#also harding just fucking annoys me sorry.

[suzukiblu]

WIP excerpt for Cheshire behind the cut; “the one where Kon meets pink kryptonite and decides to fuck Tim and his boyfriend about it”. (( chrono || non-chrono ))

“Do you know what subspace and sub drop are?” Tim asks. 

“Uh . . . no?” Kon says, then frowns a little as he remembers–“You were talking about me dropping something when I was, like, all out of it before, right? So like–is it something with that?” 

“Yes,” Tim says. The way he’s petting Kon’s hair sort of–changes, a little, and Kon gets this weird little thought that it’s suddenly kinda more like Tim’s petting him for himself, more than anything else. Like, as a little–tic, or something, that he’s using to keep his focus. So that’s . . . weird, kinda. Yeah. 

Kon doesn’t even know where that thought came from, really, but . . . 

He’d like to be something Tim could use for that, he thinks, and bites the inside of his lip as he feels his skin heat up over that thought. 

“Did you feel different, when you were subbing?” Tim asks carefully. It’s his “assessing my teammate’s psychological condition” voice again, and also pretty obviously an “I know the answer to this question but I don’t know if you know the answer to this question” kind of question. 

“Yeah,” Kon says, and shrugs a little. “Like–I usually do, when it’s, you know. Good. I just get, uh–a little weird sometimes, I guess? Sorry.” 

Tim frowns. 

“Do you feel . . . mm. Detached? Lightheaded? Or emotional, maybe?” he asks, still careful. It is absolutely another “I know but I want to know if you know” question. Like, for absolute friggin’ certain it is. “When it’s–good, I mean.” 

“Yeah,” Kon says, because he feels all that and a whole lot of other things besides, when it’s good. And even more when it’s this good, really, including a few things that would be sorta embarrassing to admit to and a few things that would be sorta mortifying to admit to. He doesn’t really know why Tim’s asking any of this, but the guy’s asked him weirder shit for less reason, so it’s whatever. “Um. Is that, like . . . I mean, that happens to me sometimes, yeah. Just didn't know it was like, a thing? You know, like–with a name and all.” 

“But you do feel that way?” Tim asks, still just barely frowning. It makes Kon a little bit worried, like maybe it’s a bad thing and he’s–well, it kinda is a bad thing, he guesses. Like . . . definitely not a safe one, even if it makes him feel, like . . . 

Well. Safe, he guesses. 

“Yeah, I mean–I guess I do?” Kon says, and shrugs again. It’s a little more awkward this time, maybe, but it feels like a stupid thing to be evasive about or whatever. “I mean, like I said, I just get a little weird and all. Like, I try not to, think I kinda freaked Wonder Girl out once or twice that way. And like, she said it was okay, but . . .” 

But he hadn’t felt okay about it. Like–very much he had not felt okay about it. He’d felt like a problem, and like he was being weird and selfish and too fucking much and she was maybe finally gonna get sick of him being too much and– 

. . . wait, Kon thinks, and frowns a little himself. He does usually try not to get so, like . . . weird, yeah. But like . . . did he try not to get weird this time? He doesn’t, like . . . remember, if he really . . . 

“You try not to feel like that during the sex, or you try not to feel like that during the aftercare?” Tim asks, which seems like such a bizarre little thing to even bother caring about and kinda makes Kon feel . . . not weird again, but . . . a little . . . lighter, maybe. Like . . . somehow. 

He can’t help thinking about how goddamn fucking good Tim is at Domming, and just how quick he and Bernard had both rattled off their hard no’s and safewords and everything at the start, and how neither of them’s forgotten any of his or acted like they were stupid or annoying, and how much they both talk–how much they both talk during the actual sex, even–and how, like . . . 

When Tim safeworded earlier it was just a thing, and not a thing. 

And neither Tim or Bernard’s gotten freaked out by him getting weird or getting . . . weirder, even. 

So that’s . . . something that Kon can’t help thinking about right now, for whatever reason. 

“Um,” he says, not sure exactly what the fuck he’s feeling about . . . all that shit he can’t help thinking about, he guesses. Just . . . all of that. “Dunno what ‘aftercare’ means either. What’s, uh–that one?” 

It’s probably just something else he already does and just didn’t know had an actual name, Kon figures. “Aftercare” he guesses sounds like something he’d do after, like, the typical morning-after walk-of-shame home–okay, the morning-after flight-of-shame, and also he has zero shame either way so it’s whatever–so maybe it’s something about dealing with the kinda, like–hangover kinda thing that he gets, usually, or just the hangover thing itself, even, maybe that’s a thing that actually isn’t just–

“That's the part where everyone checks in with each other and makes sure no one's upset,” Tim says, and Kon . . . blinks, very slowly. The–what? 

“Uh . . . upset about what?” he asks, and belatedly tries to make the question jokey by adding, “I mean, I’m definitely upset your dick’s not in me right now, but that’s just me being a greedy fuck, you know?” 

“Ngh,” Tim mutters under his breath, his fingers very briefly tightening in Kon’s hair, and then lets out a doors-blowing exhalation. “Upset about how the scene went. Sometimes people talk about what they liked and what they might wanna do differently next time; sometimes it's just making sure everyone's comfortable and gets some food and water in them before they fall asleep and wake up feeling gross.” 

Kon–blinks, again. Remembers Tim coaxing him into drinking the water bottle and feeding him the protein bar bite by bite and not even like a come-on, and even kind of the thing with bringing him the candy, and–there’s a third plate of breakfast on that tray, too. Like . . . that Bernard brought to him. 

Oh, he thinks, and feels weird.

[fujobritta]

sorry for spamposting on the tag today guys ... need to get out all the Thoughts . i recorded a couple videos of me talking abt baksbee in relation to the first two episodes but tumblr only lets you post one at a time and im too lazy to type out what i said or piece together the videos so here it is summarized in bullet points

brad + david parallel right off the bat with them both slapping danarachels phones out of their hands, which actually very well establishes the new dynamic of baksbee being sort of rivals in a sense as two sides of the same coin . david has now become the money hungry corporate scumbag and brad is doing his best to support a creative (although brad never really liked corporate and david never really supported creative)

braddavid mentioned By Name by brad as well as the predator-prey-ism immediately tackled . absolutely gorgeous start to the season

brad just being a freak . god bless . i love it when they let him be a freak it makes me happy ... while i feel like this season is an attempt at emulating the s1, atm its a lot more like s2 (which i enjoy a lot, with s2 being my fav season) specifically with the way brad is being portrayed and i am HERE for it . the fucking twig snapping bit ... im in love with him i fear . "hes hunting me???" oh david david david

absolutely loving them acknowledging the whole Brad Hunting Himself thing because thats really just the way hes been from the start: he pushes himself into corners and has to climb his way out, hes constantly trying to extinguish these particular parts of himself, hunting those vulnerabilities down ...

brad standing when dana enters . important to me . to me its a sign of him being tamed in a sense as well as his respect for dana . he doesnt mind being subservient to people he deems competant

ETHICS COMMITTEEEEEEEE 🥳🥳🥳 i love the brad and david bickering ... their married couple realness . i love them so fucking much it makes me nauseous . i also adore how david contradicts himself when it comes to brad (ie saying its not about money, after showing earlier into the same episode that he is very focused on money) . and again their bickering is sooooo 😭😭😭 i love them so muchhhh

i think brad saying that "the only way to get children to behave is to give them an allowance and then threaten to take it away", while being him just pitching playpennies, could also be reflective of his own childhood

they banged in that conference room after everyone left . i dont care . they want us all to think this and i am taking the bait because this is what is going to be getting me out of bed in the mornings

also sorry for the brad focus i cannot focus too hard on s4 david because his hair drives me nuts (/positive) but hes pissing me off SO BAD . actually he does piss me off every season i think i just need to reacclimate . but hes also just very annoying this season i fear

[staryscorner]

When they see that you've been Sh

Warning: Mention of blood and self h@rm/cvtt!ng

Character: Thanos/Choi, Su-bong, Min-su, Gi-hun, Hyun-ju, In-ho

Thanos/Choi Su-bong:

He never knew until 2 months into the relationship 

You guys were about to make love and he was in a hurry to remove your shirt. You had forgotten to bandage your recent cuts so when he took your shirt he just saw cuts all over your forearm and the room that was filled with lust soon turned grim.

“WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS!” he yelled at you and then noticed that he frightened you. He took a deep breath to calm himself down.

“Can you please tell me why” He said while he glided his finger softly across the cuts

You winced a bit at the pain but you let him continue.

“If you don’t want to talk about it’s fine but please rely on me … please.”

You have never seen Thanos like this before. He's the type to not give much thought about anything he did, but you mean everything to him he doesn't want you to be hurt.

The silence was suffocating but you then began to tell him why you were cutting. He listened to everything you said, holding your hands the entire time so you knew he was with you.

“I think it’s time for you to get help and I'll be with you every step of the way”

Min-su: 

He knew that you've been hurting yourself for a while, but he didn't say anything because he thought that you had the willpower to stop whenever you wanted. He thought that the damage wasn't much until one day he peeked into the bathroom and saw for himself all the scars and open wounds on your body

Min-su ran in and grabbed the blade in your hand. 

“I'm sorry I wasn't able to help you.” tears forming in his eyes. “I knew this whole time and I thought you could stop whenever you wanted to…but I was wrong. I was the one causing you the most harm. I want to help you. I want to know why you're in pain. Why you're doing this. I'll do my best to protect you from now on. Please trust in me. We can get through this together."

Gi-hun: 

You both shared an apartment so he could keep you close after what you both went through in the games. He was out doing errands so you were there alone and took your razor from where you were hiding it and then began to cut yourself each slice getting deeper and deeper you had’nt noticed that someone had opened the door so when you heard someone call out your name you jumped turing around with the razor in your hand and blood spilling from your thighs 

“Y/N!!” He ran over dropping the bags in his hands. He was grabbing paper towels to clean up the blood.

“Why are you doing this!” 

You didn't say a word, you sat there looking down at him cleaning you up.

He knew you weren't going to stop this so he decided that he would help you get clean by staying close to you. He never left you alone after that and kept a close eye on you. He even found your stash of blades and threw them all out.

At first you thought it was a bit annoying being watched everywhere you went but later on you realized how deeply he cared for you and you also put your effort in and soon you were clean it was hard but you did it for him.

Hyun-ju: 

You would normally be the one who would clean the house but Hyun-ju wanted you to get a fresh breath of air since it was such a sunny day so you went out to get groceries while hyun-ju cleaned the house. While changing the sheets she came upon bloody blades under your side of the mattress. She soon called you to get home quickly and you thought something happened to her so you ran back. Once you got home you yelled out to her and she told you that she was in the room you went to in and there you saw her sitting on the bed with a pile of razors beside her 

“Explain this now” demanding to know what was going on

She wasn't going to take no as an answer so you had to tell her. 

After she heard the reason why you were doing that she got up and held you close enough where you could hear her heartbeat racing. Just the sound of her heart told you how worried she was. You didn't want her to worry. So you decided to stop. It was a challenge but it was worth it for her happiness. 

In-ho:

You would always wear long sleeve shirts and pants. Never showing your skin. In-ho didnt mind if you didn't like showing your skin but he did start to worry when he would buy you clothes that you were obviously eyeing on the mannequin and never wear it so the next time you and him went to the store he pulled you into your favorite clothing store handed you lots of clothing he knew you would love.

“Here, try these on babe”.

It concerned him that you've been in the dressing room for about 10 minutes. So he knocked on the door … no response. He proceeded to then barge into the dressing room

“Hey are you ok” after he said that he saw you in the clothes that he had picked for you but noticed some scars and  bandages all over your arms.

“So is this the reason you don't wear clothing that shows your skin.”

“Yea I wanted to tell you for a while but I was scared that you would look at me differently if you saw how pathetic I was.”

“I would never judge you for something like this. I just want you to be honest with me if you have things that are worrying you. So please don't hurt yourself anymore. He held you in his arms and placed a kiss on your forehead.

Hope you all enjoy!! =^o^= Will most likely make a pt2 with other squid game characters.

[smolestbrein]

Look, this is going to be sorta a personal post, not exactly coherent but hey, why not.

A big thing holding back the film is the jarring comedy. Like I really can't overstate how utterly annoying Bumblebee is. And it even ruins Shockwave be deciding that he's also just another part of the comedy troupe. The comedy will just randomly decide to ruin moments in ways I really can't stress hard enough.

Like imagine, if, just for a moment that when Shockwave threatens Orion over him wanting the High Guard's help, instead of having the whole thing be settled by Elita's comedy, have be settled in a way that has more tension? Like I know most will tell me "how would you have done it hmm😏" but while I can't exactly solve that, it's doesn't detract from the fact that the comedy robs scenes that could've had moments with more energy to them.

There's just stuff like Bee's lines in the cave after the reveal, honestly most of Bee's scenes feel like genuine filler for the runtime (did we fucking need him to say Badassatron 3 times to Elita?). The cutoff at the moment they escape the cave is also another example. It really does feel like the film is bizarrely insecure to the point of wanting to have laughs for every few moments. It's even worse when the story really does just brush aside how Bumblebee was not only clearly not mentally well from being isolated for so long, but what could've been a subplot about his mental decay is just a punchline. The few times he's an actual character are so little and they happen externally with no real character work other than "thunder hit the writers as to not fuck this scene up".

A less annoying one is Elita-1, who's just … there. While Bumblebee is worse for having most of his scenes be just comedy, Elita is someone I genuinely struggle to understand why she was there in the first place.

Her dynamic with Orion really should've been an opposite to D-16, an easier way to infer how D is clearly not as friendly as he seemed. But instead Elita's just kind of a dick? Like that's really the problem, she's antagonistic to them, but it's not really meaningful? Like her being an asshole is never really forming into a dynamic with the rest. Like you could've had D or Orion at least mention "hey we saved Jazz" either angrily or sarcastically or anything. But instead her presence in the story feels like it's there for obligational reasons than anything really meaningful. Even her speech with Orion is filled with jokes for some reason, like how hard is it to just have her say:

"Orion, despite my misgiving, you're the guy that wants to see the bright future that everyone else doesn't, you're willing to do more in this shithole than I'll ever be. So c'mon! Let's do this." And hell, more mentions to Jazz that isn't just another trophy for Orion? Like that is what kinda ticked me off. Jazz is just this point in a basket for Orion, that never comes up again until Elita mentions him. Imagine this kind of scene:

D-16: Angry tone Ruin your life? Sorry you're too obsessed over promotions over Jazz's life, but you don't get to boss us around!

Orion: Hey! If she didn't toss us the thingy-

Elita-1: Thingy?

Orion: Quickly turns to Elita-1 Please. Quickly snaps back to D-16 All three of us would've died. Heavy sigh Calm down, let's try to settle this peacefully.

That would actually allow a bit more of a connection within the group.

Also Elita's bond with Orion feels underbaked? Like that's the closest word I got. It's just that for all intents and purposes they don't feel like they ever connected and Elita feels almost non-existent. Like I don't think her tossing that pillar ever means much within the story's beats. Like you can do things, factually relevant things, but the execution can make it feel like you have no presence within the story. Elita's speech acts like she had more interactions with Orion offscreen even though the timeline and presentation makes it look like that wouldn't even be possible.

The one person that does is D-16. And while I can see some of the ideas people have explained, here's the real problem with why people have said "his turn was (etc, etc)" is that the story...

...Well look this is going to be a bit of a recap now but first a little thing about pacing, narrative inflection and connective tissue. Pacing is pretty important not out of realism, but verisimilitudinous, meaning "the appearance of being true or real". Reality is reality, and in stories, pacing is there not to make things feel like you're either bloating the film with comedy scenes that exists for the sake of it, or squeezing the film into an anorexic mess.

Now the connective tissue is pretty simple. It's how moments hold weight when they happen, how they reflect the later moments and how the thematic viewpoint of the story or scene. You can't just have a character go through an arc, then vanish into irrelevancy for a long time even by the runtime before having a grand climatic moment. Reinforcement is key because it can add weight. The story-point can't just be a technical straight line.

Inflection is just this: a guy makes a racist/sexist, generally unpleasant remark and when confronted they go "just a joke!" even though it was obvious that it wasn't.

And the first thing that comes to mind is that D-16 is just weirdly incoherent.

People have pointed out his eagerness to make threats on Orion, but the narrative never presents his "threats" to Orion in the beginning as anything more than barbs. Simple jokes to be spoken in conversations. Now you could say that it's meant to be foreshadowing, that we're supposed to connect them to him post-T-Cog, and even in the cave beforehand, being a bit too on-the-nose violent. But it doesn't really work.

The message from how I see people say "He was always secretly bad!" Isn't really there. Orion's lack of a separate connection means that we only see him as the focal narrative lens to see D-16 become Megatron, and it is seen as a "falling" rather than a revealing of his character. The narrative never paints him being revealed.

And then there's the fact that the story really likes having D constantly face-off against shitty people.

This really goes hand-in-hand with how D is given the most focus when it came to wanting Sentinel torn down. When it came to the High-Guard the one given most focus is D, both in wanting Sentinel destroyed, and actively pointing out how blatantly cowardly Starscream is, after the latter established himself as a dick.

Optimus is only spurned into proactivity by D being captured. Like he does get to have his speech to the miners, but the story mainly focused on D when it came to taking down Sentinel.

Like you argue that after finding out his whole world was fake, that everything he worked for was a lie he'd crash out like a meteor. Except this circles back to how underdeveloped Elita-1 and B-127. They're significantly less affected by the revelation that their lives as this whole fucking mess. You could say that Elita has a character-driven reasoning compared to B since he really isn't good, but it still pretty much disconnects any real genuine weight there could've been.

Again, the story pulls so much on Optimus and D contrasting, that the jarring shift in how D begins his dark path is just going 180 without any real fluidity. People posit his earlier behavior, but the narrative portrayed that as him being the responsible one to Orion's recklessness. It becomes jarring because up until the reveal, D is the one to keep his head low, but it's never narratively presented as anything but a guy being responsible while his friend, while good is also clearly in over his head.

D's whole turn is just that jarring, and the narrative also really makes it so that he also takes a significant part of the screentime fighting Starscream, being tortured by Sentinel who also stole his idol's T-Cog. Like you can still argue that his whole scene about mercy is showing his dark turn, but it's the same thing, the story makes jarring shifts over D turning into the bad-guy.

Like let's kid ourselves, the story makes pre-emptive elements to justify it, but it still engages with the idea that the overwhelming uprising is bad. You could say that Optimus also took part in violence, but he's only spurned, reactive whereas D is the only one that acknowledges strength is needed.

The political foundations of the film are weird to me, because it's what Dan Olson said on his video Minecraft, Sandboxes, and Colonialism | Folding Ideas about how certain stories create a "clean" version of history to engage with. And in Transformers One, the story engages with the rage against the oppressor and says:

"Don't try to be violent because it shows that you're inevitably going down the route of becoming a monster."

The Matrix, to me, is the symbol of the divine right over Cybertron. But it's also basically making the idea that radicalism is bad, because the idea that the radical is actually evil/"too far" as per the Matrix's authority.

Some might say "B did it in self-defense! Sentinel didn't have that!" Yeah, let's disregard that those characters are faceless hordes who exist to die to our enemies, and B as a character is so thin on characterization that it's baffling they ever remembered him in the story. The three guards running from B's cutting threat are meant to comedic.

D is outright even more disconnected from the world at times since characters like Jazz are just not meaningful enough to connect us to the idea that he was always bad. Instead the story swerves right into D's thirst for vengeance as this moment of malevolence. When he kills the foot-soldiers with no purpose than to be beaten, the story acts like it's this moment that he might not be all there anymore.

Like the story does put context into these situations, and I'd argue that the reasoning behind making those in the first place are not great. The story just outright gets him into this box. Like the only reactions to Sentinel Prime's reveal that have genuine narrative weight is Orion's and D's, Elita's and B's are just background noise.

The story's shift is desperately trying to bury you into his fall into Megatron, but it rushes in the details, hammering them but never actually allowing us to see where his mindset turned from. D is just instantly now becoming Megatron, his growth being that every action he takes results in his fall.

It's like that you have a pathway with 30 steps before the hole to fall into, and the story just has D suddenly skip 25 steps before he drops.

Look, I don't think the writers and director intentionally made these weird points, but I would argue that the direction of Megatron as a pseudo-justified slave uprising is a demonization of political dissenters that oppose the system with a glorification of the centrists who, realistically, do jack shit to fix things. (IDW2005 has the same issues.)

Revolutions don't have a pretty history, 1984 is the textbook of this, since it directly commentates on reality to an extent. But that excuse feels very disingenuous since D is the only one who has the most rage against Sentinel, his rage is the most focused, and he seems to be the only one that pulls his weight the most against him, narratively.

D-16 is an interesting character in how a story failing to connect other characters, to have others reflect him can make a turn feel rushed. Like this film needed 15 more minutes to have him interact with more characters, or maybe instead of having the scene with ship, and the dumb comedy, cut them out for more interactions with the crew during their trek to Alpha Trion?

Who knows? Discussing in a hypothetical "better" is both infinite and moot, but this was a fun exercise in thought.

Me rn:

Yeah reposting my things into different blogs. check out yappintilldeath

[pseudophan]

wait i'm new here and i'm curious, if you're okay talking about it what happened before in the uk / why did you move back?

longass story but i've complained about this whole ordeal so much on here i think if i do the whole thing again people will get mad at me like omg we get it. anyway here it is again:

i moved to england (milton keynes specifically which all brits find very funny) with my mum in 2016 to go to high school because norway requires you to do six thousand subjects even if you "specialise" in something and i just did not have that in me. every subject combined with an instant fail if you miss more than like three lessons? absolutely the fuck not. in mk i did a level 3 creative media btec which is known as a bit of a joke because it won't make you kill yourself as much as a-levels, but lowkey i enjoyed it SO much. i've heard media btecs are very hit or miss depending on your tutors but mine were really good! half my class was only there because they flunked out of their a-levels and wanted something easy, but by like week two i'd say most of them were really into it

after college i started a film and tv production course at uni in london, none of the fancy unis because rip my grades lmao but it was a good time. year one went alright, but then when i applied for a loan for the second year months went by and i didn't hear anything until literally DECEMBER, halfway through the year, when they got back to me and were like oh sorry you don't qualify for the loan. oh and we're also taking back the money you got for the first year, so now you're in immediate debt to us for that and to the uni directly for the months you just did where we just couldn't be bothered to tell you you didn't qualify for any funding. hope this helps!

basically because i'd already lived in the uk for a couple of years before university i could apply as an english student rather than an international one, which is much cheaper so that was great. i also, IN THEORY, qualified for a loan through the student loans company, which is, IN THEORY, much easier and less annoying than the norwegian one because you don't start paying it back right away, you can wait until you're actually making x amount of money. all good. the problem was that the only reason we could afford to just fuck off and move to england in the first place was that my mum got to keep her norwegian job and work from home, meaning we weren't sure if i DID actually qualify for the loan because the way she was paying taxes was like kind of confusing. i still don't know exactly how it works, but i guess you pay it all to one country and then they split it? cause you're effectively paying taxes to both norway and the uk but you're not supposed to have to pay More so idk. who knows. not me. but yeah so we called them Multiple times to ask if i was in fact eligible for a loan and every time they were like yeah it's no problem. my bad for not getting it in writing by the way, always do that. then like i said they fully accepted my loan for the first year after looking through all our documents so clearly it WAS in fact fine, or at least enough people working there believed it was.

i have no idea what actually happened with the second year application, or which one got evaluated wrong. might have been the first one, might be the second, i'll probably never know. the real kicker though is that if they just got back to me earlier i could have gotten a norwegian loan and it would probably be fine, but because they were months late i only had like two weeks until the application deadline for the norwegian one and because the whole situation was so complicated and confusing, and i was struggling really hard with any paperwork or essays because of my super cool then-still-undiagnosed adhd, i just didn't have it in me to fight it. i was like whatever, guess i have to just drop out. didn't actually have to drop out, they suspended me for unpaid fees. i kept going until they turned off my key card though and banned me from campus lol, my tutors were just like eh keep showing up until it doesn't work anymore, it's not like they can suspend you out any more 😭

fuck knows what my plan was after dropping out. in my head i was like, well i can probably get a shitty job for a bit and yeah it probably won't go very well but it's not like i've tried, who knows! and then uhhhh covid happened LMFAO, so nevermind that shit! turns out getting a job in covid lockdown london is Difficult. my mum moved back in the middle of covid and a few months later i had to follow and now half a decade later here we are </3

[butchvamp]

yeah i do think it really sucks actually that we finally get dwarf lore this game but it’s handled so poorly and completely at the expense of the elves. i also dont like that it flattens the dwarves & ignores what lore we have seen previously.

@ikarons pointed out to me that kal-sharok specifically is the thaig that destroyed the original cadash thaig for sheltering elves fleeing the tevinter emperium after the fall of artlathan (which is a huge glaring piece of information to exclude here). kal-sharok has both been previously abandoned to die by their own people and also committed horrific acts of violence and they are completely separate from orzammar (and resent them!) but this game presents the dwarves as this homogeneous entity that doesn’t hold any fault or complexity... we know there is a huge variation in dwarf culture and politics that just doesn't get acknowledged at all; they do them a huge disservice by focusing entirely on Harding and how special she is and how evil the evanuris are.

this was a real missed opportunity in my opinion to give more depth to both the evanuris and the dwarves, but we lose all of that in this game because people can only be good or bad and we can’t have any nuance, it was all the evanuris's fault and they did it just because they're so evil. and we'll blame the elves, too, while we're at it. sad!

[nite-puff]

this was what their dr:s interaction was originally gonna be. trust me. i’m mr. danganronpa

(no cuz seriously. how are you gonna have them interact and then forget that hiroko canonically has a bit of a thing for takaaki?) (i say this like the dr:s writers even knew who the other captives were)

[forcebookish]

the way that phoom is crying and how bittersweet this moment is for him but the look on vicha's face is just pure happiness

SOMEHOW THAT HURTS MORE??

forced to dance and re-experience his death every night for 23 years in a place that only reminds him of who he lost and yet he's just so happy to be reunited, in the most uncomplicated way, knowing that he's where they're meant to be for the remainder of eternity

because phoom thinks it has to end, but vicha knows it won't

[volitioncheck]

i think i wouldn’t hate disco elysium’s collage mode nearly as much if it weren’t for 1) the way that it was marketed in such a tasteless, soulless manner, let alone the fact that it was a last ditch distraction from a dead on its feet studio piloted by dumbass thieving execs and released on the day of the court declaration, and 2) those dumbass fucking stickers

like if it had been included with the base game from the start and had been titled something a bit more tasteful and in-line with how i would have liked the feature to be marketed as— something like “exploration mode”, something that perhaps could only be unlocked after completing the game for the first time, AND didn’t have those stupid as hell visually and tonally incongruent with the artstyle stickers, i would have applauded it as a nice little bonus for being able to study and appreciate the 3d models and environments for reference.

[sp-growingpains]

it's been a while since I last asked about Jean! you can skip if some of these you've answered already <3

7) Vice-Versa! If your OC is in the modern day, what fantasy class would they be? Would they be a different race? (Or more specifically, could you tell us more about Jean's TSOT alter ego?)

12) Does your OC interact with other people's OC? If so, who's their best OC friend?

Yoooooooou! You make my heart so happy! I wanna spoil you!! 💝

Hey real quick!! If I tagged you, please feel free to ignore this! Don't read it if you don't want to! Question 12 involves credit where credit is due!

7) Vice-Versa! If your OC is in modern day, what fantasy class would they be? Would they be a different race?

So when I think about TSOT stuff I honestly use D&D rules because that's what I grew up on as a kid! When I first made Jean I thought about her being a Tiefling Bard! But dude, Jimmy is the best bard in all of the kingdoms!

So I scrapped it and had a really fun idea as I was writing up my Fantasy stuff for SP. Jean is the Black Knight! I love, love Authurian legend and I couldn't resist making a nod to one of my favorite video game characters! Zelgius from Fire Emblem had the coolest armor and story! (Huge info dump ahead, I'm so sorry)

So, if they're just kids being kids: Jean loved the fact that most of the girls were the knights! Wendy with the battle maiden looking absolutely fire! But, it was kind of boring that Clyde was the only "bad guy". So she decided to dress as the mysterious black knight. Every time her friends would get together to play, she would find a reason to be like "Awh sorry guys, I got stuff to do today!" Or pretend to be sick!

Then, when everyone else was busy with their games, deep in their battles. She's show up covered head to toe in a black motorcycle helmet, a black battle vest (she probably picked up from Jimbos after begging him to help her.), black pants, and black boots. (You get the point.) She orders a sword and a cape from party city or some silly shit and just shows up.

While she wears the costume, she keeps her mouth shut. She goes out of her way to be as mysterious as possible and dramatically makes a show of fighting the others. If she's losing, she'll find a way to make the other person look cool but make a grand escape! She picks up this persona just to make everyone else look cool because she knows she looks like an edgy asswipe! Kids being kids, right?

BUT THE AU! OH THE AU!

I rambled before that I love Cowboys, but I move fantasy stuff so much!

So we still go with the black knight angle! But before that she was a royal knight to The Grand Wizard! Fought side by side with Butters the Merciful! Brothers-in-arms with Ser Clyde and Ser Tolkien! A circle of knights who swore to do right by the human kingdoms.

Then, the war happens over that damn artifact. It's power tempting both the elven and human men. Battle after battle begins to wear her down. She starts to lose the will to find good in what she does. When the ground becomes soaked with the blood of soldiers throwing themselves into her blade, and for what? For power? Power they'll never see? All because some men who already hold enough power told them to?

It breaks her.

So she comes home to that found family and gets into a fight before the Grand Wizard and her brothers. Not one of steel like she's so used to. Instead, the Grand Wizard brands her a traitor and casts her out so she's forced to leave.

Stripped of her name, her brotherhood, her honor.

Something about that sends her spiraling. The isolation sends her into one of the great forests where she's decided that's what she'll protect. She'll live there and those woods will be hers. Because at least she was good at that.

There, she protects people who want nothing to do with the war. The little people caught in the middle. If people think to bring the war into her woods, she dons the armor, the two-handed silver sword, and becomes the weapon she was so good at being.

She slowly stops being Jean Wellman and more of a weapon. Even a broken sword is at least useful. A broken human? Not so much.

Still edgy? Yes. Do I eat that shit up? Oh, absolutely.

I end it there because I like to leave it open for other characters' influence! That includes other ocs!

12) Does your OC interact with other people's OC? If so, who's their best OC friend.

Oh! Oh! I love this question!! Because that means I get to brag about others!

Real talk! I get super nervous talking to people about Jean! There's this part of me that finds it so...selfish? But I want to hear everything about other people's! And if they want to talk about how their OC would interact with mine? Oh my heart!!

@lulu24784 was the first person to interact with me when it came to our blorbos! She drew this beautiful piece of Jean and Lulu when we first started talking that is still my iPad background! It brings me so much joy when I look at it!

She drew them with the friendship bracelet and I made it canon! In every picture, where it makes sense, she's got the bracelet on. It's on that wrist forever. I have these little thoughts of Jean showing up in her flower shop and spending hours just yapping and playing soft music on her guitar while she watches her friend move around doing her day to day. Her favorite thing to do is to put on some music and try to coax Lulu into dancing with her. Seeing someone you adore be good at the thing they're good at makes her so very happy.

That leads to her maybe stepping on the poor girls feet because she's a big, clumsy idiot. Especially because of their height difference, but any chance to be close with someone who means so much to her.

That leads to some pretty confusing feelings for Jean later on, but at the end of the day, she knows she loves Lulu and wants her happy!

Another person who Jean is close to is Morgan! @tinyalcoholicwitch is my best friend irl! I met her back when I was twelve and we've been friends ever since! We've bounced from Fandom to Fandom together and she bravely tried to follow me here! So she made the gorgeous Morgan for Jean to have as a friend! Jean loves her bestie so very much!

She also drew me a beautiful piece that is my laptop background! Because my friends inspire me and it makes me want to be better!

Jean and Morgan got into piercings around the same time, so they got their face piercings together. Jean immediately made the "joke" of kissing, and they would lock together like puzzle pieces. Jean's favorite thing to do with her is to crawl into her window late at night. Yes, she could have taken the front door, but that would have woken Morgan's mom, and that's rude! So she crawls in and spends hours with her, most times spending the night. She has to be picking Morgan up or holding her every chance she can get! Morgan is a huge reason why Jean stays so fit, so she can carry her favorite princess like she deserves!

And you know she would adore Anh! We haven't talked much but from what you've posted about her, I know Jean would think she's the coolest person ever! 🫶

[honeybard]

adhd advice will be like people with adhd struggle to get their thoughts organised. also to get diagnosed you need to get your thoughts on why you have adhd organised in advance in order to convince the doctor you have it

[byanyan]

(with tears in my eyes) n-nice

[nonsensechemicals]

crying whenever i talk about Cookie9 because all my friends have these interesting and unique theories on them while i take everything too literally and they all just stare at me like “dude… uuugh we r TIRED” <-they dont actually say this they are very kind to me but i can Feel It

[j-esbian]

i lost the post but i saw someone talking about how some of y’all act like being weird is a choice and like. YEAHHHHHHH.

that’s fine, it might be for you. but i just live like this and don’t know any other way. like yeah i’ve worked customer service, i can do innocuous small talk, but anything beyond that, i don’t understand what i’m missing. and it’s frustrating to see the tonal disconnect especially from people who are like “uwu embrace weirdness!!” where they’re like. dressing quirky and talking about bugs and listening to obscure music and eschewing small talk to ask Deep Questions on the first date and unlearning their tendency to not infodump. and generally have an idea of what Weirdness is supposed to look like. idk man some of us wake up and get out of bed and can’t figure out why the rest of their coworkers chitchat with each other but when they join the conversation it dies.

weirdness is value neutral. let’s stop trying to turn it into a badge because quite frankly, it’s not a choice for everyone. it’s fucking exhausting to never be on the same wavelength as other people and they’re going to react the way they do and label you the way they will without any conscious actions on your end. it’s difficult to talk about this without feeling like you’ll be dismissed as immature, a teenager whining “no one understands me” but the thing is. sometimes you don’t grow out of feeling alone and different, and there’s no good way to talk about it without feeling like people will think you’re just fishing for pity.

[snazum]

i dont understand how u can fuck up misgendering me when my name is literatlly noah. like. how. do i need to change it back to adam?

idk how it can make it more obvious. (i live and exist as stealth trans. sort of? I don’t really talk bout being trans, but I’m open bout it when it comes up. Or i trust u. I can read vibes)

[www-pinkhearse]

I’m sorry