#also the person who arguable does the most damage to him is the person who is a parallel to the person he feels the most guilt about killin

[cicadaemon]

I finished reading Golden Kamuy yesterday and tbh I was not expecting the conclusion to Ogata's story to be that and also be so heartbreaking. I get that he's a horrible person but Jesus Christ

[mothmanssweetsucculentass]

Corin Wickes Headcanons

Yeah I’m doing Corin too, sue me

How’s that undiagnosed anxiety disorder treating you queen?

But in all seriousness she really should get that shit diagnosed

Unfortunately she can’t for one major reason: her parents

Corin is not only homeschooled, but currently lives with her parents who aren’t exactly the best people

I mean the girl literally apologizes for existing, her parents aren’t treating her right

Her parents applied to Victoria Housekeeping for her under the assumption it would teach her discipline and manners and whatnot

Within the first week of Corin being there, Lycaon realized what was going on between Corin and her parents and vowed to be a better, more caring role model for her

He has her working the most out of everyone else

A normal person would hate having such a busy work schedule but Corin loves having so much freedom at her job

She also enjoys the opportunity to be helpful, useful, and making a difference within the organization

Like? No one yells at her? Or insults her? Or is stuffy and stringent the way her parents are? Sure, being a maid entails certain kinds of rigidity and strictness, but to Corin, the way Victoria Housekeeping Co operates is the biggest breath of fresh air she’s had in her whole life

Corin is obviously not allowed to have weapons at home, so Lycaon lets her store her sawblade within one of the many safe houses their company owns. Just like how Lycaon gifted Ellen her shears, Corin’s sawblade is also a gift from him

She originally had it outfitted with the same ice technology his boots and Ellen’s shears have, but kept slipping on the ice it created, and also had a harder time sawing through things in her path from how slippery the ice made everything. So, with Lycaon’s permission, she removed the feature altogether and made it a normal saw.

You’d think a girl so frail and timid and the epitome of cringefail girlfail sopping wet cat would also be physically weak. You’d be wrong

I mean it’s already canon her and Ellen are the strongest when it comes to pure physical damage, as evident by Corin’s introduction in Nekomata’s quest, as well as the entirety of chapter 3.

Corin says it has something to do with genetics probably, something about her dad being a former performing strong man or something

Corin also internally explodes every time Ellen compliments her on her strength. It doesn’t happen a lot, but when it does, Corin loses it

Has the BIGGEST crush on Ellen and is 100% not normal about it

Like, hello? She’s a sheltered girl with strict parents who now gets to see arguably the coolest person ever (in her eyes) on a daily basis

Corin is even more nervous around Ellen than most people for obvious reasons

She also damn near had a heart attack when Ellen passed out in front of her the first time. She grabbed so many pillows, several water bottles, four different sport and energy drinks, several protein efficient snacks, and even had a first aid kit at the ready just in case

Ellen normally hates it when people get fussy over her passing out, but considering this was the first time Corin had seen it, and the fact Corin went overboard in trying to help, Ellen let it slide

Now whenever Ellen crashes, Corin is the first one to make sure she’s okay before carrying on with her work

Ellen also knows it’s Corin who leaves candy and lollipops on the pillow next to her for when she wakes back up

Corin has since stopped worrying about Ellen every time she crashes, but insists to the point of threatening others with her sawblade that she be the one to see to it that Ellen is comfortable

There was once an incident where Corin, distracted from Ellen walking into the room, cut her hand whilst repairing her sawblade. She then bore witness to both Lycaon and Rina holding a suddenly frenzied Ellen back, who was fixated on nothing but the blood dripping from Corin’s palm. Lycaon took Corin out of the room to attend to her injury once Rina was successfully able to knock Ellen unconscious.

Ellen spent the next week apologizing to Corin and explaining how her shark thiren instincts are hard to control. Corin accepted every apology, but frankly didn’t need one, because that incident was probably the most exhilarating thing to happen to her outside of hollow missions with the company

Ellen was fixated on nothing but her in that moment, which did wonders for Corin’s fragile nonexistent ego

Every time Ellen interacts with her in any capacity, Corin gets major butterflies

Ellen insists Corin doesn’t need to refer to her as “Miss Ellen” but Corin disagrees. Corin thinks Miss Ellen absolutely needs to be treated like royalty

Corin would quite literally die for Ellen. Corin fell for her, and she fell HARD

Corin keeps a small box under her bed full of trinkets she likes. So far the only occupants of said box are buttons from her first teddy bear, and the metal piece shaped like a bear that Ellen bit into shape for Corin

Ellen is indirectly to thank for Corin’s fashion sense as well. At one point the shark girl mentioned how the Victoria Housekeeping Co uniforms were “giving Lolita menhera Jfashion” to Lycaon in passing, causing Corin to look up the style on Inter Knot (on one of the work computers, no way her parents let her have one of her own) and falling in love with it immediately

Corin already had quite a bit of sewing experience having been taught home ec by her mother, so it was no surprise she picked up outfit and plushie making very easily

She’s responsible for a lot of the accessories the company wears on their uniforms. She enjoyed making the bows and jaw head and neck piece for Ellen the most. Obviously.

Ellen often rambles to Corin about school and work related stuff. Corin soon realizes that she’s the only one Ellen does this to.

“Why?” She’d ask Ellen at one point during one of their conversations. “You’re a good listener. Plus, you give better advice than Lycaon and Rina combined.”

How Ellen didn’t notice how red her face got in that moment, Corin has no idea

Lycaon often contracts Corin longer hours than need be. Corin insists she can work the full duration, but Lycaon always makes some excuse about having enough help already, and that she should just go on a break, and that he’d clock her out, etc etc

Lycaon you ain’t slick we all know you’re doing it so this girl can actually go out and do things she enjoys

Corin has no idea that that’s the actual case, but she’s certainly grateful with how much free time Lycaon allows her

When their schedules line up, Ellen even invites Corin out for boba or lunch with her friend group

Corin is almost always quiet during these meetings, not wanting to intrude on Ellen’s quality time with her friends, but to her utter shock, Ellen is constantly making sure Corin is included in the conversation

Corin, being the sheltered kid, also hasn’t tried enough things, so of course Ellen insists on getting her fun snacks and roping her into seeing a movie or going to an arcade with her friend group

Corin gets so wrapped up in it all that by the time she gets home, she misses it immensely

Work is always “good”, when her parents ask. They never press for details thankfully due to Corin and Lycaon both making up an excuse that maid work is private, there’s NDA stuff involved, blah blah blah

Eventually Corin is able to buy her own cell phone with her salary. Her parents don’t know about it.

Her parents don’t know a lot of things about her, including the fact she’s actually been able to experience a normal teenage girl’s life for awhile now

Lycaon always insists that if Corin ever feels her parents are too much, she’ll always have a permanent home in Victoria Housekeeping Co. Corin gets closer and closer to accepting that offer every day.

[thekingofwinterblog]

Oghren Branka - A Broken Dwarf

Out of all of the original Dragon Age Origins companions, I've always found Oghren to be the most fascinating one in how rare it is to see someone actually do a full breakdown of the alcoholic, berserker dwarf, despite arguably having the most interesting and deep under the surface aspects to his character.

So i'll rectify that here, by doing a full delve into Ogren as a character, and the rather tragic tale of the last member of house Branka.

Oghren was a member of Orzammar's warrior caste, bred, born, and raised to be a warrior, a role that by all accounts he excelled at.

Oghren is famous for being probably the biggest alcoholic in the franchise, but according to lore, this actually wasn't a part of his personality before way later down the line, and came about due to a spiral downwards.

Oghren, like all warrior caste dwarves was raised to be an absolute killing machine, who's life was going to be devoted to killing darkspawn, and killing more darkspawn, and then killing more darkspawn.

This part of his life, Oghren excelled at. He was great at killing his enemies from day one, and won fame and glory.

Unfortunately, the thing that defined Oghren as a person, was the very brutal struggle, of, and Bioware's take on how hard it is for soldiers to reintegratd into societies after their states does everything they can to make them into tools for killing.

And in Oghren's case, this began with his family.

When young, Oghren was interested in a young woman named Felsi.

The two hit it off quite well, only for Oghren to be forced into a political marriage with a certain woman named Branka from the smithing caste, a political match that was seen as mutually beneficial at the time.

This marriage was the single worst thing that ever happened to Oghren and everyone he had ever cared about.

Branka would in very short time rise to become a Paragon, the only one in living memory, a living ancestor in Dwarven Society, making her the most powerful and influential woman in Orzammar, but that part is not the one I want to focus on.

Instead I want to focus on Oghren and Branca's relationship, and how it quickly fell apart.

Their relationship started okay, and in the first year there doesn't seem to have been that many problems. Things would change however.

Branca, as we learn from Oghren's talk had plenty of serious mental issues, like massive and spontaneous mood swings, and a tendency for sudden violence for the smallest offenses.

The innitial target of which seems to have been her her husband Oghren.

Oghren makes no secret of the fact that Branca was pretty violent with him, in particular the fact that she seriously damaged the hearing on one of his ears, and once attacked him for misplacing her tongs.

Also, there is a bit of subtleness to Oghren's design that adds to how bad this relationship became for him.

Oghren has a permanent injury around one of his eyes, which makes it look like he's always squinting. The most likely culprint being his wife hitting him with something heavy and blunt, which never healed properly, giving him his iconic squinty eyed look.

We don't have anything to suggest Oghren ever actually defending himself physically from his wife, but if his own testimony is to be believed, their usual way of making up after one of these outbursts was makeup sex, which suggest that there was a rather sad cycle of spousal abuse, regret, then make up in the form of sex, then another bout of abuse, then rinse and repeat.

The usual cycle really.

Things got more complicated however, once Branka became a paragon, putting her firmly above her husband in rank as far as she could go.

And it's here that Oghren's life really began to take a turn for the worst, and where the drunkard who drowns himself in alchohol to try and forget how shitty his life is really began.

In very short succession, Branka, likely due to the mounting pressure upon her after becoming paragon, turned far worse towards Oghren, and their marriage began to rapidly crumble. But her becoming paragon had other consequences as well, the most obvious being that Branka became the head of the household, and absorbed Oghren's entire family into the new house of Branca under her.

Branka then began to shun Oghren completely, making her disdain for him open for all to see, while also cuckolding him with his own cousin Hespith(though Oghren wouldn't learn about that until years later).

This in turn, made Oghren's entire family follow suit, and he was quickly completely isolated and shut off from his own family, the same family that forced him into this marriage in the first place.

Oghren had already begun drinking to try and cope with his failing marriage at this point, and the way his entire family turned their back on him to please Branka just kicked that dependence off the deep end.

Then Branka committed herself to her great folly, and over Oghren's objections, took their entire family with them on her mad quest into the deep roads for a magical anvil... While forcing Oghren to stay behind so she could get to fuck her lover hespith on the side as she pleased without him around.

Needless to say, though Oghren didn't completely understand the full reasons for why everyone considered him a laughingstock at this point(the relationahip with Hespith was an open secret in Orzammar) , he kore than felt the effects of being alone, forgotten and abandoned by his family in a city that ridiculed him while still demanding he go out and kill darkspawn for them.

It was at this point that the Oghren we all know really began, as Oghren drowned himself in booze, embraced terrible jokes, and became the man with the most inappropriate pick up lines there is, desperate for anyone to give him any affection at all.

It was at this point Oghren for the first time cheated on his declared dead wife, seeking out Felsi. The renewed relationship did not last long. Oghren's downward spiral had already completely changed his personality, and she quickly left him.

At this point, Oghren really was at his lowest. Abandoned by everyone he had ever loved, alone, only having booze for comfort, and still having to regularly go out and fight darkspawn.

It's also here we see some of Oghren's hidden noble side, as at one single point he refused to buckle on, and that was his wife's fate.

Oghren refused(correctly) to assume Branka was dead and would pester the government time, and time, and time again to send out a rescue party to find her and bring her home.

Nobody took him seriously, and instead treated him like a joke... All the way until a young noble mocked Branka in his hearing and made it plain for all to hear that Branka could not possibly have survived that long in the deep roads.

The end result was that Oghren, in a drunk rage challenged the young man to a duel, then killed him, when it was supposed to be a duel to first blood.

Oghren thus changed from drunk pest, to dangerous pest.

In the end he was stripped of his house and the right to bear arms or fight in the city ever again, but was still demanded he fought darkspawn when the time came.

Oghren talks about this in his conversations with the Warden, how the city would turn their warriors into killing machines, strip them of all rules, morals and thoughts except kill and kill, and kill some more... Then put them right back into society, and bind them, and the rage they spent so long training you harness with rules and regulations. Add this with the fact that they will still demand you go out an fight at a moment's notice, it's not hard to see how warriors like Oghren came to be.

It's at this point Oghren has hit seeming rock bottom.

Alone, a joke in a city that will alternate between mocking, and spit on him, no right to defend himself, while still having to go go out and risk life and limb for it.

The only thing that keeps him going at this point, is the desperate hope that Branka and his family might still be alive.

Which brings us to the one soul who might bring him out of his stupor, depending on player choices.

The Hero of Ferelden.

The Hero of Ferelden scoffs at the claims Branka is dead and delves into the deep roads, and takes Oghren along for the ride, looking for her.

It's here that Oghren begins to form some sort of personal bonds again, where he will find the one person who is willing to put up with him, and all his flaws and possibly see him as a friend.

As the team heads into the deep roads however, they discover the horrible truth.

Branka, in her madness and desperate search for the anvil, sacrificed Oghren's entire family to the darkspawn, intentionally creating broodmothers so she'd have a never ending supply of darkspawn pawns to throw at the anvil defences.

It's not really given the full focus it deserves, because Oghren isn't the kind of person who just lets out absolutely everything, but this moment, this revelation destroys Oghren.

It's the moment where he pretty much just gives up on life, and only follows the Warden around to find a place to die.

In the end, regardless of what you do, his relationship with Branka is over at this point, wheter you save or spare her, leaving him with the knowledge that his entire family is dead and gone, and he's the last one.

At this point he becomes what is seemingly nothing more than comic relief, and due to the unfortunate way Orzammar is struxtured, its usually done last before the landsmeet, meanjng most players won't see most of the deeper parts of Oghren, as they require some prodding to see.

Most notably of these is what happens if you bring him to the guardian at the temple, where the old man wants everyone to relay their sins and regrets, only for Oghren to cut him off when his time comes, and say this:

Why don’t I save you some time? Yes, I wish I could have saved my family from Branka. I wish I’d been a better mate. Maybe she’d have stayed at home with a belly full of baby Oghren and never gone for the anvil. Maybe I failed her. Yes, I came to the surface because I’m barely a dwarf anymore. My family is dead. My honor as a warrior is long gone. I’ve lost my caste and my house and I have nothing else to lose.

This display is really, really sad for a number of reasons, not only because of how far down Oghren has fallen at this point, but also because frankly speaking, Oghren did nothing wrong with Branka. He was the victim here, and yet despite that, he still lays all the blame on himself. It was his fault his family died. It was his fault for being a shitty husband. Not Branka's. His.

Beyond this, Oghren has other interesting observations that shows he is quite a bit more impressive than the sorry, alcoholic cassanova wannabe that he acts as.

He's the only character who figures out that Shale actually remembers killing her master, and that she regrets killing him, as rather than a conscious choice, it was a moment of her completely losing control, just like he did in the proving match so long ago.

He also proves himself a bizarrely good brewmaster, impressing Wynne and the warden withouth the proper facilities to make proper alchohol, and he's the only one who offers any plausible counter explanation for the powers of the temple of sacred ashes other than the power of god(which may or may not be on the money.).

He is also learned in history, and knows the andrastian religion and it's historical players very well for a dwarf, even seemingly having a personal disdain for Hessarionz who he calls a pompous prat.

At this point, where he goes from there is up to the PC's choices, but regardless, there is a lot more to Oghren than meets the eye, far more than the stupidly stereotypical dnd dwarf he presents himself as, in a setting where the dwarves are not all the same as Tolkien's.

[sinvilles]

do u have any ideas on why clay didnt discipline orel like arthur disciplined clay ? eg. slapping pushing etc. clay only (presumably except in a couple episodes) spanked orel throughout the entire series and never once hit orel on the cheek

The thing with Clay is that 90% of the fandom misinterprets his parenting style. And I'm saying this as a person who experienced a parenting style that was arguably worse than his, sans the drinking (lots of religious parents don't need to drink to be unhinged).

What we saw Arthur do to Clay:

Verbally guilt him and remind him of how little he means to him

Strike him across the face without warning (extremely bad for a child's self esteem)

The face really is the worst place anyone can hit a kid, especially when it leaves a mark. There's psychological consequences to it- as a result Clay came out of his childhood with this inherent sense of worthlessness mixed in with the idea that he was deserving of misery.

Clay on the other hand is very specific and methodical about administering a punishment when he thinks it's necessary. In order:

He very mechanically spanks his kid with his belt. And I remember it kind of surprising me that Clay wasn't even yelling at him while he did it in Grounded (repeat combination verbal abuse and physical pain is a real breeding grounds for generalized anxiety). This is not to say spanking on its own doesn't cause it's own psychological clusterfuck, but he did the version of it that managed to not leave as much emotional damage.

And- this is the kicker- he talks to him right after. He makes this conscious effort to connect with him and understand why Orel does what he does (because his reasons have got to be interesting) and then tries to reason with him about why it's wrong (even if his own logic is clownishly flawed). Sometimes he admits he's wrong, earlier on specifically before his drinking got to where it was. Orel is even disappointed the one time his dad DOESNT want to lecture him after a spanking.

And the pants thing. I think he does it on purpose because it always prompts a laugh out of his kid, so he doesn't leave on a sour note.

This is kind of not bad at all for a guy who had no positive form of fatherhood modeled to him in his most formative years.

So what does this do for Orel? We see this well-adjusted, articulate, confident child who isn't afraid to go out and make mistakes because he's secure in the fact that he'll come back to someone willing to reason with him and talk to him like a person.

Orel was raised with an inherent sense of self worth, which is the thing Clay has been lacking his entire life. And this was pretty consistent up until Nature, when Clay's substance abuse crossed a threshold that plunged them both into a nightmare- to Orel, the illusion of his father's confidence and security is shattered. Clay, who had no memory of the events that transpired, gradually comes to realize what happened after several months and suffers a psychological breakdown.

This is also why it bothers me when people treat Nature like it's the sum of both their characters when it really is just what it is: a breaking point in the lives of a father and son who were commited to fitting into an unsustainable culture of religious zeal and toxic masculinity.

[painted-bees]

I went looking for a list of OC questions that had a majority of things I hadn't answered yet wrt the hi-note trio, and found this lil' one abt "love and relationships" lmao I'm not gonna make anyone submit a number in my ask box for it, it's only 15 questions. I'll just answer them all for Margie and Raf under the cut.

1) How does your character view the idea of romantic love? Raf's got a complicated relationship with it. He's a very romantic person, and wants desperately to believe in the whole "true love "thing-- to believe that someone could love him just because it was predestined for them to do so, or because of some hard coding in their DNA or whatever--and that it'd work the same way for him, too. Just effortless, unquestionable, natural and unbreakable love. But that doesn't exist, it's a fantasy. People don't get into relationships unless there's something tangible in it for them--and then it's a tug-o-war of compromises and capitulations, and it's impossible to imagine anyone ever being truly happy and comfortable under the weight of an obligation as undefinable as 'love'. And so, he figures he'll be lucky if he can find someone he can tolerate, who can tolerate him--who might, once in a while, give him the euphoric feeling of being valued as a person rather than as an asset. And hopefully, those moments can outweigh the inevitable fights and disagreements, and all the emotional damages that arrive in those situations. As for Margie, there's no clear distinction between romantic love and platonic love for her, much of the time. She loves her friends all very intensely, and she loves her romantic partners in very much the same way! Her expressions of love do not change much between friends and lovers--and maybe for this reason, people who take the plunge into being a committed romantic partner with her find her to be somewhat underwhelming. There is very little difference between Margie as a friend and Margie as a romantic partner. There is very little difference between her definitions of these two things. Arguably, she's a very loving--but not a very romantic--person. She doesn't believe in soulmates or true love or any of these things, either. It feels too limiting. It puts so much unnecessary pressure on a single person and needlessly mystifies something that really shouldn't be all that strange or complicated.

2) What was your character's first heartbreak, and how did it influence their approach to relationships? Raf's first heartbreak, romantically...hm. He had a few friends who grew up with him, most of whom were also part of the junior classical music circuit; some of whom he kept in contact with even as his career pivoted away from the classical niche and into pop performance. I think perhaps there was one lass who he might have returned to Monaco for rather than fucking off to Juilliard--if she had returned his affections. He had confessed to her over the phone, just after being announced as a semi-finalist for a large, televised popular music competition. She asked him to call her again after the competition was over, when he was gonna come home. He didn't make it as a finalist, and she never answered his calls then after. So he followed his initial plans and absconded to Juilliard with a different friend who he awkwardly...briefly fell in with romantically instead. Who knows why she never answered his calls, but Raf has no doubt attributes the fact that he didn't make it as a finalist to the reason why she stopped talking to him. That was kinda the first and last time he made the first 'move' for a romantic relationship, and has since taken a much more disinterested, aloof approach...as with most things, really. Margie's first heartbreak was in grade five! She had a huge crush on a boy one grade above her, and mentioned it within earshot of one of her classmates from the 'popular' clique. Those girls got really excited for her and offered to help set her up on a date with him, got him to come over and ask her out during recess, and when she provided a very overenthusiastic, "yes!", Margie found that she had only been set up as the butt of a very hilarious joke between the lot of them. In that same interaction, the lad coined a new name for her, "FleaGirl", and it stuck all the way until she graduated highschool. It's still one of those embarrassing moments that crop up in her brain during the Midnight Carousel of Shame that keeps her awake during restless nights. As a teen, she started flirting with people as a joke, cuz that's her affection could really be–and she delighted in weirding people out with the overfamiliarity she performed. It felt nice though, when the other person would volley back and try to out-skeeze her. She still doesn't know how to flirt in earnest, and will always make a joke out of her affections. It's always kinda up to the other person to respond sincerely if they're actually interested in her.

3) Does your character believe in soulmates, and why or why not? HAH woops, I accidentally answered this in the first question lmao

4) What traits does your character find most attractive in others? Raf values honesty and genuine expression. He really...really loves joyful, unironic cringe. Like, there's something really attractive to him about a person who can let their guard down in order to fully enjoy something. He's really attracted to people who seem impervious to expectation and can cut through what he perceives as the superficial, performative gestures of day to day interactions. Sometimes that takes the form of a counter cultural "I don't care what they think of me" rebellious personality. Sometimes it takes the form of, well...[[gestures at Margie]]. Also, he'd never admit this, but Raf is attracted to messes that he can clean up. Margie is attracted to nice hair, cute smiles, and warm kindness. Unprovoked kindness towards her is the fastest way to make her fall in love with you. The other is casual, affectionate physical touch. She is not immune to a well groomed sense of style and easy confidence, either. If someone is well dressed with nice hair, a straight, open posture, and a warm smile--that's an attractive looking person to her.

5) What does your character fear most in a relationship? For Raf, it's expending his usefulness and being discarded. In every relationship, he's waiting for that one chance to prove that he can't give, or be, or provide what his partner was hoping to get out of him. Or maybe they finally get what they were after and don't need to keep suffering the act of 'loving' him anymore. Or maybe something better will come along and make him redundant. He's always waiting for that other shoe to drop. His biggest fear is just learning that his partner was only pretending to love him, so as to pacify him while they extract from him whatever it is they wanted. For Margie, she's terrified of overstaying her welcome. She feels like as soon as she gets into a relationship a timer starts ticking down where, every day, she starts becoming a little less cute, a little less fun, a little more annoying, a little more difficult to live with. She's identified herself as a kind of 'manic pixie dream girl' that people initially enjoy because she's weird and quirky and playful. But the more time they spend with her, the less fun those things are. She never stops being weird and quirky and playful. There's no point where she is able to get serious and organise herself, and behave like a normal adult. No one wants to live with that for very long.

6) How does your character handle jealousy or insecurity in relationships? Margie has no jealousy. She's straight up chill to let her partners have other relationships or flings or whatever so long as they don’t lie to her about it. And she’s extremely trusting about this. Her insecurity about her own lack of desirability probably played a huge part in developing this polyamorous stance, but she genuinely does feel very comfortable and secure in it. Raf [[gritted teeth]] deals with it. Not very well, in previous relationships. Poorly, in fact. The very uncommitted, open ‘friends with benefits’ relationship he had with Margie for a while before he eventually admitted to himself that he really needs her to stay in his life–has done a lot of weird psychological lifting for him. There’s a really strong precedent for Margie to be honest with him about the nature of all her relationships. On top of this, she doesn’t have locks on her phone, she makes him hold her phone most of the time. She doesn’t care if he reads her messages or checks her emails [he Does Not Do This, if only for the exercise in restraint]. If he’s having the Weird Paranoia about Margie, the thought that “well, she’d let me go through her messages right now if I asked” is enough to leverage himself with. Sometimes he does ask, and she’s just like “sure, w/e”--and he pacifies himself on that without feeding the impulse further. And so, the paranoia usually picks a far more fruitful subject to latch onto.

7) What past relationship still impacts your character's current life?

  Raf is still comparing and contrasting his current relationship with Margie to his previous relationship with Lacey…and has been learning a lot about himself through the differences. Lace was arguably his only other “real”/serious relationship before Margie, and it was such an absolute trainwreck. But it’s also just what he assumed relationships were Like. Nowadays, he kinda dreads ever meeting with Lacey again because most of what he has learned is that he absolutely could have, should have treated her better, and she deserves an apology.

 Margie still thinks about her ex girlfriends in Montreal. She just really misses them a lot…She’d love to rekindle those friendships, and thinks there might still be a chance to do so, some day.

8) How does your character show love and affection?

  While Raf hates to have things expected of him, treating and gift-giving is genuinely his biggest show of affection. It stops the moment he feels like he’s being taken for granted, or as soon as he gets even the faintest whiff of entitlement. He doesn’t take kindly to being “hinted” at any more than he appreciates being straightforwardly asked for gifts or favours. It’s the fastest way to get him to withdraw. But If he gifts things and he feels like the gesture is genuinely unexpected and appreciated–it’s almost kind of a bond-strengthening exercise in of itself. He enjoys being helpful and feeling needed and appreciated, he just pathologically hates being taken advantage of or used. So–like…a lot of love and trust goes into the act of Raf giving something. It puts him in a vulnerable position, because the way the gesture is received will forever colour his perception of the relationship and can really…make or break it for him–beyond reasoning or any logical recourse.

 Margie shows her love and affection with physical closeness and careful patience. If there is someone she exceptionally loves and loves being around, she takes a lot of extra measures to make sure she doesn’t overwhelm them with her presence and she tries to really reign in how she acts around them so as to not be unpalatable. But she’ll drop her head on their shoulder or throw her legs across their lap. She’ll hold onto their arm while walking, and lean against them in casual settings. She just wants to exist in the same space, and reciprocated touch is a comforting reassurance that they do, as well.

9) What significant change has your character experienced in their understanding of love?

 The biggest thing Raf has so far learned is that love isn’t a tug-o-war of compromises and capitulations after all. If you love someone, you genuinely want them to feel safe and happy and secure, and so you’ll give things up and change your behaviour willingly for their sake with very little sense of loss about it. They’ll do the same for you, and neither will keep score about who gave up what, or who was willing to do the most work for the relationship. In the end, it’s not about him vs her or who gets to live ‘better off’ in the arrangement–but it’s a matter of collaborating to build a comfortable, happy environment together. One’s happiness is the other’s happiness. Not a competition, not a game of carefully measured concessions. A better whole.

  Margie has learned that she has a lot more to offer in a relationship than she thought; that emotional labour is an enormous contribution to a partner who is able to appropriately value it. Just because it comes easy to her doesn’t mean it’s worthless. Her love and affection is not a joke; it has meaning, it has worth. It’s worth a whole lot. 

10) What sacrifices has your character made for love, and were they worth it?

  Raf has to sacrifice his entire sense of safety and wellbeing every time he commits to a relationship. And, just this once, it’s been worth it.

  For each person that Margie has pursued as a romantic partner, she has sacrificed a friendship and definitely mourns each one. Raf is the first time she’s not had to sacrifice anything.

11) How does your character's cultural or familial background influence their views on marriage and relationships?

  Oh man lmao Raf’s Monegasque billionaire family dynasty…his parents genuinely really really love each other, but he has had very limited exposure to that. I don’t think he has ever seen them hug or hold hands, they stand very attractively next to each other and exude an imposing aura that commands respect. So…his idea of what marriage and relationships should look like is severely lacking. “Absolutely No PDA” has definitely stuck with him though.

  Margie’s from a lower income northern Ontario blue collar family with a dad who probably still makes “ol’ ball and chain” jokes about his wife, and a mom who does all the cleaning and cooking and doesn’t really get to enjoy her hobbies outside of the house. Actually, in a small way, this has probably contributed to Margie’s lack of enthusiasm towards getting married. She doesn’t wanna be anyone’s ball and chain, she doesn’t want to cook and clean, she doesn’t want kids. She’s written herself off as being absolutely unfit for marriage. She thinks she’d be an abysmal wife lmao

12) Does your character have a relationship that everyone else misunderstands?

No lmao everyone around them understood Raf and Margie’s relationship better than they did themselves for a long while lmao.

13) How does your character handle rejection or unrequited love?

  Raf has only really had to deal with this once, and he got pretty spiteful mad about it at the time. He also holds a mean grudge just…generally…so I do not think he’d be excited to ever meet her again.

 After the initial emotional gut-punch, Margie suffers a lot of shame and embarrassment and gets really depressed and quiet for a few days until something new and shiny comes along to divert her attention away. Anytime she randomly remembers a rejection though, she gets to re-experience it all again for a brief moment lmao stings.

14) What lesson about love is your character still trying to learn?

  Raf is still trying to really honestly believe that it can be this easy. He’s still waiting to hear what the catch is.

  Margie still has to fully internalise that the people who love her don’t find her annoying and will never tire of her–and that she doesn’t have to apologise for existing as a person with wants and needs

15) How has your character's professional life affected their romantic relationships?

  For Raf, it has severely limited his options–he refuses to date fans, past and present. If they recognize him as a public figure, but aren’t from a similar economic background as him, it’s basically a write-off in his mind. Eligible peers are hard to find…

 For Margie, it’s uh…homelessness definitely complicates things. All of her relationships prior to Raf were plagued with financial stress…and that can probably be cited as a major reason as to why most of her relationships fell apart.

[birthdayfulhonret]

A Guide to Limbus Company Identities - Yi Sang

Hello. My name is honret, and today I decided that I'd give my (subjective) overview on a bunch of Limbus IDs. Are they worth Sharding? Are they worth Uptie 4? Do they make you dinner? Some of these questions and more, answered after the linebreak.

Today's writeup is going to cover our beloved Sinner 1, Yi Sang.

For reference, this post is being written on November 7th, 2024, with the most recently announced ID being LaMancha Rodion. This post may be updated in the future as new IDs release, but don't count on it.

LCB SINNER ~ YI SANG

Starting off strong with arguably one of the worst Base IDs in Limbus Company. This man's kit can be described in two words: atrocious and outclassed.

My man cannot roll higher than TWELVE. All of his skills are Sinking-negative, which is bad for a Sinking ID. He gets a little bit of Fragile on the S3, and he is sort of fast enough to pull it off, but it only works on enemies with SP.

His main redeeming quality is his Support Passive, which restores 10 SP to any ally who lost SP that round. There's some weird edge cases around what counts as "losing SP," but it's great for IDs like Dawn Office Sinclair.

Maybe he'd have some bizarre niche if Yi Sang didn't already have three other Sinking IDs, two of which are among the best Sinking IDs in the game.

SEVEN ASSOC. SOUTH SECTION 6 ~ YI SANG

You want statuses? This man has statuses. He'd be great support for Ring Yi Sang if it wasn't for, you know, him already being a Yi Sang ID.

His rolls are bad, but his Passive sort of makes up for them by lowering enemy Clash Power by 2 if you hit 4 Gluttony skills on your turn. He's still not going to do much damage, though.

This man is ostensibly a Rupture ID, but he inflicts very little Potency and only one Count on a Clash Win conditional. The 3 stacks of next-turn Paralyze on the S2 is pretty much the only reason to use him.

Otherwise, he has like... some Pierce Fragility.

Overall, not a great ID. His Support Passive is okay, but there's better.

MOLAR OFFICE FIXER ~ YI SANG

Our best-rolling Yi Sang so far, with an S3 that can roll a 19. Unfortunately, that does not make him good.

His kit relies on Discarding his Skills to gain Tremor on himself, and then spending it to gain Coin Power on the S3. Unfortunately, he falls into the trap of not being able to Discard with his S1, which makes cycling his skills harder if you get trapped by a lot of early S1's in your rotation.

MolarSang's Tremor Bursts also rely on spending his self-Tremor to activate. The big issue is... he has no way of generating more than 4 self-Tremor per turn unless he's double-slotted, and needs TEN to activate his S3 conditional.

Icing on the cake is that his Support Passive is rather meh.

PEQUOD FIRST MATE - YI SANG

One of my personal favorite IDs. This man is SUPER worth UT4, in my humble opinion.

First of all: he REALLY wants Poise support. He's not incapable of generating his own Poise, but he appreciates having allies that can spread a little like Blade Lineage Don Quixote.

His S1 is fine. Rolls average, Bind is nice, and it stacks a little Bleed. But his S2 is where it gets really interesting.

PeqSang is basically a prototype of RingSang. His S2 is a two-coin skill that, on Crit, reuses the second coin, up to a maximum of three times at UT4. This turns his 12-rolling two-coiner into a 20-rolling five-coiner.

Sure, it doesn't inflict Fragile, but it's pretty close in strength to Rabbit Heathcliff's S3, one of the more infamous damaging skills in the game.

Speaking of S3's, PeqSang's inflicts SIX Bleed Count on a Crit. Which is... pretty good. His Combat Passive also means that his S2 is inflicting twelve Bleed Potency if it Crits all five coins. If you can max out your Poise, an S3 into an S2 gives you a shitton of Bleed.

I'd say this is the first Yi Sang here that I'd really recommend running. Shove him on Bleed/Poise teams. Shove him on just Poise teams over BLSang. Hell, put him on Bleed if you don't own RingSang.

Overall, Relentless Stabbing is a fun skill and I love my silly boat man.

DIECI ASSOC. SOUTH SECTION 4 ~ YI SANG

You thought we were doing good IDs now? WRONG! 10Sang.

Dieci is an Association with multiple meta-defining IDs, so it's sad to see 10Sang be so overwhelmingly okay. He's trying to be another Dieci Rodion, but he just can't be since Dieci Rodion is so busted.

His S1 discards, which is nice. It can also roll a 13, which is fun. His S2 also discards, and can roll up to a 16, which is good.

His S3 is where the kit falls apart. You may think, "but it's a four-coin skill, it must be good, right?" and I'd say... nah. It only rolls a TWELVE, which goes up to a 16 if he's at under half HP.

Dead February 27th, 2023, revived January 25th, 2024, welcome back Shi Association.

Just randomly throwing a 50% HP conditional onto an otherwise okay ID is kinda... weird? I think the intended playstyle is to get him under half HP by letting him tank, and then using Discard to generate a ton of Shield so he doesn't care about his low HP. The main issue is that you don't want to be consistently Discarding with him, since all of his Sinking application is dependent on his Insight, so you just wanna get rid of an S3 and call it there.

By the way, he's a Sinking ID. So he's outclassed by two other Yi Sangs. Why does this guy exist, again?

His Support Passive is good on teams running Dieci Rodion or Meursault, though.

BLADE LINEAGE SALSU ~ YI SANG

Yep, it's yaoi time.

This man is pretty good on BL teams. His S1 sucks ass, being a one-coin 13 roller, but S1's are almost always bad. At least his clashes well.

The rest of his kit ranges from mid to pretty good, depending on if you check his Combat Passive. He can get up to +3 Coin Power by just... having Poise. You know, the thing he was gonna do anyway.

This buffs his S1 to a 16-roll, and his S2 to a 17-rolling two-coin Skill. So far, his only detriment is how simple he is, with no flashy bonus effects on any of his Skills other than "gain Poise."

His S3, if his Combat Passive is active, is a pretty good damage source. It normally rolls 14, but due to having three coins, it is buffed to a 23-roll. And the third coin hits +70% damage if it Crits.

The total roll is, hm... let's see... 13 + 18 + 23... account for the 70% buff on the last coin, making it kinda roll an actual value of 39... yeah, this skill hits, like, 70 on the effective damage roll. Not as crazy as PeqSang's 80, but it gets shockingly close.

I'd say this man is worth running on Poise if you've UT4'ed him. Especially on BL teams. If you're doing Bleed/Poise, or just not a BL team, then PeqSang may be more worth, especially since he's cheaper to buy with Shards, as a 2-Star ID.

EFFLORESCED E.G.O::SPICEBUSH ~ YI SANG

Sinking. Deluge.

Let's start with the basics: this guy is a self-Tremor Sinking ID. And he was meta on Sinking for a long time. Arguably still is, even though LamentSang coming out means he may be doing part-time at Burger King now.

His S1 does something interesting off the bat, which is inflicting 3 next-turn Sinking Count. This is a pretty interesting way to set up Sinking on an enemy, especially in long-term battles where you don't need to be building it on turn one.

If he spends 6 self-Tremor, his S2 gains Attack Weight 3. It also rolls up to a 19. And it inflicts a very respectable amount of Sinking Potency. Yeah, if you want group damage, this is how you're getting it with him.

But what if you want single-target damage?

SpiceSang's S3 rolls an 18 with three coins. Good, but not super impressive. However, it is the only source of Sinking Deluge in the entire game.

If you don't know what Sinking Deluge does, here's a primer: It deals Gloom-Affinity damage to the target equal to their Sinking Potency x Sinking Count. If a target has 10 Potency and 10 Count, they take base 100 Gloom damage.

The fun thing is... this applies to targets with SP. So Sinking Deluge gives Sinking a way to inflict damage on human enemies. Once the target hits -45 SP, all the bonus SP loss from the Sinking Deluge is converted into Gloom damage.

This, effectively, gives SpiceSang an uncapped damage skill. Or rather, it caps at about 19,798, ignoring debuffs, statuses, and other various things that may buff it even more. Though this also assumes that the enemy has 99x99 Sinking, and is Fatal to Pierce, Pride, and Gloom.

Finally, his Support Passive is good if you have a lot of Attack Weight Skills and EGO on your team that you want to use.

W CORP. L3 CLEANUP AGENT ~ YI SANG

Local man begs for Uptie 4, more after these messages.

Unless you have no other options for your Charge or Rupture team, do not run this man at UT3. Please.

Now, let's assume you've UT4ed him. His S1 is pretty bad. 11 roll on a one-coin Skill. Does inflict a bit of Rupture.

His S2 is decent. Two coins, fifteen roll. Inflicts Bind, and if you have 10+ Charge, a shitton of Rupture.

Finally, his S3 is the typical Charge nuke. Although, it has less coins, rolls lower, and spends more Charge than the vast majority of Charge nukes.

23-roll on a three-coiner. Inflicts up to 11 Rupture though, and it also inflicts 3 Rupture Count and 2 Dimensional Rift, which will inflict even more Rupture Count on turn end.

Yep, this guy, despite being from W Corp., is actually a Rupture ID in disguise. I recommend putting him there, instead of on Charge.

Sadly, his Support Passive is very niche.

THE RING POINTILLIST STUDENT ~ YI SANG

Sanguine Pointillism.

LOBOTOMY E.G.O::SOLEMN LAMENT ~ YI SANG

Have you ever wanted to go DINGDINGDINGDING? Then I have the ID for you.

Arguably the best Sinking Yi Sang ID, this man clashes insane and does DPS that most other IDs could only dream of.

His S1 is capable of Clashing at 15, and rolling damage at 14, with two coins. Definitely above average, if you can meet the Sinking conditional. His S2, also with two coins, is capable of rolling 20 if you hit its conditionals.

Before we get into his S3, let's talk about Butterfly and Reload.

Butterfly is a type of Unique Sinking, split into The Living (Potency) and The Departed (Count), and it can stack up to 15.

When an ally hits an enemy with The Living, you heal SP equal to The Living / 4. So, up to about 4 SP per hit. So LamentSang is now team SP support. Meanwhile, for each stack of The Departed, enemies take bonus Gloom damage if they're under 0 SP, up to 30 total. So he can also make Sinking actually do damage to enemies with SP, similar to SpiceSang.

His Reload is also special, since he uses Unique Ammo, also called The Living and The Departed. When he reloads, he reloads a random amount of each ammo, influenced by if he's above or below 0 SP. He also loses a bunch of SP when he reloads, so watch out for his ammo count, and also watch out for when you use his S3. Which ammo he has determines whether he'll inflict The Living or The Departed version of Butterfly onto the enemy.

LamentSang's S3 is a 4-coin skill. Its normal roll is 16, but if you hit all the conditionals, it can roll up to 28. It can also gain up to about +80% bonus damage on the third coin, and depending on how much Butterfly the target has, they'll take a bunch of bonus Gloom damage as well.

I've seen this skill deal 150+ damage to enemies that resist it. And I've seen some absurd damage come out of this skill. It frequently one-shots enemies.

Use this man on Sinking. Use him on Pierce teams. Use him anywhere you can, assuming you can pull/shard him next Walpurgis, or already own him.

[blond-jerk-tourney]

Strawberry Bracket: Bracket Finals

Propaganda from submitters Under Cut

Nanami Kiryuu

She's the mean girl of the show, and a pretty interesting take on the "bitchy vain school rival of the protagonist" trope. She spends most of her early screentime being a bully and most of her later screentime being both the biggest loser imaginable and deeply sad/troubled (which still does not erase how much of an asshole she can be). She even laughs like your stereotypical mean rich girl. Nanami has so many problems and sucks so so bad. I adore her.

Shes a psychotic bully who seeks to ruin the lives and reputations of any girl who gets more of her brothers attention than she does. Reasons Nanami Kiryuu deserves to win: - she has made many attempts at physical and psychological terrorism against Anthy Himemiya (including a plotted wardrobe malfunction at a crowded social gathering) simply for drawing more of her brother's attention than her - tried to fill Anthy's bedroom with wild animals (a snail, a snake, and a live octopus) to make her out to be a freak only to find that her room was already full of wild animals - she bankrolled an elementary schoolers crush on her to turn him into her personal boyservant - briefly non-personed a member of her bully entourage for sharing an umbrella with her brother - received a luxury cowbell due to a shipping error and smugly wore it to school for weeks flaunting it like high coture - when her bully entourage rebelled against her due to her brothers manipulation she brought them back in line by just straight up beating the shit out of all of them - all in all just a petty, goonish motherfucker (she also does the ohohohohoho anime girl laugh)

she's blond: despite being Japanese her hair is yellow, unlike her brother's. yellow is even her image color. she's a jerk: introduced as a jealous and dishonest scheming bully, she is one of the more outwardly antagonistic characters in a cast where pretty much everyone is a Real Piece Of Work she's the best: the quintessential ohoho-laughing ojou, her fully-realized character arc makes people both laugh and cry even her sidekick is a blond jerk! how many blond jerks have their own blond jerk sidekick?

i don't know what you've heard but she's NOT the kind of girl who lays eggs!

The token mean rich girl of the franchise. Does the classic "ohohoho" laugh. Doesn't like either of our main characters. She never actually seems to get her way, and secretly has a lot of her own problems. also she lays eggs and turns into a cow

Absolutely THE quintessential anime mean girl. I mean literally her laughing is THE meme for the hohohoho anime laugh. Needs attention So Badly and straight up bullies anyone she deems a threat to that (so basically Everyone). I haven’t finished RGU but apparently she duels with the intent to kill and drowned a kitten once because it was taking up too much of her brother’s attention? Also she’s 13 which explains a lot

Char Aznable

He's extremely blonde and he's a total asshole. he has had a gay thing with 2 people and tried to kill both of them. he makes a new identity and its arguably more blonde and more of an asshole. look up Quattro Bajeena

Snooty little motherfucker supreme. "I have never betrayed anyone in my life" says man who spent his whole career lying to people. He's in love with his rival and he won't admit it. He's my silly rabbit. He is the "I came here to laugh at you" guy

Char is an environmental terrorist who dropped space colonies of people living in space onto earth so people would leave earth for the earth to heal from human damage. He's a prince that should have been assassinated seducing the new prince while undercover to kill the family that killed his family. Anyway vote for Char. He stole the name Char from some other guy from space Texas who he caused the death of

Excuse me that's not char aznable that's quattro bajeena, why would you ever confuse the two :/

[darkstarofchaos]

Spoilers for TF One.

Considering I've seen all of one person voice dislike for the movie, this might be a rhetorical question, but does anyone else find it kinda disturbing that they had Starscream goading Megatron to hit him? Or, to put it another way, that they had arguably the most abused character in the franchise goading his most frequent abuser to hit him? Specifically while he was being choked to the point of permanent damage?

I will readily admit that I'm predisposed to think the worst of canon when it comes to Starscream (and after EarthSpark, all my trust issues have been exacerbated). I also really do not like headcanons where Starscream provokes Megatron because he likes being hit, or where he sounds like he does because Megatron damaged him. So maybe I'm just reading too much into this, and reacting negatively because now I'm going to see two of my least favorite Starscream headcanons everywhere (and now that one of them is canon, some people are going to act like it's canon in other continuities, which is. Great).

Anyway. It feels like the writers didn't want to deal with Starscream and Megatron having an abusive dynamic. So instead of just, y'know. Not writing one. They decided to have Starscream "ask for it" instead. I mean, they apparently name-dropped Skyfire, you can't tell me no one on the team knew people would treat it as masochism (instead of the machismo it was probably meant to be). It's Starscream, there is no context in which he could provoke an opponent like that and not have people see masochism. But the fact that he specifically goaded Megatron - again, while receiving permanent damage - is just. Really uncomfortable to me. Especially since Starscream is apparently just fine afterward.

Cybertronians are not easy to damage permanently. Normally I refrain from extrapolating things that were true in one continuity onto others, but they're robots. Logic dictates they can repair a far wider range of injuries far more easily than humans can, even if there are still limits to what can be fixed. And voice boxes are one of those things that have been repeatedly shown being difficult to repair. I could accept Starscream being used to battle damage and shrugging it off if it was repairable, but it isn't. Why is he fine afterwards when irreparable damage is so out of the ordinary for Cybertronians? Even if he assumed it was reparable, voice boxes are a known permanent damage risk, so why isn't he at least a little concerned about that?

The whole thing just feels poorly thought out. Even if they weren't trying to handwave any future violence between Starscream and Megatron, they clearly weren't interested in how Starscream would realistically respond to the situation. And yes, people handle serious injuries differently, but considering who we're talking about, I can't see it as an innocent "this version of the character isn't that bothered by injury". It feels too much like they needed to get Megatron in position to lead the Decepticons and also wanted Starscream to sound like he does because of damage, and they just didn't think beyond what they needed for Megatron's arc. And yes, Megatron is a main character and Starscream isn't, so it makes sense to focus on what his arc needs. Megatron has also been repeatedly treated as a better person than the mech he abuses, so "he's more important than Starscream" only makes it worse, actually.

[broodwolf221]

triple checks it's the right blog this time...

so I'm having a p shitty week and I'm gonna cope by talking abt my meta for solas, mostly in terms of his personality and behavior. I have a LOT of meta abt his past and nature and future but that's... another post, lmao

some of his key and/or most interesting characteristics:

kind

selfish

reserved

arrogant

empathetic

detached

now, let's dig into these

kind: he clearly and consistently wants people to be happy or to alleviate their suffering. he's glad the inquisition helps refugees, he's glad (dialogue, not approval iirc) when you take the time to find the apostate supply caches in the hinterlands, he makes a point of connecting with every single companion, even ones who regularly degrade him. and in trespasser, he goes to extreme lengths to keep southern thedas from falling to the qun, because he wants the people - those he knows and those he doesn't - to be happy and at relative peace.

this is one of the most remarkable things he does imo, bc if he'd just let the situation develop, he'd have an absolutely clear path to achieving his goals. yes, he'd need to get the anchor another way, but that's hardly impossible. what matters is that by stopping the war, he gives the inquisition/inquisitor clearance to pursue him without distraction, while also arguably giving the qunari the ability to focus on strengthening the veil, bc i cant imagine the viddasala and her people were the only ones of all qunari to have/know of that goal

selfish: if romancing lavellan, he understands one aspect of his selfishness, because it's a relationship he should have shut down HARD. but his feelings are real... and he selfishly gives in to them, even knowing he'll break their heart. he does try to pull away, he does eventually break up with lavellan, but by then the damage is done. even the offer to remove their vallaslin is selfish in its way - he's trying to give them a piece of the truth, but instead delivers a cruelty and leaves them whether they accept or deny his offer.

but he's selfish in another important way, too: he's convinced of his own perspective. he thinks bc he literally knows more (which, yeah, tbf he does), that his pov holds more weight. he's willing to change the world bc of his guilt about it ofc, but also bc he's - selfishly, self-centered - convinced that he's RIGHT to do so. he's not traditionally selfish - in many ways he's selfless, overwhelmingly willing to sacrifice all his own chances at happiness and peace in order to restore the world - but his selfishness (which ties in with his arrogance) is shown in his self-conviction.

he makes excuses, but honestly? he could have told the inquisitor who and what he was. he could have done that! he could ask for help reconnecting the fade with the waking world. dreadwolf could be about the inquisition gathering together myriad experts and looking for ways to do it that aren't destructive. but he's so assured that his path is the right one, the only one.

and it's... a complicated selfishness, too, because part of it is that he feels like he deserves to be punished. he thinks he needs to walk this path alone not bc the inquisitor is incapable, but because 1) He Knows What's Right, and 2) He Deserves To Suffer (to alleviate his guilt about his "sins" - which is selfish in a complicated and roundabout way)

reserved: the superficial aspect of this is obvious: he's lying about his identity. but he's also reserved as part of his core character - according to him, he used to be reckless, quick to fight. I think his reserve is something he grew into, a willingness to play the long game, an understanding that information given can never be taken away. it leads to other things - a hesitance to trust, for example - but it's just a part of him now. I think even if he found someone to be 100% open with, he'd STILL be reserved by nature

arrogant: my man is an arrogant ass, no denying it. ofc he knows so much more about history than those around him, but he's also so willing to fight about it, to condescend, to trivialize. when he realizes he has a genuinely receptive audience his tone changes, so I think a lot of this stems from defensiveness and a deep familiarity with needing to justify his every expressed opinion, but... he's still an ass. his conversation with a dalish inquisitor at haven? yikes.

he's also regularly convinced that his interpretations are the correct ones. like wrt my recent post about the mages after Faded For Her, I have to assume that he thinks the inquisitor sparing them demonstrates disdain for the inherent value of spirits and their sentience, even if the real reason is a lot more complicated. he jumps to conclusions and states them like facts and it takes a lot for him to begin to deconstruct them

empathetic: this ties in with his kindness ofc, but its worth a unique mention. he is incredibly empathetic. he cares about what happens to people, to spirits, even to your enemies in a way - he talks with bull about how he doesn't like to relish his victories in combat because the people he kills could have been something else, someone else. he cares about wolves (I WONDER WHY... but also like, him being fen'harel doesn't mean he HAS to care about wolves, but he does, bc he cares about animals, too), he cares about the farmers being attacked by wolves, he cares about the refugees, he's understanding towards speaker anais and the cult that grew up around the rifts... he not only cares, he understands where people are coming from, regardless of who they are or how they behave

detached: this one lessens somewhat over the course of the game, but he's deeply, fundamentally detached to the world he woke up in and the people who inhabit it. its a little ironic when u look at his kindness and empathy, but it doesn't negate his detachment. i tend to think of him as seeing everything through a fog, feeling like he's not really there at least as much as he feels like everyone else is not really there.

not joking or exaggerating, he must have such terrible trouble with disassociation/derealization. ive seen people bring up excellent points wrt this that i dont feel a need to rehash, but suffice to say: while he still cares, everything he experiences is at a remove. this stems from shock, trauma, guilt, fear, and profound culture shock.

[bradsmindbrain]

Roquefort Headcanons because I’m Down Bad for this Man

● The oldest of the game’s cast, being a few years older than Roxanne, and being in his mid fifties.

● Gay, I say this solely because that line exists.

● Whatever the Hi-Fi Rush world’s equivalent of Māori is.

● Gained his position a while before Kale’s takeover, but Kale was still the one who initially “discovered” him for the company. Even though Roxanne was the CEO at the time, his loyalty was towards Kale and not her because he saved his life.

● His penny-pinching nature was nowhere near as bad prior to his illness. Not only did it force him into an early retirement, the medical costs it caused tore through his live-savings. Ultimately, this lead to an extreme fear of lacking control in his life, and developed the belief that more money=more control. This is also where a good portion of his stress and anger issues stem from.

● Roxanne mostly kept that flaw in check, but when Kale took over he just allowed Roquefort to handle finances as he saw fit.

● He knew what Kale did to Roxanne was wrong, and he knew Kale’s plans for SPECTRA were horrific, but he turned a blind eye to that because he’d be dead without him. Not to mention, it’d give the company more money, more control.

● Ended up surviving being buried by the third quarter earnings, janitorial staff dug him out shortly after Kale’s death.

● What’s arguably more surprising is that Roxanne allowed him to keep his job after everything. He’s arguably the world’s best economist, it would be an incredibly idiotic move to get rid of him.

● That being said, she didn’t allow him to get off completely scott-free. She’s keeping him on a very tight leash (heh) to keep his greed in check and ensuring he doesn’t try anything. Furthermore she’s making him attend mandatory anger management classes.

● Doesn’t like most of Zanzo’s designs solely because he feels the costs to make some of the higher-quality models do not match the profits they bring in. That being said, he has a fondness for the BA-B00 and KEM-0N0 series’s of units.

● To no one’s surprise, he’s an animal lover, and has a fondness for just about anything fluffy. Ironically enough he’s more of a cat person.

● No one’s sure whether the wolf thing was his or Kale’s idea (it was his).

● The operation to install his cybernetics was very experimental, and there’s still a few minor issues, most notably him involuntarily shifting partially or completely into wolf form if he’s particularly stressed or angry.

● Even though Marketing can sometimes outdo even R&D in terms of spending, he’s much more lenient with Mimosa than with Zanzo because more often than not she gets the money back and then some.

● Interested in (the Hi-Fi Rush world’s equivalent of) Japanese history and folklore, hence the screen in his office and his designs for the WA-ES-2s. Does not care for anime and manga though.

● His wolf form’s mane is surprising soft compared to the rest of him.

● Yes, one of the better ways to calm him down is to give him ear scritches in wolf form. Good luck getting close enough to him to do it though.

● Freakishly durable even in human form, his cybernetic body basically has military-grade defenses that were built to withstand tank rounds. There’s no meaningful way to actually damage him, as his cybernetics also repair any damage he does sustain.

● Held a higher opinion of Korsica than the other Department Heads did, mostly because he found her very competent at her job and she managed her budget pretty well, so he had a level of respect for her.

[kitausuret]

Know Your Venom

A handy guide to differentiating all those spider-y symbols! (Part 1 of 2)

(Venom #150 "Malled!"; Michelinie, Lim)

Hey there, true believer! Are you tired of looking at comics with your favorite black-and-white wicked webslinger and not knowing who's beneath the goo? Fortunately for you, I'm here to help! We'll take a look through the years and hopefully give you some pointers on how to tell who's who. This isn't a foolproof guide by any means, but I hope it's helpful!

So, let's start at the beginning.

(Marvel Super Heroes Secret Wars #7-8; Shooter, Zeck)

It's very important to me that people understand that the original black suit costume came from Spider-Woman (Julia Carpenter)! That's why I often, and will for the rest of this guide, refer to it as the Carpenter Symbol. Know your roots!

For the most part though, we see this design used as a mockery of Spider-Man by the first Venom, Eddie Brock.

(Amazing Spider-Man #299, #331, and #362, by Michelinie and McFarlane, Larsen, and Bagley respectively)

The earliest artists for Venom all drew the Carpenter Symbol very close to how it originally was designed. You see this continued pretty much to this day, and so if you see a stocky guy in this look with biceps the size of his head - that's probably Eddie.

Early comics are easy, because the only other person to bear this symbol is Anne Weying, and her She-Venom look is. Well. Distinctive.

(Venom: Sinner Takes All #3; Hama, Luzniak & Palmiotti - Venom: Along Came a Spider #3; Hama, St. Pierre)

A few artists will draw the legs of the spider-symbol either much, much closer together (sometimes if the shot is tiny enough they'll just look like a solid mass), but others like Ron Lim will at times draw them further apart. For the most part it's pretty consistent though.

(Venom: Lethal Protector [1993] #5; Michelinie, Lim)

And then... we get into the 00s.

(Venom [2003] #16-17; Way, Skottie Young)

The above looks are pretty unique to how Skottie Young does Venom. And even then, Young's Venom nowadays looks less... like that. I'm not going to share a lot from this series, but we start to get a beefier-looking Venom. This would continue into Spectacular Spider-Man (2003) by Paul Jenkins and Humberto Ramos.

(Spectacular Spider-Man (2003) #3, #5; Jenkins, Ramos)

In some ways, you can kind of explain the inconsistency in the symbol by the fact that Eddie and the Symbiote's symbiosis was crumbling - but it's also just. Not that well-written as a Venom story.

And then we get into other hosts.

I feel obligated to point out that Trish Robertson was the first host of the Venom clone that would eventually become Mania - she literally only appears in Venom (2003) but she's almost indistinguishable from Venom.

(Venom [2003] #16; #18. I'm not going to describe what's happening in these panels, I took too much psychic damage just gathering them.)

Best I can give you is; Trish!clone!Venom is slightly more grey-purple and that's all I'm gonna give you on this topic.

Angelo Forunato was only alive for 2 issues, and he has one look:

(Marvel Knights: Spider-Man [2004] #7-8; Millar, Dodson)

He's the first Venom we see fully deviate from the Carpenter Symbol. He also has really distinctive eyespots and the first instance of seeing an actual eyeball in the spot. The legs of the spider-symbol are fully separated from each other, and even extend down to the thighs.

The symbiote, displeased with Angelo (and having thrown him off a roof), next went to Mac Gargan, arguably the third or fourth most important Venom to carry the name.

(Marvel Knights: Spider-Man #10-11; Millar, Dodson)

Beyond! is an interesting case in that it's the first time we see Mac!Venom with the Scorpion tail, which we don't really see again. It's an odd duck of a series overall, but it is kinda fun to see Mac utilizing some of the shapeshifting abilities. But, more to the point of this guide, you can always tell him apart by the white spider-legs going over the shoulders and up the arms.

(Beyond! #5; McDuffie, Kolins)

Thunderbolts is when you really start to see deviations from the original Mac look. This series especially leans into a very grotesque-looking Venom, but usually there's still some semblance of the original symbol. That's what to look for. But if you see a chonky boy and it's in that mid-2000s art style? You're probably looking at Mac.

You also get variations on the way the spider-legs are drawn. Some artists make them a little skinnier.

(Thunderbolts #114; Ellis, Deodato Jr. - Thunderbolts #122; Gage, Blanco - Amazing Spider-Man #570; Slott, Romita Jr.)

Here's where it gets tricky.

During Dark Avengers, Mac adopts the Carpenter Symbol (and a slimmer look) at Osborn's behest, and immediately starts looking anywhere between your classic Black Suit Spider-Man and Eddie's look as Venom. Your best bet during this era is to use context clues. Based on the art style for this era, if you're thinking "that's probably not Eddie", you're right. Eddie's running around as Anti-Venom.

(Dark Avengers [2009] #1; Bendis, Deodato)

And, yes, that means that this scene... is Mac Gargan. No other Venom would let Norman Osborn boss them around. Please, for the love of God, get this one right.

(New Avengers Annual #3; Bendis, Mayhew)

Mac keeps this look all the way up until he and the symbiote are separated, which leads us to...

Flash Thompson, AKA Agent Venom.

(Coming in Part 2!)

[dearweirdme]

Seeing Jungkook publicly stand up to support NJ just made me realize that he is and has always been able to stand up for himself and his loved ones.

Taehyung and Jungkook are arguably the most rebellious members of the group so don’t you think that it is a bit unreasonable to continue with the narrative that they both have forced to do things they didn’t really want to do? Jungkook knew exactly what this whole thing would look like. He knew the media was gonna jump on his words and use it to attack his company and maybe even his members and himself yet he didn’t care as he just wanted to defend those girls yet some tkkrs things that this same person has spent years being oppressed by the company? It only took him a few months (while enlisted) to do what he did so what sense does it make to continue to believe that he willingly read scripts or allowed the company twist his words when it came to his bond with Taehyung?

More importantly he could defend and openly stand up against young artists being dragged into company fights but all these years you truly believe that he sat there and simply obeyed while bighit separated or tried potraying him and Tae as awkward? If he could be this assertive then why didn’t he stand up against the company for his friendship and relationship with Taehyung all these years?

Hi anon!

In my opinion, there are many things wrong with this line if thinking.

First of all, you cannot compare this instance of Jk speaking out on behalf of Nj’s to him possibly having been able to speak out on his relationship with Tae. If we’re correct, Tae and Jk are closeted. Not because they want to be, but because either society or the company (probably both) make them stay closeted. Him speaking out on that would mean he’d out himself and Tae and that would have a long lasting effect on how people see and treat them. Jk has stood up for his friendship with Tae.. just by showing how close they are constantly. Jk has spoken out on a lot of things last year. This post he made today will not affect his career at all. At most he will get a strong talking to from Hybe, but that will be literally all. It’s an incident and will have no affect on his long lasting career. What was he supposed to say about Tae? People see them as friends already, and going beyond that is impossible.

You also mistakenly think that Jk’s influence and standing now is the same as it was years ago. Standing has to be built. When BTS was still working on getting to the top they had no room to voice their opinions like this. Losing the favor of the public or of Hybe would have had a damaging affect on their careers. That is different now imo. Should Hybe be so mad that they’d fire Jk over this, he would be signed with a new contract with another company a day later. Hybe needs Bts and Jk more than they need Hybe at this point. So Jk can use the weight he has gained over the years now to speak up on behalf of Nj’s who have not yet gained the status he has.

Jk can probably remember very well what it was like to have no power, so he uses his own for them now. It doesn’t mean he agrees with what Nj’s demands are, it doesn’t mean he thinks Mhj is right, it just means that he feels artists shouldn’t be used the way Mhj and Hybe now use NJ’s.

Don’t make this a Tkk thing, because it’s very different things in very different moments of time.

[dailycharacteroption]

Conversion Corner: Even More Castlevania spells part 4

Magic Vacuum

So let’s move away from spells associated with Charlotte Aulin and do something a bit more unique: a soul associated with Soma Cruz!

For context, Soma Cruz is a character from the near future, rather than past, (very near, as his games occur in the 2030’s). However, this young man is sent on a quest of self-discovery when Dracula’s Castle shows up for the first time in a very long time and he discovers the ability to absorb the souls of monsters he has defeated and tap into their abilities! This power of Dominance can range from passive buffs to special attacks and beyond, allowing Soma with a bit of luck to steamroll into a warrior of monstrous power, which is appropriate since it turns out the only reason Soma has this ability is that he is in fact the reincarnation of Dracula himself… But will he follow the path of his previous incarnation and become a lord of darkness once again, or will he rise to the occasion and become the better man?

In any case, however, the soul we are focusing on right now is the one dropped by Persephone, which is the name given to identical demonic maids who tend to the castle and also defend it with their fierce martial arts.

One of the tools in their arsenal for cleaning and home defense is their magical skull-themed vacuums, which while they cannot deal damage, they do inhibit the movement of the target if Persephone manages to suck up loose hems of clothing with it, most notably the coats of male characters and the *sigh* skirts of female characters. (the late GBA/early DS era of Castlevania is arguably where the franchise was at it’s most “anime”, for better or worse).

Even with those childish aspects, however, the magic vacuum soul does offer a unique extra way to attack as Soma can summon the vacuum to fight alongside him, sucking hp out of victims that enter the hitbox of its nozzle and healing him while he is free to unleash his own attacks. It can even be upgraded to become a more robust model and even later conjuring your very own Persephone demon to wield the vacuum.

In any case, I like the idea of a spell that attacks independently of you and can give you a little healing on the side, so let’s get into it!

Bloodthirsty Contraption

School necromancy; Level cleric/oracle 5, inquisitor 5, medium 5, sorcerer/wizard 5, spiritualist 5

Casting

Casting Time 1 standard action

Components V, S, DF

Effect

Range personal

Effect conjured animate vacuum that shares a space with you.

Duration 1 round/level (D)

Saving Throw none; Spell Resistance yes

Description

A curious contraption that sucks in air, as well as the blood of those it latches onto, dealing 1d8 negative energy damage per hit, + 1 point per caster level (maximum +15). The contraption cannot leave your space, but it can attack targets within a 5-ft. reach of you. It strikes the opponent you designate, starting with one attack in the round the spell is cast and continuing each round thereafter on your turn. It uses your base attack bonus plus your relevant casting modifier (typically Int, Wis, or Cha depending on class or archetype) as its attack bonus. It strikes as a spell, not as a weapon, so for example, it can damage creatures that have damage reduction. The contraption always strikes from your direction. It does not get a flanking bonus or help a combatant get one. Your feats or combat actions do not affect the contraption.

Each round after the first, you can use a move action to redirect the contraption to a new target. If you do not, the contraption continues to attack the previous round's target assuming it remains within reach. The contraption can never attack more than once per round.

The contraption cannot be attacked or harmed by physical attacks, but dispel magic, disintegrate, a sphere of annihilation, or a rod of cancellation affects it. The contraption’s AC against touch attacks is 12 (10 + size bonus for Tiny object).

If an attacked creature has spell resistance, you make a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) against that spell resistance the first time the contraption strikes it. If the contraption is successfully resisted, the spell is dispelled. If not, the contraption has its normal full effect on that creature for the duration of the spell.

Whenever you deal damage with the contraption, you regain lost hit points equal to 25% of the damage dealt.

=====

I based the spell’s mechanics on the Spiritual Weapon spell, but based the damage on Vampiric Shadow Shield. Additionally, I cut out the possibility of multiple attacks per turn, as this spell is meant to simply follow you around and provide some extra damage and minor healing.

[deadbaguette]

as i see ur a person who has copleted the hades game; i want to ask if u have any advice in weapons, keepsakes or techniques to get out of asphodel 😭😭 i have gotten to the hydra two times i think but i can't find a way to defeat it so i would appreciate any kind of advice to finally get to elysium and reunite patroclus nd achilles

Oooh! I’ll see what advice I can provide😭 I do have a lot of hours on the game, but I’m not particularly good LMAO

I’ll give what advice I can for each weapon (except the gun, I’m horrible at the gun), a build you can use, and some techniques (below the cut because this might get long)

Just a bit of an explanation of status effects because it’s relevant for a lot of the builds:

- Weak (Aphrodite), Doom (Ares), Hangover (Dionysus), Chill (Demeter) are all primary status effects. Meaning they’re a part a few of the base boons (attack/special/dash and the cast too in only Aphrodite’s case)

- Jolted (Zeus), Rupture (Poseidon), Exposed (Athena) are secondary status effects. Meaning you have to get a separate boon to apply this effect to things like the attack/special/cast/dash

Having two of any of these applied to an enemy can proc the mirror of night effect ‘Priviliged status’ which at its max upgrade gives a 40% damage bonus

The fists:

The fists are arguably the easiest weapon to use early game. And the aspect of zagreus works because of that dodge chance which is nice when you’re early game. But I recommend running this with the Demeter aspect if you can.

The most broken build I use on them? Athena Ares duo boon build.

Start off with an Athena keepsake (i’m not sure if you have this, but give nectar to her if you haven’t), this guarantees your first boon to be her. Pick the one that makes your special deflect/divine flourish. Athena boons are SO GOOD early game, absolutely abuse that deflect ability especially on the hydra.

If rng isn’t on your side, equip the Ares keepsake after the fight with Meg. When you get his boon, pick curse of agony/your attack inflicts doom.

Now you have to look for their duo boon, merciful end (your attacks that deflect trigger/activate doom immediately). You can get this in: charon’s shop and from the chambers but NOT in trial of the gods (when you have to pick).

Try avoid taking other gods in throughout Tartarus and Asphodel (except Artemis, crit is always good so try get the boon ‘pressure points’)! This fills up your pool of potential gods to get, and you really only want Ares or Athena.

If you get Athena, aside from the special here are boons you should pick:

Divine dash/your dash deflects (this one is a must get, but it does not open the option for duo with ares keep it in mind!)

Blinding flash/abilities that deflect also make foes exposed (then you can proc the mirror of the night buff ‘privileged status’)

Bronze skin/more resistant to damage which is always nice ESPECIALLY in Asphodel when the lava is alr causing you enough trouble lol

If you want a cast/call, it honestly doesn’t matter who you pick. I would suggest the Athena cast/call though if you’re having trouble with the Hydra because the cast deflects and the call makes you invulnerable.

The sword:

Okay some advice for the sword. The best attack combination imo on the sword is: dash strike 2x, and then special. This gets a lot of dps out of it, and if you have the mirror of the night ‘privileged status’ in use it’s really easy to trigger

An easy build that I don’t go wrong with is on the aspect of nemisis build (but tbh u could use Zagreus’ aspect I just like the extra crit). It’s an Ares oriented build which is uses duo boons.

You’re going to want to start off with the Ares keepsake, this guarantees your first boon to be him. When you get his boon, pick the one that applies doom when you use your special (boon: curse of pain).

If luck is on your side, let’s hope you can find an Aphrodite chamber or an Artemis chamber. If not, equip one of their keepsakes in the room after fighting Megaera. Then you’ll get their boon guaranteed in Asphodel

But if luck IS on your side and you get:

An aphrodite boon, then pick heartbreaker’s strike/the one that applies weak to your enemies on your attack. This is when you begin to apply a lot of consistent damage

An Artemis boon, then pick true shot/her cast. This opens the duo boon options for Artemis. Almost every Artemis boom is really fucking good BUT the ones you should look out for are the Aphrodite+Artmeis duo boon (increase crit damage against ‘weak’ foes) and pressure points (lets any damage crit which is really good)

If you happen to get Athena and not Aphrodite, you can choose to put her on the attack instead BUT you have to keep in mind that then you should look for her boon ‘blinding flash’ (all abilities that deflect also make foes exposed).

The bow:

Crush shot aspect of Hera is a really good and really easy build! Equip the aspect of Hera which means that you imbue the cast INTO the bow. And your next shot will have all the casts as well.

Really the only thing you need for this is Aphrodite’s cast (so equip her keep sake in the start). And just… put every pom into the cast LOL

Some extra boons to make your life easier:

divine dash (I cannot stress enough how good this boon is)

get a Poseidon boon, his attack/special/or call, and unlock the duo boon for +1 level for each Pom upgrade

Get an Artemis boon along with Poseidon if you have him, her attack/special/or call), and unlock their duo boon which makes each cast fire a secondary projectile that does less damage

The shield

This is maybe one of the best early game especially against the hydra. The ability to block when holding the attack/doing the bull rush is so useful. For this one I always run Zeus’ aspect. It’s the only one that allows you to attack while your special is out. I like running a hangover build with this, but I’m not entirely sure how optimal it is lmao.

Equip the Dionysus keepsake, pick drunken flourish/special inflicts hangover. Throw your special at the enemy, and it applies hangover per hit (this is why the Zeus aspect is good because you can still attack while you’re applying hangover).

This is arguably the easiest build I use because (maybe it’s ironic) but Dionysus gets along with so MANY gods. Ares, Aphrodite, Artemis, Athena… all their duo boons with him are 10/10.

So any of them come your way, here are imo the optimal boons you can pick to open the possibility for duo boons with Dionysus:

Athena: divine dash (again….) and you can get the duo boon with Dionysus which slows down projectiles IMMENSELY. Super good against the hydra

Ares: curse of vengeance (revenge damage, if you take damage inflict doom on the enemy) and you can get the duo boon which makes the hangover tick rate go from 0.5 seconds to 0.35 seconds. This basically doubles the amount of hangover dps you do, it’s so broken

Aphrodite: heartbreaker strike (the attack) and get the duo boon which increases the amount of hangover stacks you can do. So while the base is five (where you’ll do whatever amount of damage per tick x5 if you have 5 stacks applied), it adds 3 stacks (so now it’s like x8 damage per tick).

There is also Artemis, who you can choose true shot (your cast) to unlock the duo boons. Either Dionysus’ or Aphrodite’s are good options (increases crit chance to hangover foes per stack applied, increases crit damage to ‘weak’ foes)

Prioritize the Aphrodite and Ares duo boons they are the best.

The spear

The spear might be among the hardest for beginners? But it is my favorite weapon and the one I used the most in the beginning and throughout the game. I almost always run the Demeter cast build, but since you haven’t reached the surface I don’t think you’ve unlocked her (it’s been a while I’m not sure SGDGHSSGHS sorry). So uh I’m not able to help with the spear build until you’ve reached the surface 🙏

(You can check out this post based off a comic I drew where someone did the build!)

[thatgirl4815]

Friendship & Emotional Awareness

There seems to be an ongoing debate on Twitter about whether or not Mew is a good friend, specifically to Ray. And to begin with, I want to laugh at the notion of “good” here, because I don’t think anyone in this friend group is a “good” friend in the typical sense.

They’re all college kids, so it’s difficult to judge anyone too harshly. So far, friendship is the area of Mew’s character where we see his flaws come through most.

Looking at all the friendgroup characters, we see some distinct flaws. Boston is a liar and manipulator, so selfish that he would ruin his friend’s relationship for his own personal gains. Ray chases after Mew and initiates an unwanted kiss with him (which he apologizes for later, but it was still wrong of him in the first place); Ray is also pushy and demanding. Cheum is a bit harder to read, but she seems content pushing her friends in the direction she thinks is best for them, regardless if they truly want it (I’m thinking of her insistence that Mew hookup with Top in Ep1…it’s not inherently wrong of her to encourage him, but she doesn’t seem to be considering Mew’s hesitancy much).

So where does this leave Mew? Mew is arguably the most morally upright character in the group. He’s intelligent, but he also has strong emotional awareness. He knows how he feels and believes he is good at pinpointing how others feel too. We also know he does not bend easily or feign his emotions; he does not pretend to feel anything more than friendship for Ray, even after his breakdown.

We can see that Mew cares for Ray, but where his flaws come in is in the aftermath of Ray’s breakdown. This is a slippery slope to begin with because, as I mentioned, these are all college kids; it would be hard for anyone to know how to approach someone with suicidal intent.

While Mew appears to have high emotional intelligence, he also neglects Ray’s emotions by allowing their other friends to call Ray a “burden” again and again, even when he knows that Ray struggles with feeling loved by the people in his life. When Ray stomps out of the bar in Ep1, upset about being labeled a “burden” yet again, Mew doesn’t act any less confused than the rest of them. I have a hard time believing Mew forgot what Ray told him on the phone two years ago—whether or not he believes Ray has moved passed it doesn’t erase the very clear negative reaction Ray exhibits here. (It’s also very precise language between the scene from two years ago and the one in the bar.)

Mew is also the only character other than Ray who has addressed Ray’s mother’s death. Regardless of whether the rest of the group know about her alcoholism, Mew knows Ray’s fear of and addiction to alcohol. And yet a few passing comments is the extent of their conversation about it (granted, they likely have discussed it more during the two year gap, but who knows). While Mew does tell Ray to lay off the flask, he ultimately joins in with the others when they joke/complain about Ray’s behaviors while drunk.

None of this to say that Mew should feel obligated to walk on egg shells around Ray all the time. There’s an argument to be made that it isn’t Mew’s responsibility to check up on Ray’s drinking problem or censure his friends about their treatment of him either. At the same time, being a good friend means acknowledging some behaviors as inappropriate and potentially damaging. Ray is evidently lonely, self-loathing, and depressed. Two years does not necessarily erase all of the pain Ray is feeling. Even if it’s true that Ray is a burden while drunk, the emotional implications of this label are clearly weighing on Ray’s mind day after day. Mew is emotionally cognizant enough to recognize these cues.

I don’t mean to come off as solely a Ray defender here, because I think Ray has his own flaws. I actually like that Mew isn’t the perfect guy he’s been made out to be. It’s also nice because until this episode, we haven’t gotten to see much of Mew’s character. I hope the show continues to flesh him out, because he has the potential to be very interesting if his layers are examined in more detail. In summation—I don’t think Mew is a bad friend. He was there for Ray when he needed him most. But I also don’t think he’s nearly as “aware” as he claims to be.

[shredsandpatches]

Can you expand on Faust's final fate not being earned being central to all versions of the story? Because in the Goethe at least I couldn't agree more. Faust's salvation has nothing to do with Faust and that's the point.

OKAY SO. I do want to preface what's likely to be a horrible incoherent ramble that contradicts itself like five different times per paragraph by mentioning, first, that I haven't fully worked out an actual argument or Grand Unified Theory of Faustology, I'm just kind of turning it over in my head, and, that I recognize that the Christian framework of the original versions of the story isn't always intended literally in adaptations and doesn't always reflect orthodox Christian notions of salvation and damnation. I'm still grappling with what those concepts mean to Goethe, particularly, what the ultimate end of the "ever upward" approach might be. There are definitely multiple people likely to be reading this with far more in-depth knowledge of Goethe than I have (and MUCH better German). I do think, though, that that sense of undeservedness cuts across versions of the story--certainly the serious approaches starting with Marlowe--and I also think it's important because it makes us consider why it doesn't feel quite right. What moral standards are we using to consider either Faust himself or the version of the universe in which he operates?

(eta: put in a readmore)

Marlowe's version, for instance, is very much still informed by the Reformation-era context that originally produced the story, and is rooted in his own experience being a Cambridge student at a time when Calvinism was the hot topic of the day. He presents a sharp disconnect between the theological and moral arcs of the play: as an article I recently read puts it, the primary focus is on Faustus' sins against God, not against other people (most of his actions against other people are either dumb pranks, actions arguably taken in self-defense, or actions against targets that the original audience would see as deserving, like the pope). Faustus isn't a particularly good person, of course, but neither is he particularly evil, and the idea that one's reprobate status (or impenitence, it's ambiguous) would be reflected in one's actions is weirdly absent. He's at his least sympathetic before he sells his soul. The theological arguments for his damnation are pretty cohesive but I think it also doesn't feel right on a human level: does this mean we're meant to question our own sympathies, or Calvinist/general Protestant theology? And then with Goethe's version you have the opposite issue, where Faust's motivations as described are more sympathetic than those of Marlowe's Faustus--he wants happiness, satisfaction, youth--and at the same time he causes so much collateral damage with his massive self-absorption. He doesn't generally seem to act out of malicious intent and generally doesn't actively want to wreck people's lives specifically, but at the same time he doesn't pay heed to things like the obvious and foreseeable consequences of seducing a girl who lives in a strict patriarchal society or asking a demon to convince people to move out of their house for urban planning purposes and only really acknowledges them when it's too late. What does it mean, in this case, for him to be saved, for whatever value of "saved" exists in Goethe's universe? Or, since Goethe seems to operate on a strongly allegorical level especially in Faust II (I haven't even gotten into the whole cosmic-wager side of the story) what are the big ideas at work here? We have to tease those out instead of just passing judgment on the character, and we have to hash out how Faust-the-character is quintessentially human and what that means.

So, like. The tl;dr version is that I think that because the Faust narrative is a collection of stories about our standards, what we value and what we condemn, and our human limitations and where we stand in relation to (whatever concept of) the eternal, his ultimate fate is always unsettling because the idea of sort of weighing up everything about a person and finally defining them might be relatively easy from a distance but the more you think about it the harder it gets, and it's important that we sit with that. If that makes sense.