#I also think Level of Concern is pretty neat

[missmultipleaffairs]

I'm a new Twenty One Pilots fan and want to expose my favorite song on each album like some basic bitch who doesn't know what they're doing. I also listened to their entire catalog in one day and haven't stopped listening to my favorites since. I'm not doing well. Car Radio has poisoned my mind. So has most of Vessel but I'm trying

Here we go!

Self-titled: Oh Ms Believer. Idk man, I just think it's very pretty. But it's also just really good and it makes me tear up a little

Vessel: Holding on to You. I'm probably even more of a basic bitch for this since it's the most popular song off this album, but can you blame me? It's actually a good song. Migraine is closely tied if I'm being really honest. Love that one too

Blurryface: A three way tie between Ride, Polarize, and The Judge. Ride has more sentimental value to me because it was the first song I heard from them when I was 8 or 9, I think. Polarize, I more or less relate to, but I also just think it's pretty neat. AND THE JUDGE FUCKING SLAPS DO I NEED A REASON TO LOVE IT?! I feel like everything I love about TøP can be summed up into The Judge without any real need to explain it.

Trench: Nico and the Niners. God dammit the Dema lore has me quaking. A lot of the songs on this album tell the Dema story so well and I'm here for lore represented by someone's mental health struggles. It's just great writing. I almost forgot about this while writing this post lol.

Scaled and Icy: Saturday. No, I'm not explaining this. Shy Away and The Outside closely follow behind it in ranking, but by everything. Saturday is god damn fun and I wanna know what Tyler was thinking while coming up with this masterpiece. Assuming he wrote it. Someone tell me if that's true or not so I don't look like an idiot. Point is. Saturday is just fucking GOLD. I adore it.

Clancy: At The Risk of Feeling Dumb. Oh Clancy, my child. Blurryface is my favorite album, yes. Clancy is not second place either, but by god does it shine in the year of our lord 2024. With that said, THIS SONG IS SO FUCKING RELATEABLE AND IS MY FAVORITE SONG OUT OF THE ENTIRE TWENTY ONE PILOTS CATALOG. I DO NOT NEED TO SAY MORE. This and Oldies Station being in the same album is a feat for my music listening heart and soul. I adore both. Add Vignette to that pile and you have my Clancy top three. My newbie ass might change my mind in two weeks but I digress.

[nereidprinc3ss]

kiss it better

in which spencer notices your bruised knees and tries to make it up to you

18+ (fluff, allusions to past intimacy) warnings/tags: gn!reader i believe, reader has bruised knees lol, guess why, implied intimacy, hurt/comfort, sorta implied d/s dynamics maybe?? spencer is so smart and not very smart, but forever my no. 1 cutie pie a/n: why do i love writing about smut like before and after smut way more than i actually like writing smut LOL anyways here is this cause i haven't been posting very much!!! (also ik I said I don't like babe as a pet name but shhh) and GIF :D

“Hey,” you grunt as you flop on the bed in your pajamas, rumpling the neat covers. “Pay attention to me.”

Spencer holds his Sudoku off to the side and watches, eyebrows raised, as you scoot closer, tossing your leg over him. Soon he’s abandoning the book and pen on the bedside table in favor of hooking his fingers under your knee and stroking your leg, much to your delight. 

“Okay. What kind of attention would you like?”

You allow him to put his other arm around you and settle your cheek on his shoulder. 

“This is pretty good.”

“Oh, good,” he says with only a hint of teasing, leaning down slightly to kiss your lips and then the tip of your nose. 

When he pulls away you can’t help smiling up at him like a lovestruck idiot. Obviously he’s perfect all the time, but in his glasses, with his hair messy, wearing a navy crewneck instead of a button up and tie… he’s just… he’s just so…

He’s just so alarmed?

“Honey, your knee.”

“My knee?” Your own brows furrow and you track his eye line, craning your neck to look down to the blotchy sprawl of purple and red marring your skin. “Oh.”

The pillow is soft under your head where it falls, unconcerned even as Spencer gawps at you, baffled by your nonchalance. 

“What did you do?”

You snort. 

“What did you do, Spencer?”

It’s cute, the way his lips move as he silently repeats the sentence, trying to discern the meaning of your words. 

“What do you mean? I did something?”

“Babe.”

The knot between his brows has not loosened any—in fact you’re worried he’s going to give himself a headache. Or at least make himself dizzy, with the way his eyes cycle between your own. You try again, covering his anxious hand on the bend of your leg with your own. 

“When we got back from Penelope’s thing, the other night?”

Slowly the understanding seeps into his expression—soft guilt in his eyes, and a deep red stain in his cheeks. At least his face relaxes. 

“Oh.”

God, he’s so cute. He can’t hold eye contact, looking down once the shock of embarrassment has faded and swallowing, a little frown twisting his features once more. You reach up, brushing his cheek with a thumb and adjusting his glasses. 

“What’s wrong?”

The question comes out too smiley, but you can’t help it. 

“I hurt you,” he says, quietly, utterly ashamed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

“I kinda think you did,” you tease, and Spencer says your name with a serious edge. You try to quit grinning so much. “Baby, it’s fine. You didn’t hurt me. Don’t you ever get mysterious bruises?”

His eyes are wide and honest on yours when he meets them again. 

“No. My iron levels are optimal.”

Naturally. 

“Okay, well, lots of people do. Sometimes I get a bruise and I have no idea what it’s from because it never hurt. These,” you look down, gesturing to your knee, “never hurt. It’s just what happens when your knees hit the floor.”

“Well you shouldn’t have been on the floor,” he scolds, countering with a sweet touch on your cheek. “I’m never letting you touch the floor ever again.”

Your shit-eating grin is back and better than ever. “Oh, so you’re going to carry me everywhere we go?”

“If that’s what it takes. I don’t like seeing you bruised up.”

“It’s okay. I bruised myself doing something I love.”

At this Spencer rolls his eyes and kisses you once more before gently pushing your leg away and getting out of bed. 

“Where are you going?” You ask, all smugness gone and more concerned than you ought to be as he flicks the bathroom light on. For a moment you receive no answer, but then he reappears bearing a white tube. 

“Give me your legs,” he says, sitting next to you on the bed. You swing your legs over his lap and watch on in mild interest as he dispenses lotion from the bottle and tosses it aside, carefully rubbing it into the bruised skin. Every few seconds he glances up to gauge your reaction, and though it’s definitely tender, you avoid wincing. “You don’t have to do that. I can tell it hurts.”

You laugh. 

“Yeah, well, it didn’t until you started trying to fix it.” The ointment is pungent and you make a face. “What are you rubbing all over me?”

“This is vitamin K and Arnica. It will make the bruises go away faster.”

“Aw. You don’t think they’re pretty on me?”

He sets the bottle on the nightstand and retrieves the pen he’d been doing Sudoku with earlier, uncapping it. Your heart swells as he draws tiny sad faces by the bruises on your knees, glasses slipping down his nose as he focuses intently. 

“I always think you’re pretty. I just never want you to be hurt, ever.”

“Are you done taking care of me now?” You ask, reaching out for him. The pen joins the bottle and suddenly he has no concern for your bodily health, practically crushing you with a hug. When he speaks it’s muffled by your shoulder. 

“Never.”

You hum, nose tickled in his hair and forming a dastardly plan. 

“You could kiss them better.”

Spencer laughs and presses his lips briefly to your neck. 

“I might just do that.”

[trappedinafantasy37]

🔥

We should have gotten Kagha and not Halsin as the druid companion from Act 1. In the short time that she is in the game, Kagha is a far more interesting character than Halsin is. She is also someone who can either be made better or made worse and would balance out the number of companions with malleable alignments. Kagha would also be a fantastic character who would constantly challenge and question the player character's decisions as she already does this while in the grove.

I'm not saying Halsin shouldn't be in the game, I'm just saying Halsin is wasted potential being a companion and would have better served as an NPC. Especially since his entire storyline involving Isobel was cut which was a massive L on Larian's part.

In fact, I truly think that if Kagha was a companion, her helping Halsin in Act 2 with the Shadow Curse would serve as a fantastic moment for her to truly atone for her actions in the grove. I also think it would be pretty neat to see how Kagha would have reacted to Arabella now having new magic thanks to her proximity to the idol of Silvanus. I think it would be fascinating to see how she'd interact with all the tieflings in Act 2 and 3. I sometimes try to tell myself that Minthara has no reactions with them cause the tieflings don't actually know it was her specifically who was trying to raid the grove and she doesn't know any of them. But the tieflings and Kagha do know each other and they all know what Kagha tried to do. Her entire redemption arc could be saving the tieflings at every avenue, cause they always need to be saved!

And, my god, don't even get me started on the interactions between Kagha and Minthara. You would end up having two companions who wanted to kill the tieflings, but for vastly different reasons, and neither of them having any remorse for it! I would love to watch how that conversation would play out between the both of them. Especially since Kagha already has a pretty positive opinion of drow and their methods. She would probably be the least judgemental of Minthara and would be the most accepting of who she is. I can genuinely see Kagha and Minthara becoming really close friends and that would be very concerning.

Dammit, now I'm over here brainstorming exactly how Kagha as a companion would actually work on a technical level depending on the choices you make in the grove...

Also, I really want to kiss Kagha.

[jinhsiimain]

Character Impressions

My first impressions + later opinions on the characters

The Goddess she's so freaking pretty!! I actually squealed when I saw her, she's jaw dropping gorgeous. Pls come back miss and don't pull an unknown genshin god on me ☹

Rover - more had hopes for a short haired girl mc but she had to join the rat tail gang :/ amnesia is definitely kind of a boring plot device but I'll roll with it.

Yangyang love her voice, reminds me of Qiqi, cute design - don't really know what role she's playing in the story yet other than like our guide but if she's just that I wouldn't mind having a calm one. she acted a little sus about baizhi and us I guess?? and her role??

I love her connection to the wind via her aero affinity (?) and would love to find more about it as well! She's part of the Midnight rangers.

Chixia she's cute too, her design bugs me a bit cuz of the hair and the weird jacket I guess? she's definitely kind of paimon (sorry for the references but like yeah) food and stuff but she seems to take her job as a ranger(?) seriously!!

Baizhi miss elegant + mysterious. Definitely like her calm aura as well, she's from the academy which I'm really interested in. she knows something and I wanna be in on it too.

Jinhsi ♡ girl appeared out of nowhere and stole my heart, asked me out on a date and vanished for 3 days I'm super interested, miss magistrate looks majestic as fuck. (the reason I like her design so much might me cuz she reminds me a little of firefly)

Sanhua another majestic woman I'm in paradise. her eye thing is so fucking cool I want to know more about her as well. She's suspicious too, obviously, but that's just adding to the suspense. if big plot device why 4 star ☹ (could say the same about the rest of the cast so far 😭)

Jinhsi sent her to watch over us.

Mortefi bro has a funky name. at first I was like nahhh but he's kind and I wanna know what his deal is as well.

Jianxin Girl also appeared out of nowhere. the reason I knew her name is cuz i looked at the gacha beforehand. She looks super cool, love her ying/yang/monk theme. massive xianyun/shenhe vibes I think?

She's super kind and I want her to be more involved in the plot.

Scar Okay Scar seems to be the bad guy. He's a little insane and knows too much about our backstory?? And he's got long ass nails. I want to trust him with the lore dumps but he seems really dangerous. His Elysium ability is super cool.

Spiderlily themed girl Scar's companion of same (?) power level. Love her design and voice, hope to meet her again soon.

Jiyan The current general of the midnight rangers, he fought with us at the Norfall Barrens. At first I didn't really like his design but now I think it's neat. He is kind and looks out for us.

Encore ♡ A member of the Black Shores. If sweetness was a person, it would be encore. She is adorable and silly, I love her so much. Her design is adorable and I can't wait to see her again! She's so energetic and loud in the best way and her dynamic with Aalto makes me smile.

Calcharo ~ It appears we haven't met yet

Aalto A member of the Black Shores. This guy I swear to god. At first I thought he would be another Sampo to me because I could not see myself liking him at all, but he is genuinely such a sweet guy??? Like I said, the dynamic with Encore is everything to me and might be my favourite duo so far even. His design is also really cool and he's got such a pretty face, I adore his eyes.

Danjin ~ It appears we haven't met yet

Lingyang ~ It appears we haven't met yet

Taoqi A security overseer? I don't remember her title, sorry- Her design, like almost everyone is really pretty although her jiggle physics are somewhat concerning. We haven't seen much of her yet which is sad but I hope we see more in future updates. Her voice is gentle and I love her vibe although she doesn't stand out to me much (yet).

Verina A botanist. She loves plants and is friends with that one granny and seems to know Encore as well. She is a free spirit and eager to help. Her design might be one of my favorites yet - her dress with the hood, the twintails, flowers and legwarmers are just perfect.

Yinlin ~ It appears we haven't met yet

Yuanwu I don't have much to say about him other than that he's goofy and we've barely seen him ;-;

Camellya ♡ MISS ???? GIRL? ??? I am afraid I will like her more than Jinhsi - She's so ahhh HER DESIGN IS EVERYTHING LIKE SHE'S ADORABLE BUT ACTS SO IDK OKAY I love her already. GIVE ME MORE ♡

[lucky-clover-gazette]

Obligatory Volo romantic/🥰 hc?

well if you INSIST (assuming the romance is with the player character here. also keeping these pretty positive and healthy, even though obviously there are plenty of uhhhh messier hcs to be made for this character specifically. i think tumblr will auto-shorten this post but please let me know if it doesn't and i'll add a cut)

in general, any iteration of volo wishes to demonstrate his devotion and usefulness to his partner through action. while he imagines a lot of grand gestures, it usually ends up being pretty mundane in practice. like getting things off tall shelves and tidying up a living space (he's a total neat freak). the exception is volo in a canon divergence where he actually becomes a god, in which case every gesture would be a grand gesture, and it probably gets out of hand

it's extremely important to him that togepi/togetic/togekiss loves his partner. he is genuinely so concerned about this, and fears what would happen if she didn't, despite togepi/tic/kiss being the literal embodiment of joy and love. this insecurity almost certainly stems from the fact that he still can't believe that togepi/tic/kiss loves him

he has read a lot of books and he loves to hear himself talk. also, he's been method acting for like five straight years and makes a living selling people things. the man has a way with words, take that as you will

he's a strict vegetarian (also doesn't eat eggs) for ethical reasons and knows how to cook extremely well to fit his dietary needs. one might expect him to be an "i'll eat a chicken because a chicken would eat me" kind of guy, but because humans have higher intelligence and the capacity for morality, volo holds them to higher standards than animals. therefore, it wouldn't be wrong for a chicken to eat him, but it would be wrong for him to eat a chicken. anyway this is a romantic headcanon because he really really loves to share his cooking, especially if it's a traditional recipe he found while researching history

he has a naturally pleasant singing voice and near-perfect pitch. the volo i write grew up on the mainland and came to hisui as a young adult, so i like to think that he grew up playing the piano and is very skilled, although out of practice. he occasionally hums or sings in front of his partner and it's very nice to hear

he knows how to sew and offers to help the player character make some modern clothing garments they miss from the future. also makes some clothing for them based on his own ideas, because he thinks they would look nice dressed up to his tastes :)

doesn't half-ass anything, especially not in terms of relationships. if he says it's casual, it's because his partner asked to keep it casual and he wants to respect their boundaries and honor their wishes, which is within itself something he does with intention and care

he is simultaneously very aware of the fact that he's beautiful in situations where it benefits him, and completely blindsided by his partner's unprompted acknowledgements of his beauty

loves going on hours-long walks with his partner and sharing/listening to enthusiastic diatribes about niche interests. bonus if the interest is totally unfamiliar to the other person. basically, ancient sinnoh video essays

he likes having regularly-occuring shared activities to look forward to. like, weekly game nights with his partner or taking their pokemon to battle at the training grounds as a team when they know some highly-skilled opponents are going to be there

likewise, he just really likes battling as a team. like if he and his partner run into the bandits in the wild, it's a genuine pleasure, because it means he gets to wield train his pokemon alongside someone on his level (also he likes being the hero sometimes, especially if he's upstaging arceus's chosen hero)

volo loves pda for several reasons: he's touch-starved, he's possessive, and he's a performer at heart

some fourth wall breakage, as a treat: he'd absolutely read romantic fanfiction about himself and leave multi-paragraph comments making corrections and highlighting lines he particularly appreciated

[pixelrushiguess]

this has got to be one of your funniest animations yet! 😂

https://x.com/adampixelrush/status/1829894389646422415

But in all seriousness though, I’m curious… What are your GENUINE thoughts on Sonic X Shadow Generations? (Just curious).

Personally, from what we’ve seen thus far, I’m both kind of excited but also a bit skeptical about it (Shadow the Hedgehog is my least favorite game in the series, so the fact that they’re bringing back Black Doom already was kinda off-putting for me). I mean, in terms of gameplay, it looks FANTASTIC, and I definitely think it’s going to be one of the best games to play. And while I do think that Shadow's Doom Powers are a… questionable decision at best, I can’t deny that it’s a very creative concept and could make for very entertaining levels (my favorite one is probably the Doom Surf).

Now as for the story… considering the same hack writer behind Frontiers and Dream Team is involved, I honestly have zero hope about the story being good. But hey, even if it’s trash, at least I know for a fact the story will be better than the utter nonsensical trainwreck that was Shadow the Hedgehog 😂

But what do you think about it?

It's actually been kind of nice to not be on the hype train for a change. Like I'll play it and I'll probably enjoy it, but I'm not foaming at the mouth for it, you know? I think Frontiers burned me so bad that I'm not letting myself get excited until I'm sure it'll be good. In terms of gameplay it looks pretty neat, the Doom Powers are something different but I also hope the don't stick around after the game.

The only real concern I have is the story and characterisation, so I'm holding off my thoughts until I see what they do. I trust the Japanese side, ESPECIALLY because Shadow is Izuka's baby and I know he's very involved in this one. It's just the English localisations I'm worried about.

But yeah, not super hyped, not dreading it. We'll just have to wait and see.

[emmabirb8]

Megamind and Zim

So, I'm a huge nerd (as you all know). And I've recently gotten a bit back into Invader Zim because my hyperfixations are a neverending cycle of whatever happens to capture my interest.

Well, since my brain likes to make connections between hyperfixations, I decided to start listing out similarities between one of my most precious blorbos - Megamind - and Zim. Just for funsies. :P

And uh, there's A LOT, actually. Which shouldn't surprise me considering they're both Very Dramatic aliens, but either way. I'm gonna post what I've gathered here for my own amusement. 😁

So here's what I got:

Aliens

Landed on Earth

Grew up parentless

Outcasts of society

Robotic servants/minions that were given to them prior to being sent to Earth (yes, Minion is a fish, but he does have a robotic body)

Black heeled boots and black gloves

Viewed as "evil" even tho neither are actually evil (Zim is self-centered, chaotic, and destructive but I wouldn't classify him as evil even if he himself might - his mission to conquer Earth is more to please his Tallest and be validated as a good invader than to actually be evil for the sake of being evil)

Have strong relationships with their rivals/enemies to the point where they give their lives meaning and purpose - both became depressed and unmotivated when those enemies were suddenly not around to fight (due to being "defeated" in Megs' case and pursuing "real science" in Zim's case in the unfinished ep Mopiness of Doom)

Both are frequently shipped with their enemies in fanworks (Metro Man for Megs, Dib for Zim)

Intelligent scientists and inventors but they're also goofy as hell and they create plans that continually fail

Speech idiosyncrasies (pronouncing words incorrectly for Megs, emphasizing certain words and poor volume control for Zim)

Very animated and dramatic/theatrical when speaking

Short (Zim more so than Megs but Megs is still, like, shorter than Roxanne)

Big egos that hide their severe insecurities

Significant amounts of angst to both character's backstories

Cool color skin tones

Bullied in school

Affinity for junk food

Many fans of their respective media are in the lgbtqia+ community - both characters themselves also read as some flavor of queer and fans often HC/interpret them as such

Both come across as some level of neurodivergent

Pretty neat, huh? Well, I took it a step further (bc of course I did) and decided to ALSO find as many similarities as I could between Roxanne Ritchi and Dib Membrane. Being the main human characters, it felt more appropriate than trying to compare Metro Man to Dib, even tho Metro Man largely fills the "enemy" role for Megamind (and bc I am a filthy shipper at heart, fight me*).

Anyway, so Roxanne and Dib:

Human (potentially questionable in Dib's case, but still)

Foils and equals to the alien protagonists

Intelligent

Sneak into alien protagonists' bases to take pictures and figure out "evil" plans to try to stop them

Have been kidnapped by aliens

Know the real truth of the alien protagonists, but their peers don't (Roxanne knows Megamind isn't really evil or dangerous, Dib knows Zim is really an alien - in Megamind's case, the people of Metro City do eventually come around, but not til the end)

Have false narratives about some aspect of their lives widely believed by the general public (most the citizens of Metro City think that Roxanne is dating Metro Man, almost everyone around Dib believes he's just crazy for thinking Zim is an alien)

Have companions who are also privy to the alien protagonists' true natures, but those companions are apathetic (Metro Man and Gaz respectively)

Concerned for the well-being of their fellow humans and cities

Like their aliens, both also come across as some level of neurodivergent (you kinda have to squint to notice it in Roxanne, but it's definitely there)

Alien boyfriends* (if you ship Megarox and ZaDr :P)

So yeah! Just some fun comparisons to ponder.

*Although I don't ship ZaDr within the canon universe of the show itself, I do enjoy it in certain transformative contexts. I'm v aware of the controversial nature of the pairing, so I wanna make that clear. I just like having fun with it.

[0theghost0]

Update

Hi hi, everyone. I know it's been a long time. I was actually typing up a message to @prince-infidel because of an ask they sent me, but I realized I should probably just make it a post. So I guess this is an update. Okay, short version: The end of 2022 and the entirety of 2023 was horrible for me. A lot happened, and 97% of it was not good. Now to get into a bit more specifics. While all of this crazy stuff was going on, a friend of mine really needed help with their company. They were just going through a ton, and I jumped on to help them while they were trying to figure that stuff out. Turns out that I was a good fit. So I've completely changed careers currently. Also, with all of this crazy shit going on, I stopped drawing entirely. That's a first for me. No matter what was going on, I always had my drawing as an outlet. It was very new for it to be gone. I actually only recently started drawing again, and when I say recently, I mean last week. I haven't even finished anything and my progress comes in very small doses. Baby steps I guess. Now the stuff you're actually probably interested in. Even though I haven't been drawing, I have been making art. - I've been putting crazy amounts of effort into making costumes. It's really fun and I've level grinded a lot with sewing and fabrics. I made an entire Victorian costume on my own. It was cool. - I weirdly started working on dolls? I have no idea why I started doing that. I hate dolls. - I started making weird... sculptures? I don't know how to describe them. It's basically recycling and turning materials into monstrosities for my own entertainment and to scare random people. - And I've delved more into my hobby of SFX makeup.

I have been being creative, it's just a bunch of stuff that no one cares about. It makes me happy and that's all there is to it really. Which brings me to the long version, because I have no idea how to continue this without going into details. I can only assume all of this answers anyone questions who might be curious. Time to get a bit more specific.

I don't know how to start this, so I guess I'll just say that my interests have completely moved. I think everything above should make that clear, but when I'm referring to interests, I mostly mean the things that inspire me. This is actually typical for me. I love fiction and am a fan of many, many things. I get really involved in a fandom for a while, get bored, then move on to one that is piquing my interest more. Eventually I come back and the cycle starts over. I always keep up with all of my interests simultaneously, it's just that one usually dominates the others. The thing is, comic books have completely lost my interest currently.

There's a lot of factors. I'm not going to repeat stuff that you've probably heard a thousand times from other people about the current state of the comic industry, comic writing, the movies, the video games blah blah blah whine whine whine. I think one of the big things though is that this last year has really changed me. I'm just a really different person now. I'm not that happy-go-lucky nerd I was before. I think my major concern is that I honestly think it would be fucked up if I continued to post here.

People started following me here because of my art and my posts. It would be fucked up to switch that around on them and just show back up as this different person with different art, different interests etc. I've thought about making an update on here a bunch of different times, but I never did because of stuff like that. However, in a way, it's been really nice. It's been nice to just do whatever stupid art project comes into my head, and to do it just for the sake of making something. I think dropping drawing all together (not by choice, mind you) turned out to be good for me. I think I got in tune with a creative side of myself that I'd lost a long time ago. It's been pretty neat.

I've thought about just leaving this tumblr to history. I honestly think that I should. It can be a weird time capsule of this specific fandom in this specific time period. I've thought about just making different social media accounts so that people who want to see any of my new, awful creations could if they wanted to. I don't know though. I'm just all up in the air all the time now lol

I get this isn't an "all questions answered" kinda post. Not that most people needed them, but I know that there are people who just liked my art in general and I knew they must be curious. So I hope I at least answered some stuff and gave some clarity.

[thanatika]

So, I got thinking about how severe the Bachelor's reaction to Simon Kain's death really is, at least on Day 1. Even before any of the horrors have really hit, he comes off as being in a pretty unstable place, mentally.

Day 1 of the Bachelor Route:

He also seems to initially entertain the idea that whoever killed Simon did so specifically to doom Daniil's research, possibly at the orders of The Powers That Be, based on the the first entry in his Day 1 quest journal:

To find out who killed the immortal Simon Kain? The dead man's family may not want it more than I do. I have an abiding desire to punish the murderer, to eradicate them, no matter if they were acting on their own account or at the behest of the Powers That Be. Whoever they were, they picked the moment far too well…

Day 1 of the Haruspex Route:

Grief will have a similar warning to Artemy if asked whether anyone is looking for him:

Big Vlad also warns Artemy away from talking to the Bachelor too early, stating that he thinks Daniil will shoot Artemy first and ask questions later. And Daniil's first conversation with Artemy, as well as the fact that many of the NPCs have voicelines commenting on the Bachelor that only trigger on Day 1, definitely helps build the impression that he's spent most of the day running around trying to hunt Artemy down without having to physically depict that in the game.

Day 1 of the Changeling route:

Notably, he makes a turnaround on this violent behavior at the end of Day 1, after realizing Simon was killed by a disease and not a person. For most of the Haruspex and Changeling routes beyond that point, he seems willing to work with the player's healer, especially Artemy. He'll vouch for them in an effort to clear their names of the murder accusations with the town's authorities, and, in Clara's case, on Day 6 will even talk about a plan to protect her from persecution by the incoming Inquisitor. I think this can be ascribed to the very strong sense of justice that Daniil seems to have, where he feels very strongly that people shouldn't be scapegoated for crimes they did not commit, but also that they should face repercussions for crimes that they did commit.

Another Day 1 example of his strong sense of justice, and his willingness to resort to violence in pursuit of it, is that when he witnesses the Herb Bride being burned alive at a stake, he can immediately threaten to shoot the perpetrators. A fairly understandable reaction, honestly, considering the horror of seeing an innocent person burned alive. But his far stronger reaction to Simon's murder obviously is about more than his general sense of justice. He sees it as the end of his own life, based on his saying "your brother's murder may as well be called the murder of Bachelor Dankovsky", him calling Simon "the person whose death has made my life meaningless", and him apparently telling Notkin that he's willing to lose his own life if it means ending the life of Simon's murderer (who he suspects is Artemy). Considering that a study on Simon was supposed to be what saved Thanatica from being destroyed, it's obvious where this sentiment is coming from. Especially when you consider his conversation on Day 7 of the Haruspex Route, when he says he'd rather kill himself than leave town without having succeeded in saving his colleagues and his research.

These... mentally concerning levels of despair over Simon's death on Day 1 are easy to forget because he gets over them fairly quickly, himself. At the end of Bachelor Route's Day 1, you get a letter from the Powers That Be stating that if Dankovsky is able to successfully curb the outbreak, he'll be granted permission to continue with his research. Which is all that he wanted out of Simon, although the loss of an opportunity to study Simon's reported longevity is surely regrettable, too. Plus, with the outbreak being Simon's actual "murderer", his new task still allows him to get revenge.

It's a neat example of the difference that a change in perspective makes in this game. Dankovsky's main objective when you play him on Day 1 is to go around looking for a murderer, but he comes off as calmer and more collected about it, talking about revenge and justice and not waxing poetic to children about how much he wants to exsanguinate the murderer. It also highlights just how desperately important being able to work with Simon was for him, for what it meant for his lab.

[crowparties]

xyx scratches such an itch in my brain, he’s such a fantastic character. i think, the fact that team’s initial xyx write up being straight up platonic really just adds to the charm of it for me. 

i just really appreciate that his route is about asserting personal boundaries, and how he, while still maintaining good friendships online has this distinct divide between his online life and offline one. he’s warm and easy going, but still so wary. i  just, i like  that he’s a lot more withdrawn than he lets on. he’s been burned before, he’s jokey and fun and light  hearted and absolutely fumbles when met with patience and genuine kindness. 

i don’t know, i just i really like how he feels like a friend. it’s different when he joke flirts and  when he actually  flirts. it doesn’t feel scary, or anything. it’s just. it’s so nice. he’s so nice. and like he’s pretty, and he has freckles, and im stupid bc i love career oriented ppl who are hard workers who still know how to have fun. i like ppl who make me want to work hard to meet their level. he’s a risk taker, which at worst could be bella swan ala new moon just trying to feel, but also just. he’s out there touching rocks and jumping into the ocean, we love that bro. 

and i just. the entire bit of cat?? cat helpign enforce self care for xyx?? *chef’s kiss* perfection. idk, he’s so functionally unfunctional, and idk having a pet rlly helps.. his worry and concern over cat. 

the way xyx never feels like he can truly be himself and let loose?? he has to choose his words carefully for work, he chooses his words carefully around friends because he doesn’t want to be a serious guy. he’s always swapping between  those, so finding  people (toaster, salo, even you the player) he can actually fully relax around  is really good??  

i feel like i have more but im gonna shut up i need to finish my accounting stuff  whatever!! bloomic is  fun!! it’s cool!! it’s such a neat exploration in what modern dating and meetcutes really are these days, and the fact that the cast is in  their mid to late twenties makes it all the more better. reminded  me a lot of my own experiences, but like better?? LMFAO.  it was a very kind game to play, it’s been really comfy to  replay

[evolutionsvoid]

A notable character from a dream a while back that really stuck with me, so I just had to draw her and regale ya'll with the whole thing. I remember the dream fondly because A) it actually had like a coherent story and some neat encounters and B) it wasn't just horrific things happening to my body. So here we go, it's a long one!

The dream I had put in me in Japan, in a place where there was an insane amount of buildings and businesses, the whole place was jam packed, to the point where pretty much every place was the size of a single room and interconnected with the other businesses around them. I remember there being a tiny restaurant that served buns, and five feet away from your table was a sign and door for a pawnshop. Cramped movie theaters connected to weird art rooms, where colors flowed over wall, floor and ceiling. The setting was modern, with a touch of extra future. Made me think of those future overpopulated cities where everything and everyone is stacked atop one another. (The reason I think it was set in Japan is because my sister was currently there for her honeymoon. In fact, I recall seeing them there at the hot bun restaurant.)

As for me, the character I was was traveling through the city in secret with an older raggedy man who was like a mentor to me. Like your typical duo of lowlifes, where he was the tired, run ragged man who has seen it all, and I was the naive younger fellow that he had taken under his wing. We were moving through the city, for what reason I don't know, but it was obvious that we were trying to lay low. This particular city was currently occupied by two major gangs who were locked in an endless power struggle. I don't recall the name of these criminal organizations, but I did know who ran each. One side was run by someone called Lord Hollow, and the other was King Consort. Each side wanted full rule of this city, but they couldn't ever get the momentum to run the other side out. This led to frequent skirmishes between the two, which the people were so used to they never even batted an eye. (Funny enough, right before bed that night I was playing Dishonored 2 and the level I ended on literally had two gangs locked in a power struggle.)

For the people in the city, these fights were hardly a concern, more of an annoyance and sometimes a spectacle. People just moved on with their day, because these two had been going at each other for so long with no progress, that everyone knew nothing would change. While we were weaving between businesses and buildings, we witnessed two groups of effigies moving through the neon-soaked building that had been sent out by Lord Hollow for a hit. Each had the crowd parting ways to let them through, not out of fear, but more knowing to let them pass and that is how these things got over the fastest. The first group that we saw were human statues carved out of wood. They had a dark color them and a clear stain, and they were a mix of effigy and human, almost anatomically correct, but with some simplicities and odd runic flares. I recall that the way that they were carved, with the clear finish making their grain stand out boldly, it looked like these statues were flayed. They slid across the floor silently, with a few arms and legs moving slowly and uselessly. Despite their looks, everyone knew they were out to off someone working for King Consort.

The other group of effigies were also carved out of wood, dark wood again, but these were shaped to look like movie monsters. They weren't full standing, but more curled in a ball form, like what you would see if you caught one in a pokeball. I recall seeing one that was carved to look like the Creature from the Black Lagoon and a Frankenstein's Monster. The funniest line I remember from the dream was from the crowd watching these things slide by, as one unseen person said aloud: "Oh look, they have a Bagul!" (that is the demon from the Sinister movies)

We stayed back and let them pass by, as we wanted to keep out of sight. What I later picked up on from my mentor is that he was on the run from King Consort, having done something to screw that mob boss over. He had been running and hiding for years, but for some reason he had to come back to this city now, and thus was in danger. I don't know why we were there, but it was obvious we had to keep our head down. However, eventually, I got separated from him in the tetris-like layout of these endless interconnecting buildings. I remember running around trying to find him, but wound up getting super lost. Unsurprisingly, when we got separated, King Consort's men nabbed my mentor and made off with him. I don't recall how I learned this, but I immediately ran out to find him.

The only thing I thought to do was go to King Consort's headquarters, as obviously my mentor would be taken there. Funny enough, I recall it being equally cramped and claustrophobic, as even these powerful gangs couldn't get that expansive of real estate. Though I came to this place as a stranger and outsider, no one gave me any guff. None of the guards or members were hostile to me, as they knew I wasn't with Lord Hollow and King Consort seemed to have no animosity towards those who weren't actively working against them. I was let in, and I demanded to see the King, which they took me to. King Consort was at the top of a weird medieval esque tower cobbled from bricks and rusty metal shacks, and that too was incredibly tight space wise. I remember climbing stairs with practically both shoulders touching the walls. Which made it odd when I got up top to the open air area atop the tower and finally saw King Consort.

King Consort was about 8 to 10 feet tall, and as wide as a car, so how they moved down these stairs was a mystery. But the thing was, King Consort wasn't a person, they were pretty much a mech. Or more so, she was a mech. Her appearance was the cross between a heavily armored woman and a fortress, mechanized into this living weapon systems. She was mostly red with gold trim. Her head had a crown-like arrangement, and sitting amongst the spires of it was a very small being who was dressed in kingly robes, wore a crimson featureless mask, a crown of his own and a royal scepter he waved around. Though I couldn't see much of him beneath this mask and robes, I got the impression he was a robot too. From his sitting point, the wild gestures and scepter waving he did, one would get the impression that he was ordering around this bulky mech. But what I soon realized is that the mech was King Consort and the little king atop really wasn't in charge.

King Consort appeared to be almost built into the tower itself, her huge bulk nearly crushing the metal and brick around her. However, when I finally got to the top to meet her, she was starting to become mobile, tearing free from her surroundings and standing tall. I later got the impression that my mentor had stolen or ran off with some key component to her, which left her in a powered down immobile state. My first thought was that he had been hired by her to fetch this piece that would bring her to full function, but changed his mind upon getting it and fled. They had caught him, tortured him then imprisoned him, and I never saw him again for the rest of the dream. With the part finally given back to her, she was now fully active, and her first order of business was to finish off this feud with Lord Hollow. Though I had been an associate of the man who robbed her, she had no ill will towards me, pretty  much shouldering past me on her way down the tower with an aura of "sorry you picked the wrong guy to follow." It should be noted that she never spoke during the dream, and I wonder if she was even capable of speech, getting the impression the king guy atop did all the translating and talking.

How she got down at such a size, I have no clue, but I remember following her and her posse as they gathered up to take down Lord Hollow's operations. When we finally got there, we were now in a train rail yard, with abandoned train cars strewn about and some building in the center where Lord Hollow resided. His men and effigies came racing out to stop King Consort and her men, but she activated her weapons system and pretty much decimated them. There was zero fight to be had. I don't even remember her men doing a thing to help, she was just obliterating everyone who came out to face her.

Finally, Lord Hollow came out from the building, and he was revealed to be pretty much the Headless Horseman. He wore a haunted looking garb, like a mix of warlock robes and a business suit. He had the pumpkin head with toothy, evil glowing face but the head was much larger than the rest of his body, like it stretched to his shoulders and was more flatter than round. When he came out, I got the impression he was a magic man, and this was a case of tech vs magic (obviously seen in his living wood effigies). He appeared to be a formidable opponent, but with King Consort at full power, he was helpless. He tried to run from her as soon as he realized the battle was lost, but she didn't let him get away. She single handedly grabbed a train car and rammed it into him, crushing him between two cars. (Though he died like a videogame NPC, staying fully intact but ragdolling as he was pinned between the two objects). With Lord Hollow down, his gang was finished and King Consort claimed victory.

I either blacked out or forgot what happened between, but I found myself at a bar the next morning. I was amongst other patrons at the bar, who were watching the TV and chatting about the power upset. Both were about King Consort completely taking over the city, ruling unopposed. It was from the broadcast that it was confirmed that King Consort was the mech and not the tiny king riding in her crown. I recall seeing an image of her deconstructed, where only her upper half was present, standing on her arms as her ribcage ended in nothing. I believe it was a photo from when she was building her body. From the way people were talking, her gaining her full power was pretty much a disastrous upset. As someone said "She is ruling this city now, but forget that, it won't be long til she's ruling the world." The funny detail I remember was I chimed in confused at some point, because I didn't know how to interpret her gender. "So King Consort, should I call them he, she or they?" As I was thrown off by the mech woman and little king guy atop her, not knowing which to refer to. The reply was "Her. She's a woman." And I was like "good to know, thanks."

The last bit I remember from the dream was trying to find my mentor again, as I somehow knew he wasn't dead, just imprisoned. So I went back to King Consort's base to sneak in and break him out. Though everyone had no issue with me, I kept hidden and tried to stealth around the place, as I knew my mission wouldn't be well received. To figure out where my mentor was being held, I wound up sneaking into King Consort's maintenance room, and accidentally finding she was currently in there getting tuned up. I didn't see her, as I was still near the entrance hiding behind a wall, but I could see the light of sparks flickering and the shadow of mechanical arms working and welding. At that point, a guard came in through the front doors and spotted me, and the dream ends with me being caught. And that is that!

------------------------------------------

"King Consort"

This piece took me a long time to get around too, as I never draw tech stuff and am actually pretty bad at it, so I was hesitant to even start this drawing to begin with. But honestly, out of all the weird stuff in that dream, she stuck out a lot to me, and I kinda keep thinking about her from time to time. Partly because of her design, and also just because of the untold story surrounding her. Of how she wound up in that tower in a powered down and trapped state, unable to even move her own body. Leading one of the most powerful gangs, but not having the energy to even lift a finger. Relying on this little king guy to listen to the hum of her tired engines and sounds of her barely powered machinery to interpret her words and wants, who then relays it to her gang members. The vision of her stuck atop that tower, trapped in her own body, exposed to the elements and looking out over a city she should be able to claim as hers, but cannot in this weakened state. I think there is something neat there.

And also the moment the dream was over, I knew her design was Basically a mecha version of Hammer-chan.

[raw-law]

oh, you people want more stories? gladly.

mild tw for injury, nothing graphic

so as a younger child, i went to the zoo quite frequently. and this zoo had an area with goats and a bunch of little machines where if you put a quarter in and turned a handle you'd get a little treat for the goats. i, the dumbass that i am, rested my hand on top while talking to my friend who was with us. she decided to try and get food from the dispenser without putting a quarter in. i couldn't move away fast enough, and my middle finger got caught in the machine. it hurt like HELL. my mom had to pry my hand out with a plastic spoon and there were So many people watching. my mom called my friend's mom to take her home and then took me to the ER. i got a splint on my middle finger but i wasn't brave enough to flip off the nurse who put it on. shame, it would have been so funny...

-rainbow dash

Light:

Okay, that's actually terrifying. Is your middle finger okay now...

Interesting story though, your life is certainly rather amusing (if that's the right word? I can't find an equivalent English translation...). Sorry that I can't really give any reply, but I do enjoy reading these, so if you'd like to tell us more, feel free to!

L:

my god.. i mean, flipping off the nurse would've been pretty funny, but i too am more concerned with the state of your finger.... oh dear..

i don't have many stories about injuries that i can trade with you, but for some reason this reminds me of an incident i witnessed in germany once. (further warning for violence between animals)

i can't remember what the name of the place was, but it was the first monument i visited upon arrival (it was close to where i was staying and it seemed neat so i wanted to visit). it was this building with large statues at the pillars of it and a just as large fountain in the middle. it looked really nice, and i got to sit at the edge of the fountain to admire how pretty it all looked.

i also happened to sit next to two crows who were having a roman level fight with each other on the ledge of the fountain.

my first day in germany was the day i witnessed two crows duke it out on a water fountain, with the winning bird pushing the other into said fountain, holding it down in the water to ensure that it drowned, and then just flying off without a word.

...

i think i know why a flock of crows is called a murder now.

[katyspersonal]

Roderika and Nepheli are really cute as a ship imo. I love how Nepheli mentions her in one of her dialogues, meaning that they at least interacted at some point. I know it's a small detail to base a ship around, but I do think they might be very neat together. What are your thoughts?

It IS a cute ship! I have not seen it very often, actually but it is probably because all two of my ER mutuals reblog either Finlenia or Yura x Eleanora sdfhfd I am sure it exists somewhere, because Nepheli acknowledging Roderika is very good at perceiving spirits "unlike her" not only implies having interacted, but also points out how they are different. I really love ships in which characters are 'opposites' in a way that complete one another, whereas being similar at their core, big fan. And? They are fitting the description! Nepheli is a strong, tough warrior that points out she can't even feel the spirits, let alone see them, whereas Roderika is naturally drawn to them and good at spirit tuning whereas having "never held a sword in her life"; but at the same time they are both sensitive and vulnerable emotionally while trying to be strong! Roderika says she is 'just a coward' for being scared of the idea of her limbs being cut off, Nepheli says she is 'pathetic' for being heartbroken about her father betraying her... There is just something similar to this, the whole vibe of having enough emotions but not being "weak" for that I keep trying to grasp (because I LOVE it).

🦅 Nepheli though rolls into blaming herself for Gideon being the worst father ever, as if she "failed" him and it served her right, while also hesitantly seeing through his injustice, and I feel like Roderika would be the one to recognize this pain and detrimental effect Gideon can have on psyche of even very strong and level-headed people and try to approach her about it? They DID interact, right. Roderika IS anxious and hesitant, but also has very good intuition for good and evil it seems, so Nepheli's strong appear as this... barbaric, no-bullshit warrior would not intimidate her. She'd see Nepheli's kind and good heart beneath it even before once talking to her! Basically, I feel like their talk happened from Roderika having been concerned, in the 'Sorry if that's not my business but do you need to vent' manner!

🎐 In fact, the contrast between Nepheli's "he betrayed me and killed and oppressed the weak but it is probably my fault... right" vs Roderika's "I sense very bad vibes from a person all the opposite way in the Rountable who is not even physically here" feels like a nearly-comedic potential for me! x) Roderika is good at identifying the bad guy, when Nephelis is good at taking the bad guy down! I just imagine Roderika being like "Get 'em, baby!" in the duo, sending Nepheli to obliterate the bastard with her axes fsdhdf They could've done so much combining their strenghts and compensating for each other's weaker points hahaha. Dangerous duo (in a good sense)

🦅 They are THE "She asked for NO pickles!" meme and you KNOW it, lol

🎐 Lowkey sad though that this ship doesn't have enough 'breathing room' within canon: Nepheli gets her spirits lifted up because of a bird spirit ash and not Roderika (sure she'd credit her for help and not only Tarnished otherwise) and is always off to travel, whereas Roderika is pretty much glued to the Roundtable... It is all videogame mechanics restrictions. SO yeah, we need an Elden Ring anime where useful NPCs do not have to be area-restricted and after Roderika feels more qualified, she and Nepheli can become wandering girlfriends that get a lot of adventures and appear to help Tarnished when it is plot-convenient x) (for some reason, all my suggestions for more interaction boil down to 'if ER/BB was an anime, ...')

🦅 Roderika is rather eloquent, when Nepheli is a woman of a few words, so I am sure they fall for the dynamics of 'wall of text vs just listens and smiles' too! Nepheli would not understand all that many of Roderika's interests personally and she is not the type of an ethusiatic listener that asks many questions or always has something to add, but, she would remember every single think Roderika shared and care about it (some times, even more than Roderika herself). Nepheli is a type of a partner to remember a thing Roderika said 'casually' like months ago, or get her something she mentioned liking as a gift.. Roderika would not really know how anyone is able to navigate in how many things she's sharing so easily :')

🎐 Nepheli might be really stoic person, actually, capable of swallowing so much grief and loss and get up after everything that happens to her, but Roderika would sorta get through this attitude. Like, Nepheli would absolutely LOSE it if someone hurt Roderika. I feel like Nepheli might even worry a little upon realizing that with all the friends lost in battle or slain by enemies she had to grieve in a lifetime, losing Roderika would actually destroy her. She'd wonder if her identity as a warrior gave a crack for that one, at first! It is just scary to get so 'open', when a warrior must be self-sufficient and prepared to lose friends and comrades by default! And love is a bit... different. But I think the girls would be capable of communicating about it, and Nepheli would accept that she found someone to hold as dear as to have her life (mentally) depend on them... Not without insisting that Roderika gets at least SOME training in battle, so she can stand for herself IF Nepheli can't be near. Be an archer or a wizard if she can't hold meelee weapon at least!

🦅 Going back to Nepheli having her perception blurred when the enemy is not apparent, with Roderika having intuition for bad vibes. I imagine if Nepheli mentioned Gideon's friend, Seluvis, Roderika would be instantly able to reveal to her that "hey, that actually was a creep behavior"... They have a base for accidentally uncovering bad experiences (if not traumas) Nepheli never even realized consciously yet still took psychological damage from, and getting through them together. There would be certainly a bunch of cans of worms upon how Gideon was raising her, but not just that. "It was emotional abuse / creep behaviour" are the WORST realizations, but also with a right person it could help to heal some things that were bugging you for years but you just.. could not point out. I also imagine Roderika would be the one and only person that ever saw Nepheli cry - from one of such talks..

🎐 I think Nepheli actually holds Roderika in higher regard over the fact that Roderika is anxious, and can even be very cowardly and undecisive by her own admission, yet finds resource within herself to forgive her weaknesses and "atone" for indecisiveness by being useful otherwise. Nepheli would normally condemn the trait of giving into fear and hesitating when something important should be done (which I imagine is Roderika's consistent flaw and not just 'I am scared of being literally chopped to pieces because it is a normal thing for Soulsborne NPC to say' sdfhfhdfsdh). But Nepheli could see the internal struggle and wish to still persist, flaws or not. THAT mattered. She was quick to respect this attitude; in fact, she DID find it comparable with someone realizing they are not physically fit for melee fight and opting out to help in other ways, as healer or archer or something.

🦅 I am kinda diving into Psychology TM a lot here, I just think ER characters are written with particularly a lot to work with (Martin was that your effect? xd). But as for RELATIONSHIP-relationship, they both can't be less interested in sex. Undecided whether they're asexual or just 'too into spirituality / battle to care', probably both of these, but yes, overall it is just hugs and kisses. I just can't help but imagine their mutual attraction being mostly 'god I would LOOK the hell out of you' xd I think Nepheli would really like to hug Roderika, not only to share affection but sometimes because it is her emotional support spirit-tuner x) But Roderika is more 'kisses' person. She especially likes giving cheek or forehead kisses.

🎐 Overall, I think they are doing QUITE healthy and good for people that did not have real relationship experience prior? Nepheli was just not the type to take it further than blushing when she'd see a pretty girl and.. that was it. Well, maybe a couple of times, when she was little, she'd try to "flirt" by slaying a scary monster and bringing it's claw/tooth/etc to the girl she'd try to court, which they really did not get xD I picture Dolores being around and that little Nepheli would ask her what she was doing wrong... Dolores would say that it was a "perfect" way to flirt but the girls were just too young to get it yet, and Nepheli was too ahead xddd Roderika would attempt relationship as a teen a couple of times, and quit both of them upon hesitating and estimating she was not good enough for that person. Low self-esteem was hitting her harder in younger age. What I am saying is that sometimes when the first 'real' relationship only happens in adulthood, there are plenty of conflicts to wade through as people don't know what to do... but these two I imagine clicked naturally, and things went rather swell?

_______________

Thank you for an ask! Sorry it took some while, I tend to be sorta slow at the answers ъ_ъ"

[ladylooch]

You can save this for Thursday I just don’t want to forget it

We all know how big/bad of a player Lio was before he got his shit together but he had an especially crazy rookie year so does Timo ever talk to him about his choices and also was Lio as much of a player when he was in high school like was he always a player and breaking girls hearts/screwing them and leaving them or did he really become that way once he was drafted

Lio was not like this in high school. It was a definite shift during Rookie Year. Him and Connor got a lil cray cray together and kinda fed off that energy from one another. Connor obviously stopped, but Lio kept going.

Timo does talk to Lio. Emma does as well. But he doesn't see anything wrong with what he is doing. He thinks he is having fun and living his dream. He doesn't think it is hurting anyone for him to behave this way. It's not like the girls he is hooking up with want a relationship with him either. They are looking to sleep with a professional athlete and he is more than happy to be that athlete.

Timo broaches the subject with Lio on their first dad's trip. Lio takes him to a few of the bars he frequents and Timo can get the sense based on all the women who greet Lio when he walks in. So Timo tries to talk to him. It gets a little heated and Lio brushes his dad's concerns off.

"I'm not saying you need to settle down with someone, but I am saying you need to tone it down. This is a dangerous path you're picking. And even if you think you're playing safe, you need to remember you're still playing with fire and can get burned." Lio rolls his eyes.

"Before mom you were like this too."

"Uh, not at this level." Timo insists, taking a sip of his whiskey neat. He licks at his top teeth, keeping his eyes focused on his son.

"Not all of us want a white picket fence and babies by the time we are 25."

"We were older than that." Timo rolls his eyes. "And whats with the judgement of mama and I?"

"It's nothing." Lio shrugs it off, sighing. "Where do you want to go for dinner?"

"I thought we were eating here?"

"No, the food sucks and is overpriced. Plus, no one eats where they get pre-dinner drinks these days." Timo sighs. There is always so many rules with Lio these days.

So far, his report back to his wife on their son is looking pretty bleak. Hopefully it will be better once they get on the road with the team.

[misteria247]

Idk if you’ve read the Lost Years issue 1 but now all I can imagine is your turtles forever au boys meeting these new kids like DAMN!

The clan lives on!! The littlest boys and girls ahhhhhhh!! Odyn and his ever hungry tummy, Muja and her attitude, Yi wanting to tinker with the other Donnie’s and Uno and his probable routine for training— i love these kidssssss

Ahhhh-! I haven't gotten a chance to read it yet but from what I've seen from your posts and what you'd shown me, I'm absolutely in love with these kids like dude they're so cute-!!! Also OMG I WAS LITERALLY LOWKEY THINKING ABOUT THIS-

Like can you imagine??? The turtles finding these four new turtles, and they're just reeling cuz holy shit they're babies instead of teenagers like them. But they'd all like fall in love with these adorable rugrats cuz how could they not??? And then they learn about how these kids are technically Ronin Mikey's little ones and they all have this wide range of responses cuz holy shit Mikey's got kids?????????!!!!!!!!

Like it'd basically be-

87 Leo, 87 Raph and 87 Donnie would honestly think about it at first surprised but then it'd sink in and they'd be like:

"Honestly that makes sense, Michelangelo's the most likely out of us to have little ones."

While 87 Mikey is just incredibly surprised but honestly excited that a version of him becomes a dad much like his and his brothers own rat dad. 87 Splinter is practically glowing with grandpa pride cuz hell yes while 87 April and 87 Casey think it's hella neat.

07 Leo, 07 Raph and 07 Donnie kinda give their little brother these looks of slight concern cuz 07 Mikey's experience with kids wasn't exactly all that fun. 07 Mikey meanwhile is freaking out and having Vietnam war flashbacks to his old job. He'd get over it eventually but he'd definitely keep his distance for a bit. 07 Splinter meanwhile is just quietly fawning over these little guys and gals cuz it's taking him back to when his boys were young, while 07 April smothers them in affection and 07 Casey just kinda awkwardly interacts with them.

Rise Raph, Rise Leo and Rise Donnie meanwhile are losing their minds cuz it's their baby brother and he's in one timeline a papa?????? Rise Raph definitely lowkey cries much to Rise Mikey's slight embarrassment cuz ohmigosh his little brother has grown so much in the future he needs a minute. Rise Splinter is pretty much in the same mindset while Rise April and Rise Cassandra are absolutely thrilled. Rise Mikey's also thrilled while also on edge due to his own experiences with children (he'll never forget that Mystic Library incident and just how vicious children can be).

12 Leo, 12 Raph and 12 Donnie meanwhile having already dealt with this kind of shock before (Shellshock AU meeting), they're more quick to recover and somewhat tease 12 Mikey who's absolutely beaming, with 12 Leo being an instant mom somewhat much to 12 Mikey's amusement. 12 April is extremely conflicted with the kids, due to one incident where they'd taken one look at the red head, who scarily looks a lot like Ronin April and called her:

"Granny April!"

12 Casey and 12 Raph absolutely had a field day with this little incident and will teasingly call her Granny much to her grievance.

Meanwhile 03 Leo, 03 Raph, 03 Donnie, Bayverse Leo, Bayverse Raph and Bayverse Donnie will be extremely taken aback cuz how the fuck??? Given how absolutely wild and out there 03 Mikey and Bayverse Mikey can be it's extremely hard to picture them as mature fathers in another timeline. Basically their response to this information is Team Fourstar's DBZ Abridged levels. Specifically the scene in the first episode with Bulma and Master Roshi where they go:

'Oh my God he's a parent-'

In a mixture of bafflement and slight dread. They warm up to it eventually after the initial shock. 03 Splinter and Bayverse Splinter meanwhile seem somewhat neutral on this, having full faith in their youngest boys in this endeavor in their possible futures. Bayverse April and 03 April meanwhile think the kids are adorable and proceed to shower them in love and affection while Bayverse Casey and 03 Casey keep a close eye on the little ones.

Future Rise Leo and Future Rise Mikey meanwhile feel a bit bittersweet about it, seeing these adorable turtle tots and thinking about Rise Casey Jr and how he'd grown up in their ruined future. Rise Casey Jr is also feeling bittersweet about it and vows to keep them happy and shielded from any of the horrors that the world has to offer.

But the one who's shaken the most, the one who's unable to believe or understand this is Ronin Mikey. From Ronin Mikey's perspective, he doesn't see himself living long enough to have children. His whole purpose in his life at the moment is to kill Ronin Karai's son who was responsible for his family's murders. Ronin Mikey doesn't plan on surviving his mission, that's his whole vibe and plan. So seeing these four kids, seeing Uno, Yi, Muja and Odyn, his supposed sons and daughters, his descendants, it throws him into a midlife crisis of sorts. He keeps his distance from them, trying to figure out what exactly happened in his future of his world. Ronin Mikey will also keep a close eye on them from a distance and will quickly step in to aid them and take care of them should he need to, after all he's angry but not cruel. Completely unaware of his death and how Ronin April and Ronin Casey Marie are the ones raising them in his stead.

All in all by the time they'd go back home they'd be somewhat spoiled by all the turtles in the 03 lair lol.

[bellshazes]

PLEASE GO INTO DETAILS ABOUT YOUR BDUBS ANALYSIS FOREVER

restricting myself solely to bwbs3 for the moment because i am going to finish DIA tonight so that'll have to be a separate. thing. about narrative

i'm not interested in it for theory's sake, but because I think a lot of content around minecraft does not scratch the itch I want - sure you can teach me how to copy a build block by block, or even explain a process for massing a roof, but these still aren't enough. what I truly, truly want is many people having a conversation that would include things like...

how do i move around in the game? where do I spend my time? what are the implications of that?

how do i build the infrastructure necessary to support the continued playstyle i prefer without devolving into base chores and in fact encouraging the development of goals and completion of them in a game with no prescribed finish?

how do I interpret meaning from the world I build around me? how do distance, color, texture, scale, size, lighting, shape, time spent navigating, terrain, machines, mechanics, movement, etc. and their interrelationships impact the meaning I derive?

these are mere starting points; concretely, a conversation could look like moving from "what's the best most efficient farm objectively i can build?" to "how do I choose or construct a farm that matches its output and ease of access to my current needs and goals?" farm throttling is a huge concern in my imaginary discourse, since it's highly variable even across a single player's single world. (this may shock you to learn this is something I appreciate greatly about etho.)

bdubs is making really, really big arguments about what visual representation can signify not in isolation but in concert across many dimensions: he loves his fog and render distance settings because of what they do to an environment, and his builds interact with those distance limits; he is constantly pushing himself further beyond simple gradients into texturing into doing ambient occlusion on flat walls to suggest crossbeams and now expanding scale to increase possibilities for meaningful coherent block palettes. it's got his usual wrapping of bluster and pride but he's a lot more mellow and didactic in bwbs3! like, he is arguing for this approach in terms you would expect with historical art movements, about how to communicate meaningfully through art. he is doing pointillism!

today he talked about building in all those terms and more, and then also in the fourth dimension of time; this is the first thing I built and it is a time capsule of my skill and style at that point in time, and I am going to build this today as a capstone to my current skills and style, a proof of concept and a temple and a focal point and a new scale marker (since the mountain he built is now tiny in comparison lmao). he is playing minecraft in 4D! this is a really neat and meaty line of thinking - if you're playing a world, what could you build to be a snapshot of where you are now?

that turns the world, built-up, into a historical register. it's not that groundbreaking to do in retrospect, but combined with the foresight and level of intent and skill and on top of that articulating that to the audience makes building with bdubs season 3 really special to me. it's a cross between a seminar and a let's play; it's not building with like s1/s2 senses of just recording himself while building and talking in detail, it's building with in the sense of instruction and encouraging you to go try it out. it's his pitch for his theory of building! from what I can tell, it's pretty unique for that.

honestly the derrida and perec and everything is relevant and ripe but my first turn to theory with bdubs was bernard tschumi's advertisements for architecture, because some of them work so well with his life series builds (another post, another time). however, check this shit out!

advertisements for architecture frequently also engages with murder and the erotic as components of architecture - "Murder in the Street differs from Murder in the Cathedral in the same way as love in the street differs from the Street of Love. Radically." the erotic is less relevant, but the call to baser human desires is a fun touchpoint when considering the meaninglessness of death and especially in the context of MCYT the use of architecture even more explicitly than irl as prompts for interesting, novel, unpredictable interactions. at the same time, many built things in MC are mere facades (grian hcs7 megabase...... not to be rude but jesus).

and so the novelty and love for a guy who cares about and executes well a manifesto on unifying aesthetics and function in a dynamic four-dimensional framework. with that basis, you could start engaging piaget on play, baudrillard on simulation and simulacra, derrida on bricolage, perec on space, any number of theater-centered theorists from any number of lenses (marxist critique of the gradient trend when?) and so on endlessly. but I'm always overjoyed and intrigued by bdubs' arguments. he's so breezy about it, too, like he's driven toward something he's figuring out for himself and trying to share as he learns. nothin else like it