#and there's levels to this stuff which means i could ramble so much but i'll stop bc i need to message people!!

[quietlyblooms]

in the past, i've talked about how chiyo tends to make a lot of choices for the sake of others, willing to inconvenience herself if it means making someone else happy. there are exceptions, of course -- she's not a pushover, but it can't be denied that chiyo is self-sacrificing. in her main verse, it's one of her main conflicts in her young adulthood because while pursuing art would make her happiest, she pursues teaching first to make her parents happy.

this is often the situation in her other verses, too. in her spiderverse, dorverold au, jjk au, and kinda even in her mha au, chiyo's decision to help others is a forced one. it's a decision made out of obligation because if she can help, and she knows she's one of few who can help, then she has to do it. that's not to say she doesn't eventually find happiness while helping others, but the point is that in every universe, chiyo will ultimately choose another's happiness over her own.

she can endure, you see. she's done it since she was a child. she knows how to ignore and bury thoughts of wanting; she knows how to be content with what she has, convince herself she's fine as she is. so she'll choose that rather than make someone else choose it :' )

[daxite]

yeah i think i've fully come to terms with the fact that i'm 100% somewhere on the ace spectrum lol

[toskarin]

some mostly flippant rambles on including elves in the Saltreave (that fantasy setting I write when I'm not working on my more serious projects) along with some setting notes in the margins

well. the setting notes are like 90% of the body of the text.

but we do get to elves. and we stay at elves for a while.

-

THERE IS NO ZERO IN THE ROMAN NUMERAL SYSTEM: Prologue to the Preramble

so I've written about my thoughts on elves as sort of "narrative level lifeforms" before, and that's still very much where my thoughts lie on them, but there are also just kind of elves around as fairly normal people in the Saltreave

this is a bit of a blurry line, because they're obviously not the nature-loving type of elf you see post-Tolkien -- which I'll go ahead and say feels like a deliberately obtuse misread of what Tolkien was implying by them living in harmony with a world that is literally described as the manifestation of a song -- but the bottom line is that Saltreave's elves aren't Tolkien elves, and they're not attempting to be subversions of them, but they are written by someone who quite likes those guys

all of that raises another question: what the hell are elves in the Saltreave?

-

I: Preramble

I put a bit of an information abyss at the beginning of the setting by design, outright saying that the "pre-apocalypse" might as well not exist at all.

to some extent you can say that it must have existed, and there is a bit of scattered writing that implies things about the state of affairs the world was in (mostly in terms of the politics between mortal civilisations and how that manifests in the modern politics of the remaining citystates), but the Advent is where the story starts

the most common explanations of what things were like before the current era are, at the end of the day, just attempts to explain what the people living in it are presently perceiving

the Advent, used as shorthand for a million things that each mean something different to everyone, is either the end of the world or the end of the old order of things. it is both the death of the symbolic plane and its violent merging with the material plane, severing every connection to the symbolic along the way

a bit further down that line of thought, even the present magic system gestures towards being derived from an older practice that was forced to adapt to sudden shift of the central symbolic source to a source diffused unevenly in the material plane, although from what exactly this magic system was forced to adapt remains a bit of a mystery

-

II: Into the Ramble

the Saltwind (the thing that gives the setting its name and effectively wiped out the previous world) is actually harmless

or more accurately, it's a visible symptom of an invisible problem, and that invisible problem is extremely harmful in a way nothing else could possibly hope to be

the "salt" in the wind is actually just salt. it's a lot of salt, but it's still just recognisably some sort of organic salt if you were to hold it in your hands

the salt is both the result of the Advent and a vessel for carrying "warped grain," an invisible ripple of magical static that functions more or less like (non-mutagenic, because I'm actually not a fan of using that as an apocalypse fiction concept) magical radiation

warped grain takes on a bunch of roles, so let's go over a few of those in relative brief

the one most commonly acknowledged fact is that warped grain is a soul-destroying pollution. it's bad stuff. it's poison that seeps into everything. it's in the water, it's in the air, it gets into the food as it grows, and you need to affiliate yourself with a citystate that has access to unpolluted (or otherwise purified) supplies to survive in the world as it exists

a bit less commonly (mostly when scholars and other big-hats talk about it) it's acknowledged as a sort of ambient magical noise that makes spells more unpredictable and dangerous. it can also periodically "complete" a spell if you take too long casting it, making it do something unintended (often killing the caster)

in a pinch, warped grain can be absorbed into the body as some kind of environmental magic energy, allowing someone to replenish their depleted magical energy and forgo resting to generate their own*

*: absorbing environmental energy in a world where it's literally poisoned will also eventually fuck up your soul beyond repair, so it's a really stupid idea and not something any serious magic-user would recommend

but most importantly for why elves are around, warped grain can be seen as the frayed threads of a decapitated cosmological order, death-rattling itself apart

-

III: Rambling About Elves, Mostly

because of their intimate connection to the disrupted symbolic plane of the world, the elves who were alive at the time of the Advent were grievously injured, experiencing the soul equivalent of radiation-induced chromosome aberration, and died a few years later. the generations following this one represent the entirety of the remaining elven population

this means that all modern elves can theoretically be divided into two categories

Selvedge Elves - while ostensibly referring to one of "pureblooded" elven stock, meaning someone whose parentage has never included a mortal. the elephant in the room is that Selvedge Elves aren't real and haven't been for quite some time. an actual Selvedge Elf had a lifespan of about 20-25 years and was not capable of having children, on account of being a wholly symbolic being born into a world where the symbolic plane exploded like an asbestos ceiling. "Selvedge" exists as a highly ideologically-charged concept, and not exactly one that lends itself to any non-reactionary interpretations

Scion Elves - everyone else. all elves currently alive are demimortal, which means that they have at least a bit of mortal parentage. even beyond elves, there are no immortals left in the Saltreave, but their descendants are absolutely still around. the term "Scion" refers to those descendants, but given that there isn't really a group to draw them in contrast to, most people prefer not to use it at all.

now it's worth mentioning, while they're all partially mortal, not all currently existing elves are specifically partially human. the stereotypical elf is human or similar, but there's nothing stopping an elf from being, say, a sylvan (the broad category of mortals who have animal ears and such)

Luuga, a character I've posted a few times, would be considered an elf if her status as a sylvan didn't make people identify that first. that's why she has longer, narrower ears than other feline-type sylvans (contrast the only other example I've drawn, Imiellith, and how her ears are much stouter)

more on sylvans and other types of mortal at some later time, but with everything out of the way, let's get down to some elf facts

-

IV: Indulgently Rambling About Elf Facts at Great Length

elves theoretically have different lifespans from mortal beings, which is something they have in common with other demimortals. elves specifically live about ten years longer on average than mortals, provided they don't die of unnatural causes, which they usually do.

additionally, they have a few notable traits that are more specific to elves

(an egregious number of) examples of these include...

elves only breathe as a learned social behaviour and theoretically don't actually need to do it. the same goes for yawning, coughing, sweating, sneezing, and similar functions. somewhat unfortunately for them, because most living things know they need to breathe, elves are still perfectly capable of knowing they need to breathe, which means they're capable of suffocating. in theory, an elf raised by people deliberately trying not to teach them about breathing wouldn't have to breathe, but that's not really a good way to raise a child

elves tire more based on time rather than effort. this is a subtle distinction, but means that an elf can exert more effort in a burst than a mortal companion, yet drops from exhaustion as soon as they've reached the limit of how long they can work. most people never notice this, since "the limits of exerted effort" and "the limits of time spent exerting effort" overlap heavily

elves are about five times more likely to die of old age on their birthday than any other day, but only if they're aware of their birthday. this is something most people are aware of, and different cultures grapple with this in different ways

in cultures with different calendars, the previous point also holds true. in cultures without the concept of something equivalent to a "year," elves just die of old age in more or less the same way mortals do

an elf's hair has a length it wants to be, with the specific length varying between individuals. if cut, it will grow faster back to this length. it cannot be grown longer than this by any means

elves tend to be quick to grasp spoken language, but a bit slower when it comes to grasping written language. this isn't always true, and when it is, doesn't tend to manifest past initial language acquisition

in exception to the previous point, elves are prone to grasping pasigraphies at the same (often accelerated) rate with which they grasp spoken languages. if the conditions were ever to arise for a wholly elven-developed language, it would likely have no direct written component, with all writing consisting of a highly contextual pasigraphy

elves stereotypically have exceptional memories when it comes to things that catch their interest. it's not uncommon for elven big-hats to keep a small stash of special expensive candies entirely for the purpose of forcing themselves to have eidetic memory for something they're disinterested in by associating it with extremely positive stimulus

because of the previous point, there is a notable market for making luxury treats aimed specifically at elven academics in cities they frequent

because of the two previous points, elven academics often develop pleasure-deprivation complexes, feeling guilty whenever they experience positive emotions that don't lend themselves to furthering their work

the previous three points are only true if they are generally understood to be true in the location where the individual is raised

if tested, most elves would appear to be colourblind. a deeper examination would reveal that elves only struggle with telling green and blue, and that this difficulty persists into the very concept of green and blue, which they struggle with disentangling in abstract. this is also true of elves with most other colexifications because I got annoyed with constantly reading people on tumblr doing pseudolinguistics and thought it'd be a little funny to have the Symbolic People run on the faulty assumptions I kept seeing

elves can get so sad they just physically die

elves can theoretically recover from any acquired disease provided that they receive adequate and comprehensive treatment for the symptoms

nothing can reduce an elf's pain to the point where they don't notice it. sedatives work, but analgesics simply do not

elves can theoretically die of any disease (no matter how minor it is) if it lasts long enough

in the same vein as the previous point every chronic illness is effectively a terminal one to an elf. the exception to this rule is that an elf will not die of a chronic illness they are born with, even if the same chronic illness would eventually prove to be terminal in a mortal

elves cannot leave permanent footprints, regardless of what they're wearing and where they try to leave them. if an elf were to step in cement, the bootprint would eventually disappear in the same way that it would if they'd stepped in sand

contrary to the previous point, if an elf writes in ink, the ink cannot be smudged or otherwise distorted on accident. the writing can still be lost by destroying the object it's on or deliberately attempting to smudge it, but this requires intention

while elves are exceptionally capable of performing magic without any formal education, this is actually the result of them being able to open the immortal component of their souls to grain, including warped grain, and therefore should never be done. this is true of most demimortals, with the mortal component of their soul being the safeguard that prevents their souls from being torn apart in the same way their ancestors' were

elves grow to be about as tall as is normal for them to be where they are raised. this is a bit counter-intuitive at first blush, but more or less means that an elf (regardless of specific heritage and origin) will grow to the height that is generally understood to be "normal for an elf" in the location where they are growing

in a similar vein to the previous point, an elf raised by mortals with no knowledge of elves (especially without knowledge that the child is an elf) will not show any physical traits of being an elf. this is an unlikely event that requires like three sets of perfect circumstances to happen, but it's not off the table

in a similar vein to the two previous points, dominant cultural understandings have a causal influence on certain other things considered "elven features," but the only evidenced ones besides height are ear length, ear angle, degree of facial hair, number of ribs, and the exact position in the chest where the heart resides

as a final note, elves always have both palmaris longus tendons, unless they are explicitly understood to lack one or both, as with previous points

-

V: Drawing Some Kind of Conclusion From Rambling About Elves. But Not Really.

this is all a very long way of saying that elves (and other demimortals) represent "those who have lost their plot armour" in a setting where the symbolic plane was seemingly once something running parallel to the material world and now exists most prominently as a severed limb bleeding all over it

because no written history of the immortals was preserved in the Advent, knowledge of the old world is heavily slanted towards a mortal perspective, containing only outside views into the symbolic plane's nature

there is nobody left alive who remembers the world before, several generations having passed since then, but to those who were told that they fell from a world of elevated importance and meaning, it can be especially tempting to view the old world as a halcyon paradise that was ruined

what remains is largely conflicting and disputed. most have long since moved on from litigating these things, faced with a world where it would make no difference

[weltato]

The Ramble About Klavier (AA4 spoilers)

Going off this post I made a while ago, here's a ramble about everyone's favourite rockstar prosecutor :)

This is gonna be a long post, so I'mma put it under a cut, but the TL;DR is that Klavier's damage sprite hurts me physically and I absolutely think that Kristoph is the cause of it :)) Also, using Franziska as a bit of a comparison at points because I could go on about her as well honestly, but that's for a different post.

(obligatory headcanon disclaimer here)

*Warning for mentions of verbal abuse, if that's uncomfortable then please scroll on and stay safe!*

UPDATE: I wrote a fic! Read it here!

You still here? Grand.

This sprite hurts man.

(I couldn't find a gif file for young Klav, had to use the icky webp file from the wiki- I fucking hate webp it's such a stupid file type)

You see how it's the same? You see how both sprites are the same? They move exactly the same! Now, you could say that it's something related to the chord that plays every time we see the sprite crop up, but he's gonna be smart enough to know about ear protection when doing rockstar stuff. Could be a sensitive ears thing, or a cringe thing at the sound of the chord (bc it does sound bad, I'll grant that), but it's never said if Klavier has sensitive hearing or smth (afaik, bc I haven't seen SoJ yet). We know Athena does, but nothing about Klav.

So! Remember Kristoph? Remember how shitty of a person he is? Welp, in the same vein as Franziska's damage sprite making everyone go "ooh, MvK did bad things" I put forward that Kristoph also did bad things.

But not physically. Kristoph is a man who uses his words as his weapons until he just casually has to poison people and then stalk everyone for seven years bc a fangirl screwed up his plan.

The sprite when Klav's 17 is labelled as "Disbelief (Unused).

Sure, it's unused in-game, but they still made it and they made it exactly the same as present Klav!

But when he's older, it's simply listed as "Damage".

Damage is a word used for quite a few sprites tbh, since it's when they...well, take damage, from their opponent, either through scripted event or from player decision.

However! Going back to a point I made in the original post: Franziska has a different distinction. Her older sprite is listed as "Shocked" but her younger sprite is given the "Damage" title.

Look! Her sprites are different! It doesn't give any good vibes tbh, she's sort of holding herself higher up and more with both arms than with the one arm her younger self uses, but that's for a different ramble about Franzy. This is about Klavier.

Franzy goes from "Damage" to "Shocked", potentially meaning that whatever is being thrown at her doesn't hurt anymore, merely catches her off guard and this is a reflexive response.

Klav goes from "Disbelief" to "Damage", which tells me that his younger self refused to hear and his older self is now realising that things are SO much worse than he feared and that HURTS.

With Franziska, it's pretty obvious that MvK was a pretty distant parent in parenting terms. I mean, he was always there, sure, but he didn't really show much love and affection. Franzy realises this and carries on because that's how she was brought up. She can handle that. (Don't get me started on the cry sprite omg-)

Kristoph was the same.

All my homies hate MvK and those same homies should also hate Kristoph. His nickname was literally "The Coolest Defense in the West" - this man was known for being level-headed! He was known for being a cool, calm and collected person! You never know what's going on under that.

Klavier was absolutely verbally and emotionally abused. I don't think it was physical abuse in any way, and if anything happened then at most it might've been a slap in the face, but Kristoph doesn't strike me as someone who gets off on holding power over his brother by beating him. After all, Klav is in the public eye 90% of the time as a rockstar, he doesn't want to risk make-up being applied wrong and the paparazzi picking things up. Kristoph strives for perfection in everything (again, the wiki literally says this, although I'm aware that the wiki can be edited by anyone) and he sees it in his brother too: he wants Klavier to be perfect.

But then he went to be a prosecutor and a rockstar and that's...well that's not good, it might ruin the name he's made for himself if his little brother goes off gallivanting with people like that (poor Daryan). Kristoph sets impossibly high standards that Klavier just can't match because he's not the same as his brother, he's not like that, he cares about people and his decision to go study in Europe is met with more disapproval from Kristoph, but Klavier takes it all as brotherly encouragement because the boy is SEVENTEEN and there's an eight year age gap, surely Kristoph knows best...

Then we get to the final section of Turnabout Succession.

When presenting the nail polish, Klavier recognises it immediately because that's the brand his brother uses. When Apollo asks about his hesitation, he says it's nothing.

They never checked Vera's nails either and Klavier is unable to say anything because Apollo is on a roll and Klavier really hopes he's wrong, so he asks if the bottle belongs to Vera and Apollo asks back if he knows someone else with one of those...

"No." he says, "Just checking."

YES. HE. DOES! He knows immediately as soon as that nail polish is brought up, everything clicks and he's so distressed by it that he refuses to believe Kristoph could've done this. He's in prison right now, how could he poison someone??

And when the Judge isn't convinced by this, Apollo deals him the final blow.

"Prosecutor Gavin doesn't seem to think this is inconceivable."

No response. His face is unreadable, or maybe it's anguished, and when it's suggested to bring Kristoph up as a special witness, Klav says this: "I've known for some time that an impenetrable darkness lurked at the bottom of this. ...A darkness that has swallowed even myself."

He knows and it's time to face The Devil that orchestrated all of this.

Maybe he's known for a long time and only just removed the rose-tinted glasses he was seeing Kristoph through - and he's crushed by it.

When Kristoph is in the room, Klavier's words are especially defeated here. Kristoph even asks Klavier to explain what's going on.

"You're being accused again. By him. Again."

And when Kristoph asks if Klav agrees with this, he says nothing. What can he say? That yes, his brother is a dark man? That yes, he's manipulative enough to do this kind of thing? That, if given the chance, he do it again to get rid of everyone who's in his way?

Trucy even says in one of the pressed statements that Klavier "must be nervous with big brother watching!"

Kristoph even takes over from Klavier's Objection when Kristoph's pressed by Apollo about the likelihood of Vera wanting to poison herself. That bitch! He's so obsessed with control that he takes control over his own trial from his own brother who's trying to 'defend' him. When Trucy says the two together is a force to be reckoned with, Apollo notes that they could do with more teamwork.

In that pivotal last statement, Klavier acts more like his brother than he ever has in the whole game and Apollo picks up on that. Kristoph is the reason Klavier is acting different, the reason he's trying so hard to get Apollo to notice the difference - Kristoph is clearly the threat in the room.

Kristoph is cruel in public too, but only now that Apollo is cornering him. See, the abuse towards Klavier was only ever subtle in public and far more pronounced in the home, but in this trial there's nowhere for him to go and Apollo would pick up every detail. So, when Apollo brings up the stamp and Klav's taken aback by this, Kristoph takes that moment to pounce: "You've upset my poor brother to the point of uselessness. Allow me to clarify this matter[...]"

We all hate him, right? He's such a dick.

Klavier is quiet, just watching everything unfold since he has no way to confront Apollo when he himself believes that Kristoph is guilty, and when Kristoph worms his way out of things he belittles Klav: "Really, Klavier. You should be seeing through these weak-spined bluffs by now."

What can he say? It's the same kind of thing he was always told - that he should be better, always pushed further than he could go.

But then he doubles down. He's sick of this, sick of Kristoph always being the perfect brother. So he fights back and calls Kristoph the bluffer. Kristoph is shocked; never once has Klavier outright pushed back on him. So when Klavier starts to side with Apollo, Kristoph plays the game.

Now, I'm not going through the whole case beat for beat, but there's another point later on when Apollo goes "oh btw Phoenix didn't do this and lol here's evidence" and Kristoph tries to deny this by saying "oh but defense attorneys are only assigned the day before anyway" but Klavier objects and turns to Apollo, pleading with him because he needs to know the whole truth on this.

Even Kristoph is caught off guard because he thought he'd kept Klavier on his side but NO! NO HE DIDN'T! HAVE YOU SEEN HIS DAMAGE SPRITE HE'S HURTINNGGGG T^T

ahem-

Anyway, Kristoph tried to dismiss this and Klavier objects in his face and keeps his focus solely on Apollo - he even calls him by his actual name instead of Herr Forehead (which I think is kinda sweet actually but anyway-) and fuck man, this hurts me.

And as it closes in towards the end, when Phoenix's recording is mentioned and Kristoph says that his "brother is incapable of making rational judgments at the moment" (angy Wel grumbling) we soon get this:

I LOVE KLAV HAVE I SAID THIS YET!?

AND HERE'S THE KICKER:

KRISTOPH IS WORRIEDDDDD

AND KLAV DOESN'T GIVE A SHIT ANYMORE YES!

CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW GOOD THAT FEELS? HOW CATHARTIC THAT IS? THIS MAN WHO'S DONE NOTHING BUT CONTROL HIM AND USE HIM FOR HIS OWN BENEFIT AND BELITTLE HIM WHENEVER HE DOES ANYTHING EVEN OUT OF LINE IS FINALLY GETTING HIS COMEUPPANCE AT KLAVIER'S HANDS!!

OH it's great to watch, we love to see it.

Better still is the very end, after the breakdown, after Kristoph loses his cool:

The sass is strong in this line. To me, it's a final 'fuck you and everything you ever did to me' from Klavier.

We end on this line after the Judge says that nurturing is the task for all human beings: "Except for you, Kristoph. You aren't changing. You've stopped. You're not needed anymore."

And it's true. Klavier doesn't need Kristoph anymore. He's 24, he can live his own life and he doesn't need a cynical and condescending brother like Kristoph breathing down his neck every two seconds. He's broken free from Kristoph's control completely and he's relishing that.

So this is why his damage sprite hurts me to see. It's a point of pain and discontent, it's Kristoph lingering in Klav's head, it's the want to have a normal brother that loves him as he is and sees him as an equal. He got his first trial against him taken away, and we never know if there was another opportunity for the two Gavins to go up against each other again, but by the sounds of it there probably wasn't - and that's a good thing! If Kristoph had faced off against Klavier, it would have probably broken Klav's spirit to be a good prosecutor like we see in AA4 and to some extent in AA5 when he crops up in the Themis case.

On the whole, the damage sprite is a look into how Klavier hid from his brother's verbal abuse - by covering his ears and not listening to it. He didn't want it to be true, but it came at him anyway and he hated that. But it's also a parallel to how he feels about Kristoph: that is his brother and he can't bear the thought of Kristoph being not just a murderer, but also a scheming manipulator that's been skirting around the law he so desperately hides behind for seven years. Once again, he didn't want it to be true but it came at him anyway and he hated that he couldn't get away from it.

It's a good sprite, I won't lie. Great storytelling at the conflict between the two and that Klavier loves Kristoph probably more than Kristoph love him, but it still hurts me to see it because all I can think about is what kind of manipulation has Kristoph done to keep his power over Klavier. Kristoph is manipulative even to his own brother and there is nothing Klavier could have done about it. Throughout their interactions in the case there's this underlying current of "if I get out of this you're so dead" and that feels like it's been a thing forever between them.

I hope this makes sense because I should be writing my assignment rn and I just couldn't bc this has been taking up all the space in my head lol. I'm tirrrrrred, uni wears me out man >.>

[tezuze]

A hero Hiro and his party

My cringe rambles below the cut- because I can never be short winded!

Hi welcome to the cringe rambles

Okay okay, stupid things I headcannoned:

Hiro

Class: Paladin

Weapon: Gamma sword

Stats: Balanced

Magic: Fire, wind, electric, light, dark (mid level spells)

I want some cool way to incorporate the whole Gammamon thing. Was thinking his sword at least would be cursed and be something only he can control. Maybe the sword can have different modes like the Monado to represent the other evolutions? There's some clever way to incorporate the Gamma gimmick, I just can't fully think of it....

Ruli

Class: Theif/Assassin if that's not too dark

Weapon: Dual daggers

Stats: High attack and speed, low sp. attack and HP

Magic: Wind (low level spells)

The mysterious masked Lirurun!

I know typically the theif class has terrible defense but while I was making these designs I kept going between if she should be a berserker tank like Lamortmon or be a speed type attacker like SymbareAngoramon and Diarbbitmon. Ultimately, I think it'd be cool if she was kind of a blend between the two classes

Kiyoshiro

Class: Cleric

Weapon: Staff (not pictured)

Stats: High sp. attack and HP, low attack and defense

Magic: Healing, electric (high level spells)

Church of Thetis' youngest priest!

Yes this is a fantasy setting, but his wrapped hand still has to hold no significance

His silly little integer overflow/limit break is perfect for an rpg gimmick, but I wouldn't want him to have a special gauge or anything if the others don't. Maybe he can have high healing/low spells initially and then flip to low healing/high spells if his HP is half or less to represent that? Oh that'd be so annoying.... (Also Ruli needs a gimmick)

Digimon-wise, I initially liked the idea of the partners also joining the party for a full team of 6 but I think they'd be too similar to the humans, plus I borrowed too much of the digimon's design for the overall aesthetic of the party not to look boring with digimon included.

My friend came up with the idea that the Digimon could be like spirits, that only certain humans have the ability to perceive, kinda like....

Ghosts.

Ha.

Anyway, if I go with that idea, the digimon could either bless their human with power or they could just be silly little guys that accompany the party.

Wouldn't it be funny if the digimon were the ones that sit back while the humans fight? Okay moving on...

I think Airdramon would be the first form of travel, then Ginryumon to get to other locations. (Then, maybe possibly HoverEspimon for the final form of travel, if I must incorporate them)

Also, clearly Blacktailmon Uver. Acts as a traveling merchant for items and such

And there's gotta be sidequests to add more members of the digimon gang (which means Labramon sidequest!!)

OKAY I'LL ACTUALLY SHUT UP NOW

I'm sorry to put you through that ^^" would love to hear if others have any neat ideas of incorporating stuff from the show into an rpg setting, I am  s u c h a sucker for that kinda thing

[miss-midnightt]

I just watched an absolutely incredible video about Rufus Shinra and why he can see the whispers (Link) and wanted to add on to it. It's quite long, so I'll provide a summary(ish):

Essentially, the creator of the video had three theories as to why Rufus could see them: I want to dive into the last two, which hypothesize he is Cetra or had Jenova cells injected into him (more so about the Cetra).

About the Cetra theory:

Essentially, it states that he is part Cetra because he a) can see the whispers and b) seems to possess some level of precognition, much like Aerith.

Firstly, I'd like to discuss how his mother is only mentioned to have died when he was young; this doesn't necessarily mean that Ifalna is his mother, as she can't be the only pureblooded Cetra alive after two thousand years (unless she's the product of a lot of inbreeding).

He seems to show up at pivotal moments by almost pure coincidence (or so it seems) without having any explanations offered. This sense for important moments and appearance of precognition becomes more interesting when you take a look at the Diamond Weapon's attack on Shinra Tower.

Rufus ended up having his life saved during the Diamond Weapon's attack from the very escape route he had suggested as a child, which just so happened to have the entrance exactly where he was taking shelter. keep in mind that Rufus was only five years old when he made the suggestion; President Shinra had no reason (unless you consider the humiliation aspect) to include this in the plans. However, if the President somehow knew that Rufus was special/Cetra, then the inclusion (his office is 70 floors up, mind you; installing that seems a little silly if only based off of the ramblings of a kindergartener) makes a hell of a lot more sense.

The President has also maintained that he doesn't believe in sentiment or attachment; if he had known Rufus was Cetra, it would have been a legitimate reason to include the escape route. Shinra scientists thought the scribblings of young Aerith were important, so why not the seemingly logical ramblings of a five year old who was also Cetra be just as crucial? Also, Rufus did not only say an escape route should be built, he said why; if an enemy attacked from the top their would be no way to escape...which is exactly where the Diamond Weapon attacked from.

Rufus also seems to have these...gut feelings, let's say. Sounds similar to Aerith, right? How she feels pulls to places, to things, suchlike Rufus. This also ties into the Jenova Cells theory, so let's dive into that...

Jenova Cells:

I'd like to start right off of the bat by saying this is purely speculation. I find this interesting nonetheless. This also will probably jump around and seems a bit more headcanon-y and random than the stuff about the Cetra, considering I am wayyy more interested in the Cetra theory. Anyway, let's dive in!

The theory that Rufus was the first (before even Genesis) to receive Jenova cells is plausible for several reasons. First, I'd like to discuss the year in which he was born. In the OG, his age was stated to be 25, which was changed to 30 in the remake--pretty random and unnecessary, at a glance. But it gets a lot more interesting once you realize that that would mean that Rufus was born in 1977...the year Jenova was discovered at the North Crater.

President Sinra has done some awful stuff, and I honestly don't think he'd be totally above injecting unknown substances into his unborn child (especially if Rufus was actually a bastard child that he decided to use in experiments then keep.) Anyway...

While some may argue that his eyes are blue, not glowy green, the glow and green come from mako, not Jenova. Even if there is a correlation between eye/hair color and Jenova cells, he does have light, bright blue eyes (like Genesis) and silvery blond hair. It could be a design choice, it could mean something more.

Then there are the physical strength aspects. He was able to go toe to toe with Cloud, not even showing visible signs of fatigue. Heck, he even parried a blow from the Buster Sword! While Cloud is not a true SOLDIER, he is strong enough that people think so anyway when he tells him that, and also beat Reno, Rude, and other powerful enemies. Meanwhile, Rufus soloed Cloud (with the help of Darkstar/Dark Nation) and didn't seem to be seriously injured.

Furthermore, when Rufus is infected with Geostigma in On the way to a Smile, he says something along the lines of "it felt like it [the Geostigma] was calling to me..." Now, this sounds suspiciously like the pull receivers of J cells feel to Jenova (which could help explain Rufus' presence at the Northern Crater).

I'd really recommend watching at least some of the video, as it explains things way better than I did (it's very long though, so be warned).

Lastly, I'd like to discuss something not touched upon in the video: his coins, more specifically the side of the coin with Darkstar/Dark Nation on it. This coin depicts Darkstar/Dark Nation and flowers, specifically mandragora/mandrake flowers. Why is this important? There are several reasons.

These flowers have been involved in stories and superstitions about magical powers and other tales of the like. It was said in some tales that they could only be harvested in moonlight by a black dog attached to a cord (Darkstar/Dark Nation, anyone? She does appear on that side of the coin, hmm....) after proper rituals had been conducted. Some tales said that they were tied to dark powers, that, get this, drove men mad if they heard their roots shriek. The roots are also highly poisonous.

Now, I'd like to look at color theory and the symbolism of colors in FFVII. In this game, the color yellow seems to symbolize life, hope, and rebirth, whereas purple seems to symbolize desolation, corruption, and death. Yellow is associated with Aerith through her flowers, and purple with Sephiroth for his shadowy magic. They are also contrasting colors; two sides of the same coin (pun absolutely intended). How does this connect to the coins and flowers, you ask? Well, the mandragora/mandrake flowers have a color range of...purple to yellow. Interesting, because Rufus is easily one of the most morally grey characters in the game.

Again, all of this is wild ramblings and pure speculation, so take it with a grain of salt.

[ozzy-boy]

You kind of implied Cole, Volks and Scale either dont get drunk or are not allowed to get drunk anymore in your last hedcannon. Buuutt what if they did? Drunk or high?

hehehehehehe i was born for posts like this. this one is already getting kind of long so i'll do a part two with them high ;P

-

Scale:

-The Order has an alcohol ban on Scale for their work parties because he gets MESSY when he's drunk.

-He doesn't drink often so he has a crazy low tolerance for alcohol. Which means it takes a lot less for him to get fucked up.

-He has fun when he's drunk, but he doesn't like to drink too often because he doesn't like feeling like he can't operate. What if he's too inebriated to pull off his sick ninja maneuvers and someone attacks you?????

-He'll usually save it for special occasions, but with a little prodding he'll agree to drink with you.

-He doesn't really like the taste of alcohol so he prefers drinks where you can't really taste it. (This does nothing to help how drunk he gets) But he'll kind of tolerate anything.

-I could see him being a whiteclaw guy somewhere down the line.

-He also likes fruity, sweet drinks but he's a little embarrassed to get them because they're not 'manly' drinks.

-Laughs a lot while drunk. EVERYTHING is funny to him. Also be prepared to pull him down from doing stupid shit because the alcohol makes him waaay too confident.

-There will be at least one time where he's trying to get up onto a table, insisting that he's perfectly sober enough to do a backflip (he isn't)

-He's also very honest when he's drunk. Be prepared for some messy kisses and some slurring about how much he loves you that he's gonna be really embarrassed to remember later.

-Please take care of him. He'll be a complete baby the whole next day if he ends up with a hangover. If you want to have a good time though, Scale is a good choice to drink with if you can convince him.

Volks:

-I think Volks just doesn't particularly enjoy drinking. Not enough that he seeks out opportunities to do it, at least.

-Although, if you insist then he'll drink with you. He likes dark liquors like bourbon and whiskey, but he paces himself and doesn't really let himself get fucked up.

-Volks hates loud places, so sorry but bars, clubs, and parties are off the table. If you want to drink quietly at home or at a nice restaurant then that's fine. Good LUCK trying to get his ass in the clubbbb

-PLUS, Volks' face turns red when he drinks a lot and he thinks it's embarrassing. He doesn't like people other than you seeing him like that.

-If you do get him to indulge with you, you'll get to watch his face slowly get pinker. He also gets really smiley and soft.

-Volks will inevitably reach a point where he gets caught on some deep tangent about life. It's super cute watching him ramble though, especially since he's normally on the quiet side.

-He doesn't get much hangover in the first place- he's lucky like that- and he's especially fine considering he's responsible and does stuff like 'pace himself' and 'drink water' 🙄

-He'll chastise you for overdoing it and getting a hangover but he'll still take care of you.

Cole:

-Again, Cole appreciates nice alcohol like wine, but he prefers not to get fully drunk. A little tipsy is fine but he doesn't often let himself get truly hammered.

-He is the type of guy to drink a bloody mary or mimosa at like 9 am though lol.

-Cole likes to maintain a certain level of... control. Especially around you. A level of control that is difficult to keep up when he's drunk.

-I want you to envision Cole on a normal day, and how clingy he is already. Now multiply that clinginess by 2. That's Cole when he drinks.

-If you convince him to drink with you, he will be glued to your side the whole time.

-Hugging, squeezing, pressing his face into your neck and shoulder.

-His lips get a little loose when he's drunk, too... He tries not to outright say how obsessed with you he is, but it becomes hard when he's inebriated.

-He's halfway into a rambling about how pretty you'd look tied up or inside a little cage before he remembers that- oh yeah, that's kinda weird to tell someone out of nowhere.

-(Although if you're dating him at all, chances are you're into his freakiness anyway.)

-He'll reach a point where he's just hanging onto you and slurring to himself about something you can't quite make out.

-Somehow doesn't get hungover. At all. It's super annoying. He's so smug about it.

[blackjackkent]

@trellanyx replied to this post:

Personally I like squid!Karlach while Rakha and Wyll go their separate ways. I think the most satisfying ending to Rakha’s arc IS her having to learn to find the peace and identity she seeks as herself, whereas her becoming an illitihid feels like… idk, the game giving her an out? It’d def change her personality, unless you wanna hc otherwise, and I like to think she takes Jaheira’s words of “no you gotta walk the same path as the rest of us and figure it out on your own” to heart. (1/2)

But by that same token, I don’t think going to Avernus would be good for her long term. I guess you could make a case for her continuing to follow both “kill with purpose” and the future she sees through Minsc of being able to turn madness and violence toward just ends. But idk, Rakha’s greatest desire, the core Need of her character, has been “peace”, and I feel like going to Avernus to further embrace violence and killing, even if it’s to nobler ends, wouldn’t make her happy. Maybe after she travels alone for a while and figures out who she is independent of Wyll or the beast, can she make the decision to go with a clearer and surer mind. But similar to the squid ending, I feel like her jumping into Avernus immediately post-game is kinda like a circumvention of what she actually needs. Like how one keeps themself busy with job after job because they don’t know how to handle themselves when they’re idle.

-----

Honestly, I've been starting to lean towards this take for a while but was having a terrible time articulating to myself WHY it seemed like the correct choice. And I love this writeup so much. (I know intellectually that people are reading the stuff I write, but when y'all toss it back to me over the net and draw in all the specific details I've put effort into, it makes me rather emotional. So thank you. <3 )

I think you're right that the way Rakha has evolved, particularly in Act 3, makes both the mind flayer and Avernus endings feel less satisfying than they might otherwise be. There are satisfying ELEMENTS - her self-sacrificing for a greater good, or being with the man she loves, etc. But it's not really a culmination of her overall arc which, yeah, is about her trying to find peace.

And the super-sappy romantic in me wants her and Wyll to have a happily ever after forever but the truth is I think ultimately her relationship with him falls into the same category as Jenna and Thane did way back in my Mass Effect days - I don't think it's a relationship that can last forever. They have been good for each other in this crisis period, supported each other, had each other's back, made each other better. Rakha absolutely would not have made it through the whole ordeal without him, and perhaps even vice-versa.

But she needs to learn to stand on her own feet and figure out who she is. And Wyll, frankly, deserves someone he doesn't have to be carrying all the time. One thing that has frustrated me in writing Rakha's story is that Wyll's particular character flaws (self-sacrificing levels of kindness, etc.) mean that he keeps getting subsumed in Rakha's issues.

Wyll is a good, complex dude in his own right and deserves more exploration than Rakha's story has always been able to focus on; I'll definitely have to find avenues to write more about him separately. (I definitely hope to have some story lines more dedicated to him in "Hellraisers.")

It's not exactly the romance that I wanted to write when I initially decided to do Wyllmance Durge - but Durge is a messy, grown-up story and I guess in some sense it makes sense that it would end up with a messy, grown-up ending as well.

Anyway, this got terribly rambly, but TLDR - I think I might be leaning towards this approach. As usual, nothing's set in stone until I actually walk Rakha through it, and she's been known to surprise me in the past. But yeah... very interesting thoughts here. :)

[dead-lights]

deadcanons: the vatores (earlyish stuff)

I've been slowly typing up headcanons lately while I'm waiting on renders - I'll put them up as I finish them! These are my ramblings about what I think the vatores' early vampire years were like, starting a bit before Lilith turned and ending around when Caleb was a prime vampire. This is pretty long.

Caleb, Lily, and Lilith were born in Veronaville in the late 1930s/early 1940s, meaning they came of age as occults in the 1960s.

Lilith met Vlad shortly after her parents, along with Lily’s, died in a horrific car accident back in the good ol’ days before cars were required to have seat belts (which btw, in the US wasn't until 1968). He preyed on her grief and her fear of death and human weakness. At the time, Lily was lost in her own grief and Caleb was jealous of the attention Lilith was getting from Vlad.

While Vlad was absolutely manipulating Lilith, she did ask to be turned.

Caleb was super naive when Lilith first turned. He thought he’d be able to spend time with his sister as usual and didn’t recognize the danger in being the lone mortal barhopping with a bunch of unruly vampires. Lilith used to hang out with the Rebellious Vampires amongst others, soooooo...

Lilith told her new vampire friends that Caleb was off-limits. No feeding, no turning.

Caleb had fairly recently finished culinary school, and was working as a sous chef in an Italian restaurant. He was so stoked.

Though Lilith respected the fact that becoming a vampire would destroy Caleb’s life - you can be a vampire, you can be an Italian chef, but you definitely cannot be both - she quickly realized that she didn’t want to do the occult thing or live the immortal life without the people she loved. Shortly before Caleb was turned, he and Lilith talked it out and decided that he should become a spellcaster, with the hope that he could cure Lily with magic and make her a spellcaster too, and then they could all be immortal together. Miss Hell got to him before he could figure out where the portal was, and their relationship with Lily only got worse from there.

Miss Hell was turned a few years before Lilith was, but they became minor vampires at around the same time. They were rivals for Vlad’s approval, and he had fun playing them off each other. Very much a "Daddy loves ME best!!!" kinda dynamic.

Miss Hell is kind of a shitty vampire - like I get big Team Rocket vibes off of her. Caleb surpassed her within a few decades.

After some petty disagreement between Lilith and Miss Hell, Vlad suggested that turning Caleb would be a hilarious prank and a great way to get back at Lilith. Vlad wanted Caleb turned because it would give him an extra level of control over Lilith, but he didn’t want to do it himself because he thought (correctly) that Lilith would never forgive him, and might even leave the coven.

Caleb felt comfortable around his sister’s new vampire friends because he didn’t think any of them would go against Lilith’s order not to harm him. He didn’t realize that Miss Hell was more of a frenemy than a friend, so one night when she asked him if he’d like to find somewhere a little more private, he really didn’t think it’d be his blood getting sucked.

Lilith was not amused by Miss Hell’s “hilarious prank.” After she found Caleb and got him safely home, she stormed over to Vlad’s mansion and tried to beat Miss Hell to death with her bare hands in front of the entire coven. At this point, Lilith had started to develop supernatural strength, and she would’ve ripped Miss Hell’s shriveled heart right out of her chest if Vlad hadn’t called her off. Vlad was very impressed by Lilith’s ferocity. She gained his favor, but he lost her loyalty. Miss Hell wound up sidelined.

Caleb has always served as Lilith’s moral compass. She is aware that she is selfish and lacks empathy - she has trouble truly caring about anyone except Caleb and Lily - and she doesn’t like that about herself. She deeply loved and respected her parents and feels bad that she struggles to live by the values they taught her. Caleb, on the other hand, has their father’s compassion and patience (as well as his ambitious and materialistic traits), and she generally looks to him as the authority on what their parents would’ve wanted. After Caleb turned, he got fully caught up in the chaos and debauchery, turning his back on the person he was. Without Caleb to moderate her worst impulses, she fully embraced her darker side.

Caleb’s journey back to the light started when he developed his guilty drinker weakness as a minor vampire. I don’t see this as just switching on like it does in-game, but rather developing over time. He had trouble figuring out what was happening to him for a long time, and it’s not like Vlad had any advice for him beyond “stop being a goddamn baby.”

Caleb met Inna at a gala the Bloodvein coven was hosting when he was a minor vampire. Bloodvein, her owner at the time, had her mesmerized and was more or less showing her off like a trophy or pet (like this promotional render). Something about that made Caleb deeply uncomfortable, though he wasn’t entirely sure why.

At that point, Caleb was struggling to maintain his place in the coven - Vlad was increasingly disappointed in him and Caleb badly wanted to win back his approval, so he had the idea to pull a hilarious prank against Bloodvein for some perceived slight. He thought it would make him look cool in front of Vlad. At first he thought about drinking from Inna - feeding on another vampire’s thrall is an enormous mark of disrespect - but something about that made him feel deeply uncomfortable, so he decided to turn her instead, essentially doing to her what Miss Hell did to him. He still feels deeply conflicted about the whole thing - he legitimately was not trying to help her and he didn’t ask permission, and yet it ended up being the best thing that could’ve happened to her. They've remained friends, though he feels incredibly guilty when he's around her.

Lilith started coming back to herself when she realized just how miserable Caleb was. If feeding on humans made Caleb feel that bad, they must be doing something horrific, even if it didn’t feel that way to her. She started making plans to get her and Caleb out of the coven.

[alliseearekingsandthieves]

Hi!

First of all, I'm in love with your work, I think your time travel fic might be one of the best ones I read on mha so far!

It's so original, the way Shigaraki ponders each decision like he's in a videogame is so charming, and I love your Kurogiri!

Also your Hana survived AU is such an original idea.

Speaking of, my real question for you.

What are your thoughts on canon Shigaraki?

The fact that in your AU he still had one family member he cared about around during his formative years means that he now has that tad more of emotional intelligence (even though his stats are still shit) to be honest with himself about his feelings for his League. Therefore, he thinks about them with genuine care, reflectiong on ways he can take care of them better this time around, proving that he noticed stuff about them even in the first run. Not that he's all healthy, he's possessive in a way, and I'm surprised the fact that surrounding himself with people he cares about while working against AfO might be dangerous for them hasn't yet crossed his mind, but still.

He cares, he knows he cares, he's working to show he cares.

Canon Shigaraki on the other hand, the one who spent fifteen years of his life with zero human contact aside from his sensei and a nomu, do you think he realizes he needs the league on a different level than their skill sets? Does he care more about total destruction or about giving them the freedom they desire? Does he listen to their reasons to be villains, is there some anger for them too in that bundle of hate inside of him? Does he miss Kurogiri, does he think of him as a parental figure? Does he know that they care for him?

I guess you could summarize the question like this: does Shigaraki canonically love his League, and do they really care for each other, or is it just us wanting to see this group brought together by desperation and isolation happy?

Fuck, I'm sorry, this is a super complicated question.

Thank you for reading, sorry for the headache, have a good day ✨

Hi! Wow! Thank you so much for enjoying my work! I'm glad it's something which appeals to you and that it's entertaining! Thank you so much for reading and for your kindness!

Regarding your question: no worries! I get it! This question is complicated but I love to ramble!

My thoughts on canon Shigaraki are complicated and they are colored by the fact that I haven't read the comic properly in several years! There's a ton of people out there who do some really clever analysis work on him and how he is; I am very much not one of them. The following information is probably wrong and when I reread the comic and find I'm wholly incorrect about a ton of things in this answer, I'll shrivel up inside. This is gonna be long and rambly, so buckle up!

Anygay, I don't really love canon Shigaraki all that much. I don't think enough was really done to justify why the League is so devoted to him, so a lot of my work is meant to weave into the places where the reader wasn't allowed and explain where he might've had softer points with them. Like a lot of other LoV fans, I am fixated on the part where he tells his League they should be able to get what they want. And I don't think he really truly wants total devastation as much as he wants the world to just stop hurting.

His name literally means "mourning" and All for One made him wear his family's hands so that he would never stop feeling terrible. He always seems to me like destructive grief. When you're passively suicidal, you want to stop existing for a while. He wants everything else to stop existing, and I see that as grief more than anything else.

He's got all the mental trauma and very little of the reason for said trauma up until he fights Re-Destro and suddenly it comes flooding back. He cannot physically handle his emotions and violently rejects them over and over again through vomiting. His body seems constantly like it's trying to reject Overhaul's quirk and I would make guesses that he feels ill and unsettled all the time, but it keeps turning into bad temper because he's got no other outlet. I could make some metaphors here about how discomfort in your body leads to you harming others and/or harming yourself when you lash out, but I can't think of something with a 1:1 ratio right now, sorry.

He's constantly destroying things, but it's not just other people's things; he destroys his own things in fits of rage and then has to deal with the fact that he did. He's obviously very mentally unwell and has no tools for fixing that, and he dies thinking of his League and how he wanted to be their hero, which does suggest that he loved them a lot.

I've mentioned before that I read the Smash! comics (not recommended and I did not like the humor most times), and the Shigaraki in those is a little funnier and more openly awkward and weird. He wants to make friends with the League and wants them to see him as cool, and you can watch him kind of struggle through that in some of the little League comic strips. My favorite is the one where he wants to show the League how great he is by playing Dark Souls, like, buddy...

But him wanting to impress the League and keep them around him is canon. He has to try and convince them to stay with him and he takes vengeance for Magne. (I can't say for sure that it's really on her account though as the narrative seems to drop her existence afterward and she doesn't show up in his line-up for the League of Villains when he says he wants to be their hero, so it's like :/) He lets Compress attack Overhaul first in order to avenge his arm, he defends Himiko, he and Spinner are Very Close. I think he and Dabi do not vibe in the goddamn slightest, which is probably due to Dabi's loose cannon tendencies and Shigaraki's own temper.

I don't know if he loves Kurogiri in canon! I think he takes them for granted, but that could be chalked up to the fact that he's twenty, twenty-one, and at that age, you take your parents for granted. Or that could be my "Kurogiri is his dad!!!" lunacy talking and it could be that Kurogiri is just an adult who he can trust and he's acting out to see where the boundaries are. Because canonically, as much as Kurogiri defends him, All for One is still the "favored parent."

TL;DR I think canon Shigaraki loves his League the best he can, but I think he knows it wasn't enough in the end. I think we are reading more into it than we're shown because we want them to be happy, and they were at points! They were happy! It just wasn't enough to save them.

(But that's what fanfic's for, right?)

Haha, thanks for the ask and for enjoying my work! I loved trying to answer this question and I hope it makes at least a little sense. Have a marvelous rest of your day and stay safe!

[dogtoling]

I mean, you quite possibly saw salmonid-ink die... I loved running it, but splatoon 3 pretty much killed my passion. I still love the stuff I made for splatoon on the whole, but man do I get it. nintendo had interest in worldbuilding for like five entire seconds, where it just STOPPED because they wanted to sell a product. salmon run is a popular game mode, so we can't develop little buddy THAT much... why explain mechanics when they can just HAPPEN because. idk, ~future~ or something

genuinely, I wish you luck with any projects you make in the future! I enjoy seeing your OCs quite a lot, so I'll continue to view them, splatoon or no. I hope things can look up for you a bit!

Yeah, I remember, it was a shame but I fully understood where you came from back then (and now, lol). For the record I think the developers DO have interest in worldbuilding and the series is a big passion project for at least a handful of people on board. I unfortunately also believe that when you're making video games in-house at Nintendo and half the business is just about the profit margin, you don't really get to decide to spend half the budget on story when the gameplay focus is on repetitive multiplayer that could as well take place in a box and it wouldn't matter for most people who are genuinely in it for the gameplay. Unfortunately, and i HATE THIS OBVIOUSLY, unless you have a game series that's a story game as its selling point, it's REALLY unlikely that the story will be good... indie games win in this niche because independent developers CAN pretty much do what they want a lot of the time, the industry has no such freedom. Hell, nintendo HAS a story-focused big series in Zelda, and i use story-focused VERY loosely because.... well. Lol. these are all reasons i went to school for video games and never want to work in the industry for the record. i hate everything about it

I started rambling but TL;DR falling in love with a product is devastation waiting to happen at some point I think. my expectations of future games USED to be "SURELY, expand on the world and adapt the gameplay to those settings, it ONLY makes sense". If literally anyone ever has played Ty the Tasmanian Tiger, that's the kind of world and level setup I could see Splatoon somehow realistically do and it would be SO GOOD and it's ALMOST THERE EVEN, they're just... allergic to actually letting you IN THE WORLD. Nowadays, thinking about the future of Splatoon, i'm HONESTLY more inclined to believe future titles will be "new random micro-setting, random one-time-use goop because we need an Evil Goo to combat our Good Goo, unconsequential supervillain causing unconsequental but supposedly world-ending events, and poorly done plot with forced climax". Which is Not Good but it keeps happening. My smile and optimism gone

ANYWAY, thank you! I'll post here once I do anything. Mostly whenever I get an account set up for whatever I get going with.

[noblechaton]

gonna ramble a bit about the ml art style change bc ig I have more thoughts about it than I knew. tagging this as leaks but no like story stuff is gonna be mentioned bc I don't really know any lol

so going off what little we've seen of it (and in arguably the lowest possible quality at that) I think it's gonna make the show very visually pretty which isn't to say it couldn't be or wasn't in the older style(s) but that was def more inconsistent between studios and such so if this new style is the standard then like. yeah it's gonna look great

buuuuuuuut I also think it looks kinda. generic? like what's happened to a lotta brand logos that used to have personality but now all look super flat and simplified. like the Pepsi logo or whatever. it's a similar situation to the movie (I'll get into this in a bit) where like yes it looks pretty but it doesn't really look like Miraculous to me? like ik the style kinda varied somewhat between the studios but it was largely consistent enough and felt much more unique. like I could see a screencap from any timestamp of any episode and place it as Miraculous just bc of the visual style

now tho it looks less unique to me and more....like a mobile game ad? some kinda un-marketed direct to streaming movie? not trying to sound mean or anything but it just doesn't strike that same feeling the old style did for me as of yet. it feels more like an attempt to ape off a generic Pixar/Disney sorta style which the movie's style did too - and that ig is a good excuse for me to kinda dive into my thoughts there bc like. it looks way more like that movie now right? the y'know completely non-canon movie that to my knowledge wasn't received too terribly well lmao. I feel like this is on some level purposeful tho

I made a post the other day about how someone (especially the youngins) might go into season 6 thinking it's actually more of a season 1 only to presumably find that very much isn't the case pretty quick lmao - but that's still a new viewer, which makes number go up, which is a Good Thing. that s6 looks to be something of a fresh start given the whole Gabe in da Ground situation makes me believe this more since I'm pretty sure he got got in the movie too (<- does not remember the movie she saw twice) albeit in a different way. very real chance they view s6 as something of a soft launch pad with the hope of ppl who only saw the movie just jumping in without looking first. I also have an even more insane conspiracy theory that they're using movie assets at lower res for the sake of cost management but again. nutso hunch

regardless I'm kinda surprised they're changing it so drastically this deep into the series and I have no idea how the quality of animation is gonna hold up from episode to episode, season to season. presumably this is part'a why we haven't had s6 drop yet, that they've been working on it thoroughly, but it's been a good minute since s5 ended and I feel like the drought in content isn't really worth it?

like it's been so long that to me sometimes it's felt like the show straight up ended and while I don't mind a wait like this, the show then coming back looking entirely different to how it used to is gonna be jarring. I'm giving it a chance bc we haven't really seen it yet and that footage is very likely a wip of some sort but all the same I'm not terribly impressed? the emotions seem more stilted and flat, there's a few sorta redesigns that look....off (namely Adrichat, imo), and it feels too much like an attempt at cashing in on whatever success the movie might have had by bringing the look of the show more in line with it

think what gets me the most is that the style and animation of the show was one of the biggest things that drew me in beyond the bugcat of it all. it was the first CG animated show I'd seen where I felt as if the animation really worked; the world felt alive and vibrant, the city lived in and populated, but it didn't feel uncanny or like realistic in any sense, and there were plenty of gaffs and flaws throughout but I feel that only endeared the look of the show to me more - it had its own style that stood out for better or worse and I think that played more a role in the show's success than most have given credit for, and now that it's being entirely dropped in favor of a style that feels much more like some generic CG animation style I can't help but feel a bit disheartened and even nervous about the future of the series tbh

want to say that I'm not looking to hate it - I'm gonna give it a chance, and again I think it does visually look pretty, but I feel like it loses a lot of what made the show stand out to me and changes things I don't think really needed changed. time will tell but as of now I'm really not sold on it

also think having a special (or two? maybe?) in the old style just to drop us into the newer one presumably shortly after is kinda weird. wonder what happened there. bad timing? tbh using a special to introduce it mighta helped a bit but idk for sure

[eksentrismi]

Wait whose Mr. Tophat and Bill? I haven't seen em before?

What do they look like? :O

Mr. Tophat and Bill are some of the characters in my OC/crossover-universe thing which I've pretty much just nicknamed "Rénee's universe" (even though it takes place in a big city, but oh well, lol). I could ramble about that world and its characters for ages because there are TONS of stuff in that world and it's very dear to me, but I'll try keeping this kind of short, lol

Mr. Tophat: An intimidating massive dude, who works as sort of a henchman for a mobster boss (my own AU-version of Sykes actually, lmao, the Disney villain I mean). He's 7'1'' (217 cm), like... he's seriously tall and massive, also extremely strong. Strong to the point that he could literally break somebody's hand when giving a handshake, so he has to be careful in that. People are usually intimidated or terrified of him, due to his appearance and also his intimidation/extortion skills. However, he's a gentle guy to those whom he cares about and to whoever his boss trusts. Mr. Tophat gets his nickname from the fact that he's always wearing an old top hat. No matter what, he always has the hat on (except when all alone, of course); it's also a mood indicator pretty much, because if he takes it off in the middle of a fight/argument or such... yeah, you should definitely run, because that means that he really is gonna like break bones and such. Mr. Tophat isn't his real name, of course, but it's become a silly joke for me at this point that he never ever reveals his real name..... I know what it is, but I won't tell >:) He usually is just seen either trying to extort debt money from guys like Nerome, Bill etc; either that or he's just standing menacingly in his boss's office during any interviews, meetings etc.

Bill: Much like Mr. Tophat, he used to work for Sykes as well... but he got fired for literally being way too angry and argumentative, even towards his colleagues, lmao. Bill is basically defined simply by just one word: anger. This man is angry, oh boy, this man IS anger itself. The most grumpy foul-tempered man you’ll ever meet! Eternally pessimistic and just an annoying person to be around most of the times. Bill’s a rude loudmouth, who always wants to make his opinions heard loud and clear. In fact, he always wants to be loud and clear. Not afraid of anyone or anything, or whatever anyone’s gotta say. He is really argumentative and angry, he gets into fights super easily and usually for no good logical reasons either. It doesn’t even matter if he loses, he just won’t give up and he’s way too angry to even give up. He's quite a nuisance, though not to the same levels of destruction that Nerome then has. And despite being fired, he's a petty guy and keeps still showing up to his old workplace often, only to annoy everybody there or steal food from the workplace's canteen. He's also a massive strong dude, though definitely shorter than Mr. Tophat at around like 6 ft tall (182-183 cm) or so. That and he's also more scruffy and he stinks <3 He does have a softer side towards his very few rare friends though, of course; he just shows it rarely and in his own chaotic ways, lol

Old art here, but yeah lmao, them <333 The nasty dudes <3

[ashtray-girl]

Sorry if i'm bothering you but i really wanted to rant abt Johnny and Moz and hear some of your thoughts about these two certain topics that i can't get out of my head:  

I find it incredibly weird that Johnny and Morrissey (as far as we know) never became friends again or never tried to reconcile their relationship after the breakup - like how do you go from being best friends and hanging out with each other 24/7 to "We haven’t known each other for 35 years - which is many lifetimes ago." as Morrissey said on that letter. The strangest part to me is that, since the break up and to this day both Johnny and Moz never hesitate to mention again and again how much their relationship meant to them in the band and how much they loved each other during that period of their lives - i mean the way they describe each other and the words that they use come straight up from a romance novel. Also the fact that Morrissey continued to write songs abt how much Johnny meant to him and like Johnny getting that swallow tattoo on his neck and other weird stuff like why care to mention each other so much and make everything so dramatic when you - as you claim - haven't known each other for a lifetime? And idk on a personal level if it would be me in their situation i would at some point try to fix whatever we had if we obv meant that much to each other after all these years.

In all honestly when i read abt Marrissey Johnny sometimes just comes off as someone who suffered (and maybe still does) from internalised homophobia, when you read the way Moz talks abt him in his lyrics it definitely gives off that vibe "Though she needs you More than she loves you " , "Love is natural and real But not for such as you and I" or "I am born to hang but not to have kids and to never be wed - no, to someone whom I don't even love" and that interview when Moz said that "That perhaps Johnny Marr was in fact madly in love with me, but didn't feel he could act on that - or that he didn't have the courage to ever take it any further?'" And i don't want to seem like i'm trying to bash Angie or anything but i find they way the got married pretty weird and almost rushed in way like would they even get married if Joe Moss hadn't insisted that they do? Even Andy thought it was weird "They got married in some evangelical church. It was pretty bizarre. There were only about 10 of us there, including the crew. The ceremony only lasted about 15 minutes. I was a witness. Afterwards they hired a function room in the hotel and we had champagne and a buffet. It was a nice day, but it was just weird. It didn't seem real. You know what it's like in America - everything's plastic and phoney. It just didn't seem like a proper wedding. No relatives were there."

Anyway sorry for the long rant!! I just wanted to say that i absolutely love your Marrissey ramblings, Have a nice day :)

Hi anon! don't worry you're not bothering me at all, i'm always down to talk abt marrissey haha i'll just have to reply w/2 separate parts bc there's so much i want to say lmao 1. i've been chatting to @loathsome-tonight abt this (comparing notes, so to speak) and both of us agree that the "no-contact" situation after The Smiths' breakup is essentially bullshit, and for quite a few reasons: - first of all, there's proof they were exchanging notes around the time Morrissey was recording Viva Hate - when Johnny Rogan first published his book Morrissey and Marr: The Severed Alliance Morrissey predictably wanted no part in it, and Johnny only got involved bc he felt pressured by the author getting a bit too close to his friends and family. however, once the book came out Johnny apparently felt compelled to call Morrissey and reassure him abt the extent and the reasons of his involvement - when Morrissey released The Last of the Famous International Playboys, Johnny apparently sent him a note to congratulate him on its success - if you've read Morrissey's Autobio, you'll know he sent Johnny a letter in 1992, to which Johnny replied telling him he was sorry for everything that happened and taking "full responsibility". they then met each other and went for a drive on the moors - after that meeting, their relationship seemed to improve. in a 1993 interview for Select, Johnny said: "the relationship between me and Morrissey is the best in the group, of the four of us. i still see him now. i called him last night. last time i saw him was a couple of days before he went to do his recent album. we let a bored media get the better of us, but there's always been a certain telepathy between us even when we didn't see each other. we played a game with the press and they played with us, but it's not true life. no, we're friends." - then, the trial happened. and that's when things went south again between them. being interviewed with Bernard Sumner for The Face in july 1996, and being asked if he and Morrissey were still friends, Johnny said: "not... (pregnant pause) not particularly... [...] if i'm too glib then people think i'm being disrespectful and if i'm too serious they think there's a reconciliation on the cards. i just don't have any feelings about it." except a month earlier, once again being interviewed with Bernard Sumner (for the NME this time) he was playing quite a different tune. asked if he was still in contact with Morrissey, he said: "occasionally. last time we met it was a really nice experience. it was really good to see him, especially since a... a feud that didn't really exist had become public property. and because of the relationship we had it was time to resolve it in private and do something ourselves because it was really quite a serious situation. i was tired of being involved in other people's games and i wanted to do something for us. [...] i know it's interesting for other people, but it's kinda private. i certainly don't wish him - or anyone i've worked with - ill. life's too short." whatever happened between them at that time, it seems like 1996 was quite a turbulent year for their relationship... - years after (seemingly) going their separate ways, in 2008, they met once again. this time in person, in a pub in Manchester. apparently they even talked abt a potential Smiths' reunion, but Johnny already had other engagements with The Cribs, so nothing was done abt it - in recent years, Johnny also mentioned exchanging emails with Morrissey so even tho i highly doubt they're still in contact now, there was definitely a time when they were on speaking terms, even after The Smiths broke up. however, it seems like their relationship was quite volatile and hot and cold, with them being fine one moment and being snarky the next. personally, i've found it surprising how none of the biographers/journos that wrote abt them directly challenged them on this, bc ultimately it's very easily disprovable.

[left-for-carrion]

blog tags:

roach's mutt - stuff about me being a mutt/petplay

roach's angel - stuff about me being an angel

roach's god - stuff about me being a god/my worshippers

roach's scars - my own cutting stuff, please block this tag if you don't wish to see that sort of thing

roach's rambles - just random stuff not particularly kink related

roach's doctor - med kink stuff

roach's stalker - stalking fantasy stuff

roach's robot - robotic kink stuff

roach's killer - gore/snuff stuff. block if you don't want to see that

DNI:

Minors, please don't get me arrested dudes

Pro-contact zoophiles [petplay/people who identify as animals are welcome]

Pro-contact pedophiles [ageplay, fauxcest welcome]

People who sexualize disorders they don't have

RadFem

Homophobes/LGBTQ+ophobes

Transphobes

Anti-therian/anti-kin

Zionists

People who support Israel/Are against Palestine

!Warning!

This blog is fucking heavy, sh, gore, stalker stuff, ect. exists here.

Don't like, don't look. Don't say I didn't warn you. Buzz off if you don't wanna be friends or exist peacefully with me.

There is self-harm thrown throughout this, though nothing from minors. If I reblog something made by a minor and you notice, please tell me. I have no wish to interact with minors. And I do self harm myself, so there will be pictures of that. If you don't want to see that and still wanna interact, block the tag: roach's scars

I will continuously edit this, so always check if there's something you wanna know or feel free to ask, I don't bite [without permission]

I'm Roach on this blog, usually Opium on anon. If you came looking and see this, hi, you found me <3

I'm the god of mutilation of the self and others, your angel [if you want] and a mutt that needs to be put down.

I'll put the rules and tags for that below once I've made a post for how to handle those. Ask things if you've encountered me before I've made it, I promise I won't get grumbly-

I'm really off-putting and aware of it, just not sure how to fix it, I apologize :']

Figured I should make an about me post, so here goes:

I use it/its only, agender, pansexual, poly

Not dating anyone and open to anyone even if I am. [Although, if you want me all to yourself, you better tell me quick <3]

I'm mainly T4T, but not exclusively

Sometimes a mutt [Kin/Complex]

Sometimes a God [Kin/Complex]

Sometimes an angel [Kin/Complex]

Always open to roleplay

Fantasy/Scene stalker [CNC]

An absolute slut for fighting kinks <3

Feel free to bring up a kink and ask, I'm into so much that it's really hard to list all of them :']

I do do pictures/nudes, only in PMs and with people I genuinely trust. Earn them <3

I have ADHD, BPD, severe anxiety, and several undiagnosed things. I am nonverbal irl.

I'm a service dom, which means anything I do is tailored for you, and idk what kind of sub I am, I don't get to sub much because I get too anxious to ask lol. I power bottom most of the time, but I also like topping. I don't bottom when I sub unless we've worked up to that level.

Kinks list: [Faves in bold] [Not complete, anything not in dni is open]

Fighting/Arena/Ring

Worship

Cannibalism

Petplay

Robot/Objectum*

Medical

Intoxication

Fauxcest

Public

Role reversal

Overstimulation

Edging

Piss, anything related to piss

Stalker/Stalking

Woundfucking

Snuff

Body modification

CNC [The word rape is allowed, I don't personally use it much however]

Object Insertion

Knife Play

I'm open to anything not in my dni's, so feel free to send me whatever, this is just what I could think of. I'll probably add to it over time.

I do participate in fandom, I know I know, so disappointing, so occasionally I reblog/talk about things from:

Hannibal NBC

Ultrakill

i'll add more later my mind is blank

*With Objectum, I'm into almost anything mechanical, and any range of Robot, but I'm also into Plushies. So, Plushophilia.

[irlactualhuman]

thanks for answering my ask about the talking at thing :]]

I never really thought about that before, I just wanted to be sure I understood right before I attempted to comment on the post lol

I think its easy for me personally to fall into both categories, doing the talking at when I'm in a situation where I feel nervous (I'm a compulsive oversharer, sometimes I actually just say things lmao) or just really excited (then I get caught up in my own words and excitement in having an opportunity to share), and I also struggle with asking people questions. I don't want to seem like I'm prying, and also I find myself thinking that if someone wanted me to know something they would just tell me, which is flawed thinking because as you said, people do want to share, its just the concept of inviting them to share what they want to, the same way I want to be invited to share. More so I find myself letting myself be talked at when I really enjoy the person's company or don't want to come off as "too much", and fear judgement or saying something wrong. It's a balance I have to work out, too.

I'm used to being interested in people and them not being interested in me, or at least not interested in me to the same extent I am in them. I guess what I do is just let them talk at me and feel special because they wanted to share those things with me, and listen in a very npc-like manner and not really provide anything to add. Then afterwards when I'm alone I feel yucky with myself for not expressing myself or allowing myself to share my personality, and feel bad for all of the opportunities I had to share my opinions, ideas, or take on a topic and then feel disappointed or not valued. I love talking but I want to be encouraged to talk and share my opinions too, it feels more valuable and important and just nice when you feel like someone wants to hear what you have to say, you know?

I think what would/does help me in scenarios where I feel like I haven't shared is to realize, number one, that I haven't shared anything yet even though internally I do have something to comment on, and two, to make myself speak even if I feel shy about it whenever I feel like I have something to say that is an equivalent to what the other person has told me. Like if they ramble to me about something that happened, i'll respond to what they said or ask any questions I have, and then respond to their story with a similar one of my own. Also, it helps to remind myself that yes, someone who feels comfortable enough to share with me on a topic and I also feel comfortable sharing with would probably not be mad at me for also feeling comfortable to share with them. As you wrote, meeting them on their level. I don't know if its egocentric or an overstep or something to assume someone sharing also wants you to share too (on second thought that makes more sense to me than I thought) but sometimes you just gotta reassure yourself that you do belong in spaces and you are valid and your voice matters too.

Thank you for your response Lea! You verbalized feelings that I didn't even know I had, I don't know if this response makes sense but it is something for me to think about and be aware of now. This helped me a lot even though it probably might just sound like me mirroring your post.

Heyo. Happy to help! Always. 😊

Genuinely, I feel like people probably DO give a damn about what you have to say if they're already trying to share stuff with you.

It makes sense that they'd want you to share in turn. If you're already in that situation. That one on one sort of intimate endeavor. Even if they might be kinda bad at prompting you. Like duh. I mean. I would. I care. And it's not like it's truly their failing. Maybe they don't know how.

Perhaps we could both stand to give them the benefit of the doubt and think they're at least as loving and indulgent as we are.

Maybe, if they aren't, seeing that we are might inspire them to be.

Maybe it's worth taking the risk regardless.

Personally, I just... really could use the prompting. At least a little bit. At first. Yknow. Like a running start. I never shut up once I get going. Obvs. But I'm fuckin shy.

And ugh. I would share the world with them, had I the world in my pocket.

Or maybe it's just that I really want someone to be as intense about me as I am about them. Which is foolish, I'm sure. Maybe. Perhaps. Maybe not. I really don't think it'd be at all tiring or yucky, as you said, if we're both sharing. The energy is held between us, rather than only going one way.

What beautiful magic we could conjure with that energy. Dontcha think?