#I'm marking this as spoilers but it not really

[rosalie-starfall]

Just sayin, there sure is a lot of Technobabble for a show meant for kids... I don't know what's going on, I can only imagine what it's like for little ones lol (That being said I still really liked it, But I'm gonna need to watch it a few times before I get it. Although I'm always bad with wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff.) And no... I did not read Temporal Mechanics 101

[cutiesigh]

❤️🖤🩷

Wuthering Waves has taken over all of my free time recently, so here's a sketch of Scar!Ren I originally shared in da 14DWY Discord!!

[dailyloopdeloop]

DAY 101 (103): do it for Them

[katkat030]

now hear me out, same vibes

[meowcifer-nails]

To elaborate more on this without spamming op's post, if you think about it, Harry himself is not entirely unlike Lena.

Even if thorough the whole game you manage to pick the least shitty options possible in terms of his behavior and thoughts, even if you stray as far as possible from the racist routes, even if you do your best to play him as a kind person whenever possible and to always be nice to Kim in particular, there is a specific instance (I'll keep it vague but if you know you know) where you might say the wrong thing on 'accident'.

[Important to note, this is NOT an outright player choice, you will have NO clue about how badly you are about to fuck up if you never came across it and weren't spoiled about it. You can go the whole game denouncing racism at every chance you're given to do so, and it will not change this outcome. ]

If this happens, Kim will not only be furious about it, he will snap and remark on several things Harry ALREADY did or said that made him wonder about Harry's stance and prejudices, telling you about how he overlooked it both because he wanted to be professional and because he assumed it was at least partly influenced by Harry's condition, but still hurt him nonetheless.

Now, I'm fairly sure he points out more things if you picked more "bad" dialogue options through the game, but it's important that you will still get called out even if you didn't.

Harry canonically says and does racist things even if he (or you, the player) means no ill by it, simply out of ignorance. It's not entirely outright, you might not even notice them, but he does and you cannot avoid this. He canonically disrespects Kim because of his ethnicity on multiple occasions, whether you want to or not, whether you notice it or not, but one thing is for sure: Kim sure as hell fucking notices. He just doesn't SAY anything about it all that time unless you fuck up so badly he cannot hold back anymore.

And once Harry is faced with this, he is stunned, because he never had a clue that he was hurting Kim. You can at this point pick the way he responds to this, but not the fact that he is shocked by the news, because he was never fully aware of it.

This is part of what makes the commentary of this game so good in my opinion, because not only it examines the more outright racism (the big 3 main racists) as well as the less aggressive and seemingly benevolent kind (Lena being the prime example), but also the kind that's so ingrained and subtle that someone not only does not do it on purpose but has absolutely no awareness of it, and having this be examined using the main protagonist is such a powerful way of showing it, as well as the way they throw this at you (a lot of the ways the game "punishes" you for picking "bad choices" is simply to let you know you are disappointing Kim, so this particular instance feels extra bad because it turns out you've been low key disappointing him all along without even realizing it).

[enquire]

Kismet

I imagine anyone following this series could probably guess who I was doing next. Yep, it's Utsuro. This one was kind of interesting. I'm not super sure about the markings (they might be a little too complex? still thinking about it) and his hair was a pain to translate into pony form for me. No clue why he gave me more trouble, but I might end up changing that aspect later because it still feels a little off to me. Also, the markings are sort of part of his cutie mark, kind of like how Luna's is. I kinda wanted to give the vibe of his cutie mark being invasive/changing him. Like his coat has been symbolically tainted or burned from it. He always had some spots and freckles, but after he got his mark, the darker markings + patches/shadows over his flanks and legs appeared.

Anyway, let's get into things...

Kismet was an ordinary earth pony who lived with his family somewhere in Equestria. Like most ponies, he was excited to get his cutie mark, and curious about what it would be.

When an oddly foreboding black mark appeared on his flank one day, strangely accompanied by several new markings, at first, Kismet was just as overjoyed as any former blank flank would be.

However, as time passed, it became clear that Kismet's cutie mark was unique, to say the least. Because no matter what kind of trouble came his way, somehow, it would pass him by completely unharmed.

Good fortune and success followed him wherever he went. Kismet prevailed whenever he attempted anything, and those closet to him were often granted the same blessings.

Soon, everypony wanted to have Kismet around. In the beginning, Kismet was happy to suddenly have so many friends. But eventually, he began to realize that nopony wanted his companionship because they cared about him or enjoyed spending time together.

When a team wanted to win an important game of hoofball, they invited him. When his town's mayoral election came around, the two candidates fought for his support. And the few friends and family Kismet had cared about slowly began to treat him differently.

It shouldn't be a surprise, then, that Kismet came to see the mark as a curse. Once he realized the fortune tied to him was the root problem, he tried everything he could think of in order to make it stop. But no amount of bad luck charms or attempts to control it himself affected the endless good luck.

In the end, Kismet gave up entirely. He left his hometown behind, and started covering up his cutie mark and going by various aliases during his travels. (His current being "Sunset Shores," and using a cutie mark belonging to somepony too distant from him to have the identity theft be an issue)

He tried a few times during this period to start new lives for himself. But inevitably, his good luck would start affecting things around him and the ponies he had met. And in the end, the connection would be made between the two, and Kismet would quietly vanish.

Being alone was somehow more tolerable than being lonely while surrounded by others. So Kismet simply drifted from place to place, not making connections, and never allowing anyone to really get to know him.

On a few instances, his path led him to several other outcasts. Ponies who had nothing, were failures, or had nopony to trust or rely on. Kismet couldn't help but see himself in them. And the ways in which his fortune changed those ponies' fates were some of the only times Kismet ever felt anything positive about his mark.

Though after the connection was made, and things began to deteriorate, Kismet would disappear again. The gratitude and reverence was overwhelming. That being said, he never regretted them, and eventually, he came to realize that somewhere along the way, one pony whose path had crossed his was different. There was one pony who he had helped, who had seen what he was, and yet still saw him before any of the rest.

Perhaps that is why she, and she alone, was able to find him again. After traveling halfway across Equestria, the two of them met once more. And so, Kismet no longer travels alone.

Also, above are examples of what it looks like when he covers up his original cutie mark.

Right: "Sunset Shores" with Clover Shore's cutie mark. Left: Blank flank version. (he doesn't always bother with replacing it)

Last few notes: Kismet's fortune is probably a little different given the universe and how cutie marks work. It still makes his life miserable but doesn't necessarily completely drag the meaning from everything. At least not quite to the degree divine luck does. Just a *bit* less intense but still a curse.

And there isn't a despair cult, world-ending tragedy, nor any killing games in the works here, so there's that too...

[mantictiger]

I'm fascinated by Gwendolyn Bouchard for a multitude of reasons (love me a girlfailure) but what I'm the most curious about is why she's so hellbent on having Lena's position at the OIAR. It's been established that the Bouchards are a very well-off family (I can't remember if thats tmagp-specific lore or if that was mentioned in tma as well) so it's not like Gwen needs the job, especially a job that doesn't seem very glamorous. She seems incredibly dedicated to it though (her being so insistent with specific filing of cases in episode 1 I believe? is what piqued my interest) and is so insistent on climbing a corporate ladder that only seems to lead to Lena's position for no real reason. I get the OIAR is a part of the UK government and that could look good if she's trying to get higher-up positions, but the OIAR is certainly far from a respected or well-known organization (as far as I am aware) so I'm not really sure what her goal is here, and I really hope we find out

[brynnmclean]

saw a post questioning shipping Senua and Thórgestr and started to reblog it with a tag novel-- felt weird about doing that since this is lengthy and potentially derailing, so making my own post instead. Spitballing under the cut:

First off, any time someone is like, "the real reason people ship this is because they find the dude attractive," this is SO funny to me as someone who doesn't find men attractive IRL and has fiercely loved Senua since I played the first game, like-- actually I find the dynamic between those two characters to be compelling and interesting precisely because of all the baggage between them re: their backgrounds, the rough (put mildly!) beginning of their relationship, all the things they don't talk about, and them finding a common enemy/common ground to work with. The explicit parallels between them stated in-game scratched an itch in my brain. The minute they pointed out the dark rot on his arm, it was like, "oh! hello there! NOW I'm interested in whatever your whole deal is" for me. Also, idk man, I too would follow Senua around after she knocked me into the dirt and then showed me a way to fight the giants that I very much wanted to fight instead of appease.

The idea that Thórgestr was part of the Orkney Raid that killed and mutilated Dillion is VERY interesting food for thought, even if I don't personally have that headcanon (surely there are more viking raiding groups than just the Bjorg). I think the Furies or the Shadow said something similar about Fargrimr (his kin murdered yours, you shouldn't save him, etc.) so I completely get that line of thought, but I think the game left it ambiguous enough that it's up for interpretation. Would I read fic with that premise? Yeah, I'd check that out. Could Senua forgive Thorgestr if his people were involved? Sounds fun to explore.

If (ha, when?) I write fic, I'd have to think more about it especially wrt timelines, like when did the Bjorg start specifically raiding for slaves for giant food sacrifices vs. killing people for resources and wealth? How far off are we from the old gods "dying" and the volcano erupting? Was it indeed a different group of raiders who made a deal with Zynbel, attacked Senua's home, and made the sacrifice at that time to Hela?

At the very least, I think there's a time jump between the end of Hellblade I and the beginning of Hellblade II since Senua wasn't alone on that slave ship and at least one of the (brief) survivors knew her by name. I wouldn't mind exploring that gap of time, too.

In any case I do agree that it would take a VERY long time for Senua to consciously catch feelings for anyone let alone Thorgestr with all their collective baggage. The idea of them having a relationship beyond friendship in the far off future of an AU where he survives is the only one that can make sense in my brain, personally. It would take time! Time they didn't get in the game! But I think there are a lot of different roads that could take, and some of them might be healthier than others. Shipping them certainly isn't forgetting or excusing what happened to Dillion-- or even mutually exclusive from still shipping Senua and Dillion. Or, frankly, also shipping Senua and Astridr, because I can see that ship too.

One of the nice things about all the details Ninja Theory didn't expand upon and that they left that ending so open is that the sky's the limit. I'm VERY interested in seeing fandom tackle this game as we get farther from the initial release.

[frogonamelon]

FRIDA HAS A CANONICAL DESIGN EVERYONE THIS IS NOT A DRILL! I REPEAT THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

[raticalshoez]

I love Ren presumably using "we" and "us" because he's acting as if both his and Tango's souls are still present as he is possessing Tango, but also like lore-wise. Just considering it in lore is like.

I'm reading this whole thing as Ren taking over Tango when his character didn't really need to have a sub. In Pearl's case during Limited Life, she was taken out because she didn't have enough time to recover from how much Double Life affected her and Cleo just. Idk needed a break from their messy family drama or something. However with Tango and Ren, Ren was acknowledging Tango kore than Lizzie or Gem addressed Pearl and Cleo. Ren even explicitly says that he feels like something inside him (as much as that sounded. Horrible in the moment. Goddammit he can't escape the innuendoes, can he?).

Idk I've just been....thinking about. I'm not the smartest when it comes to this #Lore stuff, and idek if this is coherent but MAN. The idea of Tango vaguely knowing something is up, but not really being able to do anything about it is just.

[six-of-cringe]

I think that one of the reasons why people misinterpret Wylan's character and arc, among others, is because they misinterpret the relationship between him and Kaz. This post has kind of mitosised off from the BFWP (Big Fucking Wylan Post) I'm writing because it's a bit of a different focus and constitutes its own post.

A lot of people talk about Wylan's character and development as though it's meant to match Kaz's - starting out as a nice kid who the city forces to become amoral, indifferent to violence, and well-versed in crime. These qualities are usually talked about with a weird reverence as an irrefutable symbol of "badassery", as though it's always a positive development for any character regardless of the story's narrative, which annoys me but is not the topic of this post. That's part of the BFWP's job.

Following Kaz's exact development is not the point of Wylan's character. The point is that Kaz and Wylan narrative foils - very similar in many ways, but with a fundamental difference that creates the "broken mirror" effect/shows how they could have turned out if they'd chosen differently. I think that difference is how they respond when they climb out of the harbor after their respective betrayals. Narratively, Ketterdam represents a very harsh system that presents the people struggling there with very few options. You can either choose to ditch decency, play by the Barrel's rules, and live, or you can hold on to decency and die.

When Kaz returns to the streets after Jordie's death, he chooses the first option. He copes with what happened through ideas of revenge, and to survive long enough to see it he quickly turns to thievery and violence. He thinks to himself after he robs a kid for money and food that it was much easier to survive when you've left decency behind. He survived through violence, creating the Dirtyhands persona around himself for protection.

When Wylan has to fend for himself, he choses the second option. He finds "honest work" at the tannery, where they exploit workers and expose them to toxins. He wonders if he'll live long enough to use his savings to leave the city, or if the chemicals would kill him first. He was smart enough to steal and survive, but he chose decency, and with it, he chose death. There are a number of reasons why he chose differently than Kaz despite their similarities - his older age and thus more developed moral code, having no one to avenge but himself when he believed himself worthless, his more privileged upbringing, and his relatively low drive to live. Alone, he would have died.

Then Kaz steps in. Kaz's role in all the crow's lives is that, intentionally or not, his ruthless rule of the Barrel creates a sort of haven that allows them to survive where they would have died had they stayed alone. Wylan is a really clear example of this, and though Kaz's intentions were at least partly self-serving, his involvement both kept Wylan from dying of exposure or street violence as well as prevented him from needing to do the more terrible things that it takes to survive in the Barrel. Throughout the books, we see Kaz kind of taking the brunt of enacting violence in Wylan's place - traumatizing Smeet's daughter, killing the clerk on the lighthouse. Wylan could get by making explosives in the workshop rather than having to shoot or stab or beat the life out of people. And at the end of the series, Kaz sees to it that he never will have to. Of course Wylan did bad stuff to survive when working with the Dregs, it's the Barrel. But the extent is greatly lessened because of Kaz's involvement.

Wylan's arc was never about becoming comfortable with violence, or becoming just like Kaz - the way people characterize him as some sort of ruthless murder mastermind is inaccurate and redundant with Kaz's character. He isn't nonchalant or celebratory about crime or death or violence by the end of the book. He doesn't HAVE to become like Kaz, because Kaz himself gave him the space to continue being decent, intentionally or otherwise. Understanding that dynamic is important to understanding what Wylan is like as a character and as a person. If you assume Wylan's trajectory is to become "Kaz 2.0", then you're going to mischaracterize him. I've seen posts about how Kaz was the Jordie that he didn't have to Wylan, and I think that makes a lot more sense. Because Kaz is willing to do the horrible things in his stead, Wylan has the third option otherwise impossible in the Barrel - maintaining his decency and surviving.

[decarbry]

dreamy eyes

day 3: envy

[sibillascribbles08]

I thought about drawing older Casey Jr. for a while but a post in the tag spurred me on

It's full of hcs tho haha

ID under the cut (and then some ramblings if anyone wants)

[ID: A digital drawing featuring three images of Casey Jones Jr. from Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. He's depicted as older than he is in the show. The leftmost image is a full body drawing. He's wearing a deep green tank top, khaki pants, and black boots that stop just below the knee. He has his signature hockey stick weapon on his shoulder. His arms are covered in mystic tattoos and symbols of varying shapes and colors. There is a small bit of text pointing at them saying "tons of mystic tats"

The upper right drawing is a close up of his face. He's grinning and looking toward the camera. There's text pointing toward his eyes saying, "Red Marking Tats". It's referring to deep red triangles that are above and below his eyes to mimic Leonardo's stripes.

The lower right drawing is a halfbody shot of him in a leather jacket and a motorbike helmet. The helmet has his signature hockey mask attached to it, obscuring his face. There is text pointing to it saying, "Mask attaches to helmet." The jacket features some large spikes with text pointing to them saying, "Spikes like Raph."]

For peeps who read my fics like most of this won't be surprising. Casey starts learning a lot of mystics and alchemy from Draxum and he gets his tats so that he can quick fire some of the spells. He can portal pretty easily using it, and loves to do so while riding his motorbike so he flies out of it and spins to a stop. It drives Leo insane because, "How are you this cool."

His hairstyle is also based on Draxum's but man it makes him look like human Splinter cannot deal with it.

[tamamorikun]

I wanted to talk a bit more about the general banter and things that Moe points out in the DLC, especially in Mashita and Daimon's offices, so I took some screenshots of the background cgs ! My other writeup was long enough and I tried to focus on the plot itself so I'm doing these on a separate post. Also any other tidbits that Moe mentions I found were fun or interactions, since I love learning little things about the characters when they're not spirit hunting.

Spoilers under the cut, I suppose, not much about the actual plot of the DLC though!

At the Kujou Mansion:

She mentions that his bed is big enough to fit 3 of her. Also, when she comes in, she mentions the sheets are messy and still warm and she thinks he must have been sleeping there recently... but later you learn that he's been missing for about a week... and that Banshee was in the mansion and had gone to the bathroom when Moe came in so... uh, Banshee was sleeping in Yashiki's bed? yeah.

Not even that relevant but the lightbulb in Yashiki's room is dead and it has been for a while, Banshee says it's because all the furniture and such in the mansion is very old, so it's harder to find replacements. I wonder how long he's just been living in a dark room 😭

Yashiki also just leaves the door of the mansion unlocked all the damn time, apparently. Banshee says that he always forgets to lock it and that's how he comes and goes all the time.

At the park with Tsukasa:

Tsukasa mentions that he's never been to an amusement park in his life before or gone on any sort of rides. Poor kid... all he ever does is study.

Moe doesn't like mint!

No one questions or scolds Moe at home even though she comes back so late. She mentions that it may be because she has many siblings (doesn't specify how many, though) that her family isn't overprotective at all, and also that they probably don't expect much from her in the first place since she has bad grades. She prefers it this way though.

At Mashita's office:

It's in the basement of a building in front of the station.

When checking the rack, Moe does point out the red shirt is kind of flashy for what Mashita usually wears, so she's surprised to see he'd wear something like that too.

Moe is curious about the shelf full of alcohol. Shou tells her that Mashita seems to really enjoy drinking, and that at night he often drinks expensive looking brandy served neat. Moe is still surprised he'd keep alcohol out in the open in his workplace like that.

When checking the table, Shou mentions it's rarely used because customers don't usually come to the office. He explains that since most of his clients come from Yasuoka referring them, they often meet outside instead. Moe wonders if he really needs to have an office then.

Moe asks him what kind of shows Mashita watches when checking the TV, and she's disappointed to learn he only really uses it to check case related tapes. She was hoping he'd be really into something like reality tv or animal shows, something that wouldn't fit his image.

The kamidana on top of the shelf, a mini household shrine, was something Moe insisted he put in his office. Since he works with spirt cases and all, the shrine is meant to protect him and ward them off so they don't curse him. It's cute that Mashita listened to her and actually did...

There's a massive pile of cigarettes and cigarette boxes on his desk. We knew he smoked but it really seems like smokes A LOT.

I did mention the picture of him and his senpai he keeps in the drawer with the alarm, it was taken 5 years ago and he's smiling in it. Moe points out he's wearing a police uniform, the kind that police box officers in small neighborhoods do. So this was way before he became a police detective, he really was just a rookie then (He's 27 now, so he was only 22...)

Shou seems to still feel really guilty about what happened in the Red Riding Hood case, when he was possessed and attacked them, so he also sees this as a chance to help them and repay them for that. He also really wants for Mashita to acknowledge him and make him a proper assistant instead of just having him clean around.

At the park with Shou:

Shou mentions that he started to work part time at an Izakaya because he wants to get his dream motorcycle, a 750 cc one. (I looked that up but I don't know much about motorcycles in any language so I'm not sure what that means lol...). Moe asks him to give her a ride along the Shuto expressway one day since there's a rumor that a giant horse shows up, but he of course tells her no.

They find a rusted battery in the field and Shou mentions that the grass around it isn't growing due to soil contamination, and Moe immediately teases him about it since she didn't expect him to know about that. He explains that the type of battery they picked up is an old kind that would have mercury in it, and he tells her to not lick it. She gets mad but guesses it's payback for trying to tease him.

At Daimon's clinic:

We get a BG for this one too!

According to Moe, Daimon's specialization is surgery. So he's a surgeon! I don't remember if that had ever been mentioned before.

When checking the record player, Moe says that most of them have foreigners on the covers so it's most likely all old western music, though she doesn't know much about it.

When checking the guitar she says that Daimon has mentioned he was in a band before, and she wonders if he ever plays for his patients.

At the park with Daimon:

I did mention this in my summary, but Moe thinks about why Daimon dresses like that, with his shirt unbuttoned and part of his chest exposed, despite him having frail health. She wonders if that's the rockstar style.

Moe is not very good with snakes and freaks out when Daimon seems to pick one up, but it turns out to be just a snake shedding, and she remembers it's apparently good for luck with money and excitedly takes it when Daimon offers it to her.

Daimon is really smart and knows a lot about different subjects but he sure seems to go on tangents about it at the worst moments. He brings up the Monty Hall problem and the first time he just tells Moe to trust him, but later when Moe refers back to it and calls it Monkey Hall problem he proceeds to try to explain the whole thing... while they're still in a dire situation. At least Moe cuts him off before he can.

He also translated the archaic Japanese for Moe because she had no idea what most of it meant and just turned to him for help. Very cute. (And also helpful, because I wasn't familiar with most of it either lol...)

Moe and Daimon overall were such a fun combo! He takes her seriously enough that they openly discuss theories and he's willing to listen to her, but he's very gentle and knows she's a kid and scolds her sometimes. And even though Moe says she feels he's treating her like a child, he's really reasonable. It was great! I just love Daimon in general and I'd love to see him interacting more with the other mark bearers as well...

Also at the end, when she goes to visit the Kujou mansion to see Yashiki after he's recovered, Mashita is also there. Gee. How strange. I wonder why.

Moe getting nervous when Mashita clears his throat and stares directly at her, pausing for a bit... only for him to actually thank her. In a roundabout way. And still being condescending. But that's just how he is.

Also after Yashiki praises her, Mashita says something like 'Don't praise her too much, it'll get to her head and she'll get into something dangerous again." and one of the reply options is for Moe to be like "who was it that saved you again?" and he just clicks his tongue. Moe wins this round! That's about it! This ended up also being long as hell again but... if I had added it to my 'summary'... would've gotten even longer. I hope we get more DLC with little character tidbits like this!

[icewindandboringhorror]

Apparently I can meet my goal of roughly 400,000 words in 6 months if I just somehow write at least 2,200 words a day ghbjh... Almost 2,500 today... huzzah...

[asstariontrash]

Tav Tag!

Inspired by @inaconstantstateofchange's entry -- big thanks to them for gently motivating me and also to @triumphingmybest for the very cool template!

I want to draw my Tav & talk about them more on this blog, but I wanted to introduce them properly first. Meet Hemlock, my godless Oathbreaker paladin who's nevertheless trying his best all the time:

I've been using #tav/astarion and #tav: hemlock on this blog to tag things that especially remind me of them, so if you're interested in more Hemlock vibes, give that a peek.

You can find a blank Tav Tag template here!

I am very shy but very eager to perceive other people's characters. Tagging @beaubambabey & @jellymellydraws in the softest, lowest-pressure way imaginable, and YOU, if you're reading this and would like to talk about your Tav too!

(also please behold my redemption Durge under the cut, because this was getting long:)

I drew Century already over here! Their tag is #durge: century. It was important to me that they be Very Pathetic At All Times; never more than 30 seconds away from dissolving into tears.

Hemlock is also a mess and also about two steps away from a nervous breakdown for most of the game, but at least he hides it better. He's just starting to crack, whereas Century has already been smashed to smithereens, you feel? (Astarion gets his teeth into both of them, for better or worse...)

I just really like characters who're in the midst of a faith/personal identity crisis, it fuels me.