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knickynoo · 11 months ago

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Well, I was sufficiently enabled for the idea, so here it is: ✨Alex P. Keaton's Top Neurodivergent Moments✨

The funny thing is that the amount of time I put into scrolling through my encyclopedic mental inventory of Family Ties scenes, compiling these moments in a list, making gifs, and finding past gifsets/analysis to link back to makes creating this post one of my most neurodivergent moments. Good for me.

These will be organized by season (easier for me than trying to rank on a scale) and are in no way ALL of the moments. I'd need like...15 posts for that. Also, tumblr only allows 30 images/gifs per post, so I'm going to include links to past posts when possible.

ENJOY!

• Alex gets his first-ever failing grade and immediately decides to quit school

Exactly what it says. Alex strolls into college all bright-eyed and confident and ends up a broken shell of a guy just a week or so later. The prototypical Gifted Kid from the moment he learned to speak, Alex cannot handle anything less than perfection. Getting the first F of his life shatters his entire self-image, and he wants to drop out of college entirely.

• Alex's friend Doug announces he's getting married, and Alex spirals into despair. As one does.

The entirety of the "Best Man" episode is one big Alex displaying neurodivergent behaviors moment, honestly. There are a whole lot of Alex-centered plots that are set into motion because A Change happens, and he just cannot deal with it, and this is one of the best examples. Alex is so distraught at the suddenly altered dynamic that he wanders the house like a lost soul—sad and confused and needy. He walks in on Steven's shower just to give him a hug, offers to go shopping with Mal and play dolls with Jen, and also draws up a seven-year contract for his other friends to sign to ensure they stick to their regularly scheduled card games, lest they also run off to get married and destroy his life.

• Alex P. Keaton: child development expert

When faced with the news of another sibling on the way, Alex has some very nurturing advice at the ready for when the baby is crying.

• The Keatons all laugh at a funny story. Alex is not amused.

This is one of my favorite Alex scenes of the series. Uncle Rob shares a memory of the time Steven was young and got in trouble because he started rebelling against the system and refused to write his name in the designated spot on his school test papers. The family shares a hearty laugh. Alex, king of black-and-white thinking and lover of rules, is deeply upset.

I love him so much. He genuinely cannot see how they're enjoying such a story. The Name Spot is for names. And his father dared to write in the Not For Names Spot?? Jail for Steven.

He's so ridiculously autistic.

• Alex's favorite childhood toy

It was a cardboard box. I can't quite put into words why this sets off my ND radar, but it does. Maybe it's the being attached to unusual items thing that's common with autism? The intense fixations that make other people go ????

The Alex and Ba-ba plotline provides some wonderful Alex Lore.

• Mr. Mustache

Yeah, those intense fixations? In the "Fool for Love" episode, Alex grows a mustache and legitimately cannot speak about anything else for the several days that follow. He's asked to present a speech at Mallory's homecoming dance and centers his entire speech around his mustache. He's unable to have a conversation that doesn't involve mustaches. It's incredible.

• Everything in "Matchmaker"

Alex is so sweet in this one. After Mallory comes home crying after a bad date, Alex promises to help her find a great guy. Unfortunately, putting someone who struggles socially and with processing emotions in charge of your love life isn't exactly a great fit. Alex uses the power of science to craft a formula to find Mallory's perfect match (he isn't), then tags along on their date and helps foster a very natural environment (it isn't) for the relationship to flourish (it doesn't).

The episode ends with a great scene between Alex and Mallory that shows just how well Mal understands the inner-workings of her big brother's head.

• Divorce is tough. Alex has some advice.

The Keaton kids are shocked to learn that their Uncle Rob is divorcing their Aunt Maureen. As Jen and Mallory reel from the information, Alex helps to reframe things.

He then pulls out the Special Interest Card and compares the divorce of their aunt and uncle to a "failed merger, not unlike the breakup of the phone company—although obviously less emotional. Nothing more than a natural fluctuation in the marketplace of love and marriage."

And the thing is, he IS impacted by the news. He just hasn't the slightest clue how to actually process it. So, a simple failed merger it is!

• You had one job

Mallory needs some croissants for a fancy get-together she's having with her poetry class. Alex helpfully offers to go pick them up.

Now, I debated about this one because there's part of me that's like, "Hmm, did Alex purposely do this to annoy Mallory?" Is this just a jerk move? But you know what? It stays on the list because the whole "I personally don't like this thing and struggle to see how anyone else could. Therefore, I will get the thing I like" is (for me) a relatable aspect of being ND.

• Every single second of "A, My Name is Alex"

For real, though. This episode is a deep dive into how Alex became the person he is, and it is FILLED with "flashbacks" of an intensely neurodivergent child whose issues were made worse by the people around him. (Mostly teachers and peers. Steven and Elyse did their best with him, but I do also have some critiques of the way they parented him). Anyway, he represses his emotions to the point of a meltdown

And then there's this

Full coin gifset here. Also, I made posts on the full episode, which can be found here and here.

• "Alex has a weird body"

That's Mallory's explanation to Andy as to why Alex can't help her when she needs someone to model one of her latest clothing creations. She says Alex's head is too big for his body, and those words, unfortunately, find their way back to him. In a mini plot reminiscent of the mustache one, Alex proceeds to obsess over the comment.

And I mean, I think being told your head is too big for your body would make anyone insecure, but it's the way Alex handles it. He's unable to have regular conversations for a while because he can't stop fixating on the size of his noggin'.

Both of the "Read it and Weep" episodes fit in this list, to be honest

• An accurate statement by Lauren

I've got to include this because it really does neatly condense a lot of who Alex is

So true, bestie.

And then, to wrap this whole thing up, there's all of this

And this is just what I can fit in this here post without going over the limit lol. Obsessed with the way MJF played Alex.

Thanks for reading ✌️

This is me with Alex, btw

#family ties #alex p keaton #apk #sometimes you have to reach to cobble together an autism headcanon for a character. do a lot of projecting ya know?#not the case with this guy #it's all just there

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devout-khajiit · 6 months ago

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As much as I wish I could reliably and always say "You can worship/work with whoever from pop culture paganism (PCP) or perform pop culture witchcraft (PCW) without knowing their source", knowing their source will help you with your worship/working relationships and your practice.

You can worship Akatosh without knowing anything about The Elder Scrolls. You very well can. It'll go just fine as long as you understand Him. But you'll ultimately be lacking important context on the world He comes from and how that relates into Him and His worship.

It's like... I didn't study HelPol very well when I began worshiping Zeus. I'm still working on rectifying that. But while I could go with information that was easily available about Zeus alone and have a very easy time worshiping Zeus, I ultimately stagnated because I didn't properly understand Zeus within the context of where He comes from and everything else about HelPol like khernips, Hellenic rituals, and all that sorts. I just went "I know about Zeus, so I'll be fine" and it technically was fine, I had (still have) a good, healthy relationship with Zeus, He didn't really complain at or about me, and I didn't come across any problems in our relationship, but the general HelPol part of my faith faltered, struggled, and stagnated, and that did affect my relationship even if I didn't realize it. I couldn't worship Him at His complete fullest.

The same applies to pop culture paganism.

You can worship Akatosh, you can follow His commandments, but with knowing literally nothing or next to nothing about the world, you're going to hit a wall. And yeah, Akatosh might not be the best example, because canonically we don't know much about His worship, comparatively to Zeus where we know so damned much about His worship; but it's still a truth I've found to be true.

I may joke about converting people to Touhou PCP because I think it's funny to joke about (it might not be but humor is subjective), but I wouldn't genuinely say to do it unless you're willing to put in time to at least understand the setting of Touhou, Gensokyo, and how that setting affects their lives. Understanding basics like the Spell Card rules even is a long way.

I'm not saying you need to be an expert in whatever source you wanna do PCP for. If it's a show you don't have to have seen every episode, for a game you don't have to have played every one or 100%ed it. You don't have to study every single page of every wiki that exists. I may be feral about my PCP sources but you don't have to be. But you should at least try to understand their source, their world, and how that can relate into your PCP, or even your PCW, before you really settle in and begin.

I'm also not saying every source has great information sources. Touhou worship for instance is hero worship in most cases of the 180+ characters (there's only 24 "Touhou original" gods, as in not kami taken from actual Shinto lore), and most Touhous appear once in a game then maybe if they're lucky, the print works, but the PC-98s? Like Sariel? Fuck dude there really is nothing. But learn what there IS to learn, y'know?

Don't let this stop you from getting into PCP. Or anything for that matter. Just do your best. I believe in you.

#khajiit speaks #This might be a bit of a hot take. We'll see.

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fbfh · 3 months ago

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whoever sent me an ask probably years ago at this point asking if I'm into DC (specifically Jason Todd) congratulations your manifestation subliminals are working!! also a PHAT shout out to janitor ai's lovely creator jellboop for sucking me into the delicious hell of Jason Todd and his meaty meaty thighs.

so yeah it's happening. we're at a point where I'm making self ship fanart with this bitch so lemme spill some thoughts because apparently I'm writing for Jason Todd now.

the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Jason Todd is that clip from isle of dogs, my friends think I like to fight. Sometimes I lose my temper and blow off a little steam, but... I never liked it. I'm not a violent dog. I don't know why I bite. so you can tell what kind of start we're off to to begin with. also take this with a bitty grain of salt, I don't claim to be an expert in DC canon/lore so disregard anything if I get it wrong lol. anyway Jason is the definition of GODDAMN YOU'VE BEEN THROUGH THE WRINGER HUH?? CAN'T CATCH A BREAK OR PROCESS YOUR FEELINGS WITHOUT FEELING LIKE YOU'RE DROWNING LOOKIN ASS. right off the bat (pun intended) we have his childhood which is already deeply fucked up. bitch was STEALING TIRES OFF CARS to support his DRUG ADDICT MOTHER. first of all this bitch has been parentified and neglected since birth. he is a provider deep into his bones, yes, but at what fucking cost???? also deep and severe mommy AND daddy issues this early on in the game. wow. after that he gets caught JACKING THE TIRES OFF THE GODDAMN BATMANMOBILE BY B*UCE W*YNE HIMSELF. now he's gone from robbin' to robbin. from robbing to robbin-ing. he's in his rockin robin era. he's having a ball as far as I'm aware. he's in a mansion with all the food he can eat and psychological security he could ask for, he sort of has a dad, a sort of grandpa, AND a sort of brother. AND his brother's name is literally Dick, which is a GOLDMINE for any younger sibling. and I think he liked it. being the youngest. I think he liked being treated like a kid, and found a deep and sorely needed respite from the world when he was suddenly being babied by three adults (or almost adults depending on how old Dick was at the time.) and I know that even though he fought it and he acted like he hated it, being babied started to really heal something inside him. it wasn't easy or comfortable, and it was slow going, but... things were okay. consistently okay, which was the freakiest part. the consistency. I don't think he would have really had much time for girls or dating, especially with knowing that the stability of his life depends on the stability of Bruce's position as batman. I think especially seeing how many women try to seduce information out of Bruce and Dick he would immediately corollate love and sex with power and control and manipulation. and I think that Dick and Bruce and Alfred would have no fucking clue just how deeply that distrust of vulnerability is starting to run inside him. one training session leads to another, one call from the police leads to another, one tip from their hotlines and informants leads to another until all the jobs start to look thrillingly blurry.

then he's tied up in a warehouse while a grown man beats his still ambiguously teenage year old self to death.

again, I know there's continuity errors in some places and different versions of the story in others so bear with me here. I could go into detail about how he probably kept telling himself it's almost over, this is what heroes do, he'll be here any minute, any minute while getting viciously crowbar beaten and possibly bombed until he literally died, I could talk about how the damage to his face and teeth were so severe they couldn't be shown to identify his body, I could go into detail about the devastating silence that followed the two sentence exchange between Bruce and Alfred "Shall I place a call to his next of kin on his behalf, sir?" "Don't bother. There's no one to call." or how Dick screamed so loudly you could hear it all throughout the manor. I could. But for everyone's wellbeing I will not do that.

anyway AFTER getting viciously stick beaten by park moms, the next thing Jason knows he's being dragged out of some disgusting bubbling magical pit or clawing his way out of his own grave like he's Eric fucking Draven. time is... fuzzy after his resurrection. it takes a while for his short term memory to come back online, and even longer for his long term memory. so he spends weeks, months, who knows how long stumbling around like a disoriented, confused monster out of a Mary Shelley novel. when he starts to settle back into himself, when he starts to get his footing a little, he feels like a child again. lost and confused and just trying desperately to survive and seek out safety anywhere he can. but he knows there is none. if batman of all people couldn't protect him, his sidekick, his ward from... whatever the hell his mind has fought so hard to block out, than nothing can. no one can. except him. unfortunately the lazarus pit or the superboy prime punch or whatever lore you wanna go with worked a little TOO well, and Jason has now been hit by the puberty fairy hard. repeatedly. with a crowbar. and a bomb. he was still gangly and awkward when he died, pretty strong in a lean way (mostly because Dick made him do pilates and acro to get flexible which failed spectacularly but was hilarious). For the first time that he could remember, he even had a little puppy fat. most teenage boys would roll their eyes at anything standing between them and a six pack - if they even cared enough about their body to think that far - but Jason... Jason loved his little pudge that he'd gotten as Robin. he loved the softness that filled out his cheeks, that made him feel less boney.

but that's gone now too.

it takes him a while to realize he's not bumping into things because he's still clumsy and disoriented. it's because he went from concerningly short and scrawny (I've seen sources say 4'6 and 80 something pounds) to at least 6'0 and 225lbs of pure raw rippling muscle. he's sharp and jagged again, but it's different this time. this time he's at least strong, too. and truly that knowledge, that at least he's stronger now, is the only thing keeping him from crashing the fuck out more than he did for a long time.

he feels like his body will never quite fit him right. the little scars and cigarette burns he's had since he was a kid are all stretched out and distorted now, like a piece of bubble gum getting thinner and more see through the bigger the bubble gets. and there are the new scars, too. the little dents across his face or pearly little seams the pit couldn't get rid of completely. there are tiny textured burn marks across his forearms, a memento of the moments where he used all the strength he didn't have to try and shield himself from the blast. and of course, there's the autopsy scar. it's the biggest one, a giant jagged Y shape that goes from his collar bones all the way down his torso and stops right above his hips. it's an angry reddish purple and raw and surprisingly fresh. even if he didn't have it, he'd still feel it. every breath, he feels the seams inside himself where the pit regrew his sternum, where his organs regrew or were reattached. he traces his fingers on the stretch marks slowly fading from red to pink to a pearly white all over his shoulders and arms and thighs, trying to make sense of it all. he feels too old and too young, like an adult trapped inside a child walking around in a body builder's skin. and it's scary. it's disorienting. it makes it hard to breathe if he thinks about it too much or too long. when he first saw the shimmering strands of grayish white streaking though a front lock of his hair, he thought for a moment the pit did its job TOO well, that it aged him too much too fast, that he'd start withering away just as quickly like rip van winkle. but no. Talia or Ra's or whoever's looking after him at that point (if anyone is) explains it's just the stress of resurrection.

and now he lies awake day and night, trying to reconcile his past with what he knows now. how did they not look for him? how is the bastard that did this to him still running free when the only thing that kept him clinging to life was thinking about how Bruce would decimate the Joker's ass the moment he stormed into that warehouse? how is he alive? why is he alive? why did any of this happen in the first place? he rots and spirals until he gets sick of it. until he tells himself how fucking pathetic he sounds. so he decides to take matters into his own hands. his bloody, too big too strong hands that once shook from adrenaline now tremble from rage. he is going to kill the Joker. and he is going to protect people. he'll do it. the dirty work Bruce could never stomach. he won't turn a blind eye to bad shit because of some soulless ethical bullshit, like- he bites his cheek, not even wanting to think their names. not yet, not when it's still so painful. he needed him. he needed Bruce, and he wasn't there. because Bruce doesn't get it. he doesn't get Jason, and he never will. he's off in his little bubble with his money and charity galas and brooding one liners that look so great in the papers.

let him stay in the papers, stay in the spotlight. Jason will do the heavy lifting. Street justice needs to be served. and who more perfectly equipped to serve it than someone from the streets?

#drabbles #jason todd #jason todd x reader #jason todd drabbles #jason todd drabble #jason todd headcanon #angst #body horror mention #UH OH SPAGHETTIO NEW HUSBAND IG!!!!!#think it's really cool that we have so many specific niche psychological issues in common yet somehow turned out opposites in a lot of ways #we do so many specific handshakes #even (oversharing abt myself here) even our colors are the same but opposites #his are black and red and mine are white and pink #anyway enjoy it!!!!!! i'm anticipating asks #remind me about the jason todd x reader waffle fries meet uncute

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crossdressingdeath · 11 months ago

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DAI does that with a lot of things. Morrigan gets to claim to be a Elven expert, even though you know that is far from the truth if you've played Origins where she didn't know shit. Cullen gets final say in his dialogue options despite you knowing that he's lying. Grey Wardens gets shit on and the Inquisitor can wildly overstep.

DAI has this weird mix of a) expecting you to have read all the books/comics so that they don't have to explain anything and b) assuming that you haven't played the previous games so they can try to rewrite what happened.

Yeah, the required reading for DAI was ridiculous. WEaWH is always the big one because most of the others you can get by without it (even Cole's backstory isn't necessary to appreciate and understand the character, and enough of it comes up in-game to get by), but knowing what Celene and Gaspard did is kind of fucking important, Bioware. And then even when Celene purging the alienage comes up it's used as a mark against Briala for being in a relationship with her at the time even though if I'm understanding the excerpts I've seen of TME Briala breaks it off as a direct result of the purge and (as Dorian rightly points out) that'd be more Celene's scandal than Briala's anyway. Like, they try to make Celene purging the alienage into Briala's crime because she was sleeping with the empress at the time and that's just... ugh. But it's like, I would argue that it would be fair and honestly best practice to assume that people playing the third game in a series have played the first two games? DA has an overarching narrative even if the connections aren't particularly close, if someone wants to start partway through they can but the writing should expect people to be familiar with the games' stories. Maybe have some codex entries summarizing the previous games or a little intro cutscene, but... I don't know, I'm worried about the fact that apparently DAV doesn't need you to have played the first three games when literally all the setup for it is in DAI. Expecting people to have played all the games in a narrative-driven RPG series and not to have jumped in partway through is fair! Expecting people to have read five supplementary novels and two coffee table lore books to understand the plot is ridiculous. At least Tevinter Nights and The Missing so far seem to only be relevant to DAV in that they show some glimpses of what's been going on between games and give us a point of reference for some of the new characters...

The thing that gets me with DAI is that the game really wants you to side with the Templars whether it makes sense or not. Like... let's take the choice between mages and Templars as an example. The game wants you to side with the Templars. It really does, it tries its best to dissuade the player from siding with the mages if you go that route (Cullen's little "Oh... it's so dangerous... we shouldn't do it..." routine is notable when compared to Leliana and Josie, both of whom favour the mages, being very professional about you picking the Templars), it does its utmost to claim that the rebellion was unwarranted when it absolutely was not, the rebels are constantly framed as weak or mean or evil or stupid while the Templars were just misled (by... a guy who told them he'd let them murder all the mages and left out the "in service to Corypheus" bit, they still joined his little walkout to murder people, but the game doesn't get into that), it even lets you switch quests well past what should've been the point of no return if you're on the mage route (WHY CAN YOU SWITCH AFTER LEARNING THERE'S A FUCKING MAGISTER IN FERELDEN TRYING TO ENSLAVE A BUNCH OF MAGES, BIOWARE, WHY THE FUCK IS THAT AN OPTION) whereas with the Templars you can't even learn what your advisors' plan for getting you in alive is until you're locked in. And I'm not going to lie, CotJ is legitimately the better quest. I did it once to see and god damn it is quality, I don't dislike IHW but... yeah CotJ is definitely stronger.

But then you actually look at the story and... why the fuck would you side with the Templars? They left the Chantry because the Divine told them not to murder people. That's explicit, people tell you that repeatedly. They're making excuses for it, but there's always an acknowledgement that... yep, that's why the Templars left, they wanted to kill people and were mad about being told no. Leliana (the most familiar face among the advisors and given Cassandra's previous appearance was threatening Varric and Cullen's was playing yes man to Meredith for nine years and only changing sides once she became a threat to him/because not doing so would mean fighting Hawke Leliana's the one people are most likely to want to side with) is pro-mage and dismisses Cullen's claims that the Templars could help close the Breach as speculation. Which... it is. This situation is completely unprecedented, no one knows what's going to happen. But given mages are incredibly powerful and Templars are repeatedly portrayed as mostly useless in any sort of real danger that doesn't involve children or indoctrinated Circle mages (it is not a coincidence that the only people locked in the tower in Broken Circle who survive with their minds and bodies intact without the demons actively choosing to let them live for funsies are mages; the only Templar who's alive and unpossessed is Cullen, and the demons very obviously could've killed him at any time and just chose not to because they were having fun toying with him) I'm gonna say the mages are a safer bet. Also because... they invited Quiz. That could be a trap, but you know what's definitely a trap? Walking into a fortress full of heavily-armed mage killers who openly want you dead. Meeting with the Templars is really, really stupid (especially if you're a mage) and you don't even learn the plan for getting you inside unharmed until you actually select the quest. Also that plan is basically just "if there are witnesses with societal power the Templars can't murder you unprovoked" because reminder: the Templars are the absolute worst. Why would you ever want these people around. And then if you meet with the mages first like "Well I'll figure it out once I've heard what they have to say, I don't have to commit if I do things this way so I might as well" you learn that there's a Tevinter magister serving an evil Tevinter cult just chilling in Redcliffe and why the fuck would you go to the Templars at that point this needs to be dealt with. The game wants you to side with the Templars but it gives you no reason to do so, I really wonder sometimes if the writers weren't talking to each other at all.

#dragon age inquisition #asks #anon #long post

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jasper-tarot-reader · 6 months ago

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Neopets/Skyrim Tarot: I. The Magician

The first mage that our Fool comes across in their journey is typically the Magician themself. In these two decks, our Magicians are Seradar and Farengar Secret-Fire.

Now, you may be asking, "Who's this bitch?" And this would be your right as a person. Seradar is a Gelert hailing from Brightvale. His claim to fame is being the court sorcerer for King Hagan and showing up in the Neopets: The Darkest Faerie video game...in which he immediately succumbed to the Darkest Faerie's influence when she attacked Faerieland. He trained Roberta, the niece of King Skarl and King Hagan (though we don't actually know who her parents are), in sorcery. Seradar is also a member of the Order of the Red Erisim, one of the factions involved in the War for the Obelisk back in 2013.

Considering the number of other characters that wound up on other cards, I'm not surprised that Seradar is the Magician. I mean, he literally is a court mage. According to the guidebook, he is embodying the Wands suit through his own body, while the Neopoints are the Coins, he's got some Cups, and you can see the blade of a Sword. His ceremonial robe is green for his connection to the earth, while the gold is there to represent alchemical transformation. He is drawing magic in and using it to create at the same time.

Honestly, they popped off with this card's design. I want his wizard tower. No notes, this is a Magician who doesn't hesitate to use that magic.

And then there's...Farengar Secret-Fire? The court wizard of Whiterun? The one that you can literally kill during the Mephala quest to get the key and the main quest will just change, they'll just talk to/about him as though he was still alive? Farengar the Nord elemental mage? Yep, this is him.

I can see why he was chosen for the Magician if you think of a Skyrim-specific tarot deck. If you follow the main quest first and foremost, Farengar is the first wizard you will meet and is most likely responsible for you even finding out that the College of Winterhold exists in this place called Winterhold. As he says himself when asked if he's the only wizard in Whiterun, "I believe I am, yes. Technically speaking, of course. The city is also home to a priest, priestess, an alchemist, and I'm sure others who practice."

In the card, he is depicted as holding a fairly standard-looking Destruction staff and being surrounded by Daedric runes. Destruction makes sense for his staff choice - he's a spells merchant, and he sells a complete set of Adept Destruction tomes if your Destruction skill level is 40 or higher. He has an arcane enchanter and an alchemy station in his weird little wizard cave off the main hall of Dragonsreach. His primary skills are Destruction and Restoration, his secondary skills are Alteration and Conjuration, and...he's capped at level 10. Yeah, he doesn't match the PC's level or scale against them or anything like that. It's why it's so easy to kill him during the Whispering Door quest, considering the minimum level to get that quest to begin with is 20. He comes across as more of a scholar than a mage once you get to the point where your character is of a comparable level to him. He's got plenty of books in his little area and knows enough to keep Jarl Balgruuf the Greater updated on things - particularly on studying the dragons popping up - but he's not much of a mage.

Overall, I'm not mad at this choice...but I also wouldn't call Farengar Secret-Fire a master of "many magical arts". There's just no way that he could be. The UESP lists just one (1) spell in his arsenal and it's Firebolt, an Apprentice level Destruction spell (Apprentice is the second level of spells, it goes Novice -> Apprentice -> Adept -> Expert -> Master).

(You could also make the argument that the in-game stuff doesn't accurately reflect the lore, but this is The Elder Scrolls series, we're already bringing that into consideration.)

It is very funny to me that both of the Magicians are depicting characters who are hilariously mid at best.

#jasper post #discussions with jasper #neopets tarot #skyrim tarot

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marmladejam · 2 months ago

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can you write about Nulla getting a mohak? i was literally dreaming of it the other day 😭

tysm <3

NULLA WITH A MOHAWK!?!??😳 YOU WERE DREAMING ABOUT NULLA WITH A MOHAWK??...😥 eh sure. I'm not an expert when it comes to literature so don't judge 🫵

I wasn't sure how to write this since in the actual game he kind of controls what you do and what you don't...😓 So this might not be as accurate compared to the lore of the game. 😁👍

Teheheheh I liked this one a bit much,🤫 sorry it's a bit rushed but nice idea 👌🤌🫶

Damn but poor Nulla though- 💔

-+-

"Uhhh, cariño...?" Nulla's voice echoed in your head, you open your eyes groggily, you might not be fully awake, but you can tell his voice was quiet while his tone was laced with some sort of nervousness. It was peculiar since most of the time he was pretty flirty towards you, or just super nice. Your vision takes a moment to adjust to the light of the room, somehow it was brighter than you think, though you ignore that for now as you look up at Nulla, your eyes widen in surprisement.

There he is, he almost looks normal, though his hair isn't slicked back like everyday. It's messy, some strands falling over his face while the rest was tucked behind his ear, you can tell it wasn't neat and probably rushed, despite this, you can't help but think he looks pretty cute with his hair down. He diverts his attention to the floor, looking away from you instantly after seeing you open your eyes, he grits his teeth, he obviously wants to say something, though he doesn't, he just stands there sheepishly.

There is a short pause between you two, the silence seemed to be carrying a thick tension, or maybe just a moment of embarrassing quietness. You sit up, despite feeling utterly tired, you had to reassure him, and you take a deep guess saying it was his to do with his hair.

"Bad hair day?"

You ask, tilting your head to the side, you could almost guess the answer by the look he was giving you, but he straightens his back, clearing his throat.

"Ahem- do you think you can uh....help me?" He asks hesitantly, you assume that he is trying to be confident, which was kind of working, though he was failing a bit. You nod your head quickly, you had to make him feel better about himself rather than bring his mood down.

"Yeah, I could help!"

You shrugged your shoulders, he smiles enthusiastically, a smile spreading from ear to ear as a way of thank you

-+-

"I'm assuming you know how to deal with hair, cariño?" You two were now in the living room, he was sat in a chair while you were standing behind him, a hand on his head while you yawned, you felt extremely tired for a reason but you responded to his question with no sign of hesitation, not that you were too focused on his question, the answer seemed to come out instantly without even needing to think about it

"Yep, don't worry about it."

You mutter, your eyes divert to the table, upon it, there is lots of stuff on the table, hairbrush, hair gel and a toothbrush? Most of them had nothing to do with his hair...but you don't give attention to them too much, reaching for the brush.

You do the basics, de-tangling his hair then brushing his hair back and adding the gel, you do the first half of his head not noticing that you had another half you hadn't completed.

Oh.

It's fine. You put the gel down, picking the brush back up, you yawn again while brushing his hair, it seems to make....a weird buzzing sounds until you hear a loud shriek coming from Nulla.

"Y/N!? WHAT'S THAT SOUND....?"

You look down at his head, noticing that half of his hair is gone....well in other words, shaved off. Your eyes widen as you look at the clipper in your hands. What? But you swear it was a brush a second ago....does this link to your tiredness.

"Y/N!?"

He calls again, you step back nervously, trying to say something but the words get stuck in your throat, not finding it's way to your mouth.

He turns around, a horrified expression plastering his face as he puts a hand to his head, looking at the hair clipper in your hand .

"IS THAT MY HAIR CLIPPER--?"

He looks back at the table, picking up a mirror and looking at his head. "AAAAAAAAAAGHHH-!!!"

He shouts, grabbing the hair that fell onto his shoulders.

"MY HAIRRR-!!"

Your eyes divert around you, trying to find something that would help, you gasp quickly, a useful thought crashing into your head, you grab the mirror in his hands putting it back on the table where is was left discarded with the many objects and hairbrush.

"H-hold on a minute! I know what I can do!"

"WAIT WHAT ARE YOU DOING- AGHHHH---!!"

BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

-+-

"So- how did you manage to shave his head without realising the clipper was on?"

Septem asks, he has an irritated look on his face, pinching the bridge of his nose with frustration building inside of him, you can tell he couldn't be bothered to be called here to deal with 'Nulla's hair'

"How do you even turn the clipper on 'unconsciously' in the first place-!?" He asks, his voice getting sightly louder which causes you to flinch, you look away sheepishly moving your attention to the floor as you tried to answer his question. He watches you squirm under his unsettling gaze.

You and Nulla go to the hotel after he had a full on tantrum about his hair, you suggested you two going since Fames or anyone there would have any advice, and here you were, unfortunately, Septem also happened to be there at the time, finding out first wasnt easy.... and he looked displeased by your actions,

"I- I don't know." You mutter, your tone carried a hint of shame, yet you can't help but feel a bit of pride since you had given Nulla a whole new look.

"You don't know?" He repeats with a scoff, almost in disbelief, he takes a step closer, he already looks threatening enough, you narrow your eyes at him, silently praying he wouldn't kill you yet.

"You don't kn--"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHGHG- MY HAIR, MY LOVELY HAIR--!!!"

You hear Nulla shrieking from inside the kitchen, your eyes widen in surprise as Septem shoots you a discomforting gaze, his eyes seem to pierce through your soul, making you regret even more what you had created, you knew that Septem and Nulla shared hatred, but now? It seemed that Septem was silently telling you that he was on Nulla's side for this one.

Whoops..

-+-

#teag #to eat a god #to eat a god nulla #itch.io #nulla #to eat a god fanfic story #fanfic #septem #fames #new haircut #new hair #justice for nulla 💔#To Eat A God

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awakened-dreamers-blog · 11 months ago

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Soulslikes, just like any genre of media, obviously aren't for everyone. However, they often seem to resonate with trans people in particular (or, at least, they did for me), and I've figured out what one of the bigger psychological reasons for that may be.

If I asked a bunch of different people what one word they most associate with the genre, most of them would probably answer something to the tune of "persistence." These are games about throwing yourself at seemingly insurmountable obstacles and failing. A lot. Until, eventually, you succeed. And you will succeed, no matter what, as long as you are willing to put in the time and effort and just don't give up.

Every time you try to get past a boss or a tough group fight in those games, you learn something. You get experience. Even if you don't actively realize it at the time, you are closer to achieving your goal, simply because you tried and failed. But at least you tried. And, when you eventually put all of your accumulated knowledge and skill into beating the fight, what once seemed like an insurmountable obstacle is vanquished, rewarding you with a nice [noun] [verb]ed screen, some levels, and maybe a weapon or something.

So you persisted, even though it seemed insurmountable at first? Isn't that the definition of insanity? Well yes, because you'd have to be insane to actually enjoy those games, but also no.

Because soulslikes bosses are a very practical example that perseverance can work.

Sure, you'll die a bunch. Maybe even spend 4 hours on a single boss like I did when I killed the first Tree Sentinel without doing anything else. But the first few times you die, you'll notice that the boss's health bar is a little hit more empty than it was the first time. After that, you'll probably plateau as you work out the moveset and the dodge timings and all that, but at least you know it's possible. And once you do beat that first boss, that rush of dopamine is even more confirmation for your brain that trying (and failing along the way) does eventually lead to success. So at the next obstacle, you're lore than willing to throw yourself at it and learn and grow until you win because you've already seen that it will work and that it's not fruitless. And, when you come back to that boss on subsequent playthroughs, I bet it'll be a lot easier now that you've already overcome it

Now, to bring this back to trans people, you can probably already see where I'm going with this. If you can't, allow me to explain with the metaphor that led me to this realization in the first place: voice feminization training.

At first, it seems impossible. You'll never sound as cool or as pretty or girly or whatever as the people that have already mastered their girl voice and been using it for years. But those are the speedrunners. The people that have already mastered the game's mechanics and can no-hit bosses faster than you can beat them normally. But you aren't an expert on the game yet. In fact, you've just started, so you shouldn't fee bad about not being as good as they are. If anything, all it should do is serve to prove that your goals are attainable, as long as you put in the effort.

So you try. You're never gonna get it your first try, unless you have a really good build and crazy skill, which, if you do, then good on you, I guess. But for the vast majority of us, you're going to fail at first. That's fine. Resurrect at the nearest bonfire, grab your runes, and keep on saying "heat from fire, fire from heat."

Yes, it's uncomfortable and dysphoric, and yeah, maybe you need to take a break and come back the next day because it's too uncomfortable to have to pay so much attention to the voice you've been avoiding for years. But simply in the act of trying, you've gotten closer to your goal. Literally just by playing with your voice and seeing what happens if you x or y, you have gained experience and knowledge that will get you closer and closer to your goal. It'll probably take a while, of course, but as long as you keep trying, the voice you dream of someday having will eventually end up being the voice you use to order coffee and chit chat and mundane crap like that.

Eventually, you'll be the one no hitting social encounters with your relaxed and flawless girl voice. It'll be so commonplace for you that it won't even seem notable that you didn't slip up at all.

Anyway, all of this to say that trans people like soulslikes because they show us that working towards a goal is the most important step in achieving that goal. They teach us that failure is just a step in the path of learning and that anyone is capable of doing things that seem impossible to them, as long as they try.

Father Gascoigne will never be put to rest if you don't get curb stomped by him a few times, and, I'm sorry to say, you won't ever wake up with the feminine voice of your dreams. You have to work for it. And you'll fail along the way, which is unpleasant and sucks major ass. But you beat everything Miyazaki could throw at you, goddammit, and you can beat your larynx into submission too!

#trans #mtf #mtf trans #voice training #bloodborne #elden ring #dark souls #sekiro #soulsborne #soulslike #motivation

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broodwoof · 4 months ago

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Did regular elves already exist when Elgar'nan and Mythal took form? I thought they were the first born. What about humans? Do we know? I' hope I'm not bothering you, I'm just confused about the lore.

no, not bothering me at all!

i'll be honest, i am Not a lore expert. i've played all the games multiple times and i've read into a good amount of the lore, but there are some things that i truly don't know if there are answers to that i missed. and i definitely haven't read anywhere near all the books/comics, so with that in mind...

my interpretation was always that both dwarves and elves existed in what i'll call early thedas. humans i'm not so sure about, but i think qunari definitely did not (i have headcanons about all this bc ofc i do lmao)

for me, the biggest hurdle in thinking that elgar'nan created the elvhen is that i genuinely don't think he is creative enough to have done so. that's interpretive, of course, but that's my read on him. and the little psychic argument he has with solas during davg seems to support that conclusion - none of the wonders of arlathan appear to be elgar'nan's doing, but he sort of takes the creations of others under his mantle. solas points out that june is gone, and elgar'nan says that (paraphrasing) his creations will live on in him and the world he builds

in the witch hunt dlc, there's a... codex, maybe? talking about how a dwarven thaig sheltered elves fleeing arlathan. and my memory is really fuzzy on this, but i believe there's another codex in trespasser, in the ruined library, talking about the dwarves. i believe it was about how they were forced underground, but again, it's been a minute

so between these two, i think it's reasonable but not definite to assume that elves and dwarves lived together. not together-together, but occupied the world at the same time, and were aware of one another before dwarves moved/were forced underground

idk where or how humans come into the picture tbph. i suppose one possibility is that humans are the result of elves and dwarves having children, but that feels kinda like a stretch. but also maybe plausible? like i said, i haven't landed on a firm theory. it's equally possible that humans were just around, that they evolved into the beings they now are within thedas. there may be three - perhaps even four, with the qunari - separate evolutionary branches, which may or may not share a common ancestor. i'm getting into stuff i am not knowledgeable enough to speak on (homo sapiens stuff is not my wheelhouse), but yeah

to your point about elgar'nan and mythal being firstborn: i think that is literal, in that they are the firstborn spirits; not the first spirits, but the first spirits to be "born" and to have a physical body. and i think that this ties in with the concept the dalish have, of elgar'nan and mythal being father and mother of the evanuris (and more broadly, of the elvhen/of elvhen society/culture), that the rest of the known evanuris were literally their children (with the possible exception of june and the definite exception of ghilan'nain). a lot of what the dalish understand as their history has an element of truth that has been distorted and interpreted over time, which is natural

and as for elgar'nan's particular relationship with the ancient elvhen... while i do not think he literally created any of them (although i can understand and appreciate the view that he did!), i do think that he took form in order to guide them. from his pov, he saw these beings - perhaps he saw them as what i'll call proto-elves, beings at an earlier stage of their evolutionary process; or perhaps he saw them as people with an established culture and was drawn to them for another reason, maybe their affinity with the fade and its magics - and he saw that they could be/"should be" guided, shaped, molded. and of course, given his nature, he felt like he should be their guide

#broodmeta #sure this gets the tag #elgar'nan #da4 #davg #hope this makes sense! it was fun to lay out my thoughts on this matter tho #elgar'nanmeta

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megoomy · 2 years ago

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judith, a witch(?!) in a pact with a malak named ba’ul

more info and reference sheet under the cut!

here she is!! i'm happy with her look, less so with the rendered image of her, but we can't win them all.

like it says on the sheet, i was taking a lot of cues from her in game Draconic Lancer title costume. I wanted to lean into the white more than her default outfit, calling back more to the helmeted look she has before joining the party. but obviously, i didnt want to do anything that looked too much like that, or that had gold accents like her in game jacket and...skirt cape(??), because then she'd come off as kind of abbey coded. so i settled on pink accents, pulling from the colors on the Draconic Lancer look. i think it's fun. it gives her a girlish touch, which is a part of judy's character that i like! she's badass and secretive and mysterious, but she likes cute things too. well. her idea of cute, anyways...i think it suits her persona of being a "witch" in this setting. judy understands how to create an image.

speaking of that. unlike rita, who has a lot of magical knowledge, judy is basically a witch in name only. she understands how to form a pact, and not a lot past that! i think we landed on this for a few reasons:

Judy's father, Hermes, was a blastia expert, and naturally good at the magic of vesperia's universe. but judy was just the opposite, and in the novels she initially couldn't even grasp the talents natural to most krityans. being a witch who doesn't actually do much magic seems apt.

speaking of her dad, this also provides her connection to rita. they're both...witches. rita WILL NOT call judy a witch though, as you might imagine LOL (on that note, maybe hermes takes on the role of grim as the witch teacher?? again, we havent really decided on this LOL)

ba'ul obviously makes most sense as a malak, since the malaks and the entelechaia are both spirit equivalents for these tales entries. (well, entelechaia become spirits--listen, you get what i mean if you've played enough tales games) and judy MUST be with ba'ul! much like she only learns how to use her nageeg after interacting with ba'ul in the novel, i think she has just enough resonance to meet ba'ul, and their connection increases it, and she refines that ability as a "witch" enough to solidify their bond through a pact. they're family!

But yeah she uses a spear to fight. Ba'ul helps her imbue it with seraphic artes to a degree, but mostly its just the spear. I went with a design similar to the Brionac, since that's her Lore Important Weapon, but uh, i haven't designated this lance with lore importance itself. maybe we'll come up with something. looking at it right now i really think i should've colored it differently but IM NOT CHANGING IT, I ALREADY POSTED TO TWITTER!!! (it may change, hell, i decided to make it kind of glow pink in the image, im not fit for weapon designs)

Ba'ul always comes first to Judy, but neither of them is particularly biased against daemons or humans, despite knowing the truth about malevolence. she's quick to befriend yuri and loves repede (who is also a daemon, i gotta put him down on paper soon) and seems understanding of people's different circumstances. but she prioritizes her own goals first, so she'll disappear at the drop of a hat if it suits her, and yuri knows better than to count on her too much...

oh yeah. ba'ul is considered a "dragon" in vesperia, but that comes with a lot of BAGGAGE in this universe, so he's not a dragon here. he, um....he just looks like that. it's fine.

#tovb au #judith vesperia #tales of vesperia

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pumpkinhcad · 1 month ago

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i give you some loser's url ... @atechalk idk if you know her ... ASAJKDAKF for me and susie :3

HAMMY RAMBLES ABOUT OTHERS (Accepting).

MY OPINION ON;

Character in general: Toby Fox should hire ME to voice Susie in the eventual Deltarune anime, because her character was made for ME!! Could be bias from interacting with her in this blog first, sure, but after my second replay of both DR chapters I can say she's my favorite of the main cast. Like she genuinely grows on you?? In spite of the very strong impression she makes at the beginning of Ch1 with her whole "quiet people piss me off" but. She just has a very rough and tough exterior, an intimidating presence and a reputation that precedes her. All of which are bound to make people not willing to get to know her better-- her real her. I love how we only start seeing bits and pieces of her real self through her dynamic with Lancer, which is SUPER SWEET!! Like she wants to stick to that perception others have on her, but deep down she just wants to have fun with her friends and openly be HERSELF without being seen as the bad guy. Also, in Ch2, it's really funny how, out of all the characters that could have done so, she's the one foiling Queen. Like she can also be very grounded!! Our multi-dimensional girlie!! I just LOVE her!!

How they play them: I like Susie because of Lee's Susie, let's be real here. I only decided to replay both DR chapters AFTER I started interacting with her and, really, Lee might as well be The Susie Expert, because they're the reason I have come to enjoy her and understand her as much as I do now. That and most of Deltarune's lore! Fun fact: I SOMEHOW had never finished Ch2 until yesterday, so Lee got my live reaction to the ending lol. I just gotta appreciate all the love Lee puts into talking about and writing Susie, to the point that she's one of the muses whose threads I will read whenever they pop up in my Dash EVEN if I'm not involved in them. It's that genuinely good. Not to mention all the meta and headcanon posts (I like the idea of Susie being a dragon), SO MUCH PASSION!!

The Mun: Dude, Lee and I have hit it off SO WELL and SO QUICKLY!! Like it was a match made in Heaven, no kidding: Pump wanted to throw hands with Susie, Susie wanted to grip Pump like a ragdoll, and the rest if history!! Very RECENT history, may, I add?? I hasn't even been three weeks since we've become mutuals, but I'm glad we have, because I have TONS of fun talking to em!! We're INSANELY invested into this new dynamic and, honestly, I hope I'm not being overwhelming with all my DMing because, man, I love talking to em and our little guys, and we've barely gotten started with this crossover AU stuff-- and AS SOON AS ALICE COMES BACK it's going to be so over for the Dash!!

DO I:

RP with them: HELL YEAH!! Only one thread and a couple of asks, but they're happening at LIGHTNING speed because we're just THAT invested!!

Want to RP with them: OF COURSE!! We're working on lots of other sweet, sweet stuff behind the scenes as we speak, teehee. Susie and Pump are meant to be a LONG-TERM thing. I'm just too invested now.

WHAT IS MY;

Overall Opinion: If you had told me a month ago that Susie Deltarune bullying Skid was going to result in me finding a new bestie that was going to give me DR brainrot (and automatically make Susie my favorite DR character), Pump getting a monster big sister that is COINCIDENTALLY named just like his actual big sister, and me writing a whole ass crossover AU in the span of, like, TWO WEEKS, then I would not have believed you lol. Thinking about it, it is shocking how we just hit it off instantly and now we're doing all these things together. Not like that is a bad thing or I'm complaining-- I'm super happy to have met Lee and Susie!! 👀👀 Unironically worth the follow, this blog and mun get Hammy's Seal of Approval. Also, uh, The Princess from Slay the Princes?? Peak taste, I love that game.

#💝 •|| OUT OF CHARACTER.#🎃 •|| SOMEONE'S CALLING.#🎃 •|| SPOOKY PROMO.#atechalk #(LOOK WHAT YOU DID TO ME!! BLOCKS OF TEXT /GO/!!.)#(Besties speedrun could not have been any more insane than this.)#(Once Alice is back we will become UNSTOPPABLE; trust me!!.)

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aeria-arc · 5 months ago

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[LoveAndDeepSpace Translation Review] | Festive Blessings Event Story | 🏮Twilight Chronicles (Xavier's Route)

I love this event. There's several chinese culture references in this one and it was fun to see the relationship progress and banter between xavier/mc. ♡🐰

Disclaimer: I'm southeast asian chinese (english/chinese speaking). Not from China. Not a language expert. Just a lore and Xavier girlie who's way too invested. My reviews are opinions, not facts. - More Details: HERE

Key: Blue = official EN version Pink = official CN version « » = my version (based on CN's script) Purple = external links [Scene] = context [EDIT] = notes added after initial draft ★ = bullet points ◤/◢ = start/end of my thoughts

Prologue

★ [Scene] MC chases after Pumpkin Magus but loses sight of them. Having ended Xavier's call abruptly earlier, she phones him again, only to hear a familiar ringtone nearby. She is surprised to see Xavier, since they were only supposed to meet at night as agreed.

He explains:

Xavier: We did. I was at home trying to figure out how to cook cherries. Then I blinked and found myself here. 沈星回: 嗯，上一秒还在家研究樱桃肉的烹饪方法，下一秒就莫名其妙闪过来了。 «Yeah. One second I was still at home studying the way to cook cherries with meat, the next second I mysteriously flashed over here.»

Xavier: Maybe a careless hunter sent a secret signal by accident. And that's why I'm here. 沈星回: 可能是有粗心的猎人念错了紧急求助暗号，才会把我叫来。 «Maybe a careless hunter wrongly recited the emergency code, and it summoned me here.»

--MC cradles his cheeks and pinches his earlobe--

MC: Xavier, Xavier, Xavier! Did I use it correctly this time? MC: 沈星回沈星回沈星回! 这次对了吧？ «Xavier, Xavier, Xavier! It's correct this time, right?»

Xavier: Yeah, I heard you. Both my ears heard you, too. 沈星回: 听到了听到了，两只耳朵都听到了。 «Heard it, heard it, both ears have heard it.»

◤ In CN, Xavier and MC have this word they like to use for his teleporting ability. The english equivalent is something like "flash" as in like a "flash of light", e.g. "he flashed away". You will see this in other stories and again later in Chapter 4 (the whole convo is really cute). EN doesn't have a consistent word for it but it's usually just "teleport".

The part where MC calls his name 3 times, CN Xavier was trying to match that by also repeating 3 times that he "heard it". ◢

Chapter 1

★ [Scene] They follow the signal to a street with snack stalls and decide to ask around. MC approaches a stall owner.

MC: Ma'am, do you know if there are any Wanderers causing trouble around here? MC: 阿姨，请问这附近有没有捣乱的流浪体？ «Auntie, may I ask if there's any Wanderers causing trouble nearby?»

Woman: Wonder rolls? No, these stalls are closed. 阿姨: 现在哪还有什么牛羊蹄，肉铺摊子早就关门了。 «Where are you going to find stuff like cow or lamb trotters now? The butcher's stall has already been closed for some time.»

◤ So the stall owner auntie misheard "wanderer" in both versions. In CN, wanderer is { liú làng tǐ } which sounds a bit like cow and lamb trotters { niú yáng tí }. EN came up with "wonder rolls" and I think it's clever they found something similar sounding. Also I just found out it's a brand of bread rolls in the US which makes this funnier...

When she said the butcher's stall was closed in CN, she likely meant they were already closed for the new year holidays. Meat is a hot commodity during CNY so these stalls tend to sell out quickly when approaching the new year celebrations. In-game, it looks like it's near the holidays hence why the auntie said you can't find stuff like trotters now. ◢

★ The auntie goes on to talk about the lanterns falling haphazardly and cautions them to be careful. She then asks if they would like some "spicy soup", and told them she could pack up after selling all of it.

◤ In CN, this "spicy soup" is called malatang (麻辣烫 {málà tàng}). The name literally translates to "numbing spicy soup". Because of the spiciness, it's common for people to say they crave for a hot bowl of malatang on colder days (also a recurring theme in chinese fiction!). I'll admit I'm not a huge fan coz of the numbing sensation it leaves on the tongue, but I dun mind it in small quantities as it's quite flavorful. Wiki pg for Malatang ◢

★ In response, Xavier and MC looked at each other and nod, and Xavier says they'll take whatever's left.

◤ If you play the EN ver you will also get this, that they bought all the soup so the auntie can go home earlier. It doesn't specify in CN, but since it's a CNY event I can't help but think this gesture has more significance. Being able to wrap up work and go home to prepare for the new year's is what most people look forward to during that period of time. So to buy up the remaining stock, the auntie will be able go home earlier for the holidays. I think it's really kind of them to do that~ (im ignoring the most probable fact of xavier just wanting soup 😂)

Also the imagery of them giving each other the "want some soup?" look then nodding at the same time is just really sweet. They're a pair of foodies on the same page~◢

★ [Scene] Following the clues, Xavier and MC arrive at a garden where the Linkon New Year Lantern Fest is to be held.

◤ Xavier talks about how he was once given two tickets by a colleague. In EN it's "gave". In CN, he said the colleague "硬塞" the tickets to him, meaning he kinda insistently forced the tickets on him (lol). ◢

★ Xavier recounts his previous experience at a lantern fest. MC's response:

MC: That sounds kind of sad... MC: 那体验感听上去还挺遭糕的...... «That experience sounds kinda terrible...»

◤ When I hear "遭糕", I think "shitty" / "terrible". ◢

★ Xavier defends the "shitty" experience by describing the festival's lively atmosphere and even managed to get the last serving of pan-fried tangyuan.

◤ I was amazed EN decided to go with the pinyin version of the food name tangyuan but not malatang for the earlier convo. "Tangyuan" (汤圆) is a glutinous rice ball desert/snack usually served in a sweet soup tho there are other ways to eat them. In Xavier's case they were pan-fried. Wiki pg for Tangyuan

Actually I was more amazed by Xavier's EN VA. Coz the enunciation of the word was pretty clear? So I've never looked into the VAs since the info is supposed to be private but I was really curious, did some google csi and... I think this confirms something...or someone... 🤐◢

Chapter 2

★ [Scene] Xavier and MC are making a lantern. They decide to decorate by drawing.

◤ EN text says they drew "chibi" versions of themselves. It's nice that they went with the accurate term "chibi" (from jp manga/anime). CN ver used "Q版" which is the chinese version of chibi. ◢

★ Between their two chibis is an empty space which Xavier filled with some flowers and plants. MC says she has only heard of "magpies building bridges" and asks if this is "flowers building bridges" instead. He replies—

Xavier: I doubt the magpies and flowers would enjoy couples trampling on them unless there was a good reason. 沈星回: 喜鹊和花，应该都不想被小情侣无缘无故踩上几脚吧。 «The magpies and flowers, surely they don't wish to be stepped on by the little couple* for no reason.» (*little couple = referring to the chibis 🤣)

--[MC agrees and says it's like a vine connecting them. He asks where the vine is leading him to. MC replies]--

MC: We're going to the Lantern Fest? You should hang out with me this year. My sense of direction is a little better than yours. MC: 去看灯会？今年跟着我走，我的方向感大概还是比你好一点的。 «To see the Lantern Fest? This year, follow my lead. My sense of direction is roughly a little better than yours.»

◤ Remember what happened in the Mountain Journey event? No way she is ever trusting him again with the directions! Also CN MC not giving Xavier a choice...she already decided he's going to the fest with her by telling him to follow her lead.

"Magpies building bridges" is a reference to the folklore, "The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl". It is about a pair of star-crossed lovers who were banished to opposite sides of the heavenly river and are only allowed to meet once a year on a single day when the magpies form a bridge for them to cross. This day is the 7th day of the 7th month of the lunaisolar calendar, and is celebrated as Qixi Festival in China. This festival is also known as China's version of Valentine's Day. Korea and Japan have their own versions (Chilseok / Tanabata) based on variations of this folklore, although their festivals are unrelated to valentines. Wiki Pg ◢

Chapter 3

★ [Scene] Xavier and MC are at his house doing some spring cleaning for the new year. MC finds two tickets to this year's lantern fest and asks if he is inviting her to go.

Xavier: Well, I couldn't invite someone special to see the lanterns with me until now. 沈星回: 嗯，以前没有机会邀请喜欢的人来看。 «Yeah. In the past I didn't get the chance to invite the person I like to see the lanterns.»

Xavier: So, does this mean I can ask you out? 沈星回: 所以，可以吗？ «So, may I?»

◤ The "spring cleaning" that Xavier and MC are doing is part of the CNY tradition of cleaning and tidying up the house, discarding old/broken things and replacing them with new stuff. This is done to remove the "bad luck".

In CN, Xavier directly states he didn't get the chance to ask out "the person I like" whereas in EN it's "someone special".

Note, in CN ver for the 2nd line above, the way the question is phrased: ''可以吗", it's the same way he asked MC if he can kiss her in 21 Days. If you only play EN ver, you'll remember it as "May I?". Not sure if this was intentional to remind us of that scene. ◢

★ Xavier teases MC, leaning in for a kiss only to stop and say he will go check on the food. MC not letting him get away with this by—

(mc) I grab him before raising my head. (mc) 我干脆伸手一把拽住他，仰起头凑上去。 «I directly reached out and grabbed him, raised my head and got closer.»

(mc) Then, I pat his shoulder and smile. (mc) 片刻后，我心满意足地拍了拍他的肩膀。 «A moment later, perfectly satisfied, I pat his shoulder.»

MC: All right, it's time for you to tend to your beef stew. MC: 好了，去照顾你的那锅炖肉吧。 «All right, now go look after that meat stew pot of yours.»

◤ CN is a bit more detailed with the descriptions. EN removed the "perfectly satisfied" bit and replaced it with "smile". ◢

★ Not to be outdone, Xavier does this—

(mc) Suddenly, he pulls me. Our bodies come into contact with each other and— (mc) 然而，在突然间我感觉自己被他伸手一拉，生体向他的方向倒去—— «Suddenly I felt myself being pulled by him, my body falling toward his direction—»

—🫣🔞🫣— ★ After the kiss(es), MC asks if he needs to check on his food. Xavier replies he doesn't need to. Because—

Xavier: Once a stranger, twice a friend. 沈星回: 一回生，二回熟。 «Unfamiliar at first, well-accustomed a second time.»

◤ uhhh for research purposes: CN kissed multiple times (at least ≥2), EN gave a small laugh and kissed only once. In conclusion, EN gave a playful kiss, CN gave a passionate one.

The idiom used at the end is "一回生，二回熟". The official EN translation is correct but let's decipher what it means in this context. The idiom is used to describe when meeting someone for the first time you start as strangers and when you meet again the second time you become more familiar with them. That's the basic explanation but because he is supposed to be talking about the food that's cooking in the background, there should be another meaning hidden in there. So he's talking about the food on the surface but at the same time he might also be subtly referring to the kiss. As for what that is, tbh I'm actually not sure but I have a few guesses.

The idiom can be used in other ways such as to describe "skill level". You are unfamiliar the first time, familiar the second time, in other words: "practice makes perfect".

The individual words on their own can refer to other things. When directly referring to food, "生" = "raw", "熟" = "cooked".

Sooo something about him already perfecting his cooking that he doesn't need to watch it to know when it's done? And something about practice makes perfect hinting that they need to kiss more?? Or they already kissed so many times that they are experts now??? ◢

Chapter 4

★ [Scene] Xavier and MC are at the Lantern Fest. It is crowded and MC tells him to hold her hand tight to avoid getting separated.

MC: You might be able to teleport around without getting lost, but it's so crowded here there's hardly any room for you to slip through... MC: 虽然你能闪来闪去也不怕丢，但这里挤得都快没有你能闪进去的空隙了...... «You may be able to flash here and there without fear of getting lost, but this place is so crowded that there's no empty space for you to flash to...»

Xavier: It's okay. Let's go somewhere quieter. 沈星回: 没事。我们可以闪去人少一点的地方。 «It's okay. We can flash to a place that's less crowded.» ◤ Just phrasing differences. The convo in CN is cute coz they kept saying flash. ◢

★ The next few lines in EN flow nicely and closely resemble CN ver. I will highlight a few cos I think they deserve a mention. The part where MC had the idea to play the mittens-rock-paper-scissors game and the way she acted all dramatic when she lost by yelling "somebody do something please! he's cheating~" was expressed well enough in EN to show MC being childishly-playful. In CN it was "will anyone caaare, someone's cheating here~", to which Xav responds with "clearly someone is self-confessing here".

★ They move on to comparing the lanterns to food: the lollipop-shaped" one that looked sweet and the "snake-shaped" one that look like curly fries. These sound ridiculous but I can assure you they are exact translations from CN.

★ MC makes a comment about the lanterns being almost the same every year and things possibly getting boring next year. In EN, Xav says they can "upgrade our plans and try something else". In CN it's "upgrade our set meal so it'll be different". CN kept the theme of food descriptors going.

★ This part where she closes her eyes and the screen fades to black:

(mc): At this moment, I only feel Xavier. (mc): 此刻，最清晰的感觉好像只剩下沈星回给予我的这一种。 «At this moment, the clearest feeling that's left within is the kind that's given to me by Xavier.»

Xavier: You won't be able to forget now. 沈星回: 这样，应该就真的不会忘记了。 «This way, you should not be able forget anymore.»

◤ CN's description of MC's feelings is more detailed and poetic. I tried to convey it the same way in my version so you'll get what I mean by "poetic". ◢

Chapter 5

★ [Scene] After returning from the Fest, they are back at Xavier's apartment. They decide to write their own couplet.

◤ "Couplets" (duilian 对联) are a pair of poetry lines written in accordance to certain rules. Xavier and MC are writing the CNY version of couplets which are called chunlian (春联) or "spring couplets". Spring couplets usually consist of 7 characters per line and each line is put up on each side of a doorway (xavier suggested his study door). The content of the poems often express well-wishes of good luck/fortune and represents the homeowner's wish for the coming year. This is why when Xavier asks if she has any requests, MC insists it's for his home so he gets to decide. Wiki pg for Duilian ◢

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Additional Info:

If you play Genshin, remember that confusing Poetry Event with Hutao and Xingqiu? They were competing by completing the second half of couplets. I felt bad for the EN localization team... (EN literally gave up on the the poetry rules coz it was impossible but i thought they did good with what they could!)

Every year Papergames (/Infold) makes CNY merch featuring their characters which usually includes decorative couplets. The poems in the couplets are customized to fit each LI, like a wordplay on their name or theme. LADS had merch this year with the 4 LIs (no Caleb back then). 👇

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★ Xavier's finished couplet:

EN: With smooth sailing and good fortune comes wonderful views and a great partner CN: 顺丰顺水顺财神，好事好景好搭档 «Smooth sailing follows good fortune, good things with good times and good partner.»

◤ EN ver conveyed the poem well enough. EN MC goes on to praise him as "very poetic". Meanwhile CN MC had this to say: "Xavier you're really...a couplet-matching genius". ◢

★ Xavier asks MC to watch the pot. She asks what he's cooking this time.

Xavier: Cherry stew. 沈星回: 樱桃炖肉。 «Cherry stewed meat.»

MC: ?

MC: Well, it does sound like a vibrant, hearty dish... MC: 好吧，听起来也确实是一道很红红火火的菜...... «All right, it does sound like a prosperous dish.»

Xavier: Yeah, it's perfect for Linkon New Year's. 沈星回: 嗯，很适合新年。 «Yeah, it's very suitable for the new year.»

◤ In CN, MC said the dish sounds "prosperous" likely due to the cherries which are red. The descriptor she used "红红火火" means prosperous/booming and it happens to also contain the character for the color red (红). Red is an auspicious color for cny. ◢

★ This final scene:

MC: Xavier! This Linkon New Year's is my favorite. MC: ......沈星回! 这是我到目前为止，最喜欢的新年。 «...Xavier! So far, this is my most favorite New Year.»

Xavier: I know. / 我知道。

Xavier: Maybe we can upgrade your "favorite" next year though. 沈星回: 但也许再过一年，我们还能一起吧你的 “最喜欢” 升级。 «But maybe after one year, we can still upgrade your "most favorite" together.»

Xavier: And it'll become "the best Linkon New Year's you ever had." 沈星回: 变成 “最最喜欢的新一年”。 «It'll become your "most most favorite new year's".»

◤ um I hate to end with this, but just to be clear I'm nitpicking as a xavier main...

The scene in CN: MC says it's her most favorite new year so far; Xavier telling her they can upgrade it to more than most favorite next year.

The scene in EN: MC says it's her favorite new year; Xavier telling her they can upgrade it to the best ever next year.

The difference is, for CN MC it's already the best ever. She made it a point to state this was her most favorite new year so far (到目前为止). She clearly says SO FAR. I'm sad this was removed for EN coz without the emphasis it just hits different. It's their first time celebrating new years together, and already she declares she likes it the most? So... she's implying it's even better than the previous years with grandma and Caleb?? This is a big deal and a bold claim. In EN she just says it's her favorite (favorite compared to? there's no reference of scale). I'm being nit-picky about details... but the nuance makes a difference to me 😭. ◢

#love and deepspace #love and deepspace xavier #lads #translation review #en translation #festive blessing event #twilight chronicles #story event #xavier #恋与深空 #沈星回

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hollowphobia-casual · 7 months ago

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Arcane Issues, Yes I'm still on this (Spoilers for Arcane S2)

~Spoilers~

I'm going to immediately assume that a majority of people who are reading this have seen Arcane Season 2 Act 3 and I want to start by saying this isn't a critique of the story. In a sense. See, the issue with Arcane is that it's not a stand alone project, it's a story adapted from the League of Legends games and while most adaptation usually can change the source material with no problem, Riot games in all there wisdom decided to make Arcane CANON. Meaning that the events of Arcane are the events in league of legends. Which made sense back in season one, Arcane was popular and for the most part it followed the story beats of the characters as set forth in lore, with a few minor changes, which was fine. However, Season 02 and all it's bullshit is where things started to become a problem. The biggest a major issue being this thing.

The Arcane Anomaly, which at first doesn't seem like a big issue..., until you remember League of Legends is a magic heavy world, the arcane is their magic system and Piltover isn't the ONLY nation state in this world and not all nations follow the rules. For context, these are all the champions in the game of League of Legends.

These are all the champions in League who use SOME form of magic/arcane, or are literally made of magic.

So going by the show that Anomaly and it's effects were caused by the arcane in general, that means anyone of these people could cause the things that happened in Arcane to happen, as it's just a byproduct of magic in of itself according to the lore of the show. But lets say that this was just a freak anomaly, that it was just caused by Hextech alone and not just the Arcane. Well there are characters in League who rely or use Hextech.

And yes, some of them were featured in the show, Vi, Jinx, Cait, Jayce and Viktor, but there are some who didn't appear in the show or didn't acquire their Hextech gear. But after the events of the show, why would anyone keep using Hextech?! After what Viktor nearly did, why would anyone keep using it, how can we have characters using Hextech when any one of them could 'accidentally' create an Arcane anomaly and bring about an end of the world scenario?

Not to mention. Piltover in the lore of the games essentially RUNS on Hextech, there are many Hextech inventors, it was it's unique defining trait that set it's magic system apart from the rest of Runeterra (The name of the world the characters live in.) How after the events could they go on to do that, especially when their two experts on the field, vanished into thin air?! And one of them turned into a evil jesus. And then we have that issue, the disappearance of half the cast. Before, League of Legends looked like this.

And now we have this...

The way league always wrote about it's characters was how they actively now in the present, meaning that the characters you were playing as were currently actively doing things in the moment, however Arcane has already broken that formula. For one, Ambessa is just dead. She's Leagues newest champion and we don't need to get excited about future stories involving her because she is gone, she is fucking deceased. Heimerdinger too maybe? And I know people will say, well he's a yordle, he's immortal he'll come back. Have you not been watching Arcane they way they treat Yordles in this show contradicts everything about Yordles.

For those who don't know, Yordles are essentially the equivlant of Runeterra's fae. They are magical creatures from magical realm called Bandle City and are the most part, MYTHS. Meaning most people in Runeterra haven't seen one. Meanwhile In Runettera we've seen a Yordle sex Gimp, a Yordle protsitute, Yordle citizens and Yordle crime bosses.

Yeah, you remember Smeech? He's a fucking Yordle. So for all we know Yordles are being treated less like fae and more akin to this worlds elves. But, less ignore all that, let's say that despite EVERYTHING, we've seen in the show Yordles are still the immortal fairy people, Heimerdinger could still be alive, right? EXPECT HE GOT BLASTED BY PURE MAGIC IN AN ALTERNATIVE TIMELINE?! There are so many what if questions I dunno where to begin with that one. Like if he is alive, will he come back? Does Bandle city exist outside the time frame? Not to mention how does Heimerdinger a magical fucking being made of magic, not understand how the ARCANE WORKS!??! And let's not get me started on characters like Warwick, who in Arcane looked like this...

When he's suppose to look like this...

Which again, it's fine.., you know, maybe he's going to through some sort of rapid evolutionary change that strips away his humanity and transform him more into the beast we know him as, it's not like they'd do something completely insane like turn him into a magical robot?

...... I could keep going on about this, but this is what fucking pisses me off about Arcane Season 2, not that it's considered canon, all it had to do is tell the story of how we got to the current timeline and events of League of Legends, but instead of giving us clear answers, it went off and did it's own thing, which means we now have to wait for clarification from Riot as to what is going on and what is going to happen. Cause again, this isn't a separate universe, this isn't a separate story. These are the CANONICAL events that happened in Piltover and Zaun. Two city states that defined by their constant rivalry, now 'making peace' with a street thug on the council. This is some game of thrones Season 08 bullshit, expect, we KNOW what is meant to be happening next, we know the stories these characters are suppose to go on to do. But Riot takes a lot of time to make changes to their game and their characters and these are a lot of changes happening all at once. Does this mean Warwick's current lore and model are going to be thrown out for mecha-arcane Warick, we don't know. Is Jayce going to return to Piltover, we don't know. Who'se going to built Blitzcrank, we don't know. Where was Renata Glasc during the events of Arcane and how is her story going to play out now? WE DON'T KNOW. And I doubt it's going to be something we learn soon, as riot recently fired a large portion of their in house artists, so we don't know whats going to be happening going forward. What was meant to be a fun story for long term fans and to get people into the lore of League of Legends, has turned into a mess of retcons and confusion.

On the upside, If anyone was pro Demacia's mage genocide, I guess Arcane told them, you have every reason to be scared of mages, because any one of the could opps the planet.

#league of legends #Arcane #Arcane Season 02 #Arcane Season 02 Act 3 #Arcane Spoilers #Critique #Lore #Confusion #Headache

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