#You remember a past you never lived

[avixthecat]

Anemoia.

[asmilinghopelessromantic]

Anthony: Colin let me give you some advice

Colin: don't fuck it up like you did?

Anthony: ah, yeah that's about right

Colin: Anthony help, I fucked it up

[jackass-jones]

Mizuki and Date though like. Imagine being 8 and your parents are filthy rich and going through a bad divorce. Your mom treats you like shit, lashing out at you, hitting you, saying she wishes you were never born all because you were behaving like a child. Your dad is more comforting, but he doesn’t do anything to stop the abuse and he spends his time invested in a completely different family, a girl who you love and look up to but he loves her more than you and it fucking shows. Then your dads new friend, some fucking bachelor in his late 20s, is just like "wow you guys are the worst fucking parents ive ever seen" and next thing you know your dad is sending you off to live with him. And it’s just a massive kick in the head cuz you go from a rich lifestyle to living in some really shitty tiny ass apartment with this guy who’s clearly never been around a child in his entire life and he doesn’t know how to behave and does a really bad job of censoring himself like he has a bunch of dirty magazines that he can’t hide very well cuz it’s literally a studio apartment and also he talks to himself sometimes, it’s really weird. He doesn’t even have the slightest clue what he’s doing

And he’s the best parent you’ve ever had

Because fuck, it all really hurts. You have to cope with having never received any love from anyone, and with the fact that your parents clearly don’t want you and can’t even be bothered to send you with anyone even kinda responsible. And this guy has a scary job with crazy hours and you don’t know anything about him and neither does he. But still, he never once hits you or tells you you’re not allowed to cry. He just gives you space and doesn’t push you to feel any sort of way about him. And sometimes, he’s even kind. He makes you some stew, even though it’s a bit chunky. He lets you sleep in the bed and takes the couch for himself, even though he complains about the massive back pain he’d never trade his spot for a second. He pays attention to events at your school and gives you your favorite stuffed animal when you make good grades, even though you called it ugly. He gets worried sick when you come home with bruises and puts on a goofy voice and trains you to defend yourself and you develop some highly deadly skills and even though it’s really abnormal, he buys you a bench press so you can get stronger. There’s this distance there, and you feel really weird caring about someone who you aren’t related to, but you find yourself wishing it was meant to be like this all along, that maybe, he’s secretly your real dad and he loves you like his real daughter

And when you say "I’m back" he says "welcome home"

[rosehippiefield]

I don't really like Reko's deaths but demise from her own copy is ironic and bitter. I saw posts somewhere that her doppelganger killing her ties into her arc of starting as rough and becoming kinder and I see the appeal

Like that's her past, who Reko was (not to say she was a horrible person, it's just that she was a bit more selfish and harsh on people, she had flaws she worked on and grew as a person). She changed for better, mellowed out, reflected on her worldview. Reko knows her mistakes, she moved on more or less, she's a different person now! Let past be the past...

But in this case her past literally comes back and kills her. Someone that she no longer is. With flaws she no longer has. As if life hasn't forgotten about how selfish Reko was. It's not like it was irredeemable of fake Reko to kill the real one because the former had identity crisis and a threat of death. But it still chases our Reko down as a reminder of her past rough personality

[akemiiya]

are you really a flowey fan if you can type u in your browser's search bar and the first thing that shows up isn't undertale.com/alarmclock/flowey

[citricacidprince]

Thinking about Psychonauts and how much I love the Aquato family once again

They mean the world to me your honor

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

I am exhausted, good heavens.

[uncanny-tranny]

There's something so insane to me about being able to create and recreate vintage or even ancient music, clothes, fabrics, building architecture, anything, really.

I watched this video about a lady who knit a WWII-era vest, and it was really unique, because the cable work would eat up yarn, when there were shortages of fibers. This pattern would have likely been used by people to send overseas to soldiers, and now it's being created in a time where this war has been over for generations. What were the people making this pattern thinking of? What about the people making the vest? Could they fathom a world where world wars didn't happen back to back? Could they imagine what peace felt like, or did it fade like a distant memory, a faint friend? All we have now are the remnants of their efforts, a "simple" vest that would warm the bodies of countless people the knitter would never have imagined were here on earth with them.

We're reaching across time to learn about other people - we're reaching our hands out just to grasp anything tangible. And when we've take hold of something, all we can do is say I love you I love you I love you

[isekyaaa]

Another story idea. One of those basic ass stories where this child is abused by her family due to her sister (adopted) came and brainwashed the whole family into loving her and hating mc. In the end mc is framed for some crime and is ultimately executed. Only after mc dies does the family realize their fault when the whole world becomes destroyed. Following me? Basic ass brainwashing story. Anyway, here's the twist. Time gets reversed, and mc awakens to the point in time ten years before her death. But the twist? Mc isn't the main character. The story takes place from the viewpoint of one of the brainwashed siblings that slowly remembers their previous life.

[suddencolds]

.~

[faaun]

procrastination is starting to have its consequences finally

[introspectivememories]

"why aren't you asking me anything?" he asks, his throat aches uncomfortably. "just ask i know you have questions."

his zio and zia exchange glances that he can't decipher. he wishes they'd just say what they want to say. just spit it out he wants to scream. be more like mom and dad. say it, no matter how much it guts me, just say it. split me open with your words, carve my chest open, finish what the high priest didn't get a chance to.

"are you in pain?" his zia asks instead.

he feels a little wrongfooted now. they were supposed to ask what he did to get hurt so badly. he was supposed to horrify them with tales of how he fucked himself over. how he ruined himself for nothing. he was supposed to let their hurt break him.

"what?" he asks dumbly.

"are you in pain, bernardo?" his zia asks again, moving the flower vase out of the way so she can pin him with a steady look, "does it hurt?"

he laughs. does it hurt? what does he even say to that? it's been hurting since he was 16. since she-. does it hurt? is she worried? everything on him is something he's done to himself.

when he was younger, his zio used to like to tell stories about his scars. here, he'd say, this is where i got hurt fighting the fascists. and this, he'd point to his shoulder laughing, is from the time your zia's dad shot at me when i came around to ask for her hand.

here, he wants to say dragging his zia and zio's hand over the wound on his chest, is where they dug the knife into me. here, he'll say letting them trace over the scars on his wrist, is where it hurt too much when i was 16. this, with a hand reaching back to the sitched up mess on his back, is where i let the pain consume me. this is where i fell, where i begged for more, where i let them rewire me, remake me.

"bernardo," he's brought back to the present by his zia’s sharp voice, "you got lost. answer the question, does it hurt? are you in pain?"

his zia's voice cracks on pain, like it hurts her, and something in him breaks. he's so tired of hurting other people, of pushing them until they're broken and exhausted. he thinks back to when he last saw his friends. the weary set of their shoulders at the airport. the way jam's mouth seemed to be perpetually set into a frown. how he couldn't remember a time when chinna's eyes weren't rimmed red. when dijah didn't look at him like he was another opponent. how mori's voice had seemed hoarse from all the screaming he did in the ambulance as he begged bernard to stay with them.

how long had he been making them pick up his broken pieces? how long had they been cutting themselves on the shards of his pain? he remembers their faces as he stood at the gate, getting ready to board the plane, exhausted and broken. in the end, chinna, their tenderhearted youngest, was the only one say something.

"chetta," she said tears streaming down her face, "when you find what you're looking for over there, give us a call okay? and even if you don't find it, give us a call."

he had noddled once or twice, he doesn't remember properly, too drugged up on the mandatory pain drugs the hospital put him on before he checked out.

"bernardo, you keep getting lost." his zio says, quietly.

understatement of the year, he thinks.

"i'm sorry, zio," he says, throat tight with tears, "i don't think i know how to be found anymore."

his zio hums softly, "that's okay, piccolino. how about you just answer our questions first: does it hurt? are you in pain?"

his eyes fill over with unshed tears, "yeah zio, it does hurt. it hurts so much, zio!"

his zio's lips turn downward and his hand reaches out to brush away bernard's hair away from his forehead, "oh bernardo," he sighs sadly, "it will be okay. you will be okay piccolino."

bernard slumps into his zio's arms, "it hasn't been okay since i was 16 zio, how will it be okay now?"

his zia rises and walks around the table to kneel down next to him. one hand comes up to grip his wrist and the other starts to stroke featherlight touches up and down his back.

"it will be okay because i say so, and maybe you've been gone from here for too long if you think you can beat your zia maria in a battle of wills."

bernard snorts out a wet laugh.

"and," zio says, "you will be okay because you will learn how to heal here. one day at a time. you have all the time in the world."

zia maria points out the window to where he can see the ocean lapping at the shoreline, "look bernardo, the sea always returns."

the hand around his wrist tightens, "like that," she says staring into his eyes, steady as can be, "you too, will return. you will return."

bernard turns his head away to stare back at the sea and tries to believe the words his zia says.

[girlivealwaysbean]

i think growing up is just life repeatedly sucker punching you and saying bitch you thought things were gonna better lmao no you're so naive and stupid for having hope in 20 years the world will be flaming bag of garbage and no matter how hard you work you'll get eliminated at some point

[in-fair-verona-we-set-our-scene]

I do think Withers has a really subtle background character arc in bg3. Because at the start it is really clear he doesn't want to be here and he's being forced to clean up his mess by Helm and probably Ao. He doesn't really care either. Everything ends so nothing really matters, he'd like to go back to his paperwork now please.

Except he's stuck babysitting a bunch of traumatized dumbasses as they stumble into dealing with the most recent bad idea of his three fuck-up disappointments. So he brings them back when they die for a pittance, lets them pay for some vengeful ghosts to come back as flesh and blood to wreak bloody vengeance on the Absolute, and starts to... comment, on what's going on, as he follows them on their adventure.

Next thing you know Withers is like, doing things unprompted. He refuses to bring back Alfira (or Quil) but that's an act of compassion, keeping the poor girl from the Urge and letting her rest, his actual duty as a god of death. He tells Arabella to follow her destiny and does that thing to make her grief go away which honestly freaks me out but seems to be him trying to help her. He shows up at Moonrise and prompts us to consider why the Dead Three would want a bunch of soulless illithids that would give them no power, getting us to think of the big picture.

And by the end (especially if you do a resist!Durge playthrough) Withers is actively interfering and seems genuinely invested! He brings Durge back from the dead, free of their father! He encourages us before the final fight with the Netherbrain! He's real fucking smug that the Dead Three lost when he never seemed to care about the destruction they caused before! He throws a reunion party and many of his lines are genuinely touching or kind! Especially if a companion died permanently! He has tea with Gale's mom and Tara! He's like, socializing and shit! Yes, everything is temporary and we all die, but there's great beauty in fighting for that precious time and living it to the fullest!

Basically Wither's character arc is this meme, all because Helm made him go outside and touch grass.

[megumi-fm]

.

[akkivee]

so from that kuukou sasara chapter from dod, kuukou’s ascetic training regimen goes something like

early morning waterfall training for an hour

meditation sessions

cardio via running thru forest terrain

walking thru fire and coal

midnight waterfall training

sleep for three hours and then rinse and repeat

no meals

all this for a week straight

and part of kuukou’s first bio was how he bested his father in presumably this regimen so i wonder where shakku taps out lol 🤔