#I don't think daniil would

[herbgroom]

here's a question for you, would the pathologic characters play pathologic?

[lambragu]

i've been listening to the andy roddick podcast and i'm so happy he's found that space bc it's actually really good

[cat-of-starlight]

I'd never think I'd see the day where I'd vote against a Projmoon character but yea

hate that wwoman so muchhhh

[lordoftablecloths]

In which the Town is left orphaned.

27: Hell

I think, in the worst possible end of all of their routes, they all die in their own special way. As morbidly hilarious that sounds, it's fitting. Explanation/headcanons under cut

So, first, Daniil: He jumps off the Polyhedron. This could be for a number of reasons. Mainly being that he feels that he has nothing left for him, particularly in reference to Thanatica. All his life work destroyed, so even if he does deal with this damned town, he has nothing to show for it. He comes to the decision as rationally as a man like him could. He weighs out his other options, realizes that he would find no particular satisfaction in them, so once the meeting in the cathedral is over, he climbs to the top of the Polyhedron and simply lets himself fall. Perhaps he remembers Eva, or perhaps he wanted to, like her, add something to such a hallowed piece of architecture.

Artemy (and Clara) are relatively simpler: He dies either in the fight with Oyun or dies to his "trials."

Clara in some way or another succumbs to the earth. I don't completely know how this would work out story-wise, but it felt like thematically. Do note that I haven't finished her route yet, haha.

anyway, this took fucking forever to finish, so despite having said I was going to do one more pathofest after this, i dont think i have the life in me to do so, ,, it was going to be for the prompt "our home" but i really want to work on and just do other stuff, NAMELY goretober !!!!

also scream fortress

i love you pathologic but i want to be free

[polufabrikat-na-vilke]

@transk0vsky EXACTLY. I also think many people missed some of his meaningful phrases. I can remember at least one right now, though I'm sure there are more.

I don't have a screenshot of this moment at the end of the 2 day's side quest in English, so I'll make a rough translation of what they say (TW/CW mention of su1c1de).

So, Eva makes an excuse for not coming to the station and asks if they can go there now. Daniil replies that no, because the city is blocked and, accordingly, there is no way out. Eva despairs and says that when the epidemic begins, she will have to open her veins. And the Bachelor. Well. In the first dialogue option he tells her to stop talking about it and reproaches her for cowardice. And in the second. He tells he would help her do it, if her hand trembles.

LIKE?? He literally says he'd help her kill herself. I don't believe he could maintain any but friendly-working relationship with anyone, after I've seen such 'excellent' support coming from him.

[fritzes]

alright... by popular demand (literally just @advantage-sinner) here is my... *long sigh* paris bercy draw analysis 🤢 (this is much more unserious than my usual analysis lmao)

literally everyone jannik sinner has traumatized this year (with the notable exceptions of tallon griekspoor and daniil medvedev thank god) is in his quarter of the draw. taylor fritz, who he beat in the uso final? yep. alex de minaur, aka the #1 pigeon of jannik? yep. ben shelton, who he has beaten like four times? yep. holger rune, who jannik got monte carlo revenge on this year? yep. jack draper, who went through that puke-filled uso semi against jannik? yep. oh and there's also faa, bublik, matteo arnaldi, and jiri lehecka. this quarter could literally be its own tournament draw, it's so stacked. that said, even with all these extremely talented players, jannik is still probably gonna sweep. he has made the qfs of every literally every tournament he's played this year. but if there's one where he's gonna get upset before the qfs... it's holger in paris bercy (or even indoor felix if he gets past ben). plus we haven't experienced the taylor fritz blond era tennis yet, so who knows, maybe he'll sweep

the second quarter is just so weird. seriously, who was like yeah let's put zverev, tsitsipas, and rublev in the same quarter. there's a lot of clay courters in this quarter, which is the opposite of the first one that is full of hard court players. something interesting here is that lorenzo musetti could play zverev again after beating him in vienna and can hopefully repeat the result. a tsitsipas/rublev flop off could also be very interesting, I think andrey would be able to flop less and win but I definitely don't think he's defending his semifinal points. arthur fils is also in this quarter and has been in the form of his life, so he can for sure do some damage. can tallon griekspoor take advantage of being free of sincaraz for once? probably not

the third quarter should actually be kinda fun. hubi is back apparently, and we've got grigor, frances, and daniil. I do spy machac lurking near grigor (because apparently we're just repeating this week's draws) and their vienna match was an absolute banger. mpetshi is also in this quarter and has proven how good he is on indoor hc by pulling off the mythical task of beating felix in basel. karen is in good form too, but I could see him being tired from his run this week and losing to frances or mpetshi in the second round. oh and then daniil. I don't even know what's going on with him, he might make the semis or he might lose to matteo second round

and finally, the easiest draw ever for carlos alcaraz. casper ruud as your 5-8 seed is what you want to see when you're a 1-4 seed, and tommy paul wasn't in great form in his lost to nakashima. speaking of nakashima, he's here too, and who knows how he's gonna play. he's so good at tennis except random matches (or even just sections of matches) where he forgets how to hit the ball. if carlos doesn't make the semis, it's on him, this draw is so easy

in short, the tournament is as cursed as always. I hope someone super random wins

[termitnik]

Patho headcanons? The non-sad realistic ones?

oof kinda hard to combine realistic and non-sad when it comes to pathologic but i'll do my best beloved! here are some for our main three:

my realistic and 'canon' interpretation for post canon daniil is that he kills himself uuh lol but if i am to indulge in some happy-ending hcs i would say he returns to the capital briefly to settle his business there and gather his remaining belongings only to return to the town soon afterwards. he realizes that there's nothing left for him in the capital but at least in the town he has a few people he can call his friends and he can still make somewhat of a difference by filling the spot of the town doctor. he's not necessarily happy about it but from a logical standpoint it seems like the best option for him. before he returns he makes sure to stock up on gifts for everyone and candies and toys for children.

artemy loves tea and has an entire drawer filled to the brim with different kinds. he's completely mastered how to brew each type to perfection + what condiments (milk, honey, cinammon etc) work best. if you ever set foot inside his home you best believe he's offering you a cup. if you can't decide on which flavour you'd prefer, don't worry- he knows just what you'd like (and he never misses)

i think clara develops an interest for knitting after the events of the game (when hopefully she'll find a loving family to take her in or perhaps manage to sustain herself on her own like sticky and murky do) and she loves making garments for herself and her loved ones. i think she's very artsy and crafty and loves making use of random materials to express herself through clothing (like how she wears a bandage as a sock in p2) (side note- for those of you interested in fashion check @ laaravo on instagram. she doesn't look a lot like clara's portrait but i think she looks just like her in-game model)

[pinkcaraz]

ok short summary of things taylor talked about during his just chatting portion of the stream (11/27/24). i definitely missed some stuff bc his stream was super quiet and i was doing other stuff but yea i summarized most of the points. also i left out a few parts about details on league since i didn't rly think anyone would care that much about it LOL.

taylor got home 5 days ago, had training today, will probs start hitting tmr, said he should have maybe taken more days off

he saw the novandy news, said it'll be super nice to have andy back and that he was def not expecting it

he hasn't finished arcane yet, he's waiting for morgan to watch it together

he bought a custom (?) cloud pendant (i think from an anime i'm not sure) for a chain

talking about watching faker at worlds and how insane it is bc he could see his screen and see that he was tabbing around watching all the different perspectives

wants caedrel to coach him LOL told chat to spam him to coach him in league

scuffed stream 😭 he's fumbling w his mic and facecam

he said hes former top 100 NA fifa player, said team italy should have invited them so he could smoke them at fifa LMAO

got asked why does he take off left shoe during breaks? theres a spot that hurts when he slides around so taking his shoe off to let it chill helps relieve the pain

jealous of jannik and iga for being able to slide into backhands (he was more specific about the type of shot but i missed it)

bragging about his win rate in league (again)

talking about frances' serve time violations in shanghai thought the first 2 calls of time violation were bs, but def thought the one where he faked the ball toss was valid

said he'd answer controversial tennis questions LOL

got asked why sour cream and guac? bc he doesn't like spicy that much

london airbnb incident - they booked the airbnb the day before they got there, he thought the people trying to rob the airbnb probs thought they weren't there, morgan noticed sketchy people walking up to the door in the middle of the night, he tried to bolt the door but there wasn't a bolt so he held it shut w his body, he had his racket w him and said he would have hit the intruders w a slice forehand if they got in LMAO

thoughts on racket smashing - thinks it's entertaining, ok if not putting others in danger/at risk, thinks it's entertaining for people/fans to see, somewhat humanizing effect on the player, not healthy to keep anger in, don't do it on grass tho bc it ruins the court

talking about his match v daniil - thought that one game was funny but didn't think he was intentionally throwing the match

tommy and frances playing mind games by overcomplimenting their opponent (thinking about the laver cup fed '05 moment)

hits ohbhs in practice sometimes bc he thinks his "one-y" is unbelievable, rule is he's allowed to hit it until he hits a bad one then goes back to normal

any profits he gets from the stream will go to charity ! he's interested in donating to things that help kids

players don't pay for hotels while they're in tournaments but pay for everything else

thinks michael (his coach) should def win best coach, sportsmanship award will probs go to carlos or casper

thinks most improved award should consider older players more like draper, popyrin, musetti, himself, also jasmine paolini, etc. bc it's more impressive when older players improve compared to younger guys who have more time - for ex, gmp improved a lot this yr in ranking bc he was alrdy good and finally got time to actually play to raise his ranking

preference on armstrong vs ashe - more of a preference about which times to play, armstrong has better times for him

can go through like 5 pairs of shoes during a hard court major bc of all the sliding around

said he heard a lot of positive feedback about the wta finals from the players - players were taken care of well, knows that the previous wta finals tournaments have been rough

was gonna go to usc for college if he went to college, he verbally committed to usc, but didn't really plan on going to college

taylor bought and had flowers sent to morgan in LA

said watching worlds was super sick and he thought the opening ceremony was amazing, gumayushi's pose went hard

he doesn't save vods bc he doesn't want people to clip stuff and pull stuff he said, said he feels it allows him to be more authentic on stream

slkjhfajkf he talked about the liking a homophobic tweet on accident and said he freaked out bc he was having a chill no phone day and when he went to check socmed he was like "omg i'm canceled" IM DEAD

favorite league character to play rn is viego, he wins a lot of games on him

thinks the tennis calendar should def be shorter

[lillialuna]

Since they changed the way immunity works in p2 to make it an actually valuable stat (and removed the ability to save anywhere anytime so you can't save scum your way around every plague cloud) I think the vaccine will be much more useful here. Personally I hope it provides a permanent increase to your base immunity this time (that's basically what vaccines do, after all) but even if it's still just a supercharged immunity booster it'll be more useful than in classic. Aglaya puts it on par with a cure when you first talk to her, though, so it'd be a shame if they kept it like that.

Otherwise, yeah I think all of these are at least 80% likely.

In other predictions: there will be a much larger focus on dialogue and choosing the right options in dialogue, it will be much easier to fail quests, and save scumming and getting the "best" outcome will be encouraged (in contrast to Artemy's "any choice is right as long as it's willed"). I would say we'll have the Powers that Be reveal and that all those hours of toiling away loading saves to get the perfect outcome were for nothing to completely break Daniil, but I also have an inkling they're saving that for the Changeling route.

I made bachelor route prediction bingo for funsies, if anyone has other cool predictions feel free to share them.

[inblackwoods]

Isidor and Simon, Daniil and Artemy

There’s one line that Daniil says to Yulia that has been driving me absolutely batty. Yulia says:

“You can call these demons what you want… you may refer to the Hair Eater as ‘time’ if this will make you any happier. I am comfortable with a more juvenile vernacular. It is what I am used to.”

And Bachelor replies: “You are repeating something that Isidor had once told me, almost word for word…”

When did this conversation happen? We don't have many letters between Daniil and Isidor to know how well they knew each other or how often they spoke. How did they meet? Why? How close were they? It’s hard to say, but Daniil refers to Isidor as “[m]y gentle associate, my selfless advisor.” Assuming he’s not being sarcastic, this is high praise. It also makes me think that Daniil took Isidor’s words to heart- deeply. That means that this idea, that people can be using different words to talk about the same things, is one that Daniil is more comfortable with than he’s always given credit for. Bachelor might be more open to setting aside semantic/linguistic differences for the sake of finding middle ground to agree on.

In the introductory healers cutscene, Daniil says, “it seems unlikely that we will ever get along well,” and then a few moments later he amends that statement to, “no… We won’t ever get along.”

That sounds sad. He seems almost like he had hope that the other two immediately dashed to pieces. Before, it was "unlikely" that they would get along "well," not impossible that they could get along at all. Now it is simply "we won't ever get along." He seems uncertain, perhaps because it is against his hard logic to completely bar any possibilities without confirmation. And he is usually adherent to standard social etiquette/ideas about politeness. It is possible that certain ideologies can find overlap and find a means of coexistence. But unlikely. Termites and Utopians don't often share tables. 

But Isidor tried to teach him that they could, and Daniil tried to remember that.

[thanatika]

yeah i agree with your point about survival mechanics and i feel the same way about the lack of combat mechanics. "why would an educated city doctor need a weapon" because shit is hitting the fan in every way impossible and pretty much everyone is walking around armed... also why am i supposed to believe the the fact that he's a man of intellect will somehow provide him with food? i don't think anyone is going to be too eager to share food during an outbreak intellectual or not...

+ follow up for the previous ask but actually my favorite quest from the original pathologic is the day 11 bachelor quest that involves shooting down soldiers. i think it really drives the point home about how this random fuckass guy who is supposed to be battling a plague doesn't even have the time to do that anymore because the people in charge are asking completely irrelevant things of him now and he's at a position where he cannot refuse what is being asked of him. like i think it was good storytelling that even as the guy who lowkey wants to deal with the plague and solve its mystery you still have other, more pressing, less interesting and or pleasant tasks to complete

i agree! honestly, i feel this way about the combat mechanics even more than i do about the physical survival (food, health, illness, sleep) mechanics. because sure, i can see how it makes sense for daniil's position of authority to mean that his basic needs are somewhat provided for -- although i don't think it makes more sense than what we got in the original game. i've never seen anyone bring up "isn't it kind of unrealistic that the bachelor isn't given lots of food during a massive food shortage?" as a plothole that needed to be resolved. the townspeople generally don't like him much, and most of the people with power don't either, except for the kains. sure, maybe it's kind of weird that you can go see the kains while broke and on the verge of keeling over from hunger, and they won't do anything to help you, but... the kains are pretty self-centered, and they're so goddamn weird that maybe they forget that you need to eat food to live anyway. and it's half-implied that the powers that be are ultimately giving daniil this role as a convenient way to kill him, so it makes sense that they would put no pressure on the town authorities to keep him alive.

(and honestly, artemy is taken under the olgimsky's auspices as much as the kains take daniil's under theirs! which is to say, selfishly, with ulterior motives that are more important to them than the well-being of their healer, but... the olgimskys are set up as the wealthiest of the 3 families financially, as well as the ones with the most access to food, given their control over the meat industry. so if anything it's "weirder" that artemy isn't more materially provided for, though to be clear i don't think there's an actual plothole there either way.)

but anyway, you could handwave it and say that daniil's position of privilege and authority gives him more perks than he got in the original game, but the amount of fighting you have to do to get through town is... kind of an unavoidable physical reality? like you're given so many sidequests that you often wind up walking around town after dark, and that's when the bandits come out. is the idea that the bandits would be too scared to attack him because he's so important? because that doesn't make a lot of sense to me, and even pathologic 2 establishes that he's seen as a valuable target by the bandits:

and then there's the quests where combat plays a more direct role in the story itself, like getting involved in saving andrey from the firing squad, or killing guards to break artemy out of prison, or the quest where you have to kill var in attempt to stop the arsonists (which i include on the same tier as the other ones because i really like the quest journal entry he has if you complete it where he blames himself for willow's death. it's a good character moment.)

hell, even in pathologic 2 itself, one of the biggest Bachelor Moments is on day 11, when you have that big dramatic convo with him after he killed a soldier for the papers he was delivering. plus one of bad grief's idle dialogues in patho 2 is commentary on the bachelor being "quick on the draw" and that he "already shot someone". like he just straight up is not living a combat-free existence. and overall, combat isn't just a good tool from a mechanical perspective, heightening the stakes and placing pressure on the player (though it is), it's also pretty important for him on a thematic level imo, almost as important as artemy and his "rivers of blood". in patho classic, daniil has this early interaction with the inquisitor:

which, thinking about it from a doylist perspective, was probably the writers' attempt to make it sound more plausible that this random medical researcher from the big city was competent with multiple types of guns. and i appreciate them coming up with that hint of backstory to cover their bases a bit, but with those bases covered, i think the fact that daniil ultimately spends more time shooting people than he does prescribing medicines for them actually does a lot for him thematically? i mean, if his whole thing is that he's this "tempted destroyer", someone who frames his career as a combative battle with death rather than a quest to save people's lives, whose "default" solution is to raze the town with artillery because he's too limited by his rationalist worldview and military upbringing (and bitterness over being manipulated and sabotaged) to come up with a solution that saves the any remaining infected survivors on his own. plus the way that clara frames artemy and daniil as two sides of the same coin in being violent destroyers and killers, who without player intervention will immediately devolve to running around chasing each other down in what's either an insanely dedicated tom and jerry LARP or some really elaborate foreplay. imo, that whole dichotomy (which is pretty core to the game, as the idea of dichotomies are core to it in general) works so much better with the way they're both presented in classic, stalking around with gun/scalpel in hand. hell, not to mention the effect that spending 12 in-game days trying not to starve and getting killed by bandits or guards or worms or soldiers every day would have on the player, and the way it would make them feel about the town and their natural projection of those feelings onto dankovsky, who is a perfectly fitting vessel for them as the avatar actually undergoing those virtual experiences.

ultimately i think they are mainly going this direction out of a desire to do something more creative and original, which is fine... it just seems a bit silly to me that they keep saying "well obviously that doesn't really work for the bachelor's scenario", when, well... even as recently as patho 2 in 2019, they seemed to think it fit his narrative pretty well! i'm also guessing that a lack of combat won't be that bandits are just no longer roaming the streets at night. it sounds more like pathologic 3 is set to be more of a nonlinear experience, where you'll probably fast travel from place to place instead of having to walk across town so much? so you'll be avoiding bandits just in the sense that the gameplay will be avoiding them. i guess i'm hoping that at the very least, there's still the implication of the crunch of not getting enough sleep or food and the threat of being stabbed to death while trying to get through town occurring to dankovsky in the background, even if those mechanics are deemphasized in favor of more macro-level town resource management, time control, and sherlock holmes fruit ninja or whatever the hell they were on about back in 2022 lmao.

[mocktortis]

A Rant About Waltzing, As It Applies to Burakhovsky

Every time I see fanart of Daniil and Artemy waltzing together, Daniil is almost always drawn as the follow (basically the role usually danced by the woman). And I have some issues with this.

To start with, Dankovsky seems to have grown up rich and well educated. It's highly likely that he would have learned to waltz, or some kind of partnered dance, where he would have learned to dance as a lead. When waltzing specifically, the footwork for leading-vs-following is different, as well as where one holds their partner. Speaking from experience it is very hard to try and dance as a follow when you have already learned how to lead.

I assume the reason more people draw Daniil as a follow is because they think it's more fitting for his personality. Which may be true; I'm not going to comment on that. But from a character background perspective, it doesn't make that much sense.

It doesn't really matter, but it irks me personally, and I don't want to attach this whole rant to anyone else's fanart, 'cause that just seems rude. eek

[permian-tropos]

I'm not super coherent and we don't know how it will manifest yet, but I'm really hoping that the Bachelor's time travel ability is closer to transplantation than perfect loops. There are consequences, even if you cut and run from this version, it carries forth, sick and dying and alone. You can piece together a body of a perfect timeline with parts stripped from others, but what happens to those donor bodies afterwards? What rot will Daniil leave in his wake?

I think the Polyhedron looking worn out, even decayed in a sense? implies that it is being affected by his time editing. That would be a really fascinating consequence, along with other parts of the Town deteriorating. But especially the Polyhedron, the Tower of miracles that is supposedly safe and untouched by plague.

[silenthillmutual]

the thing with people who weep and wail and gnash their teeth at the mere suggestions that daniil dankovsky is autistic is that they seem to just assume that i'm saying he's autistic because he's rude white guy and that i'm using autism as a reason to excuse his behaviors which is on their part a huge projection because i don't think being autistic is an excuse for poor behavior in the least and i've never said or implied that. but of course engaging with what i actually say would be treating an autistic person like a human being capable of rational thought and dear god we can't have that.

[b0r3dtod3ath]

Hi maybe a fic where Andrey & his Girlfriend are having an Argument and she leaves the tournament to go home to her family for a couple of days and then he surprises her at home where they talk about everything?

an: thanks for requesting!!

Andrey was always a great player but one thing that he felt himself struggling with on court was his mentality. Daniil has always expressed how having his wife near him made him improve in his career. Andrey wanted to share this part of him with you so he invited you to join him in a tournament. 

During the quarterfinals of a major tournament, Andrey was struggling with his second serve. Every missed point or opportunity during a match felt like a dagger leaving a mark on his ego. He was convinced he was getting too distracted. You usually found a spot near the court where you could quietly observe Andrey’s practice sessions. The sun was warm on your skin, and the rhythmic sound of the tennis ball hitting the court became a soothing backdrop to your thoughts. You brought a book, its pages filled with stories that took your mind away to other worlds, yet your attention always drifted back to Andrey. You’d occasionally glance up from the text to watch him, your heart clenching with each frustrated sigh or missed serve. Despite the tension in the air, there was something comforting about being close to him, sharing these silent moments. You also had your phone, where you would scroll through social media, but it was the peacefulness of the garden, the rustling of leaves in the gentle breeze, and the distant hum of the city that you found truly enjoyable.

"Andrey, are you okay?" you asked as he stormed off the court, slamming his racket into his bag. He spun around, his eyes blazing. "No, I'm not okay! Why do you always have to be here?"

You blinked, taken aback. "What do you mean? I'm here to support you."

"Support me?" he scoffed, running a hand through his hair. "I can't focus with you around. You're distracting me!"

You scrunched your face in confusion. "I’m distracting you? I haven’t done anything. I just watch from the stands. You invited me here. I don’t even talk to you during practice."

"It's not about talking," he snapped. "It's just... your presence. I can't explain it, but it's throwing me off."

You took a deep breath, trying to stay calm. "Andrey, I think you're just stressed. This tournament means a lot to you, and you're looking for someone to blame."

"And you're saying it's my fault?" he scoffed, not looking at you.

"No, I'm not!" you exclaimed, your frustration matching his. "I'm saying that maybe the problem isn't me. Maybe it's the pressure you're putting on yourself."

Andrey shook his head, jaw clenched. "You don’t understand. You don’t play. You don’t know what it’s like to have this kind of pressure.”

Your eyes flashed with hurt and anger. "No, I don't play tennis. But that doesn’t mean I don’t understand pressure or what it means to support someone you love. I'm here because I care about you. But if my being here is causing you this much stress, maybe I should leave."

"Maybe you should," he muttered, his voice cold. He didn’t expect you to hear him, but when you threw a harsh “Fine,” a part of him wanted to apologize, though another part felt justified.

That night, you packed your bags and left. You didn’t want to leave him but you believed that maybe some space would help him clear his mind and realize you were only there to support him, not distract him. You were lucky enough that the tournament took place not so far from your hometown so you headed to your childhood home. Your parents happily welcomed you but they could see something was wrong between you and Andrey. They didn’t push you to tell them but eventually you did mention that you two got into an argument, reassuring it wasn’t anything too serious. You still watched his matches but your conversations limited to you texting him to inform where you are and that you’re not mad, just thought a break would be the best option. You spent your days peacefully, helping your parents and relaxing. 

Meanwhile, Andrey couldn’t take it any longer. The emptiness he felt without you was unbearable and he followed you as soon as the tournament ended. The sun was setting as he arrived, casting a soft glow on the nature surrounding your childhood house. He felt a mixture of nerves and anticipation as he walked up the familiar path. He felt even more nervous when he spotted your mother - he was almost sure you told her what he had done and now she wouldn’t allow him to talk to you. To his surprise, she invited him “She's in the garden. Go on through”. 

Andrey thanked her and made his way to you. He spotted you sitting on a bench, a book in your hands. Your hair shone in the sunlight, you looked peaceful but only few could notice the hint of sadness in your eyes. He took a moment to compose himself, the view making him calmer, before approaching.

Your glance shifted from the paper to his face, the corners of your mouth slightly went up forming a small smile. Without a word you moved to give him some space to sit. "I was wrong, and I hurt you. I should never have blamed you for my own frustrations." His eyes didn’t dare to look at you and stared at his shaky hands. ”I know I hurt you. I was under a lot of pressure, and I took it out on you. But that’s no excuse. It’s unacceptable. You’re the most important person in my life, and I can't stand the thought of losing you”. 

You looked at him, he was a mess. “Oh come here” your arms wrapped around him thightly, his head buried at the crook of your neck. You gently stroked his back as overpowering emotions hit him causing him to cry. “I mean that with all my heart. I need you. Please forgive me.” you could barely make up the words as he hyperventilated. “It’s alright, don’t worry. I love you.” you said kissing the top of his head.

Little did you know, your parents stood together few meters from you, admiring their favourite couple’s reunion.

May 29, 2024

[katherinakaina]

Speak your truth!! Fanon Clara and fanon Daniil are both really irritating (to me). I always think I just don't like them until I remember that in the game itself they're actually fine. It's just the way a lot of people talk about them that grinds my gears.

To be fair, fanon Artemy is not much better. It’s just that his fanon version is mostly flattering so his fans tend to be less annoyed. But it is similar to Clara in the way that he is nine parts this cute cinnamon bun golden retriever himbo papa bear and only one part covered in blood and a bit dangerous purely for the sexyness factor. Well, in the game it’s more like 3 parts papa bear and 7 parts you wouldn’t actually want this dude anywhere near your children. The ratio is even worse for the first game.

Initially I wanted to say that I don’t understand the point of this character bending. What’s the appeal of these characters if they need to be distorted into something they aren't in order to be compelling? But then I started thinking about my own version of Daniil that is admittedly a bit different from how he’s actually shown in the game. Same as others, I take parts of his characterization that speak to me the most and inflate them, let them take the center stage. For me it’s his immortalism and his rationality (or his pursuit of rationality, as any proper rationalist would correct me). I feel like both aren’t explored nearly enough but are stated as and supposed to be his main defining qualities (huge hope they will actually become such in p3).

So on some level I can empathize with the desire to enhance your favorite character here and there, make them make more sense. It’s just that apparently things that make sense vary drastically from different points of view. For me, sarcastic snarky grinning Clara makes very little sense. She’s a tormented child, what’s she’s so happy about? Golden retriever Artemy or cold blooded killer Daniil go in the same bin. At this point I don't see it as gentle tinkering with the source material but full blown repurposing.

You take a doll from a different game and put it into your own, going mostly from how the doll looks and a short description on the back of the box. You take close to nothing from the previous game, rewriting the character almost completely. And then you go and talk to people who played the previous game and you use the same doll and the same name but your conversation makes no sense. This happens in every fandom, I assume. But considering it’s Pathologic we are talking about it stings just a bit extra. Like those poor souls will never escape their fate. In a way, it’s fitting.