#answer to a question nobody asked

[knifearo]

ultimately when it comes to shipping and fandom space treatment of aspec characters i just don't accept "aro/ace people can still date/have sex" as an answer from nonaspecs. like yeah. mhm. okay. now i think we both know that you're not saying that out of real interest in the diversity of aspec experiences. so you can turn in your seventeen-page essay on why and how you plan to examine this character's aspec identity within the context of a romantic or sexual relationship complete with evidence from canon and peer reviews from multiple aspec people within the next week or i'm putting you in the pit from the edgar allen poe story

[p4nishers]

oh my god. it just hit me. the time they met in eden, the first time in crowley's mind, he asked aziraphale a question and instead of smiting him or ignoring him, he answered. for the first time in his demonic existence, someone answered a question for him without any thought, like he deserved to hear the answer. no wonder he immediately fell in love huh

[prostocupoftea]

Urge for evil

tw disturbing imagery (?)

transcript n russian version under the cut

But what if my urge for evil

Will become a little stronger?

If you loaded the gun

Than it's already too late

But what is mu urge for evil

Will become a little stronger?

those are changed a bit lyrics from - Electroforez - Zlo (Evil) gagshfh i love this song so much go listennnnn!!!! this is like the second chorus w/o one line and with a line from third ??? idk i was doing it from memory and it appears i have really bad memory

also there are fully translated lyrics on google so you can read it to understand but ye

guuuUUUUYYYYSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS AGHFSHHA IM FINISHED it eas actually so fast it took like 2-3 hours ob drawing thw silly n rendering plus like 20 mins on posing and 2 days of rolling the idea around in my head

now in russian

[waterkangaroo]

I really love that I've recently gotten into two fantastic pieces of media that have main characters with it/its pronouns

[lady-quen]

Hello Guild Wars 2 community! A new poll has dropped! 🐦‍⬛

(At least, hopefully new, lol.) I'm curious, which blessing did your Commander get on their first/canon go through the Raven Sanctum in the story mission "The Invitation?" Choose and tell me in the tags why they made their specific decisions :)

Compiled explanations from the wiki below for ease of access:

The trial choices in order:

Save the wounded man or save the healers

Save the spell tome or save the historical record

Save the queen or save the prince

Blessings:

Blessing of Daybreak

"When the fear of beastly claws and a child's pain is made sharp by the knowledge of elders, we make no mistakes. But do we grow?"

Healers -> historical record -> prince

Grace of Dawn

"When wisdom is favored in all things—a healing hand, a text of old, a beloved queen—we lose the sharpened sword of the truly bold."

Healers -> historical record -> queen

Consecration of Morning

"We seek to destroy monsters with sharp claws and icy breath, but do we protect ourselves from the beasts shaped like us, who prey on the young and vulnerable, who seek to rule us?"

Healers -> spell tome -> prince

Invocation of Midday

"When we flee from the things we fear most - the teeth of beasts, the storm of a dragon, a change of power-we risk running backward."

Healers -> spell tome -> queen

Supplication of Midday

"We favor the skill of healers and the wisdom of elders over the uncertainty of the future. But the young take chances, and the young push us forward."

Wounded man -> spell tome -> prince

Consecration of Evening

"We long for the comfort of a healing touch, an ancestral word of wisdom, a leader we know and trust. But comfort is fleeting, and with it comes inertia."

Wounded man -> historical record -> queen

Grace of Dusk

"We sacrifice so much—safety from the claws of death, knowledge of the ages, a steadfast reign—to propel ourselves forward. But if we move too fast, do we risk the inability to stop?"

Wounded man -> spell tome -> prince

Blessing of Twilight

"We try so hard to do the right thing. We heal, we protect our people, we preserve stability. But we cannot control how the winds of fate may shift, and a tight grip can sometimes hurt more than it helps."

Wounded man -> spell tome -> queen

[vesperaominosum]

alright it’s decided i’m writing second reason’s part II its like way less interesting and deals with mature themes for the most part and i don’t even WANT to write it

but the storyline is not letting me LIVE i need to take it out of the system aka ruin the lives of every character involved bc the voices told me to

[myokk]

1, 13, 16, 20 any and/or all for Eloise 😇

Hi!!!🫶🫶🫶

(sorry I’m so late to this bahahahahahahhahaah…December is a CRAZY month😆) I’ll put the answers under the cut bc I am a yapper🤭 AND THERE IS *A LOT* OF ART & WIPS & TALKING🤭🫶

1) What was the original thought that led to the creation of this character?

This is a good question😭 I think of Eloise as separate from the girl I played in the game, AND separate from the MC in general bc I completely changed ancient magic & the whole storyline to something more interesting to me. As I was playing the game, though, I was SO INTENSELY CURIOUS about what their backstory could be - why were they starting 5th year? Were they a squib? What about their family?

I honestly LOVE that the game is so open-ended about this, because it allowed me to find a way to place Eloise in with canon lore (her mom is actually mentioned by Sirius in the books🤭) AND (this hasn’t been revealed yet) give a conceivable reason as to why the Babbits are not in the Sacred 28 when the list is created.

I’m also FASCINATED by thinking of pureblood society & the Black family in general (Sirius/Bellatrix are my favorite characters & BOTH heavily influence how I think of Eloise) & I have so much fun MAKING ALL OF THIS UP !!!!!!!!!! I LOVE thinking of different traditions/ways that old pagan traditions can be corrupted by the purebloods trying to hold onto their legacy…how the purebloods navigate society and the world in VERY subtle interactions etc etc ETC !!!!! I could literally make a whole post on all of these headcanons I’ve made up about the universe my fic takes place in😆😆😆

13) Do you have a voice claim for the character? What do you imagine the character sounds like?

Honestly NO😭 I think of her voice as very sweet but honestly it just kind of sounds like mine since I go into her mind so much as I write🤔 if anyone has any voice claims or ideas LMK !!!!

16) Is there any memes or running jokes associated with the character, both in- and out of universe?

ELOISE HATES WEARING PANTS AND SHE HATES QUIDDITCH😤😤😤😤😤😤😤😤 she HATE WATCHES every single quidditch match just to make sure Sebastian doesn’t get hurt…BUT she drags Ominis with her and tells him to let her know if anything happens bc she can’t bear to watch🤔 Sebastian is always getting himself hurt on purpose in Crossed Wands & even quidditch in the hopes that Eloise will come over🤭 bc she always insists on the muggle way…(everyone thinks they’re weird)

Another thing that I think is HILARIOUS is that as a design choice I just gave her a braid bc a) I think it’s cute & b) it’s a way to tame her crazy crazy crazy hair & c) so I don’t have to draw her hair down. BUT every time we talk about mc interactions everyone wants Eloise to show them how to braid their hair…SHE has to demonstrate though bc there is no way anyone that isn’t her could tame her own hair😫

20) Bonus question: share any additional thoughts, art, favorite scenes, anything you’ve been waiting for a chance to ramble about.

DAMN DANI YOU WANTED TO UNLEASH MY INNER YAPPER…🤭🤭🤭

I REALLY want to talk about everything I’m working towards in my fic but🤐 I can’t spoil things for my 2 readers…SO…

Here’s a wip of my 70s au…the strangest crossover ever bc Sebastian and Sirius are getting high AF🤭😶‍🌫️ I haven’t decided if eloise is going to hate Sebastian, or if they’re going to be making out within 30 min of meeting🤔😇 now you can all see my terrible sketches…that turn into messy art😆

[dudepilled]

Hi! What do you think of Java Dude from the old (and forgotten) Postal mobile game? If you are familiar with this

Also, I'm wondering how you see the P1/Redux Dude, as a religious person or more like a Satanist/anarchist? Do you have any headcanons about the Dude's past and his family?

These are really good questions I have a lot of thoughts on so buckle in!

I don't know much about the mobile game but I like how it's more true to Postal 1 style wise with the themes of Postal 2. I find it funny he's the only Dude portrayed without his glasses lol

I see P1 as religious due to the themes of Postal 1. However Redux Dude is different to me. While I view P1 as a paranoid schizophrenic with religious trauma, I view Redux as a genuine psychopath with no regard for human life. They're the same person but at different ends of the spectrum. If you played both games, you'd know that the journal entries before the levels are different. In the original Postal, the journal entries have an undertone of fear and survival while in Redux, they're much more sinister sounding. Do I believe in the demon theory? Not really. It's a fun AU thing but that's all it is to me.

While it is fun to say "Corkscrew is Dude's Russian cousin!", I think honestly he was an only child. I have a feeling he wouldn't remember much of his childhood either (either due to trauma, the drugs, or just time). He'd probably remember key moments but wouldn't remember everything. He very much lives in the moment and would probably view his past as an afterthought

[free-luigi-mangione]

Any theories as to why that hostel video has been deleted? Kinda sus how it was just randomly posted, gained lots of views then suddenly it's gone... Also I'm curious to know if LM legal team is aware of the video.

i feel like it's important to remember that the video was posted eight days before the public got its eyes on the video, eight days before yesterday was exactly a day before his SDNY pretrial hearing where he wore green and had hundreds of people supporting him at the courthouse

but unfortunately for whoever posted nobody was looking for or watching the video, this was clearly not the intended effect

so about a week after uploading the video, when it became clear it wasn't causing the waves it was supposed to, somebody on reddit was tipped off about the video (now i know somebody who watched the video could have tipped them off but like what are the chances of that happening with how we know how youtube functions???)

coincidentally this happened at the heels of TD submitting motions for suppression of evidence because he wasn't mirandaized before getting arrested/frisked/questioned

and people lost their shit upon watching the video, which imo is incredibly dumb because we already knew he was in altoona and we already knew he'd been trying to get a room at a local hotel/motel, like surely he didn't teleport out of nowhere when he was arrested at the mcdonald's right??? he had indeed been there and if we take the hashbrown letter to be real, he's not pretending to not be there because well, he actually was there

but the tone of the video implied whatever is the exact opposite of the presumption of innocence, it also said he was disguised when inquiring at the motel but like i dress exactly like that during winter???? hoodie (with beanie if it's too cold), mufflers, and i also wear masks whenever i'm out??? i never really stopped wearing masks??? and i also carry and use hand sanitizers almost every time i touch things like doors??? i would also behave like he was doing in that video because i'm just not very good at interacting with people i don't already know, it might imply nervousness to the layperson and it isn't at all, not everybody is getting grade A's at talking to shopkeepers/hotel owners like my mom

also he doesn't appear cagey at all???? and he's looking at his watch and looking outside and contemplating what to do, not because of any other reason except that it was too damn cold and it was raining and he was soaked and it was early in the morning and he just wanted food??? he just didn't want to get out in the rain and win the award for being the most famous sad wet cat in history at that moment. and honestly that's an extremely normal reaction to the situation

also the hotel clerk was telling him when rooms would be free to let and he was trying gauge how much time he'd need to kill to get back

people who're painting his behaviour as sketchy or going it's so over genuinely don't have a clue on how people around them act in similar situations (because clearly they don't behave like that or else they'd understand what's happening)

so what with people's reactions to the video and the media leaking things randomly out of nowhere (see supposed notebook being called manifesto) and the fact that it was posted before the hearing and became viral after the submission of the motion, it was clearly a smear campaign and i'm sad to say that it worked on a lot of people

a vast number of older people immediately started armchair diagnosing him and calling him whatever they wanted because it was somehow against their image of america's darlingest boy and i don't know why or how but the hashbrown joke also didn't go over well with them (i found it funny tho??? gen z regularly makes jokes like that and i do too???)

so yeah the video did whatever it was intended to do when it was supposedly leaked and i was wondering whether his legal team knows about it because public perception is very important for his case particularly, somebody commented and reminded me that even if they didn't know already before they surely do now because everybody is talking about it, i sure hope nothing major comes out of a video that really means nothing

[hoffmansbignaturals]

Who does each character in 'Saw' main in Mario Kart?

shitty image quality TW

first off the GOAT, John. John uses Wiggler. John knows that appearing helpless and silly is the key to winning. John regularly wins the Saw inc Mario Kart tournament due to memorizing every single shortcut beforehand.

Amanda. Amanda mains Pauline. She loves to see a girlboss winning. She used to play as Isabelle when AC New Horizons came out but denies this. Amanda is ok at Mario Kart. John makes sure everyone lets her win sometimes.

Hoffman mains Ludwig. Theres nothing deep to this, just look at the resemblance. Uncanny. He and Ludwig share a misguided thirst for power. Hoffman couldn't win a game of Mario Kart if his sister's life depended on it.

[bigeloo]

the one true joy of any normal child - miniature horses

[mypunkpansexualtwin]

Yknow, before I'd ever seen the original, I had seen different versions of The Soup Store and inexplicably pictured 21 and 24 from Venture Bros as the original source. Not officially from the show, mind you. Still some kind of fan parody, but with voices that were at least halfway right.

I was a little surprised when I finally saw the original. And more surprised to not find one with 21 and 24.

[fllpflop]

thinking about suzabel gothic horror

[froldgapp]

The two Tim Lonnie fics, by virtue of being from Lonnie's POV, intentionally beatify Tim. We learn about Tim's physique, his movements, his way of interacting with the world, and also Lonnie's attraction to him. Especially in In Between Days, I wanted to keep stitching Tim to non-human totems in order to differentiate him from the very human Lonnie. What we don't really get to learn a lot about in explicit terms, is how Tim feels about Lonnie. (If I've done a decent enough job as a writer, we can infer it from the material!)

As a wee insight nobody asked me to give (haha) that informs both stories, I believe Tim is deeply taken, and even intimidated, by this older, steadier and also more physically mature Lonnie. Lonnie has aged in the way that most people do throughout their 30s: he's become a little softer, a little slower, a little grey in his beard... And his lovely locks have all been shaved off since he started balding in his twenties.

Tim, by contrast, hasn't changed a great deal at all. He's lean, his hair is still black, his skin is still youthful... but these are all markers of curtailed development for him. I wanted to keep him sort of suspended in the past, and it's only through Lonnie's acceptance and support he starts to thaw (he doesn't hide his injuries, he indulges in a couple of extra eggs for breakfast).

Lonnie, for Tim, represents a positive, soft, intelligent, confident type of masculinity. We know that this will be very important to Tim, who, in the pantheon of paternal figures has Jack, Bruce and latterly Ra's. Lonnie also represents the possibility for growth and change, and I think Tim considers it almost alchemy, transubstantiation. Lonnie, through becoming content and whole, has unlocked a secret door Tim could never find (Dick found it, and Tim will have felt tremendous relief and loneliness at this).

When Lonnie's doddering around their apartment, perhaps feeling a little dowdy and unkempt, Tim is looking at him thinking: "He is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen."

[lulu2992]

I’d like to (finally) talk about this interview with Mark Thompson, Narrative Director on Far Cry 4:

I love it when devs talk about their work because it’s always super interesting and informative! This video is no exception.

But what struck me most when I first saw the interview is what he says about Far Cry 3, a title he also worked on as a Level Design Director, which I believe means he was not (or barely) involved in the writing of the script. When he mentions what he thinks the issues with the game were and what had to be “fixed” in Far Cry 4, the thing is that... he often contradicts what Jeffrey Yohalem, Lead Writer on Far Cry 3, explained in various articles.

Under the cut, I highlighted some parts of Mark Thompson’s interview (in red) and compared them to Jeffrey Yohalem’s words (in blue, with the sources) so you can see how different their points of view are.

In this case, when it comes to the story and meaning of Far Cry 3, I’m inclined to give more credence to the Lead Writer’s explanations, but I think this example perfectly illustrates how even people who worked on the same project can have very different (and sometimes equally valid) opinions, understandings, and feelings about it, and why it can therefore be difficult for the audience to determine what the “truth” or the “right” interpretation is…

Open world vs story

MT: We ended up shipping a game where the open world had a lot of cool stuff, but it didn’t have a lot of depth or meaning, and it had almost no connection to what was happening in the story. And in fact, in some ways, the two were kind of opposed and they were kind of conflicting each other. So, on one hand, the story itself had this ticking time bomb of “I have these friends that I need to rescue, but holy sh*t, collecting plants, finding that next animal I need for the next upgrade, getting that next skill point… Oh, look, there’s a radio tower! Wait, wasn’t I heading to that outpost?” And then you’re like, “Oh yeah, sh*t, my friend Keith’s trapped in the basement, I should probably go rescue him… I’m a terrible friend.” That was my main goal: fix this sh*t and make sure that the story and the open world speak to each other, complement each other; strip everything down so that the story and the open world are the same thing and it’s the same game.

JY: People who have looked at the surface of the game think that the story and the game are at war with each other as they are in most games, with the story just plugging potholes and the gameplay is going along its merry way. I think it’s very exaggerated that, “Oh, go save the friends! Go save the friends!” but most people are out on the island doing all this other crazy stuff and experiencing the gameplay. And that’s actually the point of the story. It’s not a game about go save your friends. It’s a game about – doing a lot of picking skins from things, and wait, it’s just a pile of meat – this doesn’t even make sense, yet I’m still doing it instead of saving the friends. (Rock Paper Shotgun - Dec. 19, 2012)

The “white savior” trope

MT: We were definitely aware of some of the tropes that we fell into - unintentionally in some cases, intentionally in some - and (…) almost the first thing that we did was decide how we were gonna address the white savior trope, the outsider who comes in and helps simple people with his outsider’s kind of more advanced understanding of the world. (...) The first thing we said was, “This guy is from Kyrat, no matter what happens. That is the most important thing; he is part of this world, he belongs here.”

JY: “It’s a first-person game, and Jason is a 25-year old white guy from Los Angeles. From Hollywood. So his view of what’s going on on this island is his own view, and you happen to be looking through his eyes, so you’re seeing his view,” Yohalem explained. “It’s set on an island in the South Pacific, so immediately the thing that comes to mind is the white colonial trope, the Avatar trope. I started with that, and it’s like, ‘Here’s what pop culture thinks about traveling to a new place,’ and the funny thing is, that’s an exaggeration of most games, they just don’t expose it. (The Penny Arcade Report - Dec. 17, 2012)

JY: There’s a reason why Jason is a 25 year old white guy from Hollywood – these are all ideas that are in his head. You’re seeing things through his eyes. (...) It’s not that [Citra] needed a white saviour at all. She didn’t need a white guy at all. She was just looking for the ultimate warrior and someone to be her gun. (...) If this was about the white messiah motif, would I be so stupid as to have a main character’s nickname be Snow White? I’m making fun of that! (Rock Paper Shotgun - Dec. 19, 2012)

The player and the protagonist

MT: When we were doing the script review, almost immediately, the first thing we would do would be, “Okay, so how many lines does Ajay have? Okay, cut that by 75%”, and then we would review it and then cut out even more. Whenever possible, we would set up a scenario where we know or we think we know how players would react, and so we would remove the line that the character would actually say and then have the other person react to it. “Oh, you think that, do you?” - in that kind of way, so they’re like, “Oh f*ck, how did he know I was gonna say that?” Whereas, if the protagonist said that line, they’re like, “Oof, I wouldn’t have said that”, and then suddenly you’re kind of broken out of the experience. (…) When you’re in first-person, all you hear is this disconnected voice that might not be agreeing with what you’re doing. So, again, it’s just about stripping away those barriers of immersion so you can imagine yourself in this scenario.

JY: In Far Cry 3, Jason is a character and he’s not the player. The player is another character in the game. Sometimes Jason disagrees with the player, and sometimes Jason agrees with him. And the magic of that is that then it doesn’t matter! Basically, as long as the whole narrative is directed towards what the player is feeling—which for me is how videogames should be—then I get to target Jason as a resource where players can go: “I disagree with Jason.” And the player gets to convince Jason to do something else. So instead of trying to force the two of them together, I’ve decoupled them. (Killscreen - Dec. 12, 2012)

[the-sun-and-the-sea]

do you think annie was reaped for the quarter quell on purpose? snow could have been trying to send a warning to finnick but that only works if he knew mags would volunteer for her bc i don’t see them wanting to put annie in the arena. for one thing they’re trying to stop a rebellion and putting a girl who had a nervous breakdown bc of the games on stage would only highlight how cruel and terrifying the games are and for second it would ruin finnick’s capitol reputation for him to be so obviously in love with her on national television. and even after i say all that i still think she was reaped on purpose bc i think all the reapings that year were planned (ie haymitch being called first so he couldn’t volunteer for peeta) so i was just curious if you have an opinion lol

hi great question!

This is hard to say because everything about the quarter quell was so weird. Some of the reapings were definitely rigged, either by the Capitol or the rebels or both. For example, Finnick was definitely reaped on purpose.

Annie's reaping is harder for me to take a definitive stance on. I see what you're saying with her mental illness being really revelatory, but they also had no problem reaping elderly people, disabled people, and parents. In my headcanon, d4 has 5 female victors so it's not totally unlikely that Annie was just reaped by chance. Honestly though I don't know that Snow was thinking about how to control Finnick when he said himself that he was so focused on Katniss. That being said, the d12 reaping was absolutely rigged.

I guess my answer is I don't know, but probably not? I can't see the rebels reaping Annie on purpose nor can I see the Capitol doing it.

If anyone has thoughts on this, feel free to share!