#Its really not worth it to argue about it

[rassicas]

are you in the opinion that inkfish (ig really just inklings) are viviporus, oviparus, or ovoviviparous? ovoviviparous would make sense seeing theyre trying to "imitate" humans to some respect but still have squidlike features... but as far as i know we only have proof as to where octarians come from and no proof as to if inklings do the same

reproduction lore posting 🔥🔥🔥 i see them as egg layers. maybe them being ovoviviparous could work maybe but??? idk, eggs have to be involved. also them being egg layers is weird and i like when inkfish are Weird. I've gotten into this topic before on this blog but it's been a couple years and i think it's worth rehashing First thing to address: bellybuttons. They have them and I hate it almost as much as i hate that they have breasts. i think both are just a result of "imitating" humans in universe, and for design reasons so they don't come off as too uncanny to us, the human playerbase. which is just cowardice to me but okay.<3 In this concept art for Callie in the Art of Splatoon 2 i think this is the only time bellybuttons are addressed, in the top right corner:

"I realized this while drawing, but inklings have bellybuttons..."

that really sounds like it was a design choice that wasn't thought about that deeply...

now there's 2 things that make me believe they have to come from eggs. first from the first artbook:

This is the growth cycle of a squid from its larval to juvenile stages.

larvae come from eggs.

second, this excerpt from the Splatune album jacket about the Calamari Inkantation.

Of course, when we talk about these girls, we can't leave out the "Calamari Inkantation" which is both heavenly to listen to and heavenly to sing. This song, which is also used as the train melody for the Inkopolis Line, is imprinted in the DNA of all Inklings. The sea is our mother, the place where all of life hatched from, and the place where there is no way to return. Since ancient times, this song has been filled with the swirling feelings of "love" and "reverence" towards the sea.

I translated this myself, the word there is specifically "hatched" like from an egg, and not a general term for being born.

One could argue that since this is referring to the squids of the past, it might not apply to modern inkfish. But still real life cephalopods lay eggs, and I don't think it'd be out of the question for modern inkfish to do the same. There are other sapient species that didn't "evolve out" of egg-laying, evidenced by Nishida's 247 siblings and this scroll on coconut crabs.

Regarding Octarians, Octolings develop in the same way Inklings do. so they too would likely come from eggs.

we're ignoring this because 1. it's clearly just concept art that 2. has more recent evidence going against this being the norm for octoling development. I think this is just a weird edge case or just straight up not canon.

baby marina matching the 3rd stage of inkling development shown on the above chart while paul looks like the 4th stage. There's also smollusk that looks like the first stage/ a real octopus paralarva, but since it's a digital entity, who knows how valid that is? Also, Mashup/Warabi from Diss-pair was also confirmed in Ordertune to have come from the same hometown as Acht (the underground) and was described in Haikara Walker as having parents. So Octoling development=Inkling development=eggs??? finally, not 100% if this is what you're asking but as for cut-tentacle Octarians, but with Inklings, this has come up...once

-- But the Octarians like the Octotroopers...? Amano: That's a different thing. Inoue: All together they're part of the Octarian species, but Octarians like the Octotroopers are a separate thing.  --Does that mean that there are some squids that can't take a humanoid form? Inoue: So far, none have been discovered. There may be some somewhere, though

I think the "there may be some somewhere" is just keeping it vague in case they wanna use that idea. but i seriously doubt they will at this point. the concept behind octarians is that octopuses have basically tiny brains in each of their arms, so those tentacle octarians are like if their arms grew into a separate being. Real squids are not built like that, and we even see in game inklings having less movement in their tentacles, and use more styles that cut into their tentacles compared to octolings.

ok that's all TL;DR EGG SUPREMACY 🔥🔥🔥

[chkinpotpie]

I feel things in a big way and have for as long as I can remember.

One of my earliest memories is seeing the world behind the protection of my mom's long and sturdy legs. She was larger than life and shielded me from the loud world coming at me. She was a fireball. She walked into a room and owned it. She could talk to anyone as if she had known them their whole life. I remember watching from behind her legs -seeing her interact with people and being in awe of her ability to connect with people from all walks of life. She was magnetic. People who got pulled into her field were changed forever. She saw no color, no dollar signs, no religion, no gender, no sexual preference, no judgment. She was pure goodness. I cannot say enough good things about her. She chose me, and I am so lucky she did.

About six months before she passed away, we rented a cabin at Rough River. Just the two of us. A "girl's weekend." We packed a cooler with filets and lobster tails. We brought a couple of bottles of wine, a deck of cards, and our swimsuits. We planned on indulging in all the good stuff—food, alcohol, gambling, and gossiping. On our way to our cabin, we stopped to get a few last-minute supplies at the local gas station in the middle of nowhere, Kentucky. My mom was pumping the gas as I returned with the provisions. A man a few pumps over said, "Elaine?!" That was my mom's name. We both turned, and she said, "Earl?!" running to the man as if he was her long-lost cousin. I stood, stuffing Hot Tamales in my mouth, watching the scene unfold.

My mom knew Earl from our local Bingo hall, where she volunteered once a week for the temple fundraiser. After working all day, she would walk back and forth for four hours at Bingo, selling pull tabs. She knew everyone, and everyone knew her. She didn't just know people, though—she KNEW them. The names of their kids, where they grew up, what TV show they were currently into, what beauty salon they went to, etc. So while I was surprised she knew some random guy named Earl out in the middle of BFE, Kentucky, hours from home and on our first visit to this area, I was not really shocked.

I needed someone so fierce to protect me from the world. It was too loud and scary when I was a child. She gave me the time I needed to understand it all, or at least think I did. She gave me the time I needed to build up my own protection. She certainly continues to provide me strength to this day. I know she is watching over me, and I draw on her strength more and more as we enter these challenging times.

I do not feel as deeply as I used to, but I still feel very deeply. I feel other people's energy, as if their souls are speaking to me in a language that has no words—just vibrations and feelings. Lately, I have felt a heaviness like I have never experienced. So many people are feeling scared, uncertain, angry, and confused. I feel it on my chest, like someone's foot is there, pushing their heel into my rib cage. It's tough to not feel this way when every time you turn on the news or check social media, there is an astonishing development that feels otherworldly. Like, seriously, how did we get here? I suspect we have always been on this path—greed, the quest for power, lust for control. I think we have been here for a long time, but as time goes on, the path is no longer a dirt road. It is a moving sidewalk with LED displays and state-of-the-art sound systems. It is information flooding our brains at ridiculous rates every day. It is accelerating in its growth. It is gaining power and momentum.

Fear is what it eats for dinner. Hate is a piece of warm apple pie for dessert. Division is a cup of espresso in the morning. Lack of compassion is a piece of wood-oven-baked pizza, and lack of empathy is a cold beer on the side. Making sure we do not remember our worth is guacamole, and arguing with random strangers on the internet is the chips and salsa. Forgetting that most of us want the same things is a pickle on the side of a corned beef sandwich.

Do not feed the fear. Our energy, our emotions, our thoughts are what create our world. Our inner voice narrates our life and shapes our reality. Realize you have a choice in who and what you let in. If you let someone or something in and it makes you feel scared and hopeless, and you don't want to feel those emotions, then do not let them in. Your energy is your own. It is precious. You are precious. Remember your worth. Remember a time when you knew how special you were. There was no question. Do things that remind you how incredible you are. Lean into your self-care, into moments that light your soul on fire.

Do not fall into the biggest trap fear has set for us all. Just because we are on the "good" side does not mean we should speak poorly about the "bad" side. We certainly CAN speak poorly about the "bad" side. It is hard not to in these crazy times we are living in. We are charged with emotion, and it needs to be released somewhere. Bad-mouthing the bad, however, only makes the bad grow. It feeds off the negative energy, even if the negative energy is being expressed for good reason. Do not feed the fear.

Instead, I invite you to join me and draw on my Mom's strength. You can hide behind her legs, build up your protective shield and strength until you are ready. Then you can lean into the feeling my mom and I had on our girl's weekend. Not a care in the world, as we sipped our Cabernet and dined on our grilled surf-n-turf. The next day, we floated in the lake for hours, playing "I Never" and talking about everything under the sun. That night, we went to the local church Bingo. Earl had told my mom about it and said he might be there. We pulled up to the quintessential little white country church. There were about 12 cars in the parking lot. We walked in, and the music stopped, and everyone looked up at us. Everyone, being about 25 people, including the caller. We got our cards and started playing, giggling to each other about the wild situations we get ourselves into. The top prize of the night was a $250 jackpot, the last game, and a coverall. Well, we won the damn jackpot. The locals, who had probably been attending this Bingo game for 50 years, were not happy. We quickly got paid and left a trail of dust as we screeched away and headed back to our cabin, counting our cash and dancing and just loving each other.

#Love is always the answer

#itsgoingtobeokay

#createyourreality

[luvst4rc0r3]

If you're interested in a bsd request

Dazai’s suicide attempts keep getting interrupted by Reader barging in and dragging them into the most ridiculous. arguments and then the mending that he comes with them to the computer so they can look up the answer to the question they're arguing about. Successfully distracting him before he can drink poison or hurting himself. Little does he know that was Reader's secret plan all along!

“The art of distraction”

Dazai x Reader

The room was dim, just the flicker of a lamp illuminating the small, quiet space. Dazai sat on the floor, staring at the small bottle of poison in his hands. His fingers traced the edge of it as if trying to decide whether today would be the day. The darkness of his mind crept in again, and the familiar numbness filled his chest.

But just as he was about to tip the bottle to his lips, a loud bang from the door echoed through the room.

“Dazai! You won’t believe this!” You barged into the room without hesitation, a flurry of energy as you stomped in, completely oblivious to the fact that he was about to end it all.

His gaze flicked over to you, the poison still in his hand. His face fell into its usual mask, though the pain behind his eyes was impossible to hide. “You’ve got terrible timing, [Name].”

“Timing? No way!” You scoffed, dramatically placing your hands on your hips. “I need your help with something very important, and you’re coming with me.”

Dazai blinked. “Important? Right now?”

“Yes! Right now,” you said firmly. Before he could even protest, you walked right up to him, grabbed the bottle from his hand, and yanked him to his feet. “No more of this self-pity nonsense. I need you to help me figure out if penguins are technically birds or if they’re some kind of sea creature.”

“…What?” Dazai stared at you, incredulous.

“I mean, seriously! We need to settle this debate! You can’t leave me hanging!” You pulled him out of the room before he could voice any more objections, dragging him toward the computer.

He stumbled behind you, still dazed and now thoroughly confused. “You’re dragging me to look up penguin classifications?” His voice was full of disbelief, but the edge of bitterness in his tone had softened.

“Absolutely. It’s vital.” You plopped him in front of the computer, forcing him to sit down. “I’ve been arguing with Atsushi for days. He thinks penguins are just ‘cute sea birds.’ But I know there’s more to it! Now, type it in and let’s end this, once and for all!”

Dazai sat in front of the computer, running his fingers through his messy hair. He stared at the screen in front of him, completely caught off guard by your sheer determination to distract him. “Is this really what we’re doing right now?” He let out a small, defeated laugh. “I thought you were going to stop me from doing something foolish, not… start a ridiculous debate.”

“Well,” you said with a sly smile, “a debate is way more fun than the alternative.”

His eyes softened, just a little, though his usual smirk remained in place. “You really think arguing about penguins is going to save me, huh?”

“Why not?” You gave him a look that was equal parts sarcastic and sincere. “Maybe it’ll remind you that there’s something worth sticking around for. Even if it’s just a penguin debate.”

Dazai stared at you for a long moment, as if weighing the depth of your words, but before he could say anything, the computer beeped with the results.

“See? Penguins are birds, but they’re not just sea creatures,” you declared triumphantly, pointing at the screen. “They’re a whole thing, and now we know.”

Dazai chuckled softly, shaking his head. “I still can’t believe you managed to distract me with something like this. You’re too clever, [Name].”

“Maybe,” you said with a grin, “but I’d rather use my powers of distraction for something more… productive. Like keeping you alive and arguing about penguins.”

He leaned back in his chair, his posture relaxing slightly as he allowed himself to smile. “I suppose I should thank you for that. You’ve got an odd way of pulling me out of my own darkness.”

You shrugged. “I’ve got my methods. And they involve penguins. Who knew?”

Dazai let out a genuine laugh, something rare and pure. “I suppose it’s a good thing you barged in when you did.”

“See?” you teased. “I’m basically a superhero.”

And for the first time in a while, Dazai didn’t feel quite so alone in the darkness.

this is kinda a silly fic

I want food

[businesstiramisu]

spoilers for today's redactle but this is actually pretty interesting (to me)

#although since redactle pulled its database article wikipedia has changed policy & now the page for Lydia only has its name in greek#not its own script#smh

This whole "Defining Lydia" section is gone from the current article. The stuff about the language grouping got moved to the "Language" subheader, which makes sense. But all this endonym/exonym stuff is completely gone!! The string "Śfard" appears nowhere in the current Wikipedia page, neither do any examples of the Lydian script. I think that's a shame, I like to know about endonyms when I'm reading about groups of people on Wikipedia.

Also hey סְפָרַד I see you. That's right, the Lydians were the original Sephardim 😎

(Before anyone takes that joke too literally -- the Lydian name matches a name in the Bible that got re-analyzed to apply to Spain in Medieval times. Same thing happened with Ashkenaz for Germany, and a bunch of others I'm not remembering off the top of my head.)

But we're going back out of parenthesis b/c the reason I'm linking to the Ashkenaz wiki page and not the Sefarad one is that someone's been taking an axe to it repeatedly to minimize any discussion of "Sepharad" ever referring to something other than the Iberian peninsula. Now, maybe the connection between Biblical Sepharad and Lydian Sfard doesn't have strong enough support for wikipedia, I'm sure not an ANE scholar and can't say. This random abstract I found calls it "The most widely accepted hypothesis" but idk maybe that's not good enough to be worth discussing on wikipedia. I really don't go here, and I'm sure not touching the Sepharad page with a ten foot pole.

But back to the "Lydia" page, can we at least have the endonym mentioned somewhere on the page? It's not like it was wrong (e.g. a book on jstor giving the same endonym), so I guess it's just been decided that endonyms are out of scope on Wikipedia articles? sadge...

OH WAIT.

Found the edit that took it out.

Well okay sure I can't argue political boundaries, as mentioned I do NOT go here, but this seems like a dumb reasons to scrub all uses of the Lydian script from the page about Lydia?! The Jstor thing I linked earlier says:

The language of ancient Lydia is known as Lydian, its attested endonym sfardeti-, ‘Sardian’ takes its name after the Lydian capital Sardis (Lyd. sfar-).

I can't read the full book so maybe it doesn't defend that endonym applying to the whole of Lydia.... idk... I'd still want it on the page. At the very least it seems to apply to speakers of Lydian(/Sardian)??? ...and yeah the string 𐤮𐤱𐤠𐤭𐤣𐤠 doesn't appear on the page for the language either :/

Redactle is fun

HAH. Of course, "is" is one of their gimme words so when you open the page and see "Is-█████ ███████" there's a really obvious guess lol

(and yesterday I got the founder of the FBI with the minimum guess count, because I thought "haha █. █████ ██████ looks like J. Edgar Hoover, let's try that")

and a week or so ago I got Arthur Schopenhauer in 8 guesses....mostly because you guys were talking about him on here so he was near the top of my mind. I actually don't know shit about Schopenhauer

[feastingonchrist]

this is actually insane 😭 so because i don’t support progressive Christianity (is what i’m assuming what this is about) and actually follow the bible i’m not actually following the One True God? Even though it’s Jesus Christ i follow. And i acknowledge that He is the Son of God, the Messiah, who died for our sins & reconciliation back to God who was buried and rose again and is seated at the right hand of the Father who will come back to judge the living and the dead one day? Jesus IS LOVE but He isn’t ever going to accept sin because that wouldn’t be loving. He has set boundaries for all of us BECAUSE He loves us. But because i don’t fit your definition of who Jesus is, you assume i’m following the devil? Yeah um no! I know exactly who i follow and as a matter of fact, i wouldn’t have been transformed or have been experiencing so much of God’s goodness and grace upon me for the last 4 years and particularly right now as He’s been blessing me greatly in this season i’m in. I respect people’s opinions but i don’t appreciate these weak and false accusations. I really don’t respect people using an incorrect, made up identity of who Jesus is to further their political agenda to promote lawlessness without any boundaries or means of authority. Radicalization is dangerous for our country. I have explained myself in the tags on my previous post and my opinion is a fair one at that. Also: i think people can live their lives however they see fit. It’s not my place to impose my beliefs on anyone nor do i think that’s appropriate. I don’t hate anybody. But i do think we all need Christ because He is the way, the truth, and the life. I believe in the Bible and recognize it’s authority and truth. Being “open minded” is not Biblical. Jesus is not “open minded”. He is Holy. He is the Lord. He doesn’t compromise. We are to follow Him with reverence, respect, love, and die to ourselves daily. But again, you have every right to think however you want. As do i. I think that’s fair. Jesus has changed my life and i have never felt more at peace than i do now. It’s just so beyond frustrating to me when people see what i have written and twist it into something else and accuse me of not actually knowing Christ because “God is love” or “love thy neighbor”. I agree with that TOO, obviously. But love, something God created, is defined by HIS STANDARDS, not the world’s. People don’t understand that and misinterpret the Bible and don’t get the fullness of the truth, who God is, Jesus’ identity or the fullness of the Gospel. These are the fundamentals of Christianity. They are NOT secondary or tertiary issues. These are step 1. They are serious. We cannot redefine what Christianity is to suit our desires/thoughts. We must be transformed by the Gospel. Otherwise, it’s not Christianity. And that’s just the truth. You can’t deconstruct and reconstruct a 2000+ year old (and older than that pre-Christ) religion full of history and the character and miracles and of God because God is the same today, yesterday and forever. You either choose Him, follow the Truth, the Word or you don’t. You can’t even do that with any other major world religion. It’s way less accepted, promoted or encouraged. I wish people would stop doing it to Christianity. I also decided not to respond to the person bc i don’t want any back and forth drama nor do i think it’s worth addressing because they’ve already made their mind up about me. With that being said: i encourage everyone to pray for this person. I have done so myself. I did want to share this though and i may delete it soon.

[ganondoodle]

with every thing i learn about what the directors of totk said in interviews it all just gets worse huh?

the thing about the shiekah tech just vanishing and nobody caring enough to look into it was already rough and now i learn they said that -after botw zelda wondered if hyrule as a kingdom was still needed but then totk happens- just sounds like she wondered if hyrule as a kingdom still needed to exist in the way it had been (which would be an interesting change for once and also make sense for her character) and then they took her back into the distant past with the super good guy king of a godly race to teach her the lesson what her place is and that yes, their monarchy needed and good and really given to her by "gods" and what if big evil black man shows up again

i dont have the energy to get into it further but needed to say soemthing about it bc it keeps bothering me :(

[masterfuldoodler]

If half alive has 1000 fans I am one of them. If half alive has 1 fan, I am that fan

[xysidhequeen]

Did Jason open up his trauma to Jazz? Since she is the group team mom

Oh my Ancients, yes. She cracked that boy open like a walnut. It took a bit, but Jazz reminds him somewhat of Barbara and Harley, so he warmed up to her fairly quickly overall. She really taught him what it's like to have a big sibling(sorry, I love Dick but he was a shit older brother before Jason died).

Jason will talk to Jazz about things he'd never say to anyone else. He actually opens up to Ember and Kitty too, but they're more for when he wants someone to cry with and to have get all enraged on his behalf. Jazz is who he talks to when he wants to fix it.

It wasn't always like that. He had to learn how to differentiate. Had to learn when he needed help, when he had things that needed to be fixed. He had to unlearn the emotional constipation and phobia of talking about his feelings he learned from Bruce too. But Jazz is used to dealing with teenage boys who won't admit they're hurting even on pain of death. She's good at subtly working their pain out and helping them confront it. (She learned a lot from helping Danny and from her Psych classes so she's more crafty about it too)

Jazz is one of the biggest reasons Jason is as stable and emotionally healthy as he is. He's not healed completely. He won't be until he gets closure with Bruce and the Joker. And there's some things that will always stick around. Trauma leaves scars. But without Jazz, we wouldn't have the Jason we do in TKAHRK we'd have someone far closer to the Jason from UTRH.

[qoldenskies]

You know, I think it’s kinda funny (in an ironic, kinda hypocritical way) that smiley is so insistent on Leo forgiving Draxum so easily. Like, yes Leo I know he tried to murder you, and that was really the first time any of us were in real danger, but he’s changed now! Why are you being so stubborn?

Nice Mikey. Real smooth lol

honestly its one of those things that uncomfortably can remind you that mikey here is just 13 years old. he's not an emotionally intuitive therapist friend, he's occasionally very condescending in an attempt and he doesn't really understand the core of problems that he tries to fix. really ive always seen his vested interest in draxum starting as more of a "look how good i am by being able to reform this bad guy" and turning into actual compassion and care as he gets to know him, which would explain why he acts so unserious about it at the start lmao

he does try to push splinter to forgive draxum too, and its clear splinter's mutation created this horrendous body dysmorphia for him that was a big reason for his depression. it also ruined his life!! mikey is not old enough to understand how complicated that really is, he doesn't know why everyone cant just get along!!!

even as he's growing, i dont think he really understands why leo is so upset about the roof thing, and why that's something that's genuinely traumatic for him. for now at leWhat who said that

mikey's doing decently in cc, but that's because he's been really LISTENING to april (who's just a kid too, but she is trying SO hard and that sources from guilt and a misplaced feeling of responsibility of her own. she even mentioned she was doing research) and he's being cautious, which isn't. something he is normally at all, this has completely uprooted his perception of himself and he's struggling to stand upright again. honestly i think he's going to have the closest thing to positive character development out of everyone in cc, the rest of them figure it out but theyre all carrying this irreversible Sadness. mikey does too, but he really grows up. sucks that he has to, though.

although i dont think leo in ME was correct either. they absolutely should have gotten draxum. mikey just wasn't the best person to argue that point because the situation needed a more logical approach and that isn't his thing

[oceanwithouthermoon]

Haiiiii, do you hate people like this

Like bro that's so mean, like just respect what people do

LMFAOOOOO YEAH. i see these on pinterest allll the time.. pinterest is like a hole for people to either steal content or make weird 'controversial' posts like that, its pretty funny.. i mostly use the app for photography and art references, but i run into these quite a bit..

ive had a few arguments with people in the comments of posts like these ngl HAHA

most of them are just people who are stereotyping aroace people which im obviously especially bothered by since im aroace- i really dont like when people insist that saiki has to be aroace because he fits their stereotypical view on aroace people..

[gothteddiesdotcom]

I think that part of what like. kills me about the whole media literacy and critical thinking aspect of enjoying media these days is that people refuse to like. contextualize that

A. Bad media can still hold significant meaning to people

B. Media made for a demographic you aren’t apart of is not inherently bad media

C. Media made for and consumed by the opposite demographic is not inherently shallow or flawed nor is it above criticism for its media tropes either.

[humornaut]

My Journey with Omori

Hey everyone. Rather than my usual analysis-type posts, this is going to go into my own personal experience with Omori. I've kind of wanted to do this for awhile, because I feel like I have a lot that I want to say about this game. This post is going to have major Omori spoilers. I will also be going into some criticisms of the game (though not particularly heavily). This one will be a long one.

My Background

This might not be something that people care about, but I feel it is important to start with my life situation at the time I discovered the game.

In 2020, I graduated from college with a degree in game design. If you remember 2020, you can probably guess where I'm going with this. Everyone left for spring break, and the day before we were supposed to come back, they extended break by a week. Then, at the end of that additional week, classes had gone fully remote. My three roommates at the time never really came back to campus, and I finished out the lease alone. I never got to do any kind of internship, and I didn't get a graduation ceremony. I really didn't know what I was doing with my life, and finding a job in the games industry seemed impossible. So, I made a decision to move in with my aunt and work at an insurance agency. I was states away from anyone I ever knew, working in an industry wholly unrelated to what I had just dedicated years of my life to studying, but it was a job.

I wonder a lot if this was the right call. At the time, it seemed like an obvious decision, but now, I'm even more unsure of my skills when it comes to breaking into the games industry, and working 40+ hours a week can really sap your motivation when it comes to personal projects.

As the world opened back up, I started hearing from all my friends less and less, and life really started getting monotonous. Living alone is expensive, and I'm not good at opening up to new people.

Last November, by chance, a comic by twitter user Shrimperini appeared on my feed (it's still the pinned tweet on her account if you want to see!). One thing led to another, I saw some more positive reviews of the game, and I ended up picking the game up on Switch when I saw at on sale at a Best Buy.

Now, anyone that knows me could tell you, this isn't the type of game I usually play. I've always gravitated towards things like strategy games or rogue-likes. I only really stray from that in a few cases, whether it's to play a game with my friends, or just a game that I've had a long-standing connection with, like Pokémon. I did play Undertale and Deltarune (and loved them!), but overall, this type of game was not one that I typically went out of my way to play.

Also important: I've never interacted with any fandom in the way that I do with Omori. You can trawl through my Twitter, you won't find much of me talking about ships or obsessing over details until I started talking about Omori. All this is to say: Omori was a bit of a first for me on a few different levels. So, let's get into my actual journey with the game.

The First Playthrough: The Sunny Route

I unfortunately already knew a few details about the game going into things, but nothing that was too big of a spoiler. Something that I think gets overlooked is how great Omori's prologue is. In my opinion, the first night in Headspace is the best night in Headspace, bar none. It perfectly sets you up for what the game's going to be about, and I want to talk more about that later, because I feel that it really shines on later playthroughs.

Based on what I said about my background, you can probably guess what I'm going to say. Sunny's story and personality resonated heavily with me. At school, I was always the quiet one, just kind of following what my friends wanted to do until I started coming out of my shell a bit later on. Faraway is very similar to the town and suburb that I grew up in, and I know that many people feel the same way. Walking around Faraway felt like walking around my own home town today, years after almost everyone I knew back then has moved out and started their own lives. I mean this literally, as well, since I started playing this game right around American Thanksgiving, so I actually was back in my home town. It's nostalgic in a way, and I think that that is a major strength of the game.

I also do want to say, that while a Kel/Sunny comic is what introduced me to the game, I mostly assumed that it wasn't actually a canon ship. What I didn't expect was for the game to actually depict a close male relationship that does border on romantic in its presentation, which made those opening transition scenes of Sunny and Basil so interesting (as well as Basil indirectly calling Omori cute during the flower meaning segment), though I do want to talk a little bit more about that later.

From there, I feel that my experience was a lot like most people's first time with the game. I got to experience Faraway, then tried to rush through Night 2 of Headspace without paying much attention, so that I could get back to the real world plot. I didn't pay much attention during Sweetheart's Castle, and it's already-commented-on gameplay drag issues felt exacerbated by the fact that I just wanted to get on with it.

Real world day 2 happens, I got to meet Hero in the real world, Basil gets pushed into the lake, etc, etc. The shroud has started to lift on what's actually going on here. The North Lake segment got me ready to figure out what was actually going on, but first: Last Resort and Humphrey.

It was around this time that I began wondering if there actually was any kind of gay subtext actually going on. Of course, I had seen the Lost Library entry for the ride home from the beach, but as I descended into Sunny's subconscious, the way that the game started talking about Basil took on a much different tone. I got to the Branch Coral, and listened to it talk about how Sunny and Basil are connected by a "string of fate". This immediately set off some alarm bells in my head. A lot of debate has been had about this line, but for me personally, even if a string of fate isn't always romantic imagery, it certainly is most of the time. Seeing it written in the game (as something that Sunny's subconscious is saying, no less) completely had me reconsidering if there was a connection, which I hadn't really thought about since Basil's disappearance. I thought about the photo album, and how well Basil is treated in Headspace, and it just had me thinking.

I got through Humphrey, finished up the side quests that I still had, and it was time to start Black Space. Prior to that, however, Stranger lead me through Basil's garden once again, going over the flower meanings. I took note about how the meaning of sunflowers, as it was the first time I made the connection about Sunny's name and Basil's meaning for them (plus him literally always facing Sunny in several scenes lol). And then there was what Basil said about white tulips.

Being honest, it was difficult for me to interpret Basil as not being in love with Sunny after that, and Stranger's dialogue in some of the Black Space rooms really cemented that for me.

Black Space as a whole left me extremely intrigued as to what the plan was. The way it ended really left me in suspense for what was really going on. How did it all relate to what happened to Mari? I had already assumed at this point that she had taken her own life, due to some of the imagery. But what else was going on here? I didn't exactly think the game was going to veer back from being a horror title to turn into some kind of dating sim, but it was clear to me that Basil was involved with some other secret.

In a reversal of what I had expected of the game up until this point, I found it difficult to care about the real world plot of the game during day 3. It didn't help that it felt like a rushed resolution of the Aubrey plot, and I felt like I was simply going through the motions. I still have no idea how I'm supposed to interpret the key in the treehouse and how it got there, and it felt a little aggravating that plans were being made between Aubrey and Hero to include the hooligans next time, while Basil himself was still locked in his room.

So then, the truth sequence. It completely blew away my expectations for what the game was saying, and recontextualized so much of what came before it. Sunny had done something awful by accident, and Basil had done something awful to protect him. That last "Do you want to save Basil?" really hit me hard. I hadn't felt so part of the game until this moment. It was like I was Sunny, and I was mulling over whether or not I forgive Basil for the horrible situation his actions put us both in. The stakes are high, because it's clear that something bad will happen to Basil if I don't. I didn't actually know it at the time, but this is the first time you can actually choose not to save Basil. It's emotional.

And the fight. The way the game creates confusion as to what is actually going on between Sunny and Basil during it by using vague wording and hallucinations. Basil's desperation and the way his desire to protect Sunny as his "perfect" best friend come together, leading to the fight.

Memory Lane happens, and I honestly didn't think much of it at the time. It was cool to see some of the memories in better detail, but it wasn't as emotional to me as what came before or what will come after.

I would be remiss to not include that we learn that it was actually Sunny that had a crush on Aubrey, and not the other way around. I had already suspected this, based on Aubrey not being close to him in the photo album, along with the Lost Library memory, but I remember thinking it was an interesting choice to have Basil be the one to call it out.

I finished up the game, and it impacted me a whole lot. I wasn't planning on playing the other route at first, as I heard that it was just Headspace and mostly unchanged, and I felt satisfied with the story that I got. I walked away with the understanding that pre-canon, Basil had feelings for Sunny that he likely didn't understand, while Sunny had a crush on Aubrey that he was never bold enough to pursue. How they felt at the time the game actually took place is irrelevant to the story being told, outside of us understanding that these are relatable individuals, and I walked away alright with that.

Of course, after that initial wave of emotions from the ending subsided, I did have some criticisms. Sunny's actual friendship with Aubrey felt underdeveloped, as her behavior both in Headspace and the real world differ so heavily from how she behaves in the glimpses we see of the past. Unlike Sunny's relationships with the others, there's no real unique identifiers other than Sunny's crush. While I would not have wanted the only living female character in the main cast to have been treated as a love interest in both the real world and dream world, it would have been nice if the game gave us a little more than just the swing set conversations, like how we get Kel talking about their late night trips to Hobbeez. In addition, while I understood on a base level that whether or not Basil and Sunny are forgiven didn't really matter to the story being told, not seeing it happen left me feeling a tad empty.

Finally, I felt extremely dissatisfied with Headspace. On a superficial level, I could see that many of the things in Headspace were based on things from the real world, it didn't really feel like it had all that much significance, and the knowledge that it would be more of the same in the other route kept me from playing it. I occasionally visited the subreddit, read a few post-canon fics (Bask in the Sun by Lemari and They say Flowers are Meant to be Sunkissed by Witherdahlia being highlights with very similar concepts), and slowly immersed myself in the Twitter community.

Of course, as time went by, I started making my own interpretations about the game. I got very attached to Sunflower, as I felt the fics were the most interesting to read, and I already held the interpretation that Basil had those feelings for Sunny, even if I didn't think it even mattered if Sunny reciprocated (though I did like talking about their dynamic a lot). In February, Sunflower week happened, and I randomly happened across a tweet that pointed out how Sunny knows the recipe for a strawberry cake in Headspace, with that being relevant due to Basil's birthday being one in which a strawberry cake appears. This blew my mind a little bit, and I made the decision to go back and play the Hikikomori route.

The Second Playthrough: The Hikikomori Route

What I had previously assumed would be a slog through things that I had already done before turned out to be far more interesting. Without the desire to get back to the real world plot hanging over me, I found myself paying a lot more attention to the things that were happening in Headspace. Playing the prologue again was amazing, because I was taken aback by how it practically parallels the entirety of the Sunny route, right down to having to retrieve a stolen item and receiving an eyepatch after the boss fight. Some day, I might break that down further, because it's so interesting. But not today.

Pyrefly Forest and Sweetheart's Castle were much more bearable this time around, because I was paying attention to the little references to Basil and Sunny's friendship in Pyrefly, and the ways Sweetheart's Castle represented a candied-up version of the way that Sunny interprets the concept of "home". This time through Headspace, I saw the very subtle ways that Basil's thoughts "follow Sunny into his dreams". And then, rather than Mari leading you through North Lake, it's Kel. Stranger no longer tells us what Basil thought about white tulips and Sunny, but this time in Black Space, I noticed the implications that Sunny would open up to Basil about his trauma coming from the Lake Incident. It ends with Omori catching Basil in a bridal carry before returning his flower crown.

Whereas the Sunny route was this heart wrenching tale about forgiveness and guilt, and overcoming your fears for others, and how ignorance hurts those you care about the most, the Hikikomori route functioned almost as this deep dive into Sunny's subconscious. The fact that I was playing through pretty much the exact same stuff again but with a completely different perspective kind of blew my mind, and I wonder if this was intentional.

This is all to say that it was around this time that I was once again asking myself the question of if Sunny's feelings for Basil (at least pre-canon) were entirely platonic. Especially as I played the Basil Rush, with its new Tag Photos and Release Energy, I wondered if the game was actually trying to imply a romantic connection. And if it was, why? What purpose would it serve in the narrative for these feelings to exist? How does it relate to Sunny's crush on Aubrey, which surely must've existed in the story for a reason? And how does it all relate to the litany of things Sunny things about in regards to romance?

From a narrative perspective, I could reason that Sunny and Basil having feelings for each other that they could never healthily explore injects further tragedy into the day of the incident and Sunny locking himself away. It provides a context for Sunny's focus on "saving" Basil, both in Headspace and the real world. Basil is undeniably linked to photos and flowers, which are two huge symbols that appear throughout Sunny's mind.

Everything else is stuff I've already spoken about before. The way Sunny treated Aubrey parallels how he treated Basil, and via both things like his fear of spiders, and the way all the foods Sunny appears to know information on how to prepare being associated with Basil, his dynamic with Basil mirrors the way Sunny thinks of Hero and Mari's relationship during Memory Lane.

Playing through the Hikikomori route completely changed the way that I thought about Omori. It was no longer just the story of Sunny accepting his role in his sister's death, I was also now considering the possibility that the game did have a romantic subtext between its two deuteragonists, and thinking about the repercussions of such an idea.

As I completed everything that there was to do in the Hikikomori route, I was immediately taken in with the idea of replaying the Sunny route, with all the knowledge I now had from my previous experiences. First, let me say: Everything that I assumed about playing through Headspace a second time and was luckily wrong about, actually applied on my third run. I did not enjoy playing through Headspace on my third run through, and it will likely be awhile before I do so again.

However, I did start to get an appreciation for details that I missed in my first run in Faraway. Basil's little mannerisms during cutscenes, such as looking to Sunny before responding to Kel's insistence that they were all still friends, as well as the repetition of Sunny backing away from his friends' pain due to his subconscious guilt and fear of facing it, before the final payoff of Sunny choosing to walk back into the center of the room on his own accord during the confrontation with Basil. During Memory Lane, I took note that in the Treehouse Memory, Sunny asked to see one of Basil's pictures that had nothing to do with Aubrey, when previously he only asked to look at pictures of her. There are three different instances in which the player is reminded that Hero and Mari's relationship specifically is one in which they cook for each other specifically, and this information was now recontextualized with the knowledge that Sunny knows the recipe for a strawberry cake, owns a book about tofu (which he hates), and that's not even getting into all the stuff about smoothies in Headspace. Where Aubrey saying that Sunny "would listen to her talk to hours" was once a confirmation that Aubrey and Sunny did have any kind of dynamic at all, I now saw it as a recontextualization of how we were told Sunny interacted with Basil. (also, the "truth" being hidden in the toy chest, which is itself hidden in the closet was certainly a choice /j)

What was the point of all this?

Frankly, it's starting to feel like I'm running out of things to say about Omori. With every post I've made on here and Twitter, there's less things for me to extrapolate from Omori's storytelling, and it's unlikely that we will ever get any more added on to canon. I've grown to love this community, and I think it's so interesting when I look back at how I interpreted the game back in November when I first discovered it, and today. I hope that that will become evident with the mod that I am working on, Senesce.

Obviously, everyone has their own ideas when it comes to what Omori is trying to imply with its characters. Accepting Sunflower as "canon" (in the sense that those feelings do exist in some form) has deepened my love of the game and characters, and I love that other people can have entirely different interpretations and still be just as satisfied with the game! Even if it was all unintentional, I cannot deny that it has lit a fire under me when it comes to game writing.

I desperately want to create a game that has someone at home obsessing over the smallest details to extract meaning in the way I have for Omori. Flawed as it may be, it's special to me, and I'm glad I played it. Thanks for listening to me ramble about it!

[unopenablebox]

apparently yelling at your parents for posting a bunch of reactionary shit on facebook about how the student protestors are all pathetic snowflakes because they eat gluten-free food and have blue hair and pronouns actually works sometimes? which is good. but oh my god

[fudge24-7]

Wondering if tumblr is really good for me

[sapphire-to-the-rain]

tell me why my comment on drew gooden’s latest AI video from 2 weeks ago has 26 replies nd theyre ALL PEOPLE ARGUING :< LEAVE ME ALONEEE LMAOOOO

[snekdood]

Some of yall deeply underestimate how much some cis men are threatened by trans men and our masculinity. How theres so many cis dudes out there that want to rape us, thinking that will make us detransition. How many incels out there are mad at us for betraying womanhood and not sucking their dick. How much they want to force us to detransition, how much they want to kill us and force us into hiding which, to me, minus well be killing us since theyre smothering who we are for the sake of a status quo. We shake their fundamental understanding of the world. Its one thing for a GIRL to be a tomboy to them. They think its cute, like a baby pretending to be an adult. Its a whole other thing for someone percieved as a woman to try to actually be a man to them. They think thw fact we have the gal to assume we can escape their grasp, to escape the kitchen or whatever tf, means we're disrespecting them and trying to "destroy" them, rather than what it really is, us trying to be independent. We're the exact thing these types of cis men hate. Sometimes they tolerate (emphasis here bc im not saying they accept yall. Dont twist my words)trans women bc they fetishize them but they want to completely eradicate us becayse we threaten the patriarchy by virtue of deciding we dont need a man to take care of us, we want to be the man that takes care of ourselves.