#also important to realize that all of this is conjecture

[aerocelestia]

Wake the fuck up samurai, it's incoherent EN3 theorizing time

Yeah I'm a day late for this but whatever man EN3 is finally here and well, I'm fucking kneeling.

Now don't get me wrong, I still think it's kinda bullshit that they're kinda running the talents ragged this year with having TWO major cross branch events on the same level of Holofes, but goddamn they really kinda refined their hype game.

I always find it pretty interesting that out of all the branches, it seems like the EN branch gets the most like... hyped debut stuff. IryS and Council's predebut trailers was a step ahead pretty much everyone else's, even the native JP branch. I mean the jump in quality from Myth's debut trailer and IryS' was absurd. Not even HoloX's debut trailer was animated like an anime.

But anyway, it seems like they realized that they went a bit too hard on the lore with the IryS/Council predebut trailers and realized that people were more interested in... the characters than the chuunibabble.

Now what's interesting to note about this is that whoever is responsible for deciding who gets be the talent behind each character for EN (and arguably hololive as a whole) knows what the hell they're doing. I'm sure there are a number of factors that I'm not remotely smart enough to get, but the point is if there is at least one thing you can depend on is that hololive knows how to choose who goes to who.

Okay so basically what I'm saying here is that this time they maybe going for a more "showing" than "telling," at least with this first trailer. There are all sorts of small but significant signs that show just what we should expect from these characters.

So first girl we see being shackled by the magic chains in the beginning has a mischievous smile and comes off as the Dante/Red Oni type who's not even affected by everything fucking exploding around here.

Next we have the twin(?) sister fox girls. The pink one comes as the more reckless one while the blue one is keeping a steady pace running.

Then you have the Not-Luna barely struggling to run, as if she's not particularly used to doing this.

Then you have Not-Kronii/Vergil/Blue Oni just kinda walking calmly/strutting without being particularly bothered about what's going on around here.

We get a shot of the twin fox sister girls again and a better peek of their personalities: the pink one shows off her being the more dynamic one while the blue one is far less chaotic but still shares some sort of dynamics that the pink one has with the flying sweat drops. Basically, the pink fox girl the Irresponsible Red Oni while the blue fox girl is the Responsible Blue Oni.

Meanwhile Not-Luna is jumping off of a ledge by herself.

Now the group shot with everyone minus the first girl is interesting. From how it is set up, it appears that Not-Kronii/Vergil is set up to be the "leader" of the group like Bae was set up to be shown up as in the Council trailers.

And then the last scene is with the Dante/Red Oni girl and it's not really clear what's actually going on with her. Are the others actually trying to save her? Or are they trying to stop her? There's clearly some sort of lore reason why she isn't with the other four.

...This sounds awfully like a certain detective who doesn't share the same quality of being a mythical creature just like her other four genmates.

This suddenly think they're using the Myth template in which to show that there is one that gathers the others (Ame was the one to "lead" the investigation into the other members) and it seems like Dante/Red Oni is going to be "leading" the four looking for her.

(In actual practice most would probably see Kiwawa as the leader of Myth while Ame is the brains, not that Ame itself is no slouch when it comes to being able to wrangle the others. Though Kiwawa shares the diplomat role of being able to communicate with HoloJP, though Mori shares a bit of that diplomat role as well to other areas.)

(Council is a bit far more straightforward in that regard in practice. Bae has more or less embraced the leader role and also shares the same role as being the diplomat of being able to reach out to HoloJP and HoloStars as well, even if she herself doesn't exactly realize it at times)

...writing all of this out now, I suppose the key of every EN gen's success so far is being able to have a leader/wrangler and a diplomat.

And I realize my own mistakes with my own theorizing last time, was that I was a biiit to obsessive with the lore more than thinking about the group dynamics of Myth. I think it seems like Cover has more or less found a formula for a lack of a better word. And well there's no need to fix what isn't broken. Even with Sana's unfortunate departure, Council still continues to be strong (that isn't to say that Sana wasn't important at all... but that's another topic)

[avelera]

One of your posts mentioned something about viktor not truly acknowledging Jayce's workload when it came to him being a Councillor. Could you please elaborate on that?

Sure. I mean, maybe if I went back through and did an exhaustive rewatch, I'd find something to contradict the point, but as far as I can recall, the closest Viktor ever comes to saying that Jayce might be overworked is when he calls his time going over the shipping manifests for the Hexgates a waste of time because they should be working on innovations to help people in need (ie, Viktor obfuscating once again that he is dying and wants Jayce's urgent help but framing it in such a way that it sounds like a long-term societal problem instead of a short term personal one, so it goes right over Jayce's head).

And look, let me preface this by saying Viktor is actively dying at this point. He's sick, and in pain, and terrified, and he feels abandoned by the most important person in his life. I'm not saying it was wrong of him to not acknowledge Jayce's workload, or bad, or in any way not understandable. Jayce is an adult too and Viktor was definitely suffering more at that point than him.

But on one of many rewatches, I did note that when Jayce says, "Sorry, I have a lot on my plate lately." it is objectively true. And Viktor doesn't even acknowledge it. Being a full time councilor and promoting Hextech and working in the lab and trying to help Viktor and dealing with a civic crisis that could lead to outright civil war, etc etc everything else happening in S1, it's no wonder Jayce is snippy and on edge at the bridge, the guy should be on the edge of collapse quite frankly.

And Viktor doesn't care. He thinks Jayce's time on the Council is a waste of time, so he doesn't acknowledge the burden of it. That includes not acknowledging the fact that the Hexcore would have been destroyed and Viktor's one hope for a cure gone with it if not for Jayce's power and influence now. Jayce only became a Councilor to advance their research and help Viktor, but Viktor doesn't once acknowledge this and seems actively angry and jealous about it.

By the way, this isn't a case of one of them is right and the other is wrong, it's just a case of two very human people being human. It's very well written. But Viktor's lack of empathy for the challenges Jayce is facing means he's also not seeing how much of what Jayce is doing is for his benefit, how many burdens Jayce is taking on for Viktor's sake.

Viktor's emotional arc at the end of S1 includes a lot of feelings of abandonment by Jayce which are objectively not true. If he acknowledged Jayce's workload, he might also come to the realization that he's not abandoned, that Jayce is entirely focused on him just in different arenas. Maybe it would give Viktor the impetus to say "Hey, I don't want your help as a Councilor, I want your help in the lab because I'm scared and alone and dying and I'm about to make some very rash decisions because of all those feelings." Instead of just sucking it up and going it alone, which eventually leads to Sky's death and Viktor's collapse into utter hopelessness and resignation towards his own death.

And by the way, this isn't conjecture that Viktor is bad at seeing how much people around him care for him. Sky is another example of this. Viktor is so focused on extending his own life that, to paraphrase Heimerdinger in 2.07, he's not using the time he has to be with the ones he loves.

Later he will weep and rage at how he completely missed out on knowing Sky as a person, he completely missed out on knowing she cares for him. He'll craft an entire specter of her to keep him company as a result of this guilt in S2, because he can't live with the guilt of the fact he objectively missed out on spending time with the real woman when she was alive. And that is another version of what he's doing to Jayce in S1, by not seeing that Jayce isn't ignoring him, he's desperately trying to help in every way he can and the workload is burying him.

[the-pigeon-queen]

You draw a lot of soft big brother Primo and for that I'm super grateful but like, do you have any art/ideas for unhinged Primo who wants to punch pandas and invade countries and all that? Just curious 👀

Sorry for the long delay :'] I’m sorry I don’t currently have any doodles or art of unhinged Primo, but that doesn’t mean I’m not plagued by Primo thoughts.

The big disclaimer here is that this is all personal headcannons; I’m the type of Ghost fan that generally wants to follow the cannon, but also, you know, is more than fine with adapting and extrapolating a few things… So, all this is about my Personal Primo conjecture lol

Everything we’ve ever gotten about Primo in cannon paints him as batshit crazy, but somehow fandom morphed him into a much gentle figure. And I honestly enjoy both sides and think he can be both :’]

Like… Primo loves his little brothers, but hates humans. He grows a beautiful garden but anticipates the day it will be destroyed in Armageddon. He makes tea blends with the same precision he would conduct a sacrificial ritual. He curls up in an armchair next to a cozy fireplace with an ancient tomb on demonology in his lap. There is a non-zero amount of dead bodies in his garden, feeding the flowers with their decaying flesh.

And he believes there’s something beautiful about that; the cycle of life and death, the miracle of life and the necessity of death.

Primo hates the government and he hates society; he hates humanity. He believes it to be corrupt and evil – and looks forward to the day that it reaps what it deserves. It also means that he doesn’t have a lot of personal objections to doing ‘evil’ things, himself.

I do not think that makes him a complete monster (because completely chaotic evil characters aren’t that interesting to me). Primo doesn’t go out of his way to be cruel.

Like, Primo has no qualms with sacrificing a goat or lamb on the alter, but wouldn’t kick a puppy. Primo wouldn’t hesitate to kill a man if he deemed it necessary, but he’s always kind to children. He would burn down a government building for fun, but he wouldn’t burn down a family home. He would absolutely have a reporter abducted because the Clergy kept badgering him to do interviews, but would see to it that the reporter had lunch.

Now – the Ghost Project.

Primo had no interest in it. He looked at his father, who he hates, and the flashy, rock n’ roll lifestyle, and quickly decided he wanted nothing to do with it. But he wasn’t given a choice in the matter. He does come around to aspects of it, though. He realizes that music can be a powerful tool to lure people into the Ministry. He realizes that he can influence people with music.

He commits to Ghost; writing songs and performing, singing Satan’s praises. His time as frontman is dedicated to his dark lord. Primo does not want the Ghost Project to be about him – he wants it to be about the message, alone. So, he tries to stay anonymous. He tries to stay separate.

But the people want a rockstar, they want interviews, they want personalization. And the Clergy pressures him to give them that. So, he breaks down and gives them interviews. Primo is old at this point – old and a little bitter. He doesn’t give a shit about the interviews.

So, he gets exceptionally high, sits down, and decides to have some fun with them.

So yeah, sure, he’d hit a panda in the face with a brick, but he wouldn’t do it for free – like, $500 bucks would do it. And sure, hell, he’d be down for some world domination, why not? Sounds like fun. Also, yeah, you know what, his d!ck is 13 inches long, write that down, it’s important. His Ghouls sit there in silent agony while their leader rattles off whatever wild bull he happens to think of off the top of his head, and he’s having a blast watching the interviewer get more and more uncomfortable.

And then his time as frontman is over, and he gladly turns over the Mitre to his little brother and returns to a quiet life of blood sacrifices and quiet gardening.

[hollowed-theory-hall]

re.: the weasleys + parenting

what's always bugged me most abt percy's fight with arthur (especially in the fandom, where everyone's like 'oh, he turned his back on harry and betrayed his family to side w the ministry) is that. that's hardly what the fight is about at all. the fight is about the fact that percy, an 18yo kid who just got promoted to his dream job instead of straight up losing any chance at ever being Minister (because they tried to scapegoat him into taking the blame for the crouch business even though he managed to keep the whole department running while his boss wasn't even there), comes home all excited to tell his parents that "Hey, he's not unemployed and bereft of any and all hope for his biggest dream", but rather that his skills and competence got recognized by The Most Important Man In The Government, and molly and arthur look him straight in the face and go—"no you didn't."

there is no mention whatsoever that they even try to be gentle about it, that they congratulate him first and then bring it up later like "just be careful around Fudge, he's always looking for people to get information from and you are the best of both worlds, close to the action and actually good at the job he hired you for", nothing of the sort. they straight up don't even consider how any of those factors might've weighed in Fudge's decision to hire him.

and, perhaps worst of all, they have no faith in Percy. he tells them "I'm working for the minister", and not only do they not spare a second to be happy for him over this frankly momentous achievement (or at the very least concern for the position it puts him in), they jump straight to conjectures and accusations. "you only got this because of Harry" has got to crush Percy, who was raised to believe that good things come to honest, hard-working people and who has been working for this since he was a small child. and it digs the knife deeper when you realize that most of his siblings have basically replaced him with Harry. Harry, who also plays Quidditch and also keeps throwing himself into death-defying dangers and overalls fits much better into the family dynamic than Percy ever has.

and there's just this. crystal clear implication that they do believe Percy would spy on them. he's so Different and Other and Un-Weasley/Gryffindor-like and they've alienated themselves from him so absolutely that they can't see any reasons he wouldn't willingly and consciously jeopardize his parents' livelihood and Harry & his siblings safety just to stay in the Minister's good graces, when if anyone's actually at risk of losing their job for siding with Dumbledore is his father, who's still working there quite merrily and continues to so for a long time afterwards.

Percy, who runs into a freezing lake mid-February while attending an international event as Crouch's replacement to make sure Ron is alright, who pesters Ginny to eat and have a pepper-up potion most of her first year bc she doesnt look well, who tails Harry and Ron a lot of their second and third years bc there's something petrifying kids and then Dementors on the grounds and a mass murderer on the loose and they all just think he's being willfully bothersome like no you idiots he's worried.

of course he left. of course he left. what did he have to gain by staying at the Burrow, beyond fresh home cooked meals harassment and disagreements? why wouldn't he leave?

sorry I have a lot of feelings about this.

No need to apologize, this is brilliantly written!

I don't even feel like I need to add anything as you summed up the Percy situation perfectly.

But I can't help myself because I love discussing the Weasley family dynamics, so it's a bit more rumbley than my usual...

Percy cares so much for his family. When Voldemort is revealed and the war actually starts, he puts all his disagreements with his parents aside to come and help and make sure they're okay, because he cares. And still, he is being shunned and treated like an outsider.

Arthur and Molly Weasley are just really good at alienating their kids because it isn't just Percy.

Somehow all of them succeded in feeling like outsiders in a family of 9. Bill shows frustration with his parents and only returns to Britain because of the war, Charlie's in Romania for most of the series. Fred and George run away the moment they can and are treated like trouble by their parents most of the time (Molly and Arthur assume they are selling stolen goods from Mundungus when they hear they have money, not that they, idk, somehow earned it), Ron has a whole complex of low self-esteem and a tendency to blame himself for everything. Ginny is isolated from her brothers as the only girl and youngest...

And Percy cares and tries to be the best and most responsible sibling and gets scorned in turn.

Harry and Ron do acknowledge Arthur's and Molly's accusation towards Percy was awful and that he was right to respond negatively in OOTP. Ron is just sensitive about their family's financial state which soured Percy to him after Percy blew up at their dad (rightfully so, honestly, I'd say way worse to Arthur if it was me).

The thing is, Percy also gets scorned by his siblings, not just his parents (like Fred and George do). He gets grief for trying to be responsible and for wanting his siblings to do well in school and not get in trouble, Fred and George lock him in a pyramid...

That being said, do I think Percy is perfect? No, he is pretentious and overbearing at times, but he is a child in a large family who tries to find a place to fit himself in. According to child psychology, usually when it comes to siblings, the eldest would usually (at least in childhood) try to be everything the parents want (Bill), and then each next sibling will carve a different niche for themselves, and we see this with the Weasleys. I think the twins being born right after Percy and demanding a lot of attention from their parents from a young age as they were little troublemakers from the start is a big reason why Percy chose the niche of being bookish, ambitious, and responsible for himself. To contrast himself with them and his older brothers and get some attention from their parents.

I'm not a fan of the epilog (like everyone), but I find it hard to imagine Percy being close to his family post-books. I think he never fully got over the sting of not being seen as skilled and competent and that his parents believed he'd turn on them all without a second thought. Nor do I think he should just get over it.

Like, I'm really salty that Percy was the only one to apologize:

“I was a fool!” Percy roared, so loudly that Lupin nearly dropped his photograph. “I was an idiot, I was a pompous prat, I was a—a—” “Ministry-loving, family-disowning, power-hungry moron.” said Fred. Percy swallowed. “Yes, I was!” “Well, you can’t say fairer that that,” said Fred, holding out his hand to Percy. Mrs. Weasley burst into tears. She ran forward, pushed Fred aside, and pulled Percy into a strangling hug, while he patted her on the back, his eyes on his father. “I’m sorry, Dad.” Percy said.

(Deathly Hollows, pages 512-513)

Like, yes, it's great he was smart enough to realize the ministry is corrupt, but this demand only for him to apologize when Molly and Arthur Weasley were just as much in the wrong. Fred and George weren't beacons of sainthood here either. But none of them have apologies demanded of them. None of them are demanded to confess they are "morons". Just Percy.

Who even after his apology is still an outsider. Probably always will be one.

You said it best: "Why wouldn't he leave?"

And that's what we see him do (if temporarily).

[thefirstknife]

Some conjecture on the topic of Ergo Sum: I think people are taking the whole "this is the sword that was on our grave in the Corridors of Time" thing the wrong way. Yeah, it's the sword buried on our grave, but I don't think people realize how *big* of a moment it is that we're getting *that* sword? This sword was a direct gift from the Traveler to aid us in our upcoming battle with the Witness. This sword is going to become so iconic and important and synonymous with us that it's going to be featured prominently on our grave when we die.

Ergo Sum also shares the same Ghost pommel (little bit at the end of the handle) that the new relic we get in the "final" boss fight has as well. Both were also given to us directly by the Traveler in the same place. They're very clearly linked to one another. It's also worth noting that the last shot of the final cutscene at the end of the campaign has a Guardian wielding it prominently, with what seems to be Light radiating off of it.

I think this is going to be the sword that kills the Witness.

(Or at least directly connected to it.)

Agreed! When we saw it originally obviously we didn't know anything about it. It just looked like a cool sword. I also remember people being disappointed that this sword wasn't the actual exotic we got from the Corridors of Time puzzle.

But now, this has so much more meaning. This is the sword made by the Traveler to cut down the Witness and destroy it. Like, it's not just some weapon, it was forged by the Traveler itself for the specific purpose of unmaking the Witness. That's absolutely incredible. Us wielding it in the final fight is HUGE.

The problem with Corridors of Time grave is that we simply don't know if that's something set in stone or not. There are other timelines and our grave could be from there, although the sword being real and so important to us makes this more likely to be our timeline. It's possible that whatever happens in the raid and in the post-raid mission, we will die in our final confrontation with the Witness, wielding that sword, and our grave will be made, fulfiling the Corridors vision, but we will somehow be brought back. I would not put it past the Traveler to personally intervene and react to bring us back because of how much we've done for it and the universe as a whole.

Super speculative of course, but the existence of that sword and it being directly connected to the Traveler is way too big of a deal IMO, for the Corridors of Time grave to just be a random curiosity. Like, they did not have to make the sword look like that. A lot of players have never seen it at this point. I'd even say most players; it was only available for a total of 2 weeks well over 4 years ago.

Speaking of, here's the grave scene with the eulogy. It also shows the sword at the end. Note the music in the background: it is the same music that plays when we take the sword at the end of the Destined Heroes exotic quest (I timestamped to one of the videos of the quest I could find where you can hear it). Again, this is something few people would notice because of how long it's been and the fact that it only existed for 2 weeks: you'd know only if you played at the time and remembered the music and recognised it, which I did the moment it started playing because I am normal about the Corridors of Time.

It's important to say also that in the eulogy, Saint says that the weapon used to be his and that it was shattered in the final confrontation. The Ghost shell is also not directly connected to the pommel; I remember originally we just thought it was a normal sword and the Ghost shell was just our Ghost laid to rest with us. Ergo Sum connects these two. Some alterations are normal I think, given the amount of time it's been between these things, but I do believe this is meant to be this same sword as a throwback to our grave, especially since they literally used the same music when we retrieve it. Really wild to think about.

In all likelihood, the only person who has seen our grave is us (Quria notwithstanding), unless we told someone about it. I'd like if this was somehow discussed but since nobody else has seen it, I don't know how we would do it even if we did speak more than one line. Do we even remember? Does it even matter? I feel like it should, beyond just being a cool throwback. Eagerly waiting to see more.

[nalyra-dreaming]

Idk why this didn't occur to me before but if Rashid had access to the missing diary pages then the Talamasca also presumably did. There's even a chance Daniel has seen them by the finale (I'd loooove to have full access to the trove of information they gave him!!) though exactly how illuminating the pages are in themselves I can't guess. On a (kinda) related note, what do you think led Daniel to the realization that it was Lestat who saved Louis at the trial, and that Armand planned to let him die? Was it just intuition? Because it didn't seem like a random hunch, he was very certain about it. Was there maybe something in the annotated script and/or Vampire Sam's account that tipped him off? I guess from an outsider's perspective it was pretty clear that Lestat wasn't there for revenge, and of course Daniel knew Lestat had a powerful enough Mind Gift to manage it, but it still seems like a bit of a leap. I feel like there had to be something in the Talamasca's files that informed his opinion?

Well, I mean the script that Daniel got there had a few annotations.

Annotations that made it clear that it was Armand who planned it all, Armand who directed the trial, Armand who... wanted them dead.

I am not sure if there might be more in it pertaining to Lestat saving Louis, but I can very well imagine it. Or maybe it is in a file Daniel got somewhere else (from/in the Talamasca files), because I agree, he seemed very sure of it.

In any case the trial script made clear that is was not Armand though. So maybe conjecture, maybe more.

As per Claudia's diaries... I... don't think the Talamasca have them. I mean, I could be wrong there, but I always took Armand's comment of having Rashid get them as deflection. The next evening Louis is a whole different person again (reprogrammed), and I don't think the offer to get those pages was actually genuine.

The Talamasca might have knowledge about what they contain though.

... given that the writers said in NOVEMBER 2022(!!!) that they would revisit murder night - and that hasn't happened yet - I do expect that revisit to happen in s3.

And... the cut out pages of Claudia's diaries might play an important role there, as said before.

Because her entries in the book "Merrick" were a shift, to put it that way.

We'll see, but I don't think the show, or the characters, are all done with the missing pages.

[hexcrystals]

“Can’t be silent on one and not the other, so I can’t support you” but can you yourself support both? ARE you yourself supporting both? These people love to whine about people not doing enough but I don’t see those same people posting about both. Like did that commenter on Taika’s post make any post themselves about the hikoi? Does their advocacy end at making posts, as if that’s the full summation of activism? They really don’t realize how hypocritical they are. “I can’t support you on this” fine, whatever, but are you yourself supporting the people he’s posting about? If the answer is no, you’re just as bad as you claim he is. (And to be clear I think advocacy shouldn’t be fully encompassed in posting the way these people seem to, but in trying to work within the parameters of their goalposts, I kinda can’t help it)

(Also the “you” above is not you, Lyse, but the people who make such hypocritical comments and grand conjectures. Not sure if that was obvious in my vent so I wanted to clarify!)

no i fully get you

the first thing to start with is that posting isn’t activism lmao so all of it is invalid anyway but policing other people’s posting is like. super not activism

nobody has the energy or time or strength to champion every single cause. nor should they. spreading yourself thin trying to help everybody is actually helping nobody

and people are obviously perfectly within their rights to support palestine, but when they say shit like ‘i can’t support you on this bc you were silent on palestine’, what they’re really saying is that they believe palestine is the only important cause and everyone else can eat shit basically

and it’s fine for palestine to be the only important cause to you. but you can’t ask everyone else to stop all other forms of activism including advocating for communities they themselves belong to. and you can’t use your own support (or lack thereof) of those causes as a bargaining chip to demand the correct type of performative activism for palestinians

and they know this. you never get an answer when you turn it around and ask them okay what are you doing for sudan? what are you doing for ukraine and the congo and uyghur muslims in xinjiang?

the reality is they’re doing nothing. and in 95% of cases they’re also doing nothing to help palestinians. because posting on the internet and leaving shitty comments on taika waititi’s instagram posts does not actually make a blind bit of difference to the people suffering in gaza, no matter how loudly you shout that you’re doing it in their name

[larsisfrommars]

The Light Won't Die (Part 6)

Halsin x Tav

Rating: T for Teen (Canon Typical Gore)

Chapter: 6/??? (<- Prev Chapter)

Word Count: 1596

Genre: Adventure, Hurt/Comfort

Content: Halsin x Tav, Male!Tav, Fighter!Tav, the meat of the matter, oops turns out this is also a sickfic, budding feelings, Tav mini lore drop, Shadow Cursed wounds are the best kind of wounds don't you think?

"Tav knew Halsin was in no state to travel, let alone defend himself if more Shadows came. They had to find somewhere and fast."

———————✨🌿✨———————

“Well,” Halsin coughed “that’s curious.”

He took an uneven step forward, about to explain himself or theorize the nature of his previously uninfected wound. What came out instead is something between a cough and a groan.

The strength left the Druid’s body before Tav could get a word in. His eyes rolled back, his knees buckled, Nature’s Snare clattering to the ground. It took the majority of Tav’s strength to catch him and prevent them both from crashing onto the cobblestones.

Halsin regained his senses at the sudden jostling. But it was clear that the Druid could no longer stand on his own two feet, not without help at least.

“Easy, easy, easy! Let’s sit you down for a moment. Gods Halsin! Why didn’t you tell me you were hurt so badly?!” Tav hissed incredulously as he set himself and Halsin down against the low stone barrier beside them.

Halsin’s his head lolled back against the wall, grimacing, breathing heavy, trying to piece together a reply.

“Your wounds… from the fall… more urgent… did not know, though it was a flesh wound. Clearly… I was mistaken.” The elf spoke between labored breaths. Letting out a half chuckle that dissolved into a wheezing cough.

Tav couldn’t even pretend to be amused, they were both in danger now because Halsin had put his needs above his own, the selfless oaf.

Then again, Tav had been unconscious when they hit the bottom of the cliffside.

Tav had assumed he’d died, perhaps that wasn’t far from the truth. Halsin had looked unusually relieved when he came to, maybe he feared the worst… maybe…

Tav shook his head, he had more important things to worry about than a personal brush with death. Those were a copper a dozen for him. It was Tav’s fault they were down here anyway, a healing potion was the least he could do.

“Looks like some kind of poison, I thought you told me about all the dangers of the shadow curse already?” Tav glanced up at the wound as he rifled around his bag. Looking much stranger and angrier than it had as he watched it made by those accursed Thorn Blights.

“This is new… I have neither suffered nor seen a wound like this before.” He turned to look at Tav now. “There are a great many things that have changed since I last saw this place, not just the landscape. When the Curse first fell, most were either transformed, killed or were the precious few like myself who escaped with minor injuries. Perhaps the sun cured whatever ails this wound, or perhaps… I shudder to think-”

Halsin’s conjecture was interrupted by a coughing fit. Tav finally unearthed a potion of lesser healing from his bag. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing. He uncorked it for the Druid, prepared to help him choke it down if it came to it.

“The curse may be evolving.” Halsin finished soberly, gingerly taking the petite glass bottle in both hands. Emptying it in a signal swallow.

They waited with baited breath, Halsin’s breathing did not ease, nor did the narrow, angry gash in his side show any signs of closing. Not even a fading of bruises, not a thing done by such a valuable vial of magic. They looked at one another, Tav didn’t have to ask whether or not he felt any better.

“Bone Chill.” Tav realized with a nasty feeling in his gut. So much for the least he could do.

“We need to get you somewhere safe. Can you stand?”

“I will try.” Halsin breathed.

It took the staff and Tav’s help, but he was able to get back to his feet. Their travel speed now slowed to a crawl. Though he would if asked, Tav knew Halsin was in no state to travel, let alone defend himself if more Shadows came. They had to find somewhere and fast.

Slim pickings to put it lightly, less searching for a decent shelter and more so “which one of these ancient buildings is the least derelict”. Tav eyed a large silo shaped cobblestone building with barely any roof. At least the walls were intact, and he didn’t know of anything that would attack them from above.

It would have to do.

“Come on, just a little further to go.”

The Druid only nodded in reply.

Tav helped Halsin ease himself onto the dirt floor of the strange old silo, relieving himself of his pack. Rifling through it for bedroll, torches, anything that would help, he had one more health potion but obviously that wasn’t going to do any good until the Bone Chill wore off, if that was even what it was. Up until recently Tav had been a complete stranger to necromancy.

He wished he still was.

Four torches, they’d have to be relit every few hours but that could last them two, maybe three days, not counting using the Mace for backup. He had enough rations for the both of them for much longer than that thanks to raiding the Creche.

Halsin obviously needed the bedroll more than he did, he’d sleep on the floor, lightly, sitting up, just in case a torch died. Now, if only he could put a flare together to show the others where to find them.

No, bad idea, that could draw the Absolutists right to them, not to mention all manner of light hating beasts that slathered these lands in their ravenous pitch. No matter how ominously Halsin had described the Curse it was nothing compared to actually being inside it yourself. It was oppressive, if only you really could cut air with a knife. Then maybe he could think straight. He already had enough incomprehensible forces gnawing on his grey matter as it was!

“You should rest.” A shallow voice rasped from the corner.

Tav gasped, immediately putting hand to mace hilt, he almost didn’t recognize the elf’s voice.

It bothered Tav how slow he was to take his hand away from the mace although he knew full well even if Halsin were well, he’d never lay a hand on him. Even as he thought that, his mind wandered to the thorns in his chest… The mace clearly wasn’t enough, he really must light a torch!

So he did, and all the anger and fear washed away in face of a new and more powerful force. One that he’d become all too familiar with in Halsin’s presence.

Care. Not only that but the self assured sense of protectiveness he felt for all their companions, something he hadn’t quite realized was ebbing away in face of this gloom.

“Are you… well?” Halsin asked wheezily, half-conscious.

Beads of sweat speckled the Druid’s brow despite the omnipresent chill the Curse bestowed on the land, one of its many gruesomely charming features.

“I am. But you’re not.” Tav brushed Halsin’s hair from his forehead with the back of his hand “Gods Halsin, you’re burning hotter than the Hells. You’ll be competing with Karlach soon enough. You should lie down.”

The Druid not argue, perhaps he couldn’t. Strong, warm, dry hands were made cold and trembling by the strange poison running through Halsin’s veins. A hand in hand to ease. A hand laced through russet hair so that the weakened elf would not hit his head too harshly on the ground.

Gingerly, tenderly, his hands did what was necessary, what was right, as they always did. It took no real effort, so why was his heart pounding so violently in its cage then? Why did he feel as though he needed to catch his breath? He had practically been ready to cave this man’s skull in not moments prior just for startling him! Gods it had been a long day.

Tav took out his canteen.

“Drink.”

Halsin abided, with a bit of propping up.

“Thank you, Tav.�� Halsin managed, followed by yet another coughing fit.

Tav was no healer but, you don’t become a Flaming Fist without getting some rudimentary first aid training. “No bleeding out before the Clerics show up!” His drill sergeant used to bark.

No Clerics around here Tav thought bitterly. Removing a water jug and a bundle of clean linens from his pack.

“I’m going to have to remove this.” Tav spoke mechanically, gesturing to Halsin’s armor. Trying focus on the task at hand and not the sudden return of that same rush of feeling from before.

Halsin nodded his understanding, doing his best to make it easier for Tav. The wound looked even worse beneath the cuirass. He wasn’t particularly squeamish given his line of work, but this wound was magical, alien, and Tav couldn’t help but wince.

The initial shock passed Tav got to work, methodically, gently cleaning the dirt and blood and ichor away until all that remained was what continued to well-up from the wound, which was quickly tapered off by the makeshift bandages he’d rustled up.

Tav had done what he must, and Halsin had finally given into exhaustion. Hopefully what people said about Elves only sleeping to heal was true. All that could be done without magic had been.

Despite his efforts, despite the Blood of Lathander, despite the lit torch, one haunting lingering anxiety for which no curse could be blamed lingered in Tav’s mind.

That fever, the dark magic in that would could kill Halsin in his sleep, and there would be very little Tav could do about it.

He fought his own tired body to the last, just to watch his breathing.

Just in case.

[opalspring]

Some observations and color-coding in Cat

Here are some thoughts/observations about Cat, though especially about the color-coding.

The car and walking scenes

In Cat, the car scene has some interesting details about Kazui and Hinako’s relationship in my opinion. 

Hinako is shown to be the one initially interested in Kazui, who notices this:

And then we get this frame, with Kazui looking to his left while turning the wheel with a seductive face. At first glance, it looks like he noticed Hinako’s affection for him and is implied to reciprocate. The thing is though, with the composition in the scene only showing Kazui and Hinako separately, we can’t be sure he’s looking at her specifically here: it’s left ambiguous (propably on purpose).

I’ll go in detail about this later, but basically I think that at that point in time, Kazui was already planning to use Hinako’s feelings for him to get closer to a certain someone.

Then we get to the walking scene. There’s one frame in particular there that I feel gives a lot of interesting context to Kazui’s story:

To discuss it further, we need to talk about color-coding in Cat. There are three colors in particular that are important in the mv: blue, magenta and yellow.

I think the colors are each supposed to represent either a person, or a concept. One association we can easily make to start is Kazui and blue.

It’s used in the beginning sequence when only he is on screen, and is a very similar shade of blue as the one on his prisoner uniform’s straps.

(I should have picked a better pic but I mean specifically the straps and not the other blue like the one for 007)

There’s another scene that also seemingly ties Kazui with blue: 

This frame seems to cement Kazui’s association with blue. Additionally, it’s probably safe to say Hinako’s color is magenta with that logic.

And what about yellow? Well, for that color we have to do a little more digging. But one thing is for certain, it’s as important as Kazui’s blue and Hinako’s magenta. 

The reason for that is these two shots:

Using Kazui and Hinako’s colors for this sequence makes sense, but why is yellow mingled in as well? This part alludes to how Kazui is potentially using Hinako’s feelings, so what is the yellow doing there too?

That’s the part where we can begin to guess who yellow refers to. It’s possible Kazui had a third person in mind when marrying Hinako. Specifically, someone he would be able to see more if he and Hinako were married.

This goes into conjecture territory, but the only character from Kazui’s story that could fit this role in my opinion is his childhood friend/the bartender, who he talks about a lot in his interrogation questions.

Kazui and the bartender/ childhood friend

(From now on, I’ll assume yellow refers to the childhood friend for this theory and refer to him as CF) 

There are more parts in the mv that allude to the link between Kazui, Hinako and maybe-the bartender, like this shot:

What’s interesting here, aside from the color combination, is how despite Hinako’s color being present, the colors forming the 01 and taking up most of the space are Kazui’s and the CF’s.

This coupled with the lyrics on screen at that moment, we can assume Kazui’s dream refers to being close with the CF.

Another detail regarding are the French lyrics that overlap with the yellow 1. They translate to that part from the lyrics:

All those things I wanna do that I can’t say out loud

I gotta keep it inside and act

The beating of this heart… see… it’s no longer about good and bad… it isn’t

I realize the futility, but I still can’t help but dream

So maybe these words were meant to be directed at the CF.

There are other moments in the mv where blue and yellow get mingled together, and when we couple them with the corresponding lyrics on screen, we get combinations like this:

Here, his feelings he ignored regarding the CF (blue and yellow are mixed together). We also get a hint that Hinako and the CF are linked together somehow with the magenta mixing with the yellow.

We haven’t mentioned lime before but maybe it could be a representation of Kazui’s love for men, or men in general? “I just wanted to touch (a man)”

Interestingly, the combination of Kazui’s blue with lime gets us the same green color as Kazui’s blue + the CF’s yellow. We’ll talk about this in a later section.

Here, Kazui knows the CF is out of his league, both because they’re both married to different people, and since the CF is most likely straight (from the lyrics “If only your heart would change, but that’s not possible” from half).

Here Hinako realizes her relationship to Kazui was a lie, and that he was potentially only interested in her because of her link to the CF (maybe they’re siblings or something similar).

And in the following scene, after Hinako dies, only Kazui and the CF are left in the equation.

Now we can go back to that frame that was mentioned earlier. We theorized on which color refers to which character, and it puts some things in perspective.

On the right part of the frame, Kazui is standing on the blue stripe, representing him, so nothing too special. 

Similarly, Hinako is placed around the magenta one, herself. And although the framing stops us from looking further on the right, the yellow stripe hints that a third person is actually standing there: the bartender/childhood friend in this theory.

This puts the rest of this sequence in a whole new light. After all, if Kazui is proposing to Hinako, why isn’t he facing her in the frame before? That may be because it’s actually the CF he’s looking at.

This could explain the magic trick: the bouquet changes into a ring for a reason. If the intent was to “just” propose to Hinako, what’s the need for the bouquet and the trick animation? 

From my interpretation, the bouquet is actually meant for the CF, and the ring Kazui gives Hinako could be an excuse to get closer to the CF if he and Hinako really have a link (like being siblings or something).

Color inversion

There’s a frame at the beginning of the mv that comes by so quick you have to put the video on 0.25% speed to take a screenshot of it, this one:

Since it appears at the mv’s beginning, I think this frame is meant to give us some clues regarding the mv in general. 

We see color combinations (red and blue) like in the rest of the video but what’s interesting here in my opinion is the white circle on the right: it shows us a different color combination by inverting the colors.

So I think this is a guideline for the viewers to apply through the mv: invert the colors to discover hidden details.

One thing we can note is is that: red=cyan and blue (Kazui)= orange

Remember the lime color and how it could represent Kazui’s love for men? Let’s try to invert the colors and see how it compares to the combination of yellow and blue, romantic in Kazui’s mind:

These two combinations result in the same (or very similar) shades of pink, so maybe pink refers to romantic love in the mv. 

Going back to the red+blue=pink combo we saw earlier, this makes me think that red/cyan might represent Kazui’s homosexuality/love for men as a whole (since red + blue (Kazui) = pink (romantic love)).

Also, another thing regarding this frame and the “Kazui was using Hinako from the beginning” theory: at the moment Kazui notices Hinako’s crush on him, we can see that his “thoughts” on the left go from:

 lime (love for men (?)) + blue (Kazui) = green (or pink=love, see pic above) to:

 magenta (Hinako), with lime (love for men (?)) and yellow (CF), but barely mingled in

This is what made me think Kazui got the idea of marrying Hinako, but with an ulterior motive (getting closer to the CF, who may be Hinako’s sibling or acquaintance). Who knows though.

Here, was the bouquet actually meant for cyan= a man? (if we assume red= desire for men/homosexuality)

Remember how green/purple represent the bartender/CF in this theory? Here it could show Kazui’s married life with Hinako… but how he’s secretly dreaming of the same life, but with his childhood friend.

This one in particular is really interesting because it could be a confirmation that the apple is meant to represent the CF. The red/cyan apples could represent men in general, with the CF getting a special place as a green/purple apple. So it puts the entirety of half in a new context:

…

…….I see what you did there, M. Mukuhara

“Sorry Hinako, but I actually like *the bartender*” ? No, that’s probably not how Kazui said it and he probably came out by saying he’s gay, but the reason that made him come out was the CF (maybe)…

Pretty sure Kazui and the bartender/CF had an “adventure” of some sorts here

There are probably a lot more I missed, but it’s interesting how the staff (maybe) created a link between both mvs.

Thanks for reading!

[honeybeebabeblr]

Crowley’s peaceful precious existence doesn’t exist.

He wants to protect his status quo because it’s more desirable than what he’s been dealing with in the past. But it’s not ideal. It’s not what he really wants ( he probably thinks he doesn’t deserve what he really wants).

A fundamental part of aziraphale and crowley’s disagreement is Crowley thinks what they have is good enough because it’s better than it was and aziraphale sees it can be better. Aziraphale is an idealist, which can get him to be too blind to a lot of things, but it also gives him the fortitude to stubborn his way through things when he thinks he knows the right way, even if he hurts himself in the process. (Insert Pokémon joke more clever person than I comes up with)

You CANNOT tell me crowley enjoys living in his car. Hauling his plants around ( he’s not gonna dump them like SHE dumped him, even when he’s disappointed in them). Sleeping all cramped up. Having Shax and who knows what other demons just pop in when they want.

And speaking of shax- it seems like heaven has left aziraphale alone until Jim-gabe trundles up (with his box with his brains in a fly and the book of life he stole no I’m not letting go of that theory) but shax is up crowley’s ass. She’s in the Bentley, she’s calling him, they’re meeting up in places. Wow, so peaceful and relaxing, Crowley, amirite?

And he damn well isn’t going to take a rank-up in hell to give Beelzebub info about Gabriel no matter how weird they get about it.

He’s depressed, perhaps the immortal version of a midlife crisis (what’s the point, blah blah blah ) and yet you see all that life, all the bits of him he’s stuffed down because he thinks he doesn’t get to be that anymore escaping bit by bit. He’s gentle with Muriel, he’s conflicted with Gabriel to extremes almost, he’s giving space to humans, he’s indulgent to aziraphale’s whims until he realizes aziraphale has gone completely off into lala land (aziraphale’s version of dealing with his own trauma a whole other post).

And now this is my own conjecture, but he’s also having to deal with stuff from his past he’s been trying to box up, like rank and class and ability and purpose. I mean, it’s a bit embarrassing to think about stuff you’ve done years ago you might not do now. Angel!crowley is a bit single minded and vain. Angel!crowley was clearly high ranked and trusted with a lot of responsibility and power. Angel!crowley bids some lower angel over to be a freaking easel and blows-off that angels introduction in order to soak in the glory of his creation. Who knows what else he was like? All the other angels right now are very much aware of rank; Maybe he was too.

And maybe demon!crowley is wiser and more aware and is a bit embarrassed of what a pompous ass he was. But instead of forgiving himself, he’s just going to punish himself.

Traumatized people can sometimes step in and punish themselves when the outside source is absent. Crowley tells aziraphale he’s a demon, he lies, he’s a demon he’s not nice he’s a demon he’s evil - so aziraphale is repeating this to him even though it’s not what aziraphale believes. (And people get mad at aziraphale for it, but he’s doing what Crowley seems to want him to do because his own trauma dictates he try and please everyone) .

It can’t get any better for Crowley right now, in his mind. All of us vs all of them is looming but it’s not right now. (But it is) aziraphale and he can hang out in his shop and get food and just be right now(he just needs to make sure all these threads of threats against them are ignored) and yeah, crowley’s inconvenienced and uncomfortable but like he deserves that, it’s aziraphale’s comfort that’s important right now (never mind that if he actually said that sentence aloud he’d get the equivalent of a wtf-Crowley glare from aziraphale). Aziraphale has all these places and people and things and hobbies and so it’s nice he deigns to spend time with a demon (doesn’t even occur to him aziraphale thinks he’s the lucky one the amazing so-much-better-than-me Crowley picked).

Crowley has his hands covering his ears and is going lalalalalalalalalaICANTHEARYOU because even with all the bullshit going on, he’s mostly content. And he doesn’t dare think he could have or even deserve more happiness. He needs to accept all the love aziraphale wants to give him. Accept that he still is a bit of ‘that angel’ inside instead of shoving it down into a box with a weak lock, accept others out there actually do care about him. Accept it’s okay for him to care for things.

And ultimately, he has to accept he cannot keep running from the rotten core of heaven and hell and face it and root it out in order to really have his peaceful existence. And he’s going to have to make peace wnd find acceptances with his present and past selves to do so. I cannot wait for his journey.

[princ3sstears]

Fyodor from BSD reincarnated as Albert Moriarty

Fydor's ability crime and punishment could teleport him thought universe, thought time and space, but when he uses his ability, it makes him look different in each universe, and regress to the form and mind of a child.( + forget his memories)

That's why Fydor doesn't use his ability often, + he can't travel in a time in a universe(He already traveled in time once) Thus, Fydor can't travel to the universes he already visited. Also, crime and punishment would only kill someone if Fydor wants it to.

Ace to Fyodor Dostoevsky[1]FROM THE DAY I WAS BORN, I'VE BEEN A KING. A KING IS A MASTER OF INTELLIGENCE. AND THANKS TO YOUR STUPIDITY, YOU MISSED YOUR CHANCE TO SERVE THIS KING.

Karma's thoughts on Fyodor[1]ODDLY ENOUGH, I CAME TO REALIZE EXACTLY WHAT KIND OF PERSON OFFERED SALVATION TO EVIL. IT IS SOMETHING DARKER AND MORE REPULSIVE THAN "EVIL" ITSELF. I'M SURE OF IT NOW, THIS GUY WILL DESTROY THE MAFIA. AND IF I'M DOOMED TO DIE BY THIS GUY'S HAND, IT WAS A TERRIBLE LIFE, BUT I GUESS IT WASN'T TOO BAD.

this honestly relies a bunch on coincidences and conjecture, but i think that asagiri-sensei (being the genius he is) named karma after the company that he was sold through when he was younger. obviously, this isn't very important to the plot, considering karma is killed almost immediately after he is introduced, but i just think that if it's intentional that it is a really cool little detail :)

In my eyes, there are many answers for all this, but here is what I believe- This is crime and punishment. I believe Fyodor's ability can "punish" those who committed a crime, but so not see themselves as criminals. Those who try to hide and deny what they, in their eyes, consider a crime.

Fyodor explains that he can not let anyone find out about what has happened and announces he will grant Karma the 'great silence.' As he presses a finger to his forehead, Karma is killed in a single move. His final thoughts are that Fyodor will definitely destroy the mafia, and to be killed by such a guy is his way of dying, and it was not so bad of a life.Compared to one of Ace's goons, they are affected by Fyodor's ability because they felt guilt for their crimes. Despite having shown Fyodor kindness, he wanted to repent and be free of a live of crime, and thus has pled "guilty" before Fyodor.

The novel that is based on Fyodor's ability talks not about what crime and punishment are but about people's morals. It goes about showing how and why people decide to do criminal acts, along how they go about accepting or denying the act. It's all about the feeling of guilt after committing a crime. We can add to the theory that the morality in question is absolute, and thus, no one is exempt from a crime when they feel guilt.

So when reincarnated, Fydor! a.k.a Albert will have to kill his brothers once their plan works. Albert doesn't remember being Fydor, so he remembers mid reaction that he is Fydor. Also, Fydor's ability couldn't function until Albert remembered who he was.

Albert doesn't want to "punish" his brothers, but he has to.

Fydor is the punishment, and his ability is the crime.

[hazbin-reimagined]

Adding onto this,

I think the “Sin of Sloth” as presented by Christianity is incredibly ableist, as Laziness itself is largely a myth, and you can learn about this more by reading Mel Levine’s “The Myth of Laziness” where she explores this in depth. Many disabled and mentally ill people are called “lazy” when they are simply trying to survive under their conditions every day, and if they could complete xyz task, they absolutely would, if thier bodies and minds would let them.

My take on the “sin of Sloth” is two things:

“Sloth” being Biblical shorthand for anyone who does anything to avoid hard work (including coming up with ways to make work easier; the sweat of hard labor being more valued in the old times than innovation or efficiency)

Or my interpretation:

Sloth being making the active choice to do nothing, even though you have all the tools at your disposal to make a difference.

This interpretation, instead of condemning people who don’t “work hard enough” instead brings to light the sin of turning a blind eye to people and situations that need your help.

In this case, Sloth would be an accomplice to the other Sins.

While Greed takes from the less fortunate, or Envy plots their enemies downfall, or Lust or Wrath enact Violence onto others;

Sloth just, watches, and does nothing. Not from a place of fear, or despair, but from a place of not caring, and choosing to do nothing about it.

Sloth, like Envy, is a sin of the heart. To be Slothful is to be content in not caring about others suffering.

Compared to the other deadly sins it seems so minor, until you realize that Sloth is complicit. Sloth is complicit in everything. The “It’s not happening to me, so why should I care”. Witnessing evil while having the tools to intervene and doing nothing to stop it. That is Sloth. There is complexity to it. Many people turn a blind eye to save themselves. But there is selfishness in that. To help your neighbor is a virtue, and to Heaven, refusing virtue is a sin.

This is how I see it, anyways.

Scholarly Biblical analysis/disclaimer below:

Full disclosure, all “Deadly Sins” parodied or mentioned in the Bible are, at their core, parable. Many cultures advise against the risks of over-indulgence of any kind, including over-indulging in aspects of human nature, by writing stories of what the fates that befell xyz character of fable for indulging in that “sin”. The concept of “sin” is largely conjecture. The Christian Bible also sites “eating seafood”, “wearing mixed fabrics” (polyester) and “cutting your hair” as sins. If these “sins” can be disregarded as cause for damnation, then everything sited as sin in the Bible should be under scrutiny. What’s important at the end of the day is to think critically and to keep your mind open to the possibilities.

My name is Chuck, I am a recovering Christian rewriting Hazbin and Dante’s Inferno because I think both Dante and Vivienne Midrano are uninspired Hacks, follow my blog for critical analysis of the Hellaverse as well as updates on my Horror Anthology set in my reimagined Hell. Kudos!

"I have symptoms of narcolepsy, it might be because of my many meds or my mental health but I need to get tested since it's been there for a long time. Either way, it's when you feel the overwhelming need to sleep and it is OUT OF YOUR CONTROL, it isn't a deliberate choice or plain old laziness (as my parents called it my whole life). Belphegor exhibiting the symptoms of narcolepsy, being unable to stay awake despite trying as we clearly see her try, and this being characteristic of the SIN of SLOTH (implying being drowsy despite your best efforts is not only a choice to exhibit sloth but also sinful) - fuck you Vivz. You're as bad as my parents that traumatised me."

Submitted by anonymous

[leonsrightlations]

Additional Explanation for 'Who Stole My Book?'

[This post contains spoilers for the first game in The Earth is Online.]

There were a number of things about ‘Who Stole My Book?’ that confused me the first few times I read it and I didn’t really understand them until I carefully reread while translating. I thought I’d add some additional explanation in case anyone else was also confused. This is all just my conjecture and isn’t official so feel free to disagree or come up with other answers.

The first important point is that it’s heavily implied that the spiritual weirdo received a second set of instructions. Tang Mo never finds out what the contents were and, therefore, neither do we. These may have induced the spiritual weirdo to behave in particular ways in his role as the ‘demon.’

The clearest evidence of this is the tattoo. This is one of the main things that confused me the first time I read it, because I couldn’t figure out how he made it transform into an angel wing. However, this is thinking about it from the wrong perspective. The spiritual weirdo is a largely passive character and 'does' very little, which he even admits. 

Tang Mo tells us: The game says that the demon likes to deceive people and this is a hint to the angel that he’s concealed himself at your side. That is to say, the demon’s deception is embedded into the structure of the game. It isn’t a choice that the spiritual weirdo has actively made. It was the game that gave him the fake angel tattoo. This may have suggested (or directly forced) the spiritual weirdo to ‘hide at Tang Mo’s side’ when, given his personality, he may have preferred not to appear at all. He clearly thought until the end that this was an ‘odds’ game that was in his favor. 

The angel tattoo is the game enforcing a condition of symbolic identity. The game imposed a condition of having a symbol of identity, and then a condition that the demon deceives people. How else could this game-imposed deception manifest itself? 

Key Point: In this game, the demon must always be a liar, no matter which individual is playing the demon and no matter what decisions that individual makes. The only way to control all variables and ensure that the demon tells a lie is via this tattoo.

Further Key Point: Tang Mo wasn't 100% certain that the spiritual weirdo was the demon until the very end of the game. He was only suspicious and fairly sure up until then. That's why he mislead the spiritual weirdo into burning the bookshelf, in order to confirm his suspicion. ‘Who is the demon' was the hard part of the game. 'What book is it' was comparatively simple.

Another important aspect of the spiritual weirdo getting secondary instructions: On the first night, he “hears” something that Tang Mo doesn’t. It’s never revealed if he did hear something and what it might have been, but it’s likely that it was a hint or instruction for the demon regarding how to select a bookshelf to burn.

The way Tang Mo explains Mosaic’s involvement being a clue is a little backwards. I think it’s like this: At that time, he was fairly certain that the spiritual weirdo was the demon. But if that's the case, how did he burn down the bookshelf? If the spiritual weirdo is the demon, then one of the following must be true: he had a companion, he did it ‘mentally’ and left no physical trace, or Mosaic did it. Seeing Mosaic’s singed hair revealed how the spiritual weirdo could be the demon while not visibly burning the bookshelf. It wasn't necessary for the spiritual weirdo to know that it was Mosaic burning the bookshelves, only to follow whatever instructions he was given for selecting a target, not realizing that the game might use this to pit him.

This was the final confirmation that the spiritual weirdo was the demon. From here, it was a matter of simply picking a book that both Tang Mo and the demon (the spiritual weirdo) knew, which actually wasn’t hard at all, for the reasons he gave.

About the clues - this is already explained but it bears reiterating. The feather and Mosaic’s Disdain are meaningless to the game and are just distractions. The actual clues are the other things that Mosaic says at the same time those things are brought up - the demon likes to deceive people, the angel knows what the book is, and the demon also knows about it.

Anyway, that’s all I have to add. Hopefully it can help clear things up for anyone who is confused and thinks there were some plot holes. I’m really eager to correct this misconception because I admire Mo Chen Huan’s ability to write plots like these (Fourth Perspective is also like this). I think that when you don’t understand what happened or why (and it doesn’t get clearly explained), the subtleties of the riddles can seem like glaring authorial mistakes.

I don’t know that I’ll always be able to explain stuff that doesn’t make sense, but I’ll try. There are a number of puzzles in this story that make my head hurt even with explanations LMAO. I’ll do my best, though…

If everything was obvious to you and I seem stupid... well then just ignore this!!!!!!! *wobbles in the lonely wind*

[lesewut]

THE WORLD OF PARMENIDES – ESSAYS ON THE PRESOCRATIC ENLIGHTMENT by Karl Popper

On the Traces of our Thinking - Part Two

What achievements have resulted from Parmenides theories for modern physical and mathematical science? -> On the one hand, he was the discoverer of the deductive method of proofing and, indirectly, of the hypothetical-deductive method. -> Parmenides emphasized that the unchangeable or immutable, could be self-explanatory and so also used as a starting point for explanation. This lead, according to Meyerson, to a search for Laws of Conversation, Law of Conservation of Energy and Conservation of Momentum. The same applies to the method of representing natural theories or laws of nature in the form of mathematical equations. -> The theories of Parmenides were the beginning of the Theory of Continuity of Matter and so the starting point of Cosmological and Physical School and their ongoing rivalry against Atomistic School. (from the question of the structure of matter to Schrödinger and modern quantum field theory) -> Aristotle calls Parmenides the indirect forerunner of the Greek Cosmological School of Atomists (Democritus and Leucippus developed their teachings by refuting Parmenides point by point, and so the  deductive system became a hypothetical-deductive system, it is seen as the first falsification of a deductive system; Falsity of Parmenides’ conclusions = Falsity of his premises)

Nevertheless, we should not forget that Parmenides is not the original author of all the ideas presented. As a disciple of the founder of the School of Elea, Xenophanes (~ all conceptions of the Gods are anthropomorphic and culturally contingent +  Believe in Absolute Truth ), he shared the theory of an ontology that any philosophical doctrine that assumes an absolute being, which can only be grasped by thinking and this absolute being opposes with becoming (because the absolute being “is”)  and the visible world as an illusion. The cosmogony is influenced by his first teacher Ameinias, who connected ideas of Anaximander, Pythagoras, Pherekydes… What was extraordinary about the school was the culture of debate and the phenomenon that the student was ambitious to correct and/or develop ideas of the teacher. Again, we have the importance of incorrect theories for the further development of (scientific) explanations.

"Do we know more today, or have we just heard that there is more knowledge?"

It was an exciting journey with Popper to the pre-Socratic ideas. The Socratic postulate of not-knowing also includes the idea of intellectual modesty. Each new achievement is a small step towards the truth, but also only a hypothetical solution to a scientific problem. In addition, with each achievement, the amount and degree of its difficulty also grows. Science does not contain certain knowledge, it is always revisable, improvable and as a verifiable conjecture, only conjectural knowledge. What I personally find particularly fruitful about Popper is that he can show so clearly and unambiguously (without religious haze) that even science, with its methods and models, is not an incontrovertible guarantor of truth. It is even extraordinarily unscientific to consider a theory to be irrefutable. Science must not serve as a henchman of industry and make its services dependent only on fashions and currents. Based on ethical principles, science should be at the service for coming nearer to the truth. Since Newton we are collectively confusing science with truth: The world of illusion and presumption (doxa or the Path of Human Conjecture) has become the “kingdom of the scientific truth”. But scientific research is an eternal quest: A quest to understand ourselves and the world(s) we live in better, a constant revision for better explanations, which will also be falsified as obsolete at some point of realization. But to what extent a realization is correct, which epistemology seems the most sophisticated for this operation? What can really be and what is being? What IS at all? I would like to end with a new-learned term that was first used by Xenophanes in the sense of "truth-like": ἐοικότα. Perhaps, in our thoroughly rationalized world, we cannot accept that humanity's biggest questions have become no less complicated. It is sad that most human-beings prefer to make false assumptions instead of having the tolerance not to judge hastily, to not name something and alas putting sensualism above metaphysical thoughts, because materialism is cognitive the easiest to grasp.

“But as for certain truth, no man has known it, Nor will he know it; neither of the Gods Nor yet of all the things of which I speak. And even if by chance he were to utter The perfect truth, he would himself not know it; For all is but a woven web of guesses.”

[ear-worthy]

Important Unimportant: A Podcast For Listeners "Who Give A Sh*t"

Quinn Emmett, the host of Important Not Important, had an immediate effect on me after listening to several episodes of his superb and marvelously distinct podcast.

I first wondered how he survives with three double consonants in his name. That's a tough break. Then I speculated how he became one of the smartest people in podcasting. 

In a crazy world where everything wrong is Trump's fault or the result of those Democratic groomers, socialists, pedophiles, atheists, and people infected with Type 2 wokeness, Quinn Emmett is anything but a blamer. No, instead, he's a solutions person. We don't have too many of those today. Emmett doesn't point fingers. Instead, he looks for cures, not band-aids.

Emmett doesn't reflexively react to societal problems. He thinks about them. Their causes, their complexities, and the possible solutions. Sadly, many politicians have stopped even offering solutions. Listening to Emmett's podcast, his range of thinking spans a wide-open universe, from climate change to personal and cultural happiness.

Who is Quinn Emmett? It's fitting that Quinn comes from an old Irish word for wise, sense or reason. Quinn is also a first name that could drive conservatives crazy because it is a popular girl's name and a boy's name. Oh boy, the gender complexity.

Quinn Emmett is a screenwriter, investor, a self-described father of three growing humans, and the founder, writer, and host at Important, Not Important: science for people who give a shit. His critically-acclaimed newsletter, podcast, and coaching help you think deeply and act decisively about the world’s make or break science news, from climate to COVID, heat to hunger, and agriculture to AI ethics. 

His work is consumed on a weekly basis by senators and scientists, investors and doctors, students and CEO’s, best-selling fiction writers and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalists. Quinn has spent the past two decades working, advising, and investing across a wide spectrum of business, media, politics, activism, and philanthropy. He has been nominated for 6 Webbys including Best Newsletter, Best Podcast Host, and Best Science Show.

Important Not Important bills itself as "a 6-time Webby-nominated show that delivers deep conversations with the world's smartest people (scientists, doctors, CEOs, farmers, and more), and digestible news updates every single week, loaded with tips and steps you, and we can take to fix this place right up. They’re talkin' clean energy and coral reefs, COVID vaccines and pediatric cancer research, clean water and carbon capture tech, asteroid deflection and artificial intelligence ethics. It’s science for people who give a sh*t, want to feel better, and unf*ck the world."

I think Emmett cleverly and uniquely pitches his podcast this way because he's searching for listeners who don't want to have their confirmation bias stroked by podcast hosts like Ben Shapiro or Charlie Kirk.  

Emmett's conversations and solutions often defy simplistic, sound-bite answers and transcend political ideologies.

In one recent episode, Emmett interviews Marc Schulz, who worked on an 85 year-long study of happiness. After following 724 people, the study learned about the importance of relationships and connections in our lives. Through their conversation, Schulz and Quinn Emmett expand on the findings to apply them to the challenges we face in our current society with technology, lifestyles, and loneliness. It makes you realize all the ways our support systems can help keep us healthy and happy.

It's a terrific episode because it questions our assumptions about happiness, and uses massive datasets to turn conjecture into sharply drawn conclusions.

In a July 24th episode, Emmett spoke with Cora Wyent, the Director Of Research at Rewiring America. The episode offers listeners a succinct assessment of where we are in electrifying everything from cars to homes. What are the breakthroughs? The blockades? 

Emmett offers listeners two types of episodes. Guest episodes -- like the one in late May about protecting yourself from wildfire smoke -- run close to an hour and are wide-ranging intellectual scouting parties. I learned from his guest, Dr. Mary Prunicki, that wildfire smoke that is days old is actually more harmful than just created smoke. 

Emmett also produces short episodes more like news broadcasts that are remarkably insightful and full of useful information.

In the show notes, Emmett infuses the attention to detail that is impressive and often lacking among many other podcasters. In the notes, Emmett includes a HERE's WHAT YOU CAN DO section to make his episode actionable. Then, he offers a NEWS ROUNDUP, which is a written version of his show so that listeners can readily access his links and sources. Finally, kudos to Quinn Emmett. Through more than 300 episodes, he has provided quality information without the massive financial and logistical assistance of Spotify, iHeart, or Amazon. It's much easier as a host to show up in a top-notch studio with a staff of people who assist in the myriad tasks that the independent podcasters must complete themselves.

Instead, he is the CEO, CFO, COO, host, sound producer, scriptwriter, marketer, sales executive, administrative assistant, and handyman for the podcast. 

To paraphrase Quinn Emmett's own words, "He gives a Sh*t."

Listen to Important Not Important and leave behind your confirmation bias and assumptions. It's an exhilarating experience. 

Quinn Emmett may not be for everyone, but he is certainly for anyone.

[arcplaysgames]

hey so i noticed this guy in the intro sequence and are you telling me Chaz is getting a fucking persona because that's fucking dope, his outfit looks so silly, is that FRINGE i see???? amazing

ANYWAY we're trying to get out of this Palace and protect our new chobit when

CHOBIT GOT A FUCKING PERSONA?

Actually the game..... is unsure???????? lmao It has no idea what the fuck this is and all of the skills have a little ? after them which is VERY funny.

I DO know that a Pithos is a term for the old earthenware pots that the old Greeks used. It is also related to the myth of Pandora and is the actual vessel she carried around, which we tend to mistranslate to "box."

I know this because there is a Linux client for the Pandora radio service called Pithos that I used ages ago.

I am very interested in the possibility of Sophia being associated with Pandora, but also just her name is interesting. P5 Vanilla had a lot of Gnostic shit going on, and in Gnosticism, Sophia was.... gdi was she associated with Abraxas or Yaldaboath? I'm not looking it up, the POINT IS that Sophia is definitely a name from that whole mythos.

oh fuck she was literally found in a box, PANDORA'S box, oh for god's sake. Persona!!!!! lmao.

You're doing great, Sophia.

I MANAGED TO GRAB A CAP OF REVERIE POLE DANCING, YOU ARE WELCOME.

Reverie's life path should either be a social worker or a housespouse who moonlights as a burlesque dancer. Those are the ONLY two options. I lean towards the latter because I want Reverie to be a trophy wife and spend all of Akechi's his husband's money on outrageous outfits.

SOPHIA IS GREAT. The way her VA goes from this not-quite-but-almost monotone cadence to these verbal SFX moments is DELIGHTFUL.

Anyway, she finds a portal out of the Palace and doesn't actually want to leave the Metaverse?

Ryuji, if she dies the moment we leave the Metaverse, I will kill you, dude.

BUT NO ITS EVEN BETTER

SHE IS IN THE PHONE

so canonically Futaba has hacked Reverie's phone and can monitor him that way. then there was the Metanav malware shit. now we got the EMMA adware nightmare. and now Sophia is in there too.

Reverie, what the fuck is wrong with your phone, bro?

oh god she's not even an app she's fucking Bonzai Buddy, i'm dying. this game is great so far. zero notes.

IMPORTANT THING TO NOTE THOUGH

it's not a palace, it's a jail.

That......... is interesting. Those are practically opposite concepts, honestly, palace vs jail. I wonder if instead of the situation in P5 where the cognitive world bent around the distorted desires of the ruler based on their real life issues, a jail might be an inversion. What if you have the call of the void intrusive thought kinda shit which is fairly harmless and then something happens that traps you in a cage of those desires? Morgana mentions that he's getting faint hints of Treasure in there but not actually detecting A Legit Treasure, so what if something else is going on here?

ANYWAY that's pure conjecture and the game might just being calling palaces by a new name.

i have missed you yusuke kitagawa, welcome back.

ALSO I GOTTA SAY. Ryuji's VA is doing so much fucking work, it's so nice. Like, all my issues with the clunky writing of P5 Vanilla are gone, this feels much closer to the naturalistic style of P4G (though it hasn't quite hit that apex yet, tbh, but we're early on).

I like that Morgana already feels a kinship with Sophia based on their similar experiences not knowing what they are and where they came from.

If Sophia winds up being, like, Igor's version of Duolingo, I will laugh.

Back to the point: We gotta figure out what the fuck is up with Alice, so vacation plans are on hold.

someone please feed Yusuke, i don't know if he's eaten since Reverie left Tokyo.

morgana i don't know if you realize but you are basically going to be sophia's mentor. you must advise her how to be a good companion and friend, which includes having the best jokes, being a great teacher, how to fit in a carryone, and purring. i believe in you, morgana.

I THINK I LIKE PERSONA 5 STRIKERS, FOLKS

i want to fluff her too, she looks so COZY in that thing. I understand where Ann is coming from. Just give her a hug and rubrubrub those arms. uwu