#I've had that have led directly to delusions

[jupiter--dream]

Mutuals I think I might have ocd

[multifandomtrashwritings]

Pros & cons of laboratory mishaps (Pt.1)

Dottore x Fem! Reader (NSFW in future)

I've tried to keep reader as vague as possible, but she's bisexual (for the fem segment) and her hair is longer than Dottore's. Also uses a dendro delusion.

A/N: Does anyone whose into Genshin also have an interest in BBC's Merlin? Because the whole premise of this fic is the troupe of 'magically feeling each other's touches' that is common over there griping me by the throat and shouting 'Dottore'. This part is also mainly intro stuff since Tumblr has a word limit... But I'm posting the smaller second bit with this anyways :)

If there was one thing your time at the Fatui had taught you, it was that you could never anticipate what life would throw at you. When you’d first signed up (mostly out of necessity) and were given a shiny new dendro delusion you could’ve never predicted that it would lead to becoming close with the infamous second harbinger. And yet here you were, regularly meeting with either Dottore himself or one of his many segments to have various tests taken to try and work out why your delusion didn’t drain your life force no matter how much you used it. And more importantly, how to replicate this ‘fluke’ you’d experienced. It was once such routine meeting that set off a chain of events so bizarre, you’re sure only those involved would believe, a chain that led to perhaps the most confusing relationship status one could have.

Ever since you’d discovered that your delusion didn’t drain your life force like they did your comrades you’d been transferred from being a generic recruit serving under whoever had menial tasks at any particular time to working pretty much directly under Lord Dottore himself. At first the decision terrified you, you’d heard the other new recruits’ gossip about how they’d prefer to work under any harbinger but Dottore and the horror stories many brought back whenever someone was unlucky enough to be assigned to the rare instance of Dottore needing a recruit’s help, or more accurately Dottore’s assistants requesting extra help. You’d never been lucky (Or unlucky) enough to have experienced such things firsthand, but it’s all that you could think of as you nervously made your way through the basement level of Zapolyarny Palace with your pathetically small duffle bag of belongings.

Despite your concerns your first meeting with the harbinger went quite well, or rather what you’d at first assumed was the harbinger and later learnt was in fact a segment, Beta to be precise. Beta was the most ‘normal’ of the bunch, having the most social awareness and least extreme emotions. For the first week you only ever saw Beta, and whenever there wasn’t a need for any samples from you, you were pretty much free to do what you liked. As long as you kept up your training to continue to monitor how your delusion reacted to increasing strength.

And that was the routine you settled into happily, spending at least half a day everyday training and stopping by the lab pretty much every other day for someone to take some blood or stick some sensors on you and monitor various things. At first you only ever delt with Beta, and that was fine since the rumors could very well be true about the ‘real’ Dottore and you were happy to stay in your bubble with the relatively nice segment. After a few weeks though you were introduced to another segment. This one was more like what you’d feared, Delta’s mood changed as quick as the snow pelted the palaces windows, and the moon-like mask he wore only served to exaggerate his crazed smiles and intense eyes. Still, Delta wasn’t unbearable, and you soon worked out that playing to his ego was a guaranteed way to make any encounter with him almost pleasant.

The next segment you met was on accident, after you went out to the training grounds later in the day than you normally would due to a snowstorm. You were met with a small child with a familiar mop of mint blue hair and distinct glowing earring sitting in the snow making a crude snowman. The young segment couldn’t be any older than 10 years old and watched you train intently. After you’d finished and were sitting on a bench to enjoy the gardens while you caught your breath he approached you slowly, introducing himself as Epsilon and bombarding you with questions about your delusion and fighting style, having heard about your unique situation from the other segments. From then on Epsilon had decided he liked you, and often watched you train, eventually convincing you to become an informal mother figure for him, which you were hesitant to do since who knows what the actual Dottore would think of it, but Epsilon was persuasive, and you never heard anything after he started regularly spending time in your small quarters with you.

After Epsilon you met the last few segments all at once, due to them all being in the lab when you’d gone in for your weekly blood test. There were four segments milling around the lab, doing various things and you took a moment to observe them as you tried to decide who you were supposed to be asking to take your blood. There was a segment dressed in a outfit clearly reminiscent of the Sumeru Akademiya’s scholars robes, who you later learned was Alpha, a similar looking segment with more travelling style gear called Gamma, a tall segment noticeably much older than the rest with a distinct beaked mask over his eyes and a very complicated looking outfit called Omega and the last one made you do a double take, it was a woman (a quite beautiful woman your bisexual heart told you) but still clearly a segment who you learnt was called Xi. Omega had taken your blood that day and mentioned something in passing about ‘Prime’ who you assumed was the real Dottore wanting to meet you himself at some stage. His words made you worried, but not as much as when you first learnt you’d be working under him, after all Omega was supposedly the closest in age to Dottore and he was nice enough, if a bit awkward at actually conversing with you on personal level, and you were sure he wouldn’t be worse than Delta, who over time had come to tolerate you, bestowing you with the very friendly nickname of his ‘favourite test subject’.

The day you met Dottore you’d had no time to mentally or physically prepare yourself, having been expecting to see Beta or Alpha you’d trudged down to the lab in your pyjamas after waking up late due to a headache. Swinging the lab door open without really looking inside you only realized something was different when no one scolded you for wearing your pyjama shirt into the lab, since apparently it was more difficult for them to pull the sleeves up enough to draw blood since it was so thick and had nice long sleeves. Glancing around the lab to see where the segments were only to realize there were none and instead at the desk in the centre of the lab, the one none of the segments ever used was unmistakably the real Dottore. He was leaned over the desk writing something, and his hair was mostly similar to Omega’s just a bit longer and quite messy. He wore a long lab coat, and it was fully buttoned up so you couldn’t make out what he was wearing underneath, but as you approached slowly he looked up and noticed you making you freeze for a second before forcing yourself to continue approaching. As you stopped just in front of his desk he gave you a quick once over, and you cursed yourself for not bothering to change into more presentable clothing, you may have gotten comfortable with the segments but this was the actual harbinger! And your first meeting at that. To your relief though he doesn’t comment nor seem to have any reaction to your clothing choice, just motioning you over to a stool and silently drawing the few vials that was always taken for analysis. Afterwards though he spoke to you for the first time, his voice recognizable as similar to the segments, but also completely unique. “I intend to move on to testing the effects of some potions on yourself and your delusion. I expect you to prepare yourself to make observations round the clock when the time comes.” He says, his voice smooth, but noticeably tired. You nod quickly, not wanting to annoy the harbinger and he dismisses you, letting you hurry out of the lab and continue with your day.

[drdemonprince]

Reading your experience in the introduction to Unlearning Shame made me feel so seen, and I think it helped me better understand what I've felt for so long. I went through a psychotic episode two years ago, and I deeply feel that shame played a huge part if not both directly and indirectly caused my psychosis. I was so overwhelmed with my workload while being ashamed because I had the privilege to study and live comfortably while so many are struggling. In my psychosis I essentially crafted an entire delusion that could absolve my guilt, that could explain everything about the world and give me a purpose to solve what was wrong. I was still deeply ashamed long after coming out of it, because now I was officially "crazy" and surely everyone could tell. But that breakdown led me to open up to people even though I was scared to make myself vulnerable. I started asking for help cleaning my place and doing the dishes instead of beating myself up for being a failed adult. The journey is still ongoing of course, but knowing the role that shame played in this experience that I hope never to have again is so valuable and I wanted to thank you for that.

Wow, thank you so much for this message. I'm so grateful to hear the opening of the book resonated with you. People really do not get told how much of psychosis, delusions, and other highly stigmatized mental health symptoms are contextual, both social and economic in how they manifest and why. It shouldn't be anything to be ashamed of -- your mind tried to communicate it was at its limit while also offering absolution to you. It is horrible you got pushed to the point it had to happen, but there is nothing wrong with you for the fact that it did. It happens to so many of us, and in our madness and unrulyness and divergence we kick at the bars that keep us from being free as best we can. I am glad that you have come through a really tough, impossible-feeling period with some vulnerability and understanding. Thanks for reading.

[dallasurr]

i feel so hurt and upset about Simon he needed to heal too

i can't sleep at night sometimes

I know this is so random but i don't care i feel so hurt by the idea of everyone healing but him dead and bound to be forgetten. .. i want him feel good i want to get him out of there.

I've said this before but as much as I'd like to see the series to its planned end, I'm not that unhappy about not getting season 5. It would be really hard for me to see Amelia get a redemption or her exit when she went on the train as a fully mature adult in her 30s, and did wayyyy worse things than Simon did. Although she was mentally unstable at the time she got on the train, it doesn't seem like she had a history of mental illness before Alrick died.

What Simon did to Grace and Hazel was fucked up, I can wrap my head around his justification for killing Tuba and I'm not the person to debate about this bc I straight up didn't like Tuba. She went out of her way to kidnap and scare Grace and Simon, who would have probably found the exit to the car and went on their way the next day without her interference, and I'm of the opinion that she put both herself and Hazel in danger with her little prank. I know we wouldn't have a story without it, and it doesn't justify her death, but literally from their first interaction she showed Simon she can be hostile and dangerous. And while she warmed up to Grace (according to Grace lol I didn't see much friendly interaction between them at all, just Grace enjoying/admiring the way she interacted with Hazel), Simon always got attitude from her, I can't blame him for not warming up to her.

Simon might have been 18 at the time of his season but let's be honest, both he and Grace were very immature and justifiably so. They only had each other and their delusions for years and years before they became guardians themselves. The train has proven itself to be dangerous, and proved how high the stakes are when he died, but people act like he was a fucking monster for doing what he thought he needed to protect himself, grace and hazel from a perceived threat. He could have been a little more tactful with explaining what happened, or lied about it, but like tbh as a neurodivergent person myself who sees Simon as someone who is on the autism spectrum, I REALLY struggle with lying and deceiving people so I can understand why he just blurted out the truth without any thought.

I do think one of the most irredeemable things he did was dehumanize Grace and trap her in her memories, whether or not he knew it could kill her (I assume he didn't bc the Cat as usual didn't explain shit to him) the way he pushed her over and walks away makes me nauseous.

But I certainly don't think he deserved to die for that, and I think the series would have been a lot better if instead of kicking her off the train again (which at this point in the scene felt kind of slapstick i'm ngl), Simon finally broke out of his paranoid and delusional thought patterns and they were able to drag everyone back into the mall car for a heart to heart.

In my head in episodes 9 and 10 he's a lot like Catra in The Portal episodes, but instead of getting 2 more seasons after his fall from grace (lol) to recover and heal and fix his issues, he just got killed instead.

And it sucks because dude was clearly mentally ill and traumatized, and as someone who has mental illness and trauma that can make me act out sometimes too, who also struggles to read the room and understand what people want from me if they don't tell me directly, who ALSO had parents that didn't have my best interests as even a consideration to whatever they could gain from me, it kind of reinforces my anxiety which tells me that I deserve to suffer because of x y z stupid thing I did or said 5, 10, even 20 years ago.

(and before anyone says simon had all the chances to change and grow that grace did, please rewatch the season, he absolutely did not and all of the events that led to grace growing as a person happened when simon wasn't around, yes he was immature in a lot of moments but dude literally did not have a normal adolescence and to expect him to act like a fucking adult all the time after that is ridiculous)

[gnome-minion]

Thinking about how much disability is a core theme of Insignia. The four most plot important characters (Tom, Wyatt, Blackburn, and Vengerov) are all disabled, or are implied to be.

Blackburn's pretty obvious. He's a paranoid schizophrenic. And though that's mostly under control, the experience and the trauma of that sticks with him. And the entire series he views himself as an irredeemable monster. He's caught in what he did when he had that psychotic break.

(Also as a segue, it impacts the way he treats other mentally ill/neurodivergent characters, he even warns Wyatt before she receives her processor that it would change the way she thinks.)

Wyatt's is also pretty obvious. Although not directly stated, Wyatt is obviously autistic. She's canonically neurodivergent, as confirmed in Allies. For the most part, her arc is growing confident in herself, and comfortable with who she is. And also learning more social skills, while never becoming something different. Wyatt's autism is probably my favorite portrayal of autism I've ever seen.

Tom's disability is more subtle. The obvious thing about him having no fingers is explored. How it can aid him (like how the cybernetic fingers can move even if he's in the process of dying), and how they hinder him (they can be taken away, they lack sensitivity, and they're not his actual finger

But also Tom is clearly mentally ill. Even before Catalyst confirmed he was- he shows symptoms of a trauma disorder as early as Insignia. And in Vortex and Catalyst it's pretty blatant.

Catalyst is where all of his erratic behavior gets more explanations. His brain had the same problems that led to his mom developing psychosis and delusions. And while he had a neural graft to enlarge his frontal lobe, I don't think that would be a cure to whatever he's got, like most psychiatric treatments, it just helps with the symptoms .

Also regarding the fact that he wouldn't pass a military psych eval, he generally lacks empathy, and has been generally implied to be a "psychopath", i think it's probable that he's cluster B as well.

Thats not even mentioning him having OSDD or DID considering he has an alter. I'm not throwing out the possibility of him having DID just cause no other alters besides Vanya are shown, cause there is some evidence he could have it in previous books.

And of course- Vengerov.

Major catalyst spoilers up ahead. But Vengerov as a child is heavily implied to be developmentally disabled in some way. After the processor was given to him around the age of 7-8ish he changed completely. Being able to recognize the pain being pushed upon him, and his own ambitions. I'll be honest I can't wrap my head around why this is, outside of a mashup of what happens when you give a young young child a processor, and the computer filling in for Vengerov where his brain wasn't developing as much.

This could easily be used to villainize Vengerov, to show he is an unfeeling, uncaring monster. But Neil's theory at the end of Catalyst changes that. Cause he points out that Vengerov was trying to basically take over the world, yes, but because he lived in a world full of awful evil people in power - he became the worst of them. If he lived in a world run by pacifists? He would be a saint. He would change the world for the better. It's not his, or anyone's nature to be evil. It's their nurture.

It's a really poignant moment. Not only for the political messaging but I think for the explicit sympathy it gives to Vengerov. It never diminishes or undercut how awful what he does is. But also acknowledges how the creation of such an evil person is a product of the system and the world around them, rather than the person's inherent "evilness"

It so wonderfully shows how much of a feedback loop this oligarchical system is. And how the world shapes people into monsters. Only getting worse and worse as time goes on.

Insignia is great, you guys.

[owlhousetheories]

The Owl House is over and I'm not coping (minor spoilers for finale)

One of the biggest reasons I love this show is how well the writing is. Morals and messages come through without being preachy or obvious - like other kids shows can be. I've never seen a show wherein they show the difference between "I did something wrong, but I did it for the right reasons" and "I did something wrong, but I refuse to admit it I did it, because I'm right."

As early as season two, Luz is so worried that she's caused all the events leading up to the current plot - Belos' rise to power, forced covens, death or imprisonment of wild witches. All because she wanted to help the nice human she had befriended, who immediately betrayed her.  She carries that guilt believing that if she’d never given him that light glyph, his plans would never have happened. No matter what other people tell her, she shoulders all the blame, convinced that her and Belos are one and the same. She even says as much in “Watching and Dreaming” when talking to the Titan.

Luz: Well, Belos says he's trying to save humanity. And we are saying we want to save our families. So, isn't that the same thing? Don't—Don't these feelings come from the same place?

She isn’t aware that by questioning whether she’s done the right thing – whether her goal is more noble than Belos’ – proves that she’s nothing like him. And it’s so refreshing to have a protagonist in a show make a bad decision but make it for the right reason. This idea that the hero can’t screw up, and if they do, it’s purely for selfish or stupid reasons that they must learn from.

Because the reality is that everyone has this capability. Sometimes you’ll make a decision or a choice in life with the best intentions, and it blows up in your face. Does it make you a bad person? Are you doomed to a life of failure because of it? No. Because, just like Luz, you did it for the right reason and you can work to fix your mistakes. And as she learns from the Titan, she’s far from the first person to make that mistake.

Compare her to Belos. Belos shrouds everything he does in the guise of “protecting humanity.”  He came to the Boiling Isles to save his human brother. He wanted to kill Evelyn because she corrupted said brother. He killed his brother to save him. He offered to take Luz with him through his portal to save her. He even uses this mentality while pretending to be the benevolent leader of the Isle. He created covens to protect the people of the Boiling Isles. He persecuted wild witches to ensure they wouldn’t harm the people. I could go on. The point is, for him, he is always in the right - even with actions that directly go against his beliefs. I could understand killing witches wouldn’t conflict with puritan beliefs, but killing your own brother? Practicing magic? Talking to/making a deal with a false god (the Collector)?

Nothing is ever on him – I killed Caleb because he was corrupted, I mutilated myself in order to destroy the witches from the inside, I tricked the Collector in order to accomplish my magic genocide. It doesn’t matter how evil or conflicting the action is, Belos does it because in the end he believes he’s in the right. Nothing demonstrates this more than his actions in season 3. Even while in the human realm – the goal we’ve been led to believe is his end goal – he still feels the need to go back and complete the genocide. Because if he doesn’t, then he was wrong about the witches. He was wrong about everything. The man is a pile of corruption barely hanging on to life, only able to actively control anything so long as he has a host, and he still is convinced that it’s the witches’ fault he's like this. He still has this need to be right.

Titan: You assume Belos's goal comes from a genuine place. But that man doesn't care about about anything but his need to be the hero in his own delusion

And to be honest, his actions mimic those of actual bigots and abusers. The unending need to be right, to be the victor. Using a scapegoat – I’m doing this for humanity/the children/families/government – to justify violence and hatred. Refusing to back down; even when presented with evidence that they're wrong. And above all, the reveal that if you peel back their “justification” all you’d actually find is a hateful person lashing out because they can’t control the narrative and people are doing things they personally don’t approve of.

Keeping in mind, these two perspectives and the thematic importance in both aren’t overtly shown. It’s subtle, but shown just enough to get the message. In short, the writers of Owl House are thematic geniuses and I’m never going to emotionally recover from this show.

(Also screw Disney because this could’ve been explored so much deeper if we’d had more time).

[eisforeidolon]

... And inevitably destiel did not become canon again, just like we said it wouldn't. And castiel was not even mentioned by anyone on the show once either.

Any logical heller should have realized by now that it was never going to be a thing.

One would hope that they'd accept the reality and just move on instead of believing in false expectations and made up narratives.

The ending was pretty much same to SPN's original ending. The ending that they thought was meddled by the Evil CW. What did TW change? Now this time it is John x Mary love feast, Sam off-screen living his life so we can focus on Dean, Bobby and Impala appearing, Jack coming back as God, and no mention of Cas again.

It's just ridiculous but sad at the same time. And those heller blogs who led other destihellers on was trash, pure and simple. Any logical person would stop following these ppl who constantly have been proven to be liars. Goob definitely should be ashamed of himself for his delusions as well as demeaning his fans.

Well, the problem is that there really isn't such a thing as logical hellers. I think expecting D/C to be canon in the SPNiverse is fundamentally absurd given ... everything ... about that relationship and those characters. However, even most D/C shippers aren't so divorced from logic as to have been sitting with baited breath last night expecting TW to make it canon.

It's not logical to think Jensen, who has been clear so many times I've lost count that he doesn't see the ship as a thing - at all and especially not from Dean's end? Including post 15x18? Would include it in a show he's making. Logic would tell you if Jensen had actually changed his mind about it and was actually oh-so-mad about the SPN finale because it didn't include Castiel? He wouldn't have had Dean stand there doing nothing but looking like he'd been slapped in the face with a week old dead fish when Castiel was blathering on at him. He wouldn't continue insistently referring to their relationship as brotherly in panels.

But even if we take Jensen out of the equation? We're talking about a show focused on different characters entirely - it isn't even really about Dean. Logic would tell you that no even halfway competent storyteller would waste precious screen time to arbitrarily shove two characters from another show (only there as a framing device to tie the universes together) into a romantic relationship. Especially two characters whose relationship had zero aspects of romance outside of the imaginations of shippers fixating on random colors and similar nonsensical shit. That the hellers expectations were even more illogical, that TW's main storyline itself just existed to create more of those nothingburger "parallels" to ... somehow ... lead to D/C? It made no sense to claim SPN was telling a secret hidden story that just couldn't be main text for reasons when Dean and Castiel were actually onscreen every week, but to claim Jensen specifically made a whole other show about John & Mary to tell that story and STILL decided to not actually tell said story directly instead of using secret signals through the colors of their shirts? That's fucking crazy.

It's completely absurd and yeah, there is some element of genuine concern there. The D/C prophets like Goob have insisted the comet is coming tomorrow so many goddamn times now, to no avail. And each time? Even though SPN is over? The whole thing just resets within a few days to start over again because they're that desperate to believe they haven't invested so much time, energy, and vitriol into something that doesn't exist and will never actually happen. They have to win. It'll happen. Next time, next time for real. That turtleneck looked kinda gay, don't you think it's a sign? [sigh.]

[blindedguilt]

(@amorfati-rp Agares) She approaches the dragon quizzically. "You seem....different from the dragons I've heard about. How come you're so different?"

::THE GREEN DRAGON

Of all the people of the village who could have approached it, it was the half-elf girl that was most unexpected. That girl, always flitting to and fro. Back from her home, across the village, into the forest and out again to the wells - it was understandable. To the dragon's knowledge, she was without a father, she and those two brothers of hers. The priest had been happy to share the news of a pregnancy in the village, one directly attributed to that girl's mother, and so it could only be expected that weight be put on the eldest's shoulders. Even so... Similar to most residents of a grown age, the half-elf named Agares didn't press herself with coming too close to it most days, if ever. For some, it was merely their way of showing respect to a being as powerful as a dragon, no matter how diminished its powers had become in its old age. They didn't wish to bother it, and the dragon didn't mind - as a matter of fact, the gesture was appreciated some days when the pain had become overwhelming and it remained incapable of doing much else than simply laying with closed eyes. There were others, however, who feared the Green Dragon and its watchful rest over the village, that whatever gossip or slander spoken in its presence would be taken and relayed to the priest. Of course, it had enjoyed listening to all sounds of the confined, bustling life inside the forest's walls - but it could hardly be thought of as anything more than simple interest and adoration. These worries that came from those humans were stemmed from fear. Fear from their old home, fear from the very same mistakes that had led them there - it could hardly bear any resentment against that. Still, the priest hadn't been the dragons only company, much to its relief. The children, covered in dirt from their play, flocked to it nigh constantly despite their parent's lectures, climbing and shouting... It was a painful, but rewarding feeling. Most had never seen a dragon before, and paid little mind to the weakened form in distraction of the awe of its great wings and coiled tail. For those too shy to approach, it typically could afford to open its eyes enough to gaze back at the child, a cause of excitement for many. In these times, the priest would typically stay by its side, keeping careful watch ensure that the pain wouldn't grow too much, nor that any child ran astray. And from the shadows of the trees, that was when it had typically picked up on her presence. Not with the other adults, but staring from afar. Neither an adult nor a child, as the dragon had understood it, but still - far more child than adult. Those eyes were never settled on it, but rather, the priest besides it. In a way, that feeling of "Love" no matter how misplaced was the closest she had gotten to womanhood. Most others her age had already been married, or were much too caught up in their own affairs to afford the luxury of such needless pining and delusions. It was an obsession, one regarded with the same nonchalance as the dragon had with all affairs of the village, and so remained an unspoken secret between the two. It could tell it clearly; she meant no harm. She simply didn't know what to do. It was unexpected, then, that she had saw it. It was with the same bravery and innocent curiosity of a child that she had approached the resting dragon, and only after those words were spoken did it began to stir. Beyond the priest, the dragon didn't care to speak to anyone, simply preferring to watch their lives and interactions without its interference. And in those rare moments it did have something to say, it was always through him that those thoughts were conveyed. And this girl... There wasn't anything special about her. At least, not that commanded it's attention - she was a villager, a simple but precious existence it had seen years and years before. The dragon knew she would get along well without the need for words. Dulled, yellow eyes rolled open to stare drearily up towards her, and a long, tired sigh was its answer.

[tsuisou-no-despair]

Higurashi TEN (Role Swap AU) - 34 Random Facts

Well, I'm slightly stuck with the question arcs, so instead I'm just going to write up and throw out a whole bundle of random facts about the world, its characters, and things that have or could happen. Hopefully this will lead to something clicking into place for me, and hopefully you'll like it, too.

Kei, Reina, and Mion still use a bat, nata, and taser, respectively, as their main weapons, though Mion's been forbidden from using the taser by Oryou. Hanyuu uses the ritual hoe and swords in about equal measure. Miyoko uses whatever's on hand to frightening effect.

Shion thrives at St. Lucia; however, she is pulled out of the school by her family after Oryou decides that Mion's twin would be better utilized if she was right on hand...

Miyoko does the Joseph Joestar "your next line is..." thing, which almost always works like a charm. (It doesn't work on Satoko or Bernkastel, but the former plays along when she's not in the black outfit)

Hanyuu's horns aren't initially broken, but by the end of the series, they have their signature crack.

Tomitake is a much more common sight in Hinamizawa than he was in the original universe, being a resident of Okinomiya who frequently visits. He's also quite well-liked, mostly because he's there to fix just about anything that breaks.

Rumiko was the original user of Rena's signature nata, as well as the person who first converted the van in the dump into a hiding place.

Satoko finds the contents of the Saiguiden fascinating but ultimately disappointing; she expected something more directly tied to Hinamizawa Syndrome's origins.

Irie almost always manages to get clear of Hinamizawa before Emergency Procedure #3105 is executed; however, he's usually dead in under 24 hours due to his escape catching Tokyo's attention.

Both Ooishi and Akasaka are hated by the Sonozaki family but the former much more so, to the point where Ooishi schedules his visits to Okinomiya when the Sonozakis will be looking elsewhere, such as on festival nights.

Rina targets Kei's dad in the loops where she doesn't die. Kei's mom does not take it well - to the point where she goes L5, in some cases.

Mion's "feelings" for Satoshi are primarily a result of Satoshi being just that nice and caring and good-hearted. It helps that she's enamored with a saintly image of him that's only grown more pure since his absence.

When Miyoko bothers to start telling people about how she's lost in time loops, their reactions are mostly in the vein of "oh, that explains so much".

Bernkastel can be heard by people who are deep in the throes of Hinamizawa Syndrome; naturally, she uses this to fuck with people for kicks.

Okonogi takes the role of the clinic's head after Satoko dies/disappears. He's regarded exclusively with suspicion - if he wasn't only filling the role until the GHD triggers, he'd probably get run out of town within a month.

Rumiko regularly made Miyoko curry after learning that Teppei and Tamae were denying her food; this led to Rumiko taking her curry very seriously because it represented the only "acceptable" way for her to help Miyoko.

Officially, Tatsuyoshi Sonozaki and his wife (Naeko) are Mion and Shion's parents. In reality, Akane is their mother, and whether or not Tatsuyoshi is the father is strictly a matter between him and Akane.

All of the locations from the original universe are present and more or less unchanged, along with a few new "sets" such as Akasaka's apartment.

Satoko has an alternate version of her "Tokyo" outfit that includes a mask that resembles an inverted Eye of Providence. She wears this when acting in Hinamizawa after her death, claiming that she needs to hide her identity due to being known in the village. (Okonogi thinks that doesn't matter in the slightest and that Satoko is trying too hard to be "cool", and he isn't wrong... except that it's managed to keep Miyoko from realizing who it is throughout the loops)

Beyond mahjong, Akasaka, Satoshi, Irie and Tomitake were fast friends. Their name for the quartet is the "Soul Brothers" - thankfully, it's a more serious (and infinitely less horny-focused) group than in arcs like (ugh) Batsukowashi-hen. (Kei still becomes an honorary Soul Brother in some arcs, though)

While she's reasonably familiar with a gun and a bow, Shion's real weapon is her contacts: her stay at St. Lucia (and Rika-in-Gou levels of popularity while there) means she has a slew of St. Lucia-ites (with powerful fathers) who would bend over backward for her.

Akane and Satoko are the two most skilled individual fighters in Higurashi TEN - who wins in a fight between the two is generally decided by who screws up first, but this is usually Akane getting blindsided by a trap unless she's warned. (They fight in more fragments than you'd expect - Akane Kasai is the most dangerous person in Hinamizawa and Satoko knows it.)

Miyoko starts her loops at the same point every time - the morning after the festival in 1982. This is mostly to dodge the abuse from Tamae - the fact that people assume her changed personality is because she's escaped an abusive home is icing on the cake.

The official reason for the Clinic "studying" Hanyuu was that they were researching the effects of her horns' growth pressing on her brain and monitoring the brain tumor-like symptoms (hearing voices, delusions of being Oyashiro-sama reborn, etc.) that it caused; this was all a fabrication hiding the research done on Hanyuu as Queen Carrier. Satoshi was disgusted by this facade and eventually told the Furudes that Hanyuu's brain was fine, leading to them pulling Hanyuu out (and Satoko murdering them as a result).

Irie occasionally mediates the Games Club's punishment games, sometimes getting dragged into it himself. He's a stalwart protector defender of the young club members' honor, making whatever sacrifices he has to in order to make sure that they're not forced into perverted situations or outfits.

Rumiko may or may not have had feelings for Mion, which Mion subconsciously returned; Mion's quietly put two and two together in the months following her disappearance, and it's had a palpable effect on her relationship with Reina.

Ooishi lives in Kakiuchi City and is a part of its police department, and he's not the only former Hinamizawa resident on its force - there's a bright young detective named Natsumi Kimiyoshi who I've heard interesting stories about, though I don't know much about her...

While he's still capable of being the "Magician of Words", Kei's charisma is heavily tempered by the restrained, somewhat cold wall he's put up around his emotions for "everyone's own good".

After all that looping, Miyoko's trauma response to Teppei moving back in and forcing himself to be her caretaker is anger moreso than shutting down. More than a few loops have ended with Teppei killing her after she was too insolent (or too creepy) for him to put up with.

Yukie was a reporter who was extremely critical of the anti-dam protests, especially after the kidnapping occurred. At least some of the antipathy towards Akasaka is due to being Yukie's husband.

When the seeds of distrust aren't sown, Reina's empathy is one of her most powerful tools, making her able to stand up to just about anyone in Hinamizawa and reach out a hand to them. (Sometimes this leads to getting a baseball bat to the head, but hey, she tried.)

Hanyuu can hear Bernkastel at lower levels of Hinamizawa Syndrome than anyone else in the village, and seems to be cognizant of her presence even when she's at L1/L2. The exact details of Hanyuu and Bern's rapport are known only to them.

Miyoko and Hanyuu are closer to each other than they are to anyone else, but there's still a big ugly wall between them due to Hanyuu's quasi-divinity butting up against Miyoko's hatred of any and all gods. Tearing that wall down is an important part of Miyoko's character development.

Irie had (has?) Satoshi's blessing to try and win Satoko's heart; according to Satoshi, Satoko's not entirely against the idea of a relationship. Satoshi also made sure that Irie didn't cross any lines when going after her; after Satoshi disappeared, Irie ceased his attempts until Satoko herself encouraged him.

Everyone is wearing different outfits - the new ones are more or less the same pieces of clothing as the original "position" but with the color palette and general feel of the character filling the slot. For example, Reina's casual outfit starts as Keiichi's - a vest, undershirt, and shorts (and no hat) - but then is adjusted to fit Rena's style and is given a white, light blue, and purple palette. My attempts at mocking up Reina and Mion's designs are below.

[zenosanalytic]

I've seen GTA art a couple of times on this blog. How'd you get into the series?

When I was but a young snek I was an avid reader of computer, game, and rpg hobby magazines. I wasn’t really that involved in most of them as hobbies, like I read White Dwarf for years before I ever got around to actually buying a Games Workshop game or its miniatures, and, while I did play video games pretty regularly, I kinda had the same approach to gaming mags: I was completely happy to just read about games in their reviews without often having any interest in actually buying them myself. So, I read about the early top-down GTA games in gaming mags and thought they were pretty cool from a design perspective and, if they played into the 80s and 90s crime-hysteria a bit too much for my complete liking, they tried to do it with a sense of satire and parody that made it a bit easier to abide.

The first GTA I actually played(and thought was worth actually getting) was Vice City, because it was just too big a sendup of 80s tropes, USian society(and it’s particular obsessions/self-delusions), crummy cop shows like Miami Vice, Mob cliches, Action movies, and Hollywood stock-characters/locations/plots for me to resist. And, yes, because driving around without compunction for safety or care for yourself and reflexively shooting things and people over even the slightest imagined insult/heedless whim can be pretty entertaining. And then I found that it had all these little probably unintentional sources of humor in it(like the whole not being able to swim thing, which led to hours of overproud mobster improv humor, or driving around on the pizza-delivery vespa being super-aggressive to drivers and pedestrians, or that thing where, even if you just barely bump a motorcycle rider, they go flying forward off their vehicle, and plenty of other things I’m probably forgetting), even if it was also kinda racist and sexist. Also the soundtrack was amazing.

So I decided to give San Andreas a shot off of how much I liked Vice City, and found myself playing, basically, an Elder Scrolls style modern-setting RPG(with a truly AWESOME soundtrack). I just loved all the character- and world-building elements(the stats and gyms to build them in, all the different weapons to get good with, the eating requirement, how the way you played led to CJ making different sorts of comments thereby directly building his character in a really simple, organic way, the territory mechanic), even if the girlfriend mechanic was skeezy as hell. From a game-design standpoint is was just Really Great, and the setting was just as well-realized a send-up of 90s USian cultural failings and obsessions -from home invasion hysteria, to police violence and corruption, to hippie stereotypes, to casino movies, to conspiracy and cryptid theories- as Vice City had been of the 80s, and it was filled with all sorts of cool mysteries and hidden bits to run down and self-generated objectives to pursue(like finding all the enterable buildings, or climbing things, or seeing how crazy a jump you can do off the Hills above town, or swimming, or doing all the races). And the writing for CJ(and in general) was both really great and well delivered by an excellent cast.

So San Andreas is my favorite and CJ is basically my Ideal of what a GTA protagonist/modern-setting RPG protag/player-characterized protag can be, even if you do feel kinda railroaded into doing all the missions and side-missions, regardless of how you feel about them. Vice City was fine and GTA IV was great from a design perspective(and I still play it sometimes), but I never really got as into either of them as I was into San Andreas, nor did I find Niko as compelling as I did CJ(though I REALLY LIKED the pool minigame in GTA IV; they did a good job with that one[compared to other games, obvsl]). As for GTA V, I’m still waiting for a good price on steam to buy it, but @cephiedvariable has been ruthlessly posting incredibly cute/funny/affecting fanart from the game for the last… 6 months or so???… and I am simply Powerless to resist reblogging it u_u

I do feel that it’s time they gave us a female protag, though, or at least a female option for the protag. That’s the one thing I feel like the Saints’ Row franchise really has over GTA u_u u_u