarion so there's already a background vibe that predisposes people to being suspicious of him' and 'he's camp which hooks into the homophobic folks who don't like that' AND 'he keeps disapproving of me when I do heroic things' (which is a lie, he doesn't always disapprove, and sometimes he actually approves, it depends a lot on context) just kind of turns a lot of folks off him.

He's the only character in the whole story who will actually take you aside privately and comfort you if you do a sexual thing with an NPC later in the game and choose dialogue options that say you were disgusted by doing the thing. He literally takes you aside and starts joking and then is like 'actually... I know what that's like, and I'm so so sorry you had to go through that.'

Dude's fun to meme, hilarious to meme, but he's also the only character who comforts you after you get sexually assaulted/harassed, and in an extremely genuine, 'no strings attached' way. I'm ride or die for that fucker, and I laugh at the folks that turfed him because a bunch of dudes laid a path they walked down.

Like don't get me wrong, some folks just hate him because of the way he looks, the constant disapproval if you're playing a Very Good Character is frustrating, or they have no use for a rogue (they hate loot or maybe they're playing a rogue themselves), or because he can be naff in a battle if you spec him badly / don't know how to spec him out, or for a lot of super understandable reasons! Like, if you never talk your way out of situations, hulk smash a lot in battles, and save people, you're going to get his disapproval AND he won't be as useful in those battles. If you don't sneak around picking off folks, and just go in and smash everyone, he's not as useful as Gale and Wyll who have good AoE, or Lae'zel and Karlach who have amazing 'Hulk Smash' abilities.

I'd avoid him too if I was playing a character who couldn't persuade/deceive/intimidate my way out of situations (which is the best and easiest way to earn his approval), and I might be like 'I don't like Astarion' because of it. He doesn't fit my playstyle! I can't stand Lae'zel for example, because I just don't vibe with 'killing the weak and no one is equal' as a political stance!

But some of it re: Astarion is literally 'a lot of folks are implicitly homophobic and he's easy to hate.'

Frankly I think Dorian (from Dragon Age: Inquisition) would have received a lot more of this too if he'd been more morally questionable as a character when you first meet him. But they made him a 'good' queer so he got more conditional acceptance (and even then, he still got a lot of hate initially!!!)

I am very fortunate that everyone I know personally absolutely love him, and I'm surrounded by a lot of Ride or Die Astarion fans in my personal circle/s both offline and irl and that makes me so incredibly happy.

[gaymer-hag-stan]

A Tekken 8 Review That Nobody Asked for From a Longtime Fan Who Has Been Playing for Ages But Is Not a Pro - That Title Is Too Long

Having spent a little over 24 hours playing the game on my PS5, I feel like it's an appropriate amount of time to share my first thoughts on it. I will try to keep spoilers to a minimum so just skip the "Story" section and you should be fine.

General Thoughts

A pretty healthy roster, overall happy with who we got. I do wish Anna and Christie were here, and I also miss Lucky Chloe. With Eddy already announced and Azucena taking over the "cooky dance-y character" I unfortunately don't see Christie or Chloe returning, but Anna better fucking do!

They all look great, even the ugly ones, they look satisfyingly ugly, if that makes any sense. The girls still suffer from the Madame Tussaud's wax figure syndrome that plagued the entirety of Tekken 7's roster, but, maybe I'm gaslighting myself, I do feel like they look a bit less plasticky than some of the initial teasers? Most of the redesigns are great, the hair (Lili's hair has never looked better), water and dirt physics all finally WORK and I love how all the clothing animates with the wind effect, the Fallen Destiny stage is a great one to illustrate all of the above. We can see Yoshimitsu's fingers after three decades! I'd love to know the thought process behind this redesign lmao

I love that they finally, after so many years of other fighting games having it but being inexplicably absent from Tekken, they finally added Player vs CPU matches! FINALLY! Finally I can pick my character and my opponent of choice, pick their costumes and set a stage for them to battle. I'm so happy for this even though it might not make any sense to anyone.

Combo Challenges! We finally have combo challenge in Tekken! Another common fighting game feature inexplicably missing up until now.

Gameplay feels a lot of fun. I wasn't sure about the heat mechanic but it's actually a lot more fun than I initially thought! I tried out all of the cast and am slowly completing both their story episodes and an Arcade run for good measure. I am obviously still maining Nina. They have decided to simplify a lot of her combo throws and I am having fun terrorizing people online with them by breaking their bones! I'm also using Arcade Quest to learn how to play as Lili and Azucena, some basic moves and combos and whatnot. I wanna also do Zafina, Jun, Jin, Hwoarang and Xiaoyu as well eventually. I think these eight will be my main squad for the time being. As a side note, King and Steve feel extremely fun to play, I haven't picked either in ages, but with King I was really close!

The netcode is, surprisingly functional??? We did recently switch to an optic fiber connection type, but I'm still on WiFi and I am having zero problems!

Jukebox is thankfully back again! I literally spent an hour or more before playing the game at all to decide which song goes where lol

Something that scares me regarding upcoming DLC, is that I do not see a season pass being sold anywhere except the Deluxe Edition bundle that costs 40€... I'm sorry but I don't give a fuck about owning 32 identical gold costumes or Tetsujin or whoever the fuck as my Arcade Quest avatar... I only want Eddy and the other three (one of them better be Anna!) thank you very much!

Story

"The Dark Awakens"

Believe it or not I haven't even finished the main story yet as I'm trying to pace myself through all the modes and enjoy them, savouring every moment. At the moment of typing this I am almost halfway through and I must say, even though I am still firmly in the "Drop the cinematic NRS style story modes" camp, and I would much rather have had either arcade mode with proper, canon endings back, or a revival and repurposing of the Tekken Force mode, in an SF6 World Tour mode type of way, out of all of Bandai Namco's attempts at a cinematic story mode, from SCV to Tekken 8, this has been the most satisfying attempt so far. I love that they are fully embracing the overdramatic nature of Tekken along with its campy side and it's present from the very beginning, with Jin throwing his bike at Kazuya's helicopter! "A Fate Decided by Fists" were we actually get to choose which fighters advance through the first round was the biggest highlight so far! I did not expect to fight Azazel again in 2024! I miss his Tekken 6 design though, he no longer glows according to his remaining health or has his limbs crumble away into scarabs according to which parts of him you're hitting. Also, I do understand why they felt the need to overemphasize how "Jin was a good guy all along and he's not like Kazuya" to redeem him and attempt to portray him as a more traditional hero, but I think they went way too far. Literally every single cast member, characters who've never met him before especially, makes a point of how good a person Jin is. Also, I do understand that there were a lot of people complaining that most of the cast were ignored in Tekken 7's story mode and I appreciate that they tried to include more of them this time, but it's so half assed and superficial. Like, Lili, Asuka, Hwoarang, Leo (who finds their missing father, a forgotten plot point from Tekken 6 of screen without a single explanation) Xiaoyu, PANDA offer absolutely nothing to the story so far other than to just be there and tell Jin what a good guy he is. And I say all that as someone who is firmly on Jin's side and despises Kazuya.

Character Episodes

Thank god they have more than one single fight this time! I would have liked it if they found a way to make each of them be canon. Like, I think every single one of the Arcade mode endings of SF6 is canon, if I'm not mistaken, and most of them seem to take place before the events of the main story, as a way to give us a clearer understanding of why each fighter fights. I think Guilty Gear does exactly that too. Nevertheless, I do appreciate that each fighter has fights specifically tailored to them, with specific opponents. It's not clear to me yet if they're completely non-canon or not, as in Nina's she seems to have been hired by Lee to sabotage G Corporation and Kazuya, I pray to God this is true and she's not actually, willingly working for that asshole, like, I'm still in complete denial that they threw her entire character development from Tekken 4 to Tekken 7 to the trash can just to go "NInA WiLl WoRK FoR WhOmEvEr"... She's also suspiciously missing from the actual story like, she simply just appeared in ONE scene so far and then left without doing literally anything. She also seems to only have special interactions with Steve and Lee so far when others get a lot more. Her handling story wise in this installment is insulting, considering she's the most popular female fighter in the series and one of the most popular in the genre...

Offline Modes

Arcade Quest

It's cute... It's certainly a cool way to mask your tutorial and the avatars are kinda cool, but they're nowhere near as good as what Capcom did with SF6 and World Tour. I must say I prefer Tag 2's Tekken Lab over this.

Super Ghost Battle

Ghost battle, after five attempts is finally fun! Tekken 7's was by far the worst attempt as the game would automatically pick opponents for you, matching you with much harder ones if you were winning too much and much lower ones if you were losing too much so that you wouldn't climb the ranks as fast and it would artificially increase playtime. Now that Tekken has actual single player modes other that the story there's no need for that, and they made it work. You simply choose from a list, and the ones that contain unlockable (useless) customisation options for specific characters are actually marked so that you can attempt to get the item you want.

Arcade Battle

I love that they still included a traditional eight battle long Arcade mode, even though they could have just had the character episodes and call it a day. My slight nitpick, again, is that they're still doing this thing that they've been doing since Tekken 5 or 6 where the first few battles are characters in their default costumes and then a horde of Namco's customized monstrosities attack your eyes... This is a huge pet peeve of mine, I understand it in the context of Ghost Battle, and Arcade Quest, but I do not want to see goofy customs in other, "serious" modes. On top of that, the ghosts you get seem to be from the Super Ghost Battle's catalogue of freaks, and are therefore higher difficulty than most, which in turn makes them actively harder than the mode's final boss which I think is kinda hilarious!

Tekken Ball

I will admit, I only played a single match and never touched it again. It is actually challenging, I'll give it that, but I don't see the appeal. I'd much rather have Tekken Bowl again back instead tbh. Also I wish that stage was playable in normal modes too.

Customization

Avatar customization is kinda whatever, but it works well enough for Arcade Quest and I don't really visit the Tekken Fight Lounge.

Character Customization however is where I have an issue. While I've seen lots of cool customs of various characters from other games and IPs, including Shimbori himself dressing up Super Battle ghosts as DOA characters!, I don't really care for the customization options? My only real use for Character Customization in Tekken so far was to recreate past / alternate outfits. Like, in Tekken 6 I would buy the schoolgirl outfit parts for all the teen girlies, in Tekken 7 I recreated Nina's 2P outfit from Tekken 4 using her Blood Vengeance catsuit as a base, stuff like that. In Tekken 8 all I'm getting is a huge catalogue of Zara's apparel... And all the unlockable outfits are either their default look with less clothes on, or weird cosplays of other characters. Why? Tekken Character Customization peaked in Tekken 6, where every single one of the 40 (41 if you count Panda, who I think had some different options from Kuma) characters had his own personal selection of outfits and items, matching their personality and look. I don't want to play as Nina dressed up as Ada Wong or in a business casual for a 9-5 desk job. They made everything way too generic and bland and, on top of that, we don't even have trademark pieces like Nina's purple catsuit, her ponytail, Hwoarang's taekwondo garb, Xiaoyu's Tekken 6 battle costume. The Tekken 5 veterans should have had their Tekken 5/6/TTT2 costumes and hairstyles on top of their Tekken 7 ones.

Overall, I am very very happy with this game! It seemingly does almost everything right and I am glad to see it improving on, literally, every single thing over Tekken 7.

Score: 9 / 10

[vyuntspakhkite-l-darling]

Writing share tag

Thanks for the tag, @cowboybrunch ! Convenient timing with this one, because I worked on my first draft for the first time in a while last night. And well, it is a first draft, but I do think what I wrote is helping make Virava a more distinct character.

When the group returned to camp, Liena greeted them immediately. They gave her the rundown. At least half of the talking was done by Arsioly. Virava almost expected him to whip out his little trophy, even though it'd probably get him an earful from Liena at best. That was the sort of thing the Emperor's Divine Army did when they managed to kill rebel soldiers, it was a shock that he'd done it. "Our cover was broken earlier than we expected," Arsioly said, referencing Tavery, who had been taken to the large- well, large for the RA's standards- medical tent. "But we handled it well. And if the cleanup team does their job, they'll bring us back a gun." Liena hummed and nodded, and then decided she'd heard enough. She dismissed the group, though most didn't leave the clearing, heading straight for the fire to receive their meals. Virava did so as well, and as she crouched down to eat and warm up by the fire, Liena walked over with her hands on her hips. "How was it?" the camp leader asked, squatting next to Virava, her pinecone-colored ponytail bobbing with the movement. The light caught on the silver strands that were starting to creep through the brown, like ivy overtaking a wall. Virava smiled, and it didn't reach her eyes. "Well… it was fine. Process was different than I remembered, but not in a bad way. We've gotten more careful." Liena hummed but didn't speak, probably trying to prompt a less impersonal answer. "Sibatol gave me a scare. He got lost between buildings, there was a moment where we couldn't find him." Liena seemed skeptical, and Virava couldn't say that, after thinking about it more, she quite believes he'd gotten lost in that little village either. "Ah… him. How did he do?" "About like I expected. He was real anxious going in," Virava sighed. "But I didn't really see him in action. I'll admit, I wasn't paying much attention to anything, the adrenaline had me. But he came out without a scratch, so I assume he did well." Liena nodded and moved to sit down on her hip. "That's good. I was worried about him." Virava made a noise that said the feeling was mutual. She'd been more than worried about Sibatol, especially in those moments where she didn't know where he was. She might have had a heart attack if something had happened to him. She couldn't handle another loss. Deciding to change the subject before the got too into her own head, she asked, "How are the other camp leaders doing?" "They're doing alright. Zhaik and Eila's camps have missions planned that will connect their territories, which is huge. We've decided we're going to focus on that- connecting camps, I mean. We want to close the gaps so that we can block off trade from Conalis to Kristalya, at least over land. Not much we can do about boats." "Smart. But I figure if I was Conalis and I suddenly had a group of ruffians blocking trade and losing me money, I'd be pretty pissed. Let's make sure to redirect traders to places where their merchandise will still be bought. We don't need more enemies, especially not ones that will leave us trapped between them." "We've already thought of that, yes, but thank you," Liena said, her eyes squinting with a bit of humor. Virava chuckled. "Just making sure." They were quiet then, each lost in their respective thoughts. Then Liena spoke again. "You know, that's the kind of thinking we look for in camp leaders." Virava rolled her eyes. This wasn't the first time Liena had propositioned her to try and get her to become a camp leader. Virava knew why, of course. She'd been with the rebellion since just after it started picking up a traction and becoming a real threat to the empire. She'd been here longer than most soldiers in the camp, and she had the skills to prove it. But that kind of responsibility just wasn't something Virava wanted. Her mistakes had gotten people hurt too many times to be interested in that. "Maybe it is." Liena understood that as a rejection of the idea and didn't speak on it further.

Tagging @mk-writes-stuff, @written-among-stars, and @abbyzwrites

[utilitycaster]

Sorry to keep the string of im*dna questions in your ask box, but I've been wondering, in your opinion are laura and marisha having their relationship be this... offputting on purpose, and we will get to a point where they develop out of it, or are they trying to write their relationship as cute/romantic (and it's not coming out well)? I always thought it was an unhealthy dynamic on purpose, but after how fast they resolved the gnarlrock fight I wonder when they're going to sort their stuff out, if they're planning on it at all. I know I'm not too good at picking up subtext but the fact most of the fandom seems to think they're just cute girlfriends leaves me very confused on the whole situation, I'd appreciate hearing your perspective.

Hi anon!

I don't know what Marisha and Laura's intent is, but I have to assume they're aware to an extent of how this relationship comes off (ie, incredibly unhealthy). I think anything else diminishes their skill as actors, their intelligence as people, and feels outright incorrect based on what we've seen and heard from them in the past. Their answers during talkback and a few in-game moments across campaigns have led me to believe that in general, the cast in general, and Marisha and Laura in particular, have a good sense of how to portray relationships in a thoughtful, nuanced way. Which, you know, for a group of voice actors, some of whom also direct or write, is a pretty crucial skill! So anyway, I believe that their choices have been intentional.

I can only speculate as to why the fandom thinks they're just cute girlfriends, and will put it under a cut.

Again, speculation, but: people have been shipping this since quite literally the minute the two appeared on screen as characters who knew each other. As for why, I suspect it's one of the following: some are genuinely interested in the potential or the characters and aren't as attuned to how toxic this is. Some would like an F/F ship no matter what and don't care about the characters or how toxic it is (although like...honestly if you're shipping this as horrible toxic codependence, more power to you, it's not my cup of tea, but it's fiction, you're valid, and you're also not saying Cute Girlfriends so this doesn't apply anyway). Some are weirdly obsessed with Marisha and Laura specifically playing lovers despite consistently playing Two Women Who Don't Get Each Other/Can't Be Honest With Each Other across three separate campaigns, which is how we got the "Beauyasha is For Straight People" nonsense.

It's been fascinating to track the bargaining going on in the Cute Girlfriends camp. It went from early campaign "they're girlfriends already!" to "oh they've been in love for a long time" to "they realized they loved each other during the gnarlrock incident" (itself a backtrack from how Imogen sucked for being mad at Laudna) to "I would give anything for them to talk" and then when they did talk, began rapidly backpedaling. The idea of this being anything but explicitly romantic love would have gotten you anon hate a few months ago, but the popularity of it as a QPR has suddenly spiked as of the last episode (which, honestly, is weird, because like, yes, people in a QPR don't necessarily kiss, but also, I would still expect someone in a QPR to tell their queerplatonic partner 'hey it is fucked up that you can't promise me you won't SIDE WITH MY MURDERER'. I mean. I would expect you to be able tell any friend of two years that.)

It's like they're trying to hang on to their first impression in the early episodes - why they cling to such minor characters as Zhudanna or this idea of a static hypothetical dream cottage where nothing happens - but canon keeps diverging more and more, and I wonder what will happen.

Anyway. I guess I leave you with this thought:

Imagine that Ashton had entertained siding with the god-killing cult in conversation with Laudna. Do you think the people who ship Imogen and Laudna would have tolerated that?

Imagine that Imogen had said "I know loneliness you don't" to Laudna. Do you think the people who ship Imogen and Laudna would be mad about it?

[khaire-traveler]

Ok, I will try not to talk too much about this on here, since this blog isn't really about this type of content, but I need to nerd out to someone, none of my friends are into this, and this is my main blog, so here we go:

***BALDUR'S GATE 3 SPOILERS AHEAD; READ AT YOUR OWN DISCRETION***

This is mostly just me needing out and gushing, though, lol.

Ok, ok, so for the past five days, I have been fucking binge playing this game. I literally spent the first day I got it sitting around for, like, seven hours (don't be me, and make sure to get up for breaks if you're gonna do the same thing). I was - and still am - absolutely hooked.

I LOVE this game!!! It's the first DnD based game I've played, especially of this quality (even though my laptop runs it like shit and the lag is killer ☠️). I'm playing on Explorer, so it's been fairly easy and very story-focused. I find the lore so intriguing, and I'm so interested in seeing where the story goes! I haven't seen anything past the camp party after saving Halsin, though, so no spoilers please. 🙏

So, I started off with one playthrough, but I came in with the knowledge that you are able to romance the characters and such. I REALLY wanted to romance Astarion (as most people I see talking about the game lmfao), but my bitch ass just could not get his approval, no matter how hard I tried. It got to the point where he actually made fun of me after we saved Halsin and had the camp party. 😭 I honestly suspect he might've glitched out somehow, since I had read online that people have had similar issues with earning the trust and approval of companions. This definitely bummed me out, but I was still enjoying the game a lot.

Along with that, in my original playthrough, I literally forgot to seek out Lae'zel. I had planned on doing it, but I just didn't know where to go, and by the time I had met Gale, I honestly forgot about finding her because I had to get offline at that point. 💀 I felt really bad about it, and I only went to go look for her after saving Halsin because I was reminded of her, and she had already broken out of the cage and killed the two tieflings who trapped her. I felt so bad that I just left her there on her own all that time. ☠️

After realizing that I wouldn't be able to recruit her until a bit later, I just decided to restart my playthrough on different save files. I figured I'd also at least get a proper chance with Astarion as well (love him so much; he is my meow meow 💕), and all while still playing as the character I took quite literally two hours to make (I was very indecisive about them lol).

So far, the new playthrough has been going very well, and I'm actually pretty happy that I restarted, since I had also apparently missed the scene of Astarion sharing his vampiric nature as well as some very key information from, and about, Lae'zel. I'm only about seven hours in right now, but I feel like I've somehow gotten more done in this playthrough than I did in my original which had something like fifteen hours. I've explored places I didn't even realize existed, picked up a ridiculous amount of loot, and even acquired all the companion characters that I know of in the First Act. It's been extremely successful! Not to mention things with Astarion are going very well. 🥰

Anyway, I've been enjoying this game a lot! This is my first ever time playing it; I didn't have Early Access and hadn't even heard of it until my friend told me about it this past Sunday lol. I'm honestly really glad that I got this game, despite the price of it and the price I had to pay for a new storage drive for my laptop in order to run it. It was certainly lots of money spent, but it was definitely money well spent.

I feel like my perspective on the world around me has changed slightly from playing this game (in a positive way). I feel a lot more curious about things than before, and I'm more inclined to take spontaneous risks which has always been a struggle for me beforehand. I also kind of feel like I can talk to other people a lot easier as well, as strange as that sounds. I play a Bard in the game, so my character has high charisma and stops to talk to other characters a lot, and I'm not really sure why, but seeing my character interact so easily with others has kind of inspired me in a way and helped to make social situations a lot more comfortable for me (I have social anxiety, so talking to people has always been pretty tough). As unusual as it may sound, this game has already changed me in such positive ways as a person, and I can't wait to see what other lessons it may have to teach. ☺️

All of that said, I couldn't recommend Baldur's Gate 3 more! It's genuinely one of those games that I think anyone can pretty much enjoy, and I also appreciate how inclusive it is with gender stuff and queer relationships. The other characters even refer to me with the correct pronouns, despite me never needing to enter my pronouns in! It's a very impressive game, and the graphics are absolutely gorgeous (especially when your laptop isn't absolute shit like mine lmao). Frankly, it's just great!

Of course, being so new, it does have its problems. I've personally experienced lots of lag issues - dialogue and animations won't be in sync, characters taking a long time to go from one location to another, environments not loading in very quickly, etc. I've also had the game crash on me a few times, but I honestly believe it's more related to my laptop than it is to the game, and for the most part, it hasn't caused me too much grief.

Despite its flaws, I personally believe this game is very much worth a play. It's loads of fun, and the characters are pretty charming and entertaining. The storyline is interesting with lots of twists and turns, and if you ever get bored of the mainline quest, there are literally endless sidequests for you to enjoy. Exploration is highly encouraged, and as you explore the realm, your map actually reveals the locations you've been to. Fast travel is also a super great feature, although there are some locations I wish that were on there that aren't, sadly.

Ok, I've...talked a lot, so I'm going to stop now. 😂 Thank you to anyone who actually read all this, and I hope you have fun playing or watching someone else play, if you plan on doing either! Take care. 🧡🪽

[circa-specturgia]

15 Questions, 15 Mutuals

Since @tryingtimi @bloodlessheirbyjacques @the-void-writes @baroquesse, @awritingcaitlin and @agrimedena-drax all asked me (some twice, if you need any idea at how bad I am at answering asks), I’ve finally gotten around to writing it down…

I'll answer it for my main WIPs, Circa Specturgia's main character, Caspian. Answers being from him in the state he's in around the midpoint, or towards the end of the second arc of the story, if I were to guess!

Cas is sitting in front of a fire, a ways away from the camp where everyone else is staying, far enough away to be out of earshot when you sit beside him. He doesn't pay you much mind, though he doesn't brush you off, instead stoking the fire, which illuminates the bags under his eyes.

1. Are you named after anyone?

I am. We were able to know for sure that the A .in my name meant Alekos once we'd met V, though after meeting Mask the first time, we already suspected that it meant something to me. Though, I don't know if I can count it as being named after someone if I'm to be that persons incarnation...

Aside from that, Blackwood... It's where I'm supposedly from, but I'd like to think that I've made that my name.

2. When was the last time you cried?

I’d rather not say. Or think about it.

3. Do you have kids?

Uh, no. Maybe I'd like to, in the future, though. If I can even really think about that right now. Now that I think about it, I'm not sure if Mask can even... hmm. Maybe I should ask.

4. Do you use sarcasm?

Never. Not once in my life have I ever used sarcasm for any reason.

5. What's the first thing you notice about people?

Would you punch me if I said their ass?

He chuckles a bit once you do, before he straightens up, stoking the fire again.

Their eyes. You can usually tell a lot from the eyes.

6. What's your eye color?

Black. Or really dark grey? Like graphite, or obsidian. They apparently turn gold sometimes though. Whenever I do anything Antecendant. I’ve never looked in a mirror when it happens.

7. Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy endings. I'd like to hope for happy endings.

8. Any special talents?

I don't know if I can count my arsosteia as a talent? It's just something I can do, thought V said I have a knack for it. Kane would also– ...sorry.

He goes silent for a moment, having remembered something he'd rather have not, the fire dimming before he realizes it, and reignites the embers.

Uh, I guess Adira said once that I picked up fighting instincts quick.

9. Where were you born?

I… don’t really know. The Blackwood, I mentioned it earlier, was where I was apparently created, but I don’t know the details. If V knows, he didn't tell me. Cyril put down Layr Laiarta when sorting out my documents, so I guess that makes me a Vosiinæan on paper. I think that works for me. Maybe I'll settle down there. If I earn that happy ending.

10. What are your hobbies?

I liked reading, when I had time. The Royal University Library had a ton of books, and even if the ones on Matrixes gave me a headache I'd still take those over what we have to deal with these days.

Sparring is nice too. Both with or without specturgy. It lets everything sort of melt away, too.

11. Do you have any pets?

Do the runalongs count? I didn’t even know I could do it until recently but Mask taught me to summon them to me and they have my fire, so I guess that makes them my pets?

That said, Mask is enough of a creature themselves that I could call them my Pet…

12. What sports do you play/ have played?

Does sparring count? Adira and Cyril have us practicing nearly constantly. I don’t mind it, though. Like I said, helps me clear my head.

13. How tall are you?

6'5" or so? Cyril says I've gotten taller over the last year.

14. Favorite subject in school?

Gods, that feels forever ago... I think it would've been the the practice matches against Cyril. Or the control exercises, they were tough, but, finishing them felt good.

15. Dream Job?

He doesn't speak for a moment, looking into the fire.

I haven't let myself think that far ahead, yet.

I return the ask to @tryingtimi @bloodlessheirbyjacques @the-void-writes @baroquesse, @awritingcaitlin and @agrimedena-drax, and add on @magefaery @cherrybombfangirlwrites @verba-writing @ss-hawthorne @kainablue @wildswrites @jessica-writes22 @breath-of-eternity and @manuscriptsatmidnight!

Have fun!

[friendshipgun]

😈

💖-specifically, when did you start writing, what kind of things did you write, what inspired you, how has your writing journey looked?

and uh i fuckin forget the emoji but character headcanon(s) for mia winters and/or jesse evilwest (and his twin??)

hope these are fun to answer!

Has there been a point in a story where you did something just to be playfully mean to your readers?

i think maybe you asked this one the last time i reblogged this ask meme but there has also been Fic Progression so i also understand lol. but no, not really. a lot of the time i don't even clock something that might read like that until i get comments about it. i am however mean to Karl and Ethan on purpose and so there is probably splash damage from that lol.

(and i'm gonna have to readmore the rest bc it gets long, apologies) What made you start writing?

i don't know when exactly i started, just that i remember putting little books of "stories" together in elementary school. i wrote what i think technically counts as LOTR fanfic and MLP oc fic lmao. but what i mostly wrote was original fiction. a cousin i was close to as a kid was also big into writing and we ended up attending a summer camp for the arts together in middle school, so i was writing mostly poetry there, but prose too. i also started writing fic with another friend in middle/high school (stuff like pokemon crack fic lmao), but i was still mostly writing original fiction. in high school in particular i got BIG into writing poetry (idk if anyone else knows about allpoetry.com but i sure was spending a heck of a lot of time there), was editor of the high school literary magazine, etc etc. basically i was never not writing. i was also posting way more fic in high school, writing primarily angst at that point and largely for Final Fantasy.

then i went to college and stopped writing for a few years barring academic papers. started taking writing seminars the last few semesters i was there which got me writing again. again mostly original fiction. a lot of supernatural stuff, not really poetry anymore though, which is kind of a shame bc of how much i had liked it. started writing fic again too, a lot of Naruto stuff that i never posted anywhere. then my dad of all people got me into Supernatural and i wrote a bunch of fic for that that i also never posted anywhere. then i went to grad school and the "not writing anything except academic papers" thing started up again rip. really didn't pick it up again as a regular practice until after my dad died a few years back. wrote a bunch of stuff about grief that was uhhhhhhhhh pretty clearly me trying to process shit.

and then it was covid and i lost my job and i was watching playthroughs of re7 and re8 almost concurrently going "but what if you put Heisenberg in the swamp WHAT THEN." as for what inspires me, i guess just about everything? like the number of stories i wrote set in Japan after i'd studied abroad there...is a lot. and with fic it's just like "i just think it would be neat if character i like was in a Situation." when i was writing poetry a lot of it was teenage angst bc i was in high school but i'd also write about cities or people or fantasy epics. anyway this is already really long but yeah basically if i think about it for long enough that it becomes "I Just Think They're Neat" territory i'll want to write something about it.

Mia Winters Headcanon:

she doesn't trust easily and has for a long time kept things about herself secret, or lied outright, as a way to protect herself. she'd been doing this long before she met Ethan and then after...it was habit. and it was easy to keep things about her work secret because it did feel like she was protecting him. and it wasn't like it was going to be forever, she was planning on getting out. she was working on it. she hadn't even thought of something like that--a normal life--until she'd met Ethan, and then it had seemed like...like something attainable. there wouldn't be the need for secrets then, when it was just the two of them. (or so she told herself: it's like pulling off her skin, being that exposed, having nothing between herself and someone else. being seen. completely seen.) anyway this got away from me a bit lmao. but basically i like to try to reconcile her going back to lying post-re7 as a defensive move to protect herself, especially when the BSAA knows everything about her past. i don't think she was intentionally trying to hurt Ethan or anything, just that after Dulvey she'd feel ever more the need to have those secrets as a buffer, combined with a deep, deep fear that Ethan would hate her if he knew. (this is how i am personally smoothing down Mr. Capcom's writing decisions.) Jesse Evil West Headcanon: he has had a crush on Edgar since he was a kid and is outright tormented by it. i imagine him taking issue with how his dad treated Edgar. or feeling jealous of Edgar's loyalty to his dad. just let's give Jesse more issues regarding his dad lmao. the little joke he makes in the game about Edgar kissing him is a ""joke"" but like he is internally yelling UNLESS?????? as vehemently as he can.

thinking also about post-game events, how Bloom was joking around with Edgar and Jesse can absolutely get jealous about that too, like just he's a mess and i don't know if it's better (worse) if he has actually confessed to Edgar and was shot down or has just never confessed to Edgar for fear of getting shot down.

and if you want to bring in Jesse's twin (who is also named Jessie i guess we can just give him an extra vowel) i think it's very funny if both of them alternately fight over and tag team Edgar. co-op, as it were.

[fayeandknight]

Our beach camping trip was both a success and a failure.

I got there Friday around 5pm after a 6 hour drive. My one friend and her two corgis were already there. Faye knows these dogs well and Forte has met them once before on a hike. All four reacquainted themselves with some sniffing and then took to playing. Forte was more than thrilled to lead the corgis on a merry chase and the corgis, being corgis, were happy to chase him while yelling their fool heads off. I wish I had thought to video it because it was really cute.

After we let the dogs tire themselves out we went to a local place for dinner. We had the whole patio to ourselves and all four dogs napped under the table while we ate. It was also nice to catch up with my friend. A few people spotted the corgis and squealed over them and we let the dogs meet their adoring fans. Forte wasn't on duty so I gave him permission to say hi as well and he actually stuffed himself into one lady's lap, which she told me would be the highlight of her weekend.

When we arrived back at the beach the dogs played some more while we set up camp. It was cool and the wind was picking up but not too bad. I positioned the portable crate against my tent so the tent was blocking the brunt of it. I put a towel over it (weighed down) so it was covering part of the back, front, and exposed side. And when we went to bed around 1:45am Faye went in without prompting and immediately went to sleep. Forte and I got cozy in the tent as the air mattress I bought was bigger/taller than expected and left us closer to the ceiling than I would have preferred.

He woke once around 2:40am and grumbled when the wild horses came through but settled after they left and snuggled me till I got up around 6.

And that's where things went down hill.

I thought the wind sounded worse than it was because I was in a tent. But it was whipping sand around to the point that our other friend, who showed up in the small hours, was wearing ski gear to protect herself.

While we were sitting/chatting/waiting for our friend to get up both Faye and Forte were hunkered down, Forte next to me and Faye under the table. They both were low growling at every dog who passed even remotely close by. Which is out of character for them. Faye can get testy about another dog in her face but both of them are generally neutral even around reactive dogs.

I took the dogs on an hour long walk off the beach to burn some energy/avoid being pelted by sand in the hopes that would help.

But even when we set up on the beach closer to the water with less dry sand for the wind to whip up both dogs were clearly uncomfortable. To the point that they started snarling at even my friends dogs for getting too close. At that point I decided to call it quits. My friends were disappointed (the one I'm less close to was actually pretty derisive) but I packed up anyway.

If the dogs were having a good time and only I was not, I'd have sucked it up and stayed. But I just don't see the point in staying when they're both so stressed out that they're being reactive. That's so far out of character for them that I'd be hard pressed to justify it even if I were having a great time.

So yeah, I left. It sucked, I felt shitty, and it wasn't particularly fun to have driven a total of 11 hours for a less than 24 hour stay. But in the end I'm unwilling to subject my dogs to a situation where they're that far over threshold when I have no way to give them relief from it.