#anyways yeah sims has lots of lore

[hey-i-am-trying]

We need to talk about your depression, Richas

Bagi's Vod - QSMP - LORE, sim hoje tem LORE 8/12/23 Time: 5:08:29 - 5:13:21

After Bad and Richas pranked Bagi into believing Richas had died.

Bagi: Richarlyson, you are playing and you don't even know if you still have 2 lives. You need to stop being crazy and a dreamer like that

Richas: They(the admin team) are taking so long that I forgot kkkkkk

Bagi: They are taking a long time but that doesn't mean it is not going to happen. We need to be prepared because if you only have one life and this kinda stuff repeats, I will die! I will actually die! It has been 5 years since I went to the cardiologist, Richarlyson!

Richas: Imagine, I am bad-mouthing them(the team) they might take it(the life). Richas: I am sorry, Mom.

Bagi: I won't give you too much of a hard time but we need to talk about this. It feels that has been a long time since you started with those habits, you keep playing with your death. Do you need to talk about this? Do you have any feelings that are locked in your heart? We need to schedule a talk. This feels like depression.

Richas: Tio Bad is a bad influence but nobody talks about it

Bagi: Ooh, I have talked about it with him. I have been talking with him a lot. I have been trying to make him talk for 2 months but he doesn't like to talk about his depression

Richas: His depression? o_0

Bagi: Richas, you are changing the subject. I am talking about yours(depression), we are not talking about him right now. He will recover, he is turning red again. But, you, Richarlyson. I need to know your mind better to understand why are you behaving like that. Why do you keep trying to change the subject when we talk about depression and sadness?

Richas: Me? I was always like that

Bagi: Depressed? I used to say that to my psychologist.

Richas: Crazy and a dreamer

Bad: He is crazy. True, don't try to hide it.

Bagi: I know you like to be crazy and a dreamer. But it has been a long time since you started to play with your own life. And it has been a short time since we met, it has been too much for this small amount of time

Richas: Mom, you only live once. Imagine I go missing again? Or you all? We try to enjoy (life).

Bagi: Here it is. I found the source of the problem. Richarlyson, we are not going anywhere. You are afraid of losing the ones you love. You need to talk about your feelings.

Bad: Talk about your feelings.

Bagi: Yeah, this also applies to you, Bad!

Bad: Nah! Feelings are overrated.

Richas: I was also not going anywhere. But last time, we did(ended up missing) anyway kkkk

Bagi: I know you want to live all days like they are your last ones. But the problem is that they are actually going to be the last ones if you keep acting this way. But we can talk later, in a more private way, about this delicate topic.

Richas(about the last days' comment): And everything is alright, isn't it?

[alltimefail-sims]

The sims 3 lore is just as wacko as the sims 2 istg my fav lore has to be the dead clone wives lemme explain. So in twinbrook there's s sim name Juan Darer (he's quite interesting to look at too) in the junkyard he owns is the grave of Lacy Darer. Now Juan and Lacy have no relationship but she could be his ex wife as deceased spouses aren't shown on the family tree in the sims 3. Lacy died in a fire but what's the crazy part Juan's best friend Harwood Clay is has a possible wife named Macy Clay who also died in a fire. Macy and Lacy's names aren't just a coincidence. Macy and Lacy are almost completely identical. Many think they're twins but twins don't have the same exact same personalities. The darker theory is that Juan being the eccentric creator created clone wives for him and his best friend and Lacy and Macy somehow perished possible in the cloning process which is also the reason Juan's house caught on fire and he lives in a barn.

O m g

Sorry for taking forever to respond to this! This month has been wildly busy in the worst way!! I hate summer! Everyone in my house has been sick at some point! UGH!

Anyway, I finally had a chance to sit down and thoroughly look into both of these families. I'm going to start with the Doe family because, honestly, I don't have a whole lot to add about the Darers and I'm eager to jump into the Does (my thoughts on the Darers will be at the end though!).

Let's dive in! ↓

I had to look up Midnight Hollow to start, and EEEEEEP I love this world's whole vibe. If I play the Sims 3 THIS will be the world I start in!!! Favorite world I've learned about in TS3 so far. I lowkey want to live here irl.

But imagine my shock when I found out that they were putting whole ass worlds on The Sims 3 store. That's absolutely insane lmao!! They would of had my wallet with this one though, not gonna lie. The vibes are top-tier.

Now I looked up the Doe family just like you said and I need you to know that they are the kind of unsolved lore I live for. This family alone makes me want to pirate buy TS3 today.

The Wiki's description wasn't necessarily weird, but the household description left me with many questions.

Jane is the perfect housewife, from her neat hairstyle to her fashionable yet conservative dress. She's neat, nurturing, loves her kids, and can make a mean pot roast! Meanwhile, John is rising in the ranks at his corporate job. He feels successful in life and supported by his family. He works hard but comes home in enough time to teach his kids a lesson or two about life and talk to his wife about her day. Nothing mysterious seems to be happening here, but didn't their house used to have a basement?

That last line. Yeah. WTF? That made the hairs on my arm stand up, especially considering that the world they come with is supposed to mimic a classic-horror vibe. So Immediately I'm getting serial killer vibes, I'm getting psychological thriller, I'm getting family that invites you over for dinner only for you to realize that you are dinner.

Just from the description alone, I'm thinking that the parents are people with a wicked past - coconspirators in crime (whether Jane is a willing or unwilling participant is debatable but intriguing) that may involve killing and disposing, from the sounds of the "former-basement" and the fact that no one really knows why they've suddenly come to a new town without any explanation of their past. Additionally, the names feel like a reference to true crime and murder to me - the last name Doe, with first names Jane and John specifically, are typically names given to unidentifiable victims who, more than not, are victims of violence and brutalization which leaves them unidentifiable. Or, at times, they're simply unidentifiable based on the fact that they don't have family or friends that could claim them, thus making them the perfect targets if you've got bad intentions. The parents seem shady, but beyond that their names reaffirm that they aren't the perfect, squeaky-clean, nuclear family they pretend to be. I mean, you could even speculate that Jane and John are not even their real names. Obviously the sims team are big fans or campy, on-the-nose names (Bob Pancakes, the Goth family, the Calientes, Marcus Flex), but I've always liked to think that sim names can serve more than one purpose.

I jumped over to The Doe family community blog post and the interview there further confirmed a lot of my suspicions, and that whatever they're hiding might be sealed off in what used to be the family basement (the dev who made this family makes sure to draw attention to this enough that it's clearly significant). It's no coincidence that the basement suddenly "disappeared" (or perhaps just became inaccessible) as soon as the family moved in. Some notable things from this interaction:

The classic, old-fashioned misogyny from John. "The light of my life keeps my home perfect and welcoming." It's subtle, but says a lot about this family's old-fashioned dynamic. I hate the condescending, possessive energy between these two. I literally felt uncomfortable during this entire interview (I'd argue that is intentional).

The recurring and growingly tense persistence for the interviewer/producer to drink more tea. BIG red flag on this because my first thought is "Why?" I can understand being hospitable, but it seems like the interviewer has already been taken care of, so why the push? Jane is literally described as frantic, dodging the interviewer's questions entirely and hyper-focusing on the tea as if this is her role to play in what could be an unfortunate turn of events. On the other hand, John seems to be cheerily dismissive. I'm seeing skilled, practiced manipulation in the form of feigned charisma and charm - he doesn't ignore the questions but rather skillfully pivots and tries to keep things light and comfortable. His energy is notably different than the rest of the family, which makes him seem like the primary, skilled aggressor. He is keeping shit under control just enough to not raise suspicion, in my opinion.

But, most interesting to me, is their children's reactions to what is going on. The bio tells us so little about them, but their actions say so much. James, being a toddler and the youngest, obviously is going to be relatively clueless. But Jenn, the daughter, Sits quietly and stares ahead with an eerie blank expression. This feels like a traumatized, almost dissociative response. She seems removed in an anticipatory sense, on-brand for how a child might respond to signs of danger. I'd go as far to say that she is exhibiting one of the 5 fight and flight trauma responses; mainly the "freeze" response. The oldest son Joseph, on the other hand, is outwardly angry. He even leaves the room and slams the door as a response to the conversation, perhaps simply triggered by the mention of moving to Midnight Hollow, but I would venture to guess that he's also frustrated with the events taking place beyond that. After all, I would think that if there is anyone aware of the parent's possible nefarious nature and wrongdoings, it would be him. That being said, he's a teenager... but still a child, nonetheless. He unfortunately has little to no control, and it's clear that he's exhibiting a flight response, showing his own disdain as much as he can (a touch of fight in that door slam) while taking an opportunity to flee the scene. In the picture, their eldest son and daughter seem to be looking at them with... complex expressions. They're certainly not happy.

The whole interview ends because the wife is "not feeling well," but that brings me back to my point about John being a skilled manipulator and the main aggressor running the web that his family is caught in: he would be able to cite when things are getting out of control. A predator knows when to strike and when to back off, and I think this is John's way of regaining control before too much is brought to light. Many people have been spared, unknowingly, from the clutches of a serial killer because they got lucky and the killer decided it wasn't the right place/right time - that's the vibe I'm getting, idk.

The energy around this family reminds me of an Ari Aster or a Jodan Peele psychological horror feel - everything is fine on the surface until it's not, and that tensity and complexity is disturbing and uncomfortable for the outsider (the audience) looking in, but it's usually just as disturbing for our growingly-aware protagonists (who, based on actions alone, I would argue could possibly be the eldest son and perhaps even the daughter, in this case). "The Stepford Wives" by Ira Levin has also been cited possible inspiration at least for Jane's motivations/role in the story. If you don't know about this story, I recommend checking it out.

As I researched, I was actually surprised with the amount of people who did not jump to the murderer route right off the bat. Some other theories include the family being hypnotized and even speculation that they might be robots (likely a take resulting from Levin's work).

Personally, I am more inclined to think that the parents are people with a wicked past, but it was interesting to read alternative takes. The robot and hypnotism theories are intriguing to me, but they neglect to explain the mysterious disappearance of the basement or the children's behaviors. Furthermore, the "brainwashed" and "repetitive" nature Jane has could just as much be signs of trauma/being in an unsafe environment/being forced to act against her will just as much as they could be literal signs of being robotic or hypnotized, so I don't think those things are necessary. Trauma, fear, and feeling trapped are enough to make a person act outside the realm of "normal."

Hell, I think I've only covered the surface here, but I've talked for so long lol. It seems their story might always just be a mystery left for speculation, sadly.

My boy Benoit Blanc says it best:

Some additional resources that I used below for any curious cats who made it this far:

The Doe family discussion on the sims forum

TS3 Reddit Thread on the Doe family

As for the Darers: from what I'm seeing, the theory that the wives were clones (or at the very least identical twins) makes sense to me. I put pictures of them below, and just from their CAS headshots you can definitely see that the girls are identical - there's gotta be some relation there

Personally, I lean toward clones due to the traits being the same. Twins in the sims franchise have always had their own unique interests and traits, so these girls being near carbon-copies doesn't make sense if they're only sisters. Plus, the franchise loves clones (looking at you, two versions of Bella Goth in the Sims 2). For the era of franchise that TS3 was in, I feel like the team was still making the game lean toward whimsy and outlandish as opposed to realism.

Regardless of the relation these two girls share though, the fire death is suspicious and maybe the only thing that keeps this from feeling like an open and shut mystery. It also acts as another good reason to lean toward clones as opposed to sisters unless the fire was caused accidentally by Lacy herself. I think the cloning housefire theory is compelling, due to the girls not actually having a relationship with either of these guys explicitly on the family tree. I guess in that case they were actually their potential wives more than actual wives, which would explain why there's no marriage memory as well.

In some ways it's endearing that Juan would do all that, not just for himself but for his buddy as well, especially if it caused his house to burn down and ultimately push him out into a barn. In the end though, I think the whole cloning situation leans more toward weird when you consider the implications. If you have to invent a wife, you probably should just stay single my dude.

Last and unrelated sidenote: Harwood Clay's hair was an unexpected, horrifying surprise lmao.

Just from what you've told me, TS3 Twinbrook world had a lot of interesting characters. I had no idea that TS3 lore was even close in wackiness to TS2 and TS1, but my takeaway here is that we all should be more pissed off that TS4 premades are so dull.

[thrumbolt]

So, in November my girlfriend gifted my all the Dragon Age games because our DnD sessions were cancelled. 'Go date some elves there!' - and so I did. I went in completely blind, knew basically nothing about the series (except that you could date elves). So now, a month after finishing the last one, I feel my thoughts have rested enough to voice an opinion™. I'll drop my personal ratings here and elaborate under the cut.

Dragon Age: Origins 8/10

Dragon Age Awakening 6/10

Dragon Age 2 9/10

Dragon Age: Inquisition 4/10

Dragon Age: Trespasser 7/10

In short, I thought DA:O was pretty dope. Very solid adventure rpg fantasy dating sim. The characters are very fun and mostly lovable and the lore is interesting enough even if the art direction was pretty generic fantasy.

I was really surprised just how much they crammed into this game. The several different origins was a huge surprise and very nice incentive to replay the game, though so far I only played as a melf (mage elf). The storyline was engaging enough for me to follow and it makes you travel to all the different origin places, so everyone gets to connect with something in the main plot - smart!

I have to add however that I played as a male character - as I usually do - and I am very glad I did because despite the promise that men and women are equal (and the dominant religion being female centric) the writers did not really manage to capture that as it seems haha. I would've probably given the game a lower rating if I wouldn't have played as a dude as I'm a sensitive snowflake that way. And not even because of the rape as plot device or the brood mothers, but more the casual 'wow a woman with sword wow' stuff. I'll excuse it as 'it was a different time' kinda, but still would ruin my immersion.

Awakening I mention separately as it's kind of a sequel rather than just a DLC. I liked it. It's a nice extra adventure for your Warden character and the companions are very good (though I could've done without Oghren, sorry Oghren fans). I especially liked the Legion of the dead dwarf, she was adorable - and Anders, of course. You can give him a kitty!

So why am I rating it so low? They changed how shit works, don't tell you about it and it makes you miss half the game lol. Idk, it just pissed me off you had to click on background shit to talk to your companions and I didn't notice it until I was already halfway done. It's such a stupid idea, too. Click on this tree to talk to Nathaniel?? Weird tbh. It's especially bad for me, as I am not playing a lot of games (I am a filthy casual) and am not a completionist - also I already know who Andraste is, so why would I click her statue?

So yeah, that's my personal gripe with Awakening. At least it's short enough to replay, so hopefully I will catch all the stuff next time haha.

Dragon Age 2....ahh, I was very surprised to hear that it was so unpopular, several of my friends said they had not played it at all because they heard it was so bad. And I am very confused, because it is my favorite. I can see how it got flack for being on a smaller scale, the dungeons and areas repeat - but honestly, I didn't care much. I enjoyed the smaller scale and the more personal story greatly. I feel it makes more sense for a 'choice' based game anyway, as it lets you tell more stories without problems. And in this instance, a story about a refugee family and a bigger focus on social justice issues just vibed well with me. I can see how it's not everyone's cake I guess, but it's definitely worth playing! I think it has the best companions in all the games. They're all great fun and the dating options are amazing. I personally prefer when everyone is date-able by either gender - it makes me not having to worry and research ahead of time on what character to make (looking at you inquisition) and I can just headcanon for myself who is queer, straight, whatever. Yes, I might still be upset I wasn't able to date Alistair haha in DA:O.

I loved the 3 act structure and longer time period. I liked how people you meet/help in your side quests write you letters or get updates. I just loved how personal it was.

My only gripes with DA2 is the rushed Act 3 (can't even give everyone another gift ;_; ) and how the ending was handled. Chosing between templars and mages - sure, fun. But when you choose the mages, how come 80% of the people you are fighting are mages? Why is Orsino turning into an abomination and attacking *you*? It makes no sense. Poor Orsino. They did him dirty.

But otherwise I had great fun. Needless to say this game cemented my chantry hate lol. Doesn't help I live in a pretty gay oppressing catholic country now, but it felt fucking personal. I cheered when that fucking building blew up. It was cathartic. So I was hyped for the next game!

Which leads me to Inquisition. By the rating you can already see: I didn't like this game. For many reasons. The church dick riding was definitely one of them. But I mean, if you write it well I probably wouldn't have minded to get a different viewpoint (and there was still plenty of critical content in this game like with the former Inquisitor and all), sadly though, for me it didn't work in so many ways.

First of all I had to restart the game after 30 minutes because my girlfriend told me I can only date the elves if I'm a girl. Gee, good to know, or my tripple elf combo would've been ruined.

And I have to say: I liked how un-segregated the whole gender selection screen was. I got to make a pretty boyish looking twink even by choosing female, up to the point I was forgetting I was playing a girl until someone called me LADY Lavellan and ruined my immersion, so....props to that. I also liked the art design? Like all the little character cards, all the artworks just felt like they finally found their own style, kinda. (This was already started in DA2, which I really liked, I feel this series needs it's own, distinct look in some way, so it was nice to see they were trying to). Anyway, nice looks.

But the gameplay immediately felt weird and sluggish to me. It was way too hard even on the easiest setting. Enemies take FOREVER to die, even a stupid wolf or bear takes a gazillion hits. It wasn't fun. Not for me anyway, just tedious.

And the story....I just didn't feel it. It didn't help that you don't even have a proper origin (for a good while you have amnesia even). It made it difficult to even understand my own motivations imho. Playing it as an elf was definitely a bad choice as well, as this whole plot was clearly written with a human in mind. Pretty wild a DALISH elf is even an option. If they kept you as a prisoner, it would've made sense, maybe? But it just feels off to put this random Dalish immediately on top of your organization and calling them the herald of Andraste even though you keep insisting you don't even believe in that stuff haha. A wild ride indeed. Also I screamed at the whole 'Dalish only have 3 mages per clan and just YEET THE EXTRA CHILDREN INTO THE FOREST TO DIE' retcon. It absolutely makes zero sense with how the Dalish were described up to that point (as people who greatly care for their own and also really want to honor and learn about their roots. They know the elves were all originally magical. Why would they have a fucking mage limit. Why would they yeet a child out to die when they already suffer from diminishing numbers? What the FUCK Inquisition?).

The maps were too big, the game is sooo bloated and the main plot for the larger part completely disconnected from everything else (and also, pretty short in theory). Because of this, the pacing was kind of off. The war table....the WAR table. I did not like it. So many things that got shoved there should've been quests, while many of the actual quests should've just been deleted. And apparently my whole clan can just die in a small war table side thing and no one will care. lol

I also did not vibe with most of the companions that much. I liked Dorian a lot, but other than that most were just a lot of missed opportunities. Like, they were ok, but not as great as any of the other games.

Though I feel nothing quite shows the pacing issues of this game like Solas' romance haha. I still can't believe he breaks up with you immediately after kissing you and offering to take your vallaslin. It would've made so much more sense if he left during the ending party ceremony. What were they thinking?

Generally my issue was how a lot of characters just talk at you, not so much with you. You ask them questions, but they hardly ever ask you questions back, even though it would've been a great way to learn more about your characters backstory as well. I think Josephine was one of the only characters who ever asks how you're holding up. In the other games, it is way more interactive.

This resulted in me just never really connecting as much in Inquisition. Felt more like hanging with coworkers than friends. It was also weird how everyone acts like you're achieving great things, when really, none of it is something you do. The inquisition itself, the army, it already exists. Solas literally just points at Skyhold (you do not even have to fight anything to get it) and so on.

I hated that you have an animated main plot cut scene where your Dalish elf asks a human who Mythal is. And of course I really disliked how the mage rebellion was handled. Why do I have to choose between templars and mages AGAIN when, in this game at least, being able to recruit both would've kinda made more sense? Unite against a bigger enemy, bla. I wouldn't have super liked it as a resolution for the mage oppression issue, but at least it would've given that conflict SOME form of resolution.

So yeah. Did not enjoy it that much. Was very surprised to learn how many did and that it won game of the year. Maybe it would've been more enjoyable just on its own, without context, but coming in right after DA2 it was quite the clash in my opinion.

There was definitely potential for a good game. It had good elements. I think they fixed a bunch of issues in Trespasser, which I quite enjoyed. But I kind of am not looking AS much forward to the 4th installment. I'll play it for sure, but I feel the writers just want to do something different with this series than what I enjoy about it.

Overall though I still had great fun! I like Dragon Age. Seeing everyone's oc's is so cute and I will definitely keep on enjoying that no matter what.

[madamemachikonew]

In high school a guy friend of mine asked me how come I enjoy playing dating sims or having romance options in games, but wasn't interested in/was nervous about irl dating. I was super annoyed because there's an OBVIOUS difference between pretend video game dates and irl relationships, like there are no walkthroughs or save states for irl people. Plus the dating sims I was playing also had a lot of lore/interesting parts that weren't even dating related and I found them interesting. (Note also: I was talking about Monster Prom which is more like a goofy board game where you try to gather character points than an actual dating sim so like... The logic of "like dating sim = should date irl" applies even less.)

Anyways yeah he had a crush on me but I liked him better as a friend, and then like 4 years later I realized "oh I prefer dating sims because I'm asexual and that's like my limit as far as romance goes."

Sorry for the rambling, I saw you answer that ask about otoges and mentioned mystic messenger and I was immediately back in high school. I was more of an Arcana player, I wanted to get into MM but was gonna save it for summer because no goddamn way was I answering the phone at 3am on a school night, but then I never got around to it.

also i want in on those emulators, i love older games and the ds/dsi has a special place in my heart

I love romance games and I know exactly why [redacted psychological analysis]. But they absolutely helped keep me sane during the pandemic lockdown. As you say, it's not about the dating, but often about immersing in the little world with lore and side characters and stuff. Hatoful Boyfriend is a great example of this. On the surface it looks like a batshit insane dating sim (dating pigeons wtf?!) buuuuut, it isn't. You befriend them in a post-apocalyptic world where the human race is now the minority species. Birbs have taken over (but they all have a cute gijinka version too). When you finish all the basic routes a WHOLE NEW MODE unlocks with the best-written biggest darkest fucking lore dump in history. It is INCREDIBLE. I also recommend the spin-offs too. While they are cute, there is definitely a melancholy and tragic streak that runs through them. Some of the characters are even based on the author/artist's very own pet birbs.

There is also a Dottore-esque character, a very sus doctor birb who may or may not be doing unlawful experiments in the school sanatorium.

Look at this sus little man. LOOK AT HIM!! It still blows my mind that they managed to persuade Koyasu Takehito to voice this guy. I reckon he had a blast.

It also has the most heart-wrenching end credits music ever. Hits you like a truck when you finish one or two of the routes in particular.

[corvigae]

I didn’t know the sims had lore! What are some of your favs?

Neither did I honestly until I started following some Sims Youtubers - I was always one of those players that just made my own household (consisting of whatever ship I happened to be hyperfocused on at the time) and ignored literally everything else in the game BUT them. But there's actually a canon timeline of the games, and it goes 3, 1, 2; with 2 being a sequel to the original Sims game and 3 being a prequel (and 4 being EA saying they don't give a shit abt longtime fans of the game and just saying "4 takes place in an alternate timeline!!" to try to escape judgement for the game having absolutely no depth whatsoever BUT THAT'S A DIFFERENT RANT).

For me some of my personal favorites are the Curious brothers from Sims 2, who in short are a bunch of scientists who aliens apparently look at and go "It's free real estate," and also I have a big softspot for Agnes Crumplebottom, who in Sims 1 is a bitter old woman NPC who ruins your dates by beating the hell out of you with her purse, but in Sims 3 you see that her backstory is that she was a hopeless romantic who'd just gotten married and was ready to start a family before her new husband died unexpectedly, leaving her all alone in a big empty house with a half-finished nursery.

Fun fact - in my own current game I gave Agnes the life she deserves by giving her a wife with whom she can adopt as many kids as they want

[antiloreolympus]

May I ask why you dislike LO? I enjoy reading the series, and there are faults in the writing (as no series is perfect) and I have my own gripes with it, but overall I just really like the myth of Hades and Persephone.

I'll admit there were things that made me uncomfortable when I first started reading it (and they still kinda do) like Persephone being a teenager while Hades is, what - 40-60ish? The timeline (of the story taking place over the course of only a few weeks, when a Lot of stuff is going on), Hera the goddess of marriage having an affair, Demeter being an overbearing mother who financially takes advantage of her daughter, some of the flashbacks (like specifically the one where a much younger Kore meets a drunken Hades and falls on top of him while naked? And its played off as a meet cute)

But thats besides the point - I'm curious as to why you don't like LO and/or the creator of it I guess?

Also your posts are showing up in the lore Olympus tag - (and I know there's probably a seperate "anti-lo" tag but I also wouldn't be surprised if angry anons came into your inbox for spamming the tag of the webcomic they like with criticism, because apparently thats what people do on this hellsite instead of just blocking). And, of course your entitled to critique the series, but I'm sure some people are not going to be happy about that. (I say this as a person who enjoys critiquing media, like netflix's spop reboot, and have had angry anons come at me before, so stay safe out there).

Also, sorry this is so long.

Heyo! And I understand

I'll take this time to get into why I don't like each character as it's one of the reasons I don't like LO as a whole:

(Some I removed because there isn't much to say about them)

Main Characters:

• Hades - Man in his Late 30s to Early 40s actively pursuing a 'teenaged girl'.... He acknowledged that this was wrong at yet pursues her anyway? Plus, he's perfectly fine with slave labor and using his power/status to get his way. His character is also inconsistent when it comes to Minthe because one minute he can stand up for himself and the next he's terrified?

• Persephone - An overly sexualized teen who acts like a child. She also killed people but it was because of a 'feeling'. She still committed murder and yet it's framed as a "well, it's not her fault" but I'm also supposed to believe this 19-20 yr old would make a great and feared queen.

• Hera - Not only does she treat the lower class like garbage but she's also a hypocrite (the affair). Plus, she just randomly goes back on her word about Hades being a creep for no reason.

• Eros - Put a girl in some random dude's car and gave her "apology donuts" as a sorry gift 😒

Antagonists:

• Minthe - She was coded with bpd which wouldn't be a bad thing if she wasn't so demonized by the story.

• Apollo - How come this dude is one of the most prevalent people in the story and we don't get a strong motive for him until season 2? Even then, we barely know anything else about him. I get the whole "well, he did this so I don't want a backstory for him" but at least give him a solid motive. One that comes from him directly.

• Thetis - One of the sweetest people gets turned into a homewrecker for no reason. Even then, people gloss over her being verbally manipulative to Minthe.

• Leto - Also verbally manipulative to her daughter. How comes RS decided to demonize the goddess of motherhood, too? There's really no justifiable reason for that.

Others: 

• Hecate  - Also switched up about Hades and Persephone. Let's not forget her hitting Hades 3 times and him having to tell her to stop.

• Artemis - I get letting her brother in the house but Eros and Hermes? That's just inconsistency right there.

• Demeter - Got demonized for the 5973th time 😔🤚

• Aphrodite - Also rude to the lower class but it makes more sense as she's Aphrodite. Still rude af though.

• Hermes - Man got mad at Thanatos for "messing with his money" as if he didn't cover the whole thing up with Demeter      

• Hestia + Athena - Just hypocrites and the fact that they're supposed to be (aro)ace goddesses.

• Ares - He and Persephone also made out when she was 18 and I assume he was way, way older. Plus, him simping for Persephone in front of Aphrodite was an odd move.

• Hephaestus - This issue has more to do with RS's writing because how the hell did he hack Apollo's phone from Persephone's sim card alone and why is that just never explained?

• Daphne - Excusing nepotism as if Thanatos doesn't work in the same place as Persephone

Now, onto the story:

Its pacing is slow but also extremely fast for what it is. Everything (excluding flashbacks) has taken place over the course of 2-3 weeks. Persephone literally gets SA'd the day after the party. But then you have to think about how Persephone and Hades are probably going to get married like a month after their second meeting. We haven't even gotten to the trial yet and it feels like we never will with how slow everything is. LO honestly isn't made to be like a regular webtoon, it's made to be binged like a Netflix show or something. That would be fine but I can tell from interviews that it wasn't RS's intentions.

Also, RS herself? Yeah, don't really vibe with what she says a good portion of the time

I'll show some examples:

Not all of them are bad, just very weird

Besides the wonky art, she does have potential but LO doesn't really show her skill. Hopefully, she does learn from this comic though.

About the hate, I honestly don't care that much anymore as it really doesn't change much. I respond but only because I find it funny/entertaining when someone tries to tells me what to do with my own freetime.

[polyboros]

carcinization, babey!

so floating around blaseball spaces have been blink’s lore on how the garden has affected the flowers’ players, and recently, mads’ stuff on how the call got the firefighters, which makes it sound like they got murdered but that’s fine. and i started thinking about carcinization, because becoming a crab is about a lot of things, like gender and crabs and being a Part Of The Team and love, y’know, crab things, but it’s also about what is left in the “absence” where a [mumbles vaguely] killed god was at some point, and it’s also incredibly up to interpretation! 

anyway! crabs players.

so, a basic thing of how i view carcinization: it’s both connected to debbie and not. at some point, it was because of her, and now it’s not, but it is, kind of. it’s about baltimore and it isn’t. it’s about the crabs and it isn’t. what it is about, in no uncertain terms, is the person being carcinized! on some level you have to be willing to be carcinized for it to happen. if you walk into the baltimore crabs and you say fuck this shit i don’t want this, it’s not going to happen. there’s obviously a lot of nuance to this, but the basic foundation of it is that it is voluntary! and it’s reversible. and despite being a very, very physical thing, carcinization is about emotions.

i’m going to do players in order of who i have the most thoughts about! because some crabs are definitely definitely thought about more by others than i do, haha.

so luis acevedo! traded to the crabs in the season 7 elections, from the garages. they’re a hologram, and they’re constantly shifting both their appearance and identity subconsciously or manually to suit them how they see fit. they have a very very very solid sense of identity despite this, and they’ve been around, you know? centuries old. so they get to baltimore and they kind of already know what they’re getting into, except they have no idea at all, really. 

and i think they see carcinization from this outsider’s perspective, like, this is something you get when you’re a part of the team, this is something you get when you’re truly from baltimore and you’re truly a Crab, and they want it! they really do. because the crabs weren’t super important to them at first but they become important, and they want that connection to what becomes their family. but they don’t get it, not from an outside source. it’s because they’re a hologram, kind of, but mostly their identity is malleable by them and not many other things, and that’s the way they’ve crafted it. 

so luis rolls up their sleeves and goes okay, bitch, guess i have to do everything myself around here! and they carcinize themself, essentially, they give themself chitin one day and blue blood the next and claws and legs and every time they want to change they do, and i don’t think they quite realize until late into the Up that this is their carcinization. that this is their connection to the team, because they made it that way. and they run into the place where all the crabs hang out like holy fucking shit is this what it was? and they’re all like yeah?? we figured you knew?? and [luis vc] i fucking did NOT. it ends happily for them, either way.

next is [squints at hand] squid galvanic and jacoby podcast! these two are extremely intertwined for me specifically in relation to their experience with carcinization, because they’re both playoff births, right? they’ve only truly existed on the immaterial plane for a couple years, maybe, squid longer. and i think while the shadows are normal now that the fk apple is up (something i will elaborate on   later), they used to be not so great. and squid and jacoby were born into the shadows and not baltimore, really, and carcinization couldn’t reach them there. and then squid’s out, and it is seeing baltimore for the first time in its life, and the crabs for the first time, too, and finn invites it to go swimming in the extremely toxic bay with her because it can! 

and it does, and it wakes up the next morning with chitin plates interlocking up its spine and patches of it along its jaw, and it maybe freaks the fuck out, a little. because nobody explained this to it, because nobody thought they had to? but once it gets explained and it knows what’s happening, squid is overjoyed. it wasn’t a part of the crabs like the rest were in Up, and now it’s a step closer to that, and it’s happy about it. plus, it makes it look really cool, and i think it likes the feeling of sort of being Distinctly Inhuman in another way than it already is.

jacoby, on the other hand, doesn’t get carcinization. like, they get it on an objective level? and i think they understand it, sort of, in the way that you can understand it when it hasn’t really happened to you yet. i think they’re too unsure for it to happen, and when they’re more confident they get some hermit crab carcinization, but it’s… very slow. one step forward two steps back. i think that being a replacement for a bad pitcher that got foreshadowed has made them a little too anxious in their abilities, and their carcinization reflects that. sometimes squid peels stray bits of chitin that tried to grow on its vampire squid half and sets them on jacoby’s head and they laugh about it, though, and it makes it easier. 

i think about tosser’s carcinization in the context of it reflecting self-confidence a lot as well. the general thing about tosser is that after the real bad reverse sweep before the first peanut fight, he lost his carcinized arm! normal arm time. he blames this on debbie, and on carcinization not seeing him as good enough anymore, but carcinization isn’t the one seeing anything, really. tosser, on some level, has taken a hard enough blow from that loss to lose the confidence and motivation that made that arm carcinize to begin with. in the Up the rest of the team helps him build his own arm, artificial, and it’s once again the self-made connection to your team. you don’t need carcinization to be a crab, it’s something you foster yourself, and tosser is an original, and he’s had that connection and only made it stronger. i think once he gets down chitin and muscle begins to interweave with the metal, a bit, but nothing nearly as much as before. he’s okay with that, really. prefers it.

tot fox is a fox. she wears that funny crab hat you know the one. she doesn’t mind carcinization, and carcinization doesn’t mind her, but they’ve never really interacted, i think. she gets some extra legs to scuttle around with after she kills the sun and she’s happy with that.

dreamy and nagomi are both very carcinized, i think. nagomi found strength in the ever-changing nature of it and everything about it, in contrast to the heavy stasis of lady friday, and dreamy’s an original crab! however, i think while nagomi’s carcinization has remained just as heavy and strong as ever, dreamy’s faded and molted off over siesta. not for lack of wanting, but because with the sudden absence of the crabs, it sort of weakened her connection to it, and then over the decade it just sort of retreated back into itself? and she misses it, of course, but she learns how to live without it. and then the crabs come down, and i’m always thinking about sim’s minific where the carcinization comes back all at once. dreamy knows before anyone that the crabs are back because the chitin lining her jaw is back in full force and she can feel it, intrinsically, like something coming home to her. moco is less carcinized to begin with, but i think their armor grows chitin plate to replace rusted and missing pieces.

i’m sleepy now, and i don’t have particularly strong articulated thoughts on the rest of the crabs’/former crabs’ carcinization, so you should come to the crabitat at tillmansucks.com and ask about them! because i do love them very dearly. (pedro davids my beloved)

thank you for reading! love a crab

[time-to-write-and-suffer]

I wouldn't mind that post on VNs!

So I was gonna write three different lists, but then after writing the first part I realized this is very long and takes a while to write and nobody cares anyway so I’ll just post my recommended list only. Well, I mean, you asked, but I doubt you wanted all this lol. Thank you for giving me an excuse to talk about this stuff, though. Hope you enjoy my ramblings!

An explanation for what this list is: Sometimes I know a game isn't perfect in many aspects but I still had a genuinely good time playing it, hence why I'm recommending it. Also I should mention that I could talk for hours about some of these games so if anyone’s curious about more of my thoughts, let me know.

Alright, now that that's out of the way ...

How to Take Off Your Mask / How to Fool a Liar King / How to Sing to Open Your Heart (f/m): This is a trilogy of smaller, single-RO games where you can take one of two routes depending on how you act, and they’re all interconnected where you get to meet and interact with the previous games’ characters in the sequel games. I went into this expecting very little but what I got blew me away with how funny, charming and cute the games were. They don’t take themselves too seriously, at one point an angsty male character monologues deeply about some shit, and another one just slides into frame and starts mocking him. It was so fucking funny, holy shit. Also, a central theme is literally racism against catgirls? Which is monumentally stupid, and probably the games’ main flaw, especially in the final game where it pairs up a catgirl with a catgirl racist, but that one still ends with a literal bisexual queen literally making a man her malewife because she fell in love with his cooking, so like ... It speaks for itself. My favorite game of the three is the second one, where you get to play a punchy fake catgirl and romance a pink-haired prince. And honestly, all the female protags in these games are lovely and a breath of fresh air, and the male characters are fun and not abusive assholes either. There’s full Japanese voice acting, and two out of three female protags are literal catgirls who pepper in “nya” and “mya” into their dialogue, and it’s just treated as a quirk of their catgirl race. I AM NOT KIDDING. Yet somehow it never comes off as cringe, because it doesn’t take it self too seriously. These games are just cozy. That’s the only way I can describe them. Cozy and hilarious. Play them yesterday. Dream Daddy (m/m): Man tumblr did this game dirty. This is just a cute, wholesome daddy dating simulator with gorgeous art. Coming out on Top (m/m): So you know Dream Daddy? What if it was EXTREMELY, MAJORLY NSFW? Though I realize how bad the comparison really is, the only thing these games have in common is that they’re gay dating sims and don’t have an anime art style and oh, yeah, they’re both really well-written. Or at least, extremely funny. COOT (heh) is DDADDS’ horny older cousin, and I first encountered the game on a lesbian letsplayer’s YouTube channel. Yes I watched a lesbian play a gay porn game and it was GOOD. I was there for the cringe and fun and got surprised by how genuinely funny and sometimes actually touching the game was. I can’t give it my universal endorsement because it’s not a game for everyone, as I said, it’s extremely NSFW and the menu theme literally includes the singers screaming “SEX SEX” at the top of their lungs. There’s more to this game than the porn, but there’s just so much porn. It can be censored in the settings but it’s unavoidable. However, I still think it’s worth a look just because of how funny it is and how charming the characters are. If you don’t want to play it yourself, at least watch Anima’s playthrough of it. It hasn’t aged super well in some spots but I still go back to it every now and then. Akash: Path of the Five (f/m): This game markets itself as a more “professionally produced” western dating sim, and that’s accurate in some superficial aspects. The game is pretty poorly written, but it’s absolutely gorgeous and has really good English voice acting by actual professional voice actors. The premise is quite self-indulgent, but I genuinely respect that about it. You play as the only female elemental in a village with only men, and all five of your classmates want a piece of you. It’s clear the writers have put some thought into the lore and worldbuilding of this world, but barely any of it comes through in the actual writing and plot, which is basically just a vehicle for you to get together with your boy of choice. The ROs aren’t very well-developed either, and the plot is the same in every route with only minor variations depending on which guy you pick, up to the point where the protag has the same voice lines in some parts regardless of which guy she’s talking about. It also has one extra half-route that’s so bad and pointless I genuinely wonder why they wasted resources on making it instead of spending a bit more on the writing/adding some variations to the main plot. So why am I recommending this game? Well, it’s pretty, and it sounds nice. This game is a himbo, gorgeous but dumb as rocks. Enjoy it for what it is. I know I did. Get it when it’s on sale, I think if I hadn’t gotten it at half-price I would’ve felt a bit more cranky about it. Also Rocco is bae. Mystic Destinies: Serendipity of Aeons (f/m): Yes that’s the full title, no I don’t know what it means either. You may have noticed how most of the games so far I’ve enjoyed because they don’t take themselves too seriously? Well, this one does. It takes itself SO FUCKING SERIOUSLY. Like, way too seriously. It’s a little embarrassing at points because baby, you’re an urban fantasy dating sim. Calm down. But the game has gorgeous art and 3 out of 5 routes are very good. The last route, the one with your teacher, is both the most problematic yet somehow the one that breaks down the very concept of a dating sim within its own narrative (yes, this shit gets fucking META) and it got so wild at the end that 1) I still listen to the soundtrack for that route and 2) I still remember it to this day despite finishing it ages ago. My favorite route is Shou, he’s a sweetheart, but the mindfuck route is so buckwild that I think the game is worth playing just for that. There’s also a route that’s like a neo-noir mystery? I Do Not Know. This game is many, many things and it does them so sincerely and tries so hard, you can’t help but respect it. It doesn’t always stick the landing but man, just let this thing take your hand and wax poetic at you for a bit. Also get this one at a sale because it’s very expensive to get the full version. I got it for 9 bucks on itch.io and I felt that was a fair enough price, I��d say I wouldn’t have minded paying more for it because there’s a lot of content to enjoy and/or be baffled by. Arcade Spirits: This one’s a bit more weird from what I recall, and I honestly couldn’t tell you much about it, but I remember having a very good time with it and recommending it to a friend when she was going through some tough times and she said it made her feel better. I remember it making me feel better, as well. This is a VN about an arcade and the ROs are wonderfully diverse, with very real human conflicts that get explored in each of their routes. It can get quite existential and heavy at times, but in the end it’s a kindhearted game that I think everyone can enjoy. The main character was also, how you say, mood. It’s a game about getting possessed by a video game and then learning self-love. Ebon Light (f/m): This one’s free/name your own price on itch.io so go play it. It’s a weird plot where you play as a girl who ate an elven relic? And then the elves kidnap you because you’re the relic now. All the ROs are extremely pasty (like, literally white, as in literally the color white) dark-haired elves, except for one, who’s an extremely pasty blond elf, so ... diversity? I honestly don’t know what this game is aside from unique. I used to be a bit put off by the art style but now I think it contributes to the general atmosphere. It’s a weird game that technically doesn’t do anything groundbreaking but still left an impression of “huh. weird” in my mind and I think more people should play it. The ROs are all pretty generic dating sim archetypes but done well, with bonus points to Duliae who’s just a massive creep and I love him, and also Vadeyn who’s the only bitch in this house I respect. The worldbuilding is honestly a bit buckwild and I can’t give enough credit for how unique the elves’ culture is in this game. Definitely give it a go. Hakuoki: Kyoto Winds / Hakuoki: Edo Blossoms (f/m): These two are newer releases of an older Japanese visual novel. I wouldn’t call it a dating sim, it’s ... it’s more of a super depressing historical fantasy epic with some minor romance aspects awkwardly wedged in. It’s seriously some of the heaviest and most grimdark shit I’ve ever played in a VN/otome. I don’t understand why it’s a dating sim, it doesn’t read like one, it’s just historical fantasy based on real world events with characters based on real people, and they kill and they die and they grieve and they suffer. The games are literally about the downfall of the Shinsengumi, there’s no way of avoiding everything going to shit and you get to watch and be in the middle of it all as they struggle to stay alive and relevant in a world that doesn’t need them anymore. And there’s the protag in the middle of it all, being useless and submissive and bland just the way the usual otome protag is. I don’t think these games are necessarily fun, and the romance is certainly a lot more downplayed and deeply problematic just based on the age differences alone with some of the men, but the sheer amount of horror and sadness in these games make them stand out above its peers. It’s like watching a war movie. Since most of the characters are based on real people, they feel like real people instead of the usual otome archetypes, and they are so, SO flawed, it’s interesting to just watch them deal with the shit the world throws at them. It’s an Experience, and if you’re up for it, I think it’s worth the time. Cinderella Phenomenon (f/m): This game is free on Steam so go get it. You play as a really, genuinely shitty princess who gets cursed to be poor and forgotten and she has to help one of the ROs break his fairy tale curse so that she can learn about being a good person herself and return to her normal life. This game doesn’t look like much, but it has a genuinely well-written main character who’s actually at the center of each of the stories and in the overarching plot instead of just being around to make eyes at the real protagonists, aka the love interests. Aside from the main character, my favorite part of this game’s writing is how each route slowly but very smoothly expands upon the overarching intrigue. If you play them in a certain order, you get more and more info revealed to you that you didn’t see in other routes, gaps are filled in as you find out more about what actually happened and why, but every route also stands on its own as a full experience and none is more canon than the rest. There’s also some really heavy emotional parental abuse explored, which I found quite potent at times. The romances themselves were alright, I think Karma and Waltz were my faves.

[stained-brutal-crackpot]

*looks at the last ask you answered* TELL ME ABOUT UR SIGNUS HCS

This post might get long, which is pretty much standard for all my other headcanon dumps, so. Yeah

Okay so the standard stuff: what's canonically confirmed about Signus?

- They're some kinda void cryptid, no one knows where it came from

- They were worshiped by the Statigel clan until they all got Fuckin' Merked. This also included them deriving some of their weaponry & equipment from the power of Signus itself, which was pretty much lost once the whole place was destroyed. I haven't managed to find any information on what happened to it after this.

- Their next appearance in the Calamity timeline is when someone hired them to kill Yharim, but they weren't able to because DoG pulled a fucky wucky and trapped them in a pocket dimension for god knows how long

- After this, they had at least some hand in Statis's death, meaning that they switched sides before the rebellion leaders died

Alrighty so. Everything from this point forward is Very Non Canon and I'm being very careful here because Signus in particular does not leave as much room for lore expansion as some of the other chrs and I'm particularly interpreting them as being a lot more sympathetic than the "unga bunga I kill whoever you point me at" characterization that seems so popular these days. Got it? Good. Anyways moving on (take a shot every time I say 'anyways' or 'moving on')

- I have a lot of thoughts about Signus's exact origins but at risk of getting too far from canon I'm not going to talk about that here or possibly ever. We're starting off at their first known appearance: being worshiped by the Statigel clan.

- It's mentioned that the clan used its power to improve on and strengthen their equipment. The Statigel clan doesn't seem like the type to exploit their deity's power for their own ends (*cough* ANAHITA *cough*), and neither does it seem like Signus wouldn't know about what was happening, so they were probably fine with what the clan was doing. Plus, worship seems to be what strengthens gods in the Calamity universe, so the clan likely wasn't on Signus's bad side.

- Gonna digress a bit here with one little tidbit of a theory I have, and it's to do with the cosmic kunai. Yeah, that confusing ass knife I don't know how to draw. In the lore, Statis is reported as having received it from his clan's elders, which isn't unreasonable because as we've established, they've been drawing upon Signus's power for their weapons, right? But the thing is that the cosmic kunai can't be crafted— it drops directly from Signus. (And I know, you don't have to tell me, don't try to get lore from gameplay and all that, crafting recipes are non canon, etc etc. This is a theory and I'm not claiming it to be canon at all, I'm just reading way too deep into it.) I've taken this (probably incorrectly, but whatever, I'm too far gone by now) to mean that they were, at some point, directly given that weapon for one reason or another, implying that Signus was probably genuinely cool with the whole worshipping deal.

- Okay so everything is cool and dandy for maybe a couple hundred years until the unrest within the clan and outside of it due to the royal family's fuckery starts to happen. Signus likes these silly flesh bags enough to give them free shit, but not enough to go through the hassle of saving them from imminent destruction. They give their best equipment to some kid, unleash said kid upon the world to do some good ol' fashioned mass murdering, and then subsequently die.

- Whoops. No more worshipping perks. They're kinda bummed out about the slight loss of power, and they do check in on the sole survivor of the people who venerated them from time to time, but revolution and trying to take down tyrannical shitty governments is boring— frankly, this void cryptid has better things to do, and anyways the kid seems to be doing just fine on his own. It's basically the deific equivalent of putting your Sims on "care for self" and scrolling through your phone for three hours. Oh hey would you look at that, there's some new dude in town aiming to become Calamity's Next Top Tyrant. Huh.

- Moving on: as it turns out, this vengeful new upstart and his cute pet dragon are horrible, horrible people! Who would have guessed? Signus is kind of appalled but not nearly enough to take action. There's a growing rebellion too, which coincidentally just so happens to be located in the mountains where their old worshipers used to live! That's fun. They sit back with some popcorn for a bit and watch everything go down, but they're not gonna interfere unless someone asks them to.

- Shocker! Someone's asked them to interfere! Mr. Sole Survivor kid over here does some summoning ritual at one of the mountain shrines and hires them to do what they do best: murder! Signus is like "Yeah ofc I gotcha bro" and blips off to go do some tyrant murdering. It's an important job from a loyal customer, so they zip over to the Jungle Temple and get ready to rock.

- Oh, shit. Oh, fuck. This is not good. What the fuck is this spiky blue hotdog doing? They clocked in for another regularly-scheduled murder for hire and now they're trapped in a pocket dimension with this worm trying to kill them? They did not sign up for this. So now Signus, feeling pretty terrible now that they both A) have lost some of their power due to the worshiper situation and B) have failed their first and possibly most important contract ever, is decidedly not having such a good time. And when said worm offers them a job, they decide it's not like they've any other way to get out of there and accept, figuring that they'll just work out the failed contract another time. Maybe they'll offer a refund or something.

- This decision quickly proves to not be good, as later this kid shows up at the temple looking frighteningly dead inside, and then Signus has to kill the last remaining person with any sort of faith in them.

Whoops.

- So, having had the one thing they even marginally gave a shit about destroyed, they resign themself to working for this edgy teenage emo worm in exchange for more power and something to do to pass the time. Yay...?

[astralsi]

10 reasons why you should read @literalite’s Dont Go Where I Can’t Follow

you know literalite ?? the legendary writer of meet me in the woods ? well get ready because theyre back with A NEW STORY !  its literally a sin that some of you are sleeping on @literalite our legend... like c’mon have you seen their posts??? you can trust me on this i used to do book reviews for the school paper. perhaps im sucking up but hey i’m genuinly really excited n passionate about this story guys... fr

1. THE PLOT IS SO GOOD !!! it’s literally incredible and i can’t wait until you guys (me included) find more about it!! the story discusses so many interesting subjects and the character development is to die for, + it really keeps you engaging and basically never gets boring... which is pretty difficult to achieve in a sims story believe me.

2. The characters are amazing? Right now theres this big family dynamic which is super fun, and the upcoming characters... make me emotional. a lot. yeah. anyways !! seph is incredible at creating characters and i can’t wait to see them in their full glory.

3. ok but the dialogue is incredible... i am literally running out of positive words to describe this with so u KNOW its good. anyways seph is so thoughtful with their dialogue and it feels so real, it’s like you’re watching two people talk in real life. along with that it’s also really funny sometimes and there have been moments where i teared up a lil... so...

4. the representation in seph’s stories are off the charts... as it should be ( side-eye to some of you fr) there’s gay, nonbinary, trans, people of color, disabled people, fat people, it’s wonderful to have a creator here that actually puts thought into their characters and actively puts representation their stories!!

5. have u seen... how amazing the story posts look... straight up out of a movie dude... it’s immaculate like seph edits almost every single post and u can tell all of that work pays off fr !! seriously i dont think i’ve seen a story as beautiful as seph’s

6. OK but the LORE !!! there’s some much detail in seph’s story... sometimes i think they must be on a higher level or smthing cause i cant even spot it all... literally insane in the best way ... anyways like we just have to send asks dudes !!! they will talk about dgwicf at any given time and i think that’s great because like i want to learn more i hope u do too

7. the amount of time that goes into it.... SEPH WORKS HOURS ON THIS SHIT !!! AND NONE OF US GIVE THEM CREDIT FOR IT !!!1!!!!!!!!!! THATS FUCKING UPSETTING !!!!!!!!1 i will make it my personal mission to make mister joseph feel validated and the fact that i failed that makes me deeply upset. so yeah. like. the work that goes into this story... we need to step up our fan game we can do better c’mon (me included !)

8. the music and pinterest boards are super cool !!! as we know joseph has a really good music taste +  they have a great eye for aesthetics and u should defenitly check them out !!! i personally love that stuff so... yeah !

9. the passion seph has for it is incredible and it makes me so happy to see how much love they have for it... any creator will know the feeling of developing and making your own thing and like... it radiates off seph ! passion is so important and believe me seph has loads of it

10. us ! we need to establish a full fandom or i will be very angry ok??/ i hope we can start appreciating don’t go where i can’t follow because it simply deserves it !

so yeah in conclusion : dgwicf slaps hard and i think we should all read it  !

[tricous]

ohh. ohhhhh ok HERE I GO. this is gonna be long. welcome to the dina caliente apologism zone

im going to focus on ts2 dina because, lbr, ts3&ts4 dinas dont have anything outside their given personality traits, no fiction behind them, no substance, + they’re whitewashed anyway so

as a fictional character, dina has at least two fundamental “sides” to her: how she was intended to be by her author (eaxis), and how she is being interpreted by fans (me in particular, since those are my opinions!). i could ignore what eaxis intended her to be (as i usually do in my gameplays at least), but i think its important to understand where eaxis fucked her up. there is also a specific side to her as a playable sim, who behaves accordingly to their personality and aspirations. so im gonna talk about the 3 dina calientes: eaxis lore dina, “gameplay” dina, and my own headcanon dina!

eaxis werent exactly slick when they coded dina as one of pleasantview’s villains (or at least a red herring?). the way they wrote her in ts2: a young pretty (sexy, have you seen that cleavage??) fortune aspiration lady, who may or may not be involved in legendary icon bella’s disappearance, because look at her wanting to bone poor old “widowed” (or is he?) mr money bag mortimer goth. caliente family bio says it: “is their interest in Mortimer physical... or fiscal?”, and by the way it is phrased, and by the way caliente family picture (the one where dina is thinking about marriage and, obviously, money) is, we know we are supposed to think she IS involved in bella’s disappearance, because she always wanted those old dollars. upon further inspection we learn not only that calientes are related to an alien (which is an obvious red flag in context of bella’s story), but that dina also was married to ANOTHER old guy in the past, and that guy was no other but bella’s deceased brother! total gold digger-slash-possible-bella-murderer alert (not to mention that the pop up message in caliente’s house literally says “dina is digging for gold”)! so this is pretty much how eaxis wrote her. since they weren’t writing a complete story, but creating a setting for a gameplay without a plot, only they know exactly what they intended to say, but i interpret it this way, and i feel like a lot of players would agree with me. and thats why when i was 10 to 14 yo i really disliked dina! she’s a golddigging bitch who’s responsible for bella’s disappearance, and wants to fuck a mustache grandpa because cash money! oh no! just like eaxis intended. btw eaxis’ obsession with giving ts2 women fortune aspiration and making them villains/bad mothers (whereas Good Women(tm) have family aspiration most of the time lol) is..... yeah. basically what I’m saying is: dina is either supposed to be an (almost) innocent red herring, which is unlikely, or just a lazily-written pleasantview villain, and eaxis are cowards for yet again perpetuating their beloved trope of evil fortune asp lady.

but here, when dealing with dina, we have another thing about her: her personality points. since ts2 doesn’t have a plot, and can only use limited resources to tell a story (bios, memories, family pictures), almost every detail counts, and then why is dina, the bad guy, so playful and nice? some may argue that she just pretends to be nice to fuck rich guys, but is it that deep tho.... this detail adds complexity to dina’s character to many players i think. if we look at dina as a sim and not a character, she’s much more pleasant than her sister, than bella (kinda), than cassandra... yeah, she’s a fortune sim, but (just as every fortune sim) she rolls wants to get a job and probably has job-related ltw. she’s lazy and sloppy, but it only adds to her charm as a lady who looks like she would poison you, but is actually goofy and fun (playful+nice). and THATS my interpretation of her when i play the caliente household (because i usually dont come up with a plot to play with)! she is in love with mortimer (because she canonically is), wants to get a job, is nice to everybody (UNLIKE NINA), is friends (good acquaintances) with poor single mom brandi, and is a pretty good person.

next up im gonna tell you what i personally like to imagine and what my big headcanon is, so this is going under the cut

SO when i was coming up with my current personal dina headcanons (my previous dina hcs were all heavily inspired by «fortune and romance», which has one of my favorite interpretations of dina!), i didn’t ignore eaxis’ intentions completely, because i think it adds volumes and depths etc. so. my thots on dina: she was only a little younger than bella and was rivals with her in high school (you know when you are a wlw and have a crush on a girl and dont know if you wanna be her or be WITH her? yeah. that type of rivalry). she always wanted everything bella had (including mortimer i guess?), maybe tried copying her like teenagers do sometimes, and started dating her brother just to get back at her (and eventually fell in love with him to the point where they got married!). meanwhile bella and mortimer had a shotgun wedding, mortimer turned out to be not the greatest husband and father, all that (i talked about my bella gone girl hc here) while mortimer was inventing elixir of life. i like to imagine that inconsistencies with mortimer, bella, michael, and dina’s ages all come from the elixir gone wrong (or right): maybe michael and dina were broke and really needed money, so michael volunteered to be mortimer’s guinea pig for the elixir, but smth terrible happened and michael began rapidly growing older until he just fucking died? dina was obviously heartbroken bc she lost her husband, but she also was very broke, so she went to her in-laws for help. there she started hanging out with both bella and mortimer, helping them with their newborn (is mortimer alexander’s biological father tho.....) and liking bella&mortimer more and more. bella got even more depressed after michael’s death obviously, mortimer proved to be even more useless, and bella snapped, staged her abduction, and fled to strangetown, gone girl style (i described it in that other post i mentioned earlier). there dina and mortimer probably bonded over their shared trauma even more annnnnd dina needs money, so hey, why not just get married to this guy ig?? yeah, so thats the backstory i have, i dont like thinking that dina is an entirely innocent pure baby, she’s just a little cunning woman in a tough situation in my book. 

[tigerkirby215]

5e Yone, the Unforgotten build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Riot Games)

A YouTube comment on “The Path“ cinematic:

I can’t top this. This comment is fucking gold.

GOALS

Asakana - Trust me as a Kayn main I’m salty that we have another half-demon anime boy who isn’t even Darkin. But we still need a mask of many demonic faces.

Three swift strikes... - “Brother, why did Elder Souma let you have two swords?” Regardless we’ll need two swords for many slashes.

Death is like the wind - Yone is dead except not really, but he’s still capable of some astral projection to fight his foes from a distance.

RACE

Yone may have been human but with a demon fusing to him that gives him just enough infernal blood to be a Tiefling! As a Tiefling your Charisma score increases by 2 and your Intelligence score increases by 1. Your Hellish Resistance grants you resistance to fire damage, and Infernal Legacy grants you a few innate spells which I’ll cover in the build.

ABILITY SCORES

15; DEXTERITY - You’re an anime sword boy who was second best only to your brother who is the most anime sword boy who ever did swing an anime sword.

14; CHARISMA - As the more level-headed brother you had to do most of the talking. Remember that Charisma is strength of personality; not raw attractiveness. (Though you certainly have that going for you too.)

13; INTELLIGENCE - A master swordsman needs to study the art of war, which is more theory and less art. (Feel free to set your CON higher instead if you want more health.)

12; WISDOM - Yasuo’s the hothead and you’re the calm one. Not calm enough not to try to kill your brother, and definitely not calm enough to not be a target for Asakana.

10; CONSTITUTION - You died before, and dying generally means you weren’t that sturdy to begin with.

8; STRENGTH - Being cut down by the legendary wind technique and then brought back from the dead doesn’t spell a good workout routine. Yeah Yone has big pecs but put simply we need everything else more.

BACKGROUND

You had a background before, but unfortunately dead men tell no tales. You are a Haunted One brought back to life to hunt the creatures of the night. You can choose two skills from the Haunted One list to be proficient in: Investigation will help you find any stray Asakana, and depending on if your definition of emotional demons are Religion or Arcana you can pick either of those for your second skill. (Arcana is probably going to be more useful though.)

As a Haunted One people can easily see into your Heart of Darkness, easily telling that you’ve faced unimaginable horrors in your past. No shit you have a demon mask permanently attached to your face. Regardless commoners will be willing to aid you as much as possible unless you’ve shown yourself to be openly hostile, such as throwing their promo games.

You also learn two languages of your choice: one of which must be Exotic but since you already know Infernal as a Tiefling Sylvan would be good to talk to the spirits in a dating sim. For your other language Elvish seems fitting for Ionia.

(Artwork by Riot Games)

THE PATH BUILD

LEVEL 1 - ROGUE 1

Perhaps not the most fitting for the honorable brother, but being a Rogue will give us the skill to strike swiftly. As well as more skills in general! Take Perception and Insight to find Asakana, Acrobatics to fight them, and Intimidation to strike fear into their hearts. You also get Expertise in two skills your proficient in: Investigation and Perception would help further with finding Asakana.

When you find the Asakana you can strike it down with Sneak Attack. If you have Advantage on an attack roll or are attacking an enemy within 5 feet of an ally you can do an extra d6 of damage. Despite the name “sneak attack” you don’t actually have to sneak, but you do need to use a Finesse weapon such as a short sword. Yes your swords aren’t exactly “short” but for the purposes of dual wielding it’s the best you’ll get.

And after striking the demon down you might need to speak its true name in Thieves’ Cant. That’s not what Thieves’ Cant is? Well regardless it’s a code language shared among rogues; perhaps you picked it up from the Navori? At least you can shout the demon’s name loud and proud as you seal it away thanks to Tiefling Thaumaturgy, along with all other sorts of little supernatural effects I suggest reading into.

LEVEL 2 - ROGUE 2

At level 2 Rogues get Cunning Action to Dash, Disengage, or Hide as a bonus action. Hiding isn’t very in-character but being able to move swiftly across the battlefield is key for the twin blade technique. Unfortunately attacking with a twin blade also requires your bonus action, so pace your movements accordingly.

LEVEL 3 - ROGUE 3

Level 3 Rogues get to choose their Martial Archetype and in order to strike swift and true you’re going to want to play a Swashbuckler. Swashbucklers get Fancy Footwork to be able to slip away from enemies they attacked without provoking opportunity attacks, even if they miss.

Additionally they get Rakish Audacity which ironically provides two benefits: for one you get to add your Charisma modifier to your initiate, but you can also activate your sneak attack if you strike an enemy in melee with no other enemies nearby. Single the demon out and cut them down now that your Sneak Attack does 2d6 damage!

And finally you can cast Hellish Rebuke at second level as a reaction once per long rest thanks to Infernal Legacy. Strike a ganking lust demon with a big burst of “BEGONE THOT” damage!

LEVEL 4 - FIGHTER 1

Adding a quick level in Fighter because Yone was professionally trained, so a Fighting Style would be good to have. Naturally we’ll be going for Two-Weapon Fighting to fight with twin blades. You also get Second Wind to heal for a d10 plus your Fighter level once per short rest for a quick Corrupting Pot in lane.

But unfortunately now we’re going to have to die...

(Artwory by KAIZERS02 on DeviantArt)

LEVEL 5 - WARLOCK 1

Just kidding of course because it’s ya boii coming back with the WARLOCK LEVELS! You can choose your Warlock Patron straight at level 1 and as someone who came back from the dead you may think we’ll be going for the Undying patron right? Well that’s where you’re dead wrong because we’re going for a pact with a Fiend.

Why Fiend Patron? - Along with the lore reasons (not all Warlock pacts have to be made on good terms) Pact of the Fiend gives us Dark One’s Blessing to recreate the shield from Spirit Cleave (W), and Burning Hands also gives us an easy-to-use cone spell to recreate a cone-shaped cleave.

Why not Undying? - Undying has a pseudo-support role and a heavy focus on not dying, neither of which Yone does in-game.

Why not Hexblade? - We need at least 12 levels in Warlock for an invocation, and that means we’d be getting Accursed Specter from Hexblade. Yone doesn’t summon spirits to fight for him and while I could normally get past that bit of flavor fail (as both Hexblade’s Curse and Armor of Hexes actually make a lot of sense for Yone) Fiend made a lot more sense given that he literally gets his powers from a demon. A DEX build also allows you to be shirtless in Ionia.

Pact of the Fiend Warlocks have the Dark One’s Blessing, granting them temporary hitpoints equal to their Charisma modifier and their Warlock level when they down an enemy for some spiritual shielding.

Additionally Warlocks gain access to Pact Magic. You learn two cantrips from the Warlock list: Minor Illusion creates a sound or small visual you can use to trick an Asakana into falling for a trap. And Toll the Dead isn’t Eldritch Blast! Excluding the war crimes I just committed by not putting Eldritch Blast on a Warlock (you’re going to be using your swords most of the time anyways get over it it’s one spell) Toll the Dead forces the enemy to make a Wisdom save or take a d8 Necrotic damage, or a d12 Necrotic if they’re injured, making it a great finishing blow after using Soul Unbound.

You can also learn two first level spells: Burning Hands forces enemies to make a Dexterity saving throw or be Spirit Cleaved for 3d6 fire damage. If you want to mark an enemy for Soul Unbound however Hex will let you do an extra d6 of necrotic damage every hit, and give an enemy disadvantage on skill checks related to an ability score of your choice. You can also cast the Darkness spell once per long rest as a Tiefling, blinding everyone in the 20 foot sphere of darkness. If only you could see through it...

LEVEL 6 - WARLOCK 2

Second level Warlocks get Eldritch Invocations and we actually won’t be taking the one that helps us see in the dark. We will however be taking Armor of Shadows to let us cast Mage Armor at will and go shirtless in Ionia. Your second invocation will remain empty for now.

You can also add another spell to your repertoire and Protection from Evil and Good will help a lot with fighting Asakana. A creature blessed by the spell is attacked with disadvantage by aberrations, celestials, elementals, fey, fiends, and undead. Additionally they can’t be charmed, frightened, or possessed by them. If they’re already debuffed by these types of enemies they have advantage on future saving throws against them. Once you know the truth of Asakana there is no reason to fear them... or some other edgy one liner.

LEVEL 7 - WARLOCK 3

Third level Warlocks get their Pact Boon and hey look it’s Pact of the Blade. You can create a magic weapon in your hand as an action. The weapon counts as being magical to overcome armadillos who say “okay” a lot. And you know that Invocation I told you to hold off on? Improved Pact Weapon will let you do more damage with the blade of the Asakana. If you want to remain in character I’d suggest only attacking with your pact weapon in your offhand, but remember that Two-Weapon Fighting takes your Bonus Action so feel free to hit hard and then run if needed.

You can also now cast second level spells like Misty Step for some sick plays with Flash.

LEVEL 8 - WARLOCK 4

Fourth level Warlocks finally get an Ability Score Improvement: increase your Dexterity by 2 for swifter and deadlier strikes with your twin blades. Could we take a feat? Yeah, but we won’t.

You also learn another cantrip at this level on top of another spell. For your cantrip Prestidigitation will further your ability to cast small spiritual magic, and for your spell of choice we already got flash so how about Ray of Enfeeblement for Exhaust? There’s a lot of other great options though: Blindness / Deafness from the Fiend list is also a great choice.

LEVEL 9 - FIGHTER 2

Second level Fighters get Action Surge, allowing them to take one additional action on their turn. Right now that only means one extra sword swing but you can cast a spell after you attack!

LEVEL 10 - FIGHTER 3

At level 3 Fighters can choose their Martial Archetype and to unbind one’s soul you must travel to the world of Wildemount for the Echo Knight subclass. I’ve already made a few Echo Knights before on this sub so I’m going to give the cliffnotes version of a class that has quite a long ability description at level 3 for Manifest Echo:

You can summon your soul within 15 feet of you as a bonus action.

You can move your soul up to 30 feet for free on your turn.

Your soul can’t be more than 30 feet away from you by the end of your turn, or else it disappears. (Goes back to your body)

Your soul has an AC of 14 + proficiency and 1 hitpoint.

It’s immune to all conditions and uses your saving throws.

You can swap places with your soul using 15 feet of movement (regardless of the distance between you two.)

When you attack you can make the attack come from your soul instead.

Your soul can opportunity attack (using your reaction.)

Additionally Unleash Incarnation will let you attack an extra time from your soul’s location on your turn. You can use it a number of times equal to your Constitution modifier but your CON mod is currently zero. Thankfully you can use it a minimum of one time before finishing a long rest.

(Artwork by Valkhar on DeviantArt)

LEVEL 11 - FIGHTER 4

Fourth level Fighters get an Ability Score Improvement: invest further in Dexterity for 19 DEX and all the benefits that provides.

LEVEL 12 - FIGHTER 5

5th level Fighters get an Extra Attack, letting them attack twice with their main action. This means that with your bonus action you can attack three times in a round! Now would also probably be a good time to put the Asakana’s blade in your main hand instead of trying to work around your fancy passive.

LEVEL 13 - WARLOCK 5

It’s straight down Warlock now to become one with the Asakana we wear as a mask. Level 5 Warlocks get another Invocation and it wouldn’t be Pact of the Blade if we didn’t take both Improved Pact Weapon and Eldritch Smite! Pretend to be a Paladin by turning a spell slot into more sword damage and pretend to be your brother by knocking people over when you do so!

You can also learn another spell like Gaseous Form to turn into petals on the wind. Additionally Hex is probably wearing away its welcome by this point so I’d suggest taking Hold Person instead to CC-chain a foe to death.

LEVEL 14 - WARLOCK 6

6th level Fiend Warlocks get Dark One’s Own Luck, letting them add a d10 to an ability check or saving throw once per short or long rest. I consider this less you being “lucky” and more you going all out just this once.

You can also learn another spell from the Warlock list such as Spirit Shroud from Unearthed Arcana to give nearby enemies a Randuin's Omen while you cut them down.

LEVEL 15 - WARLOCK 7

7th level Warlocks get another Invocation and while there are plenty to choose from it’s only fair for the man who collects masks of many faces to get a Mask of Many Faces, allowing you to cast Disguise Self at will! Is this mostly done for flavor and is it a bit late to get Disguise Self? Yes but it’s still a very good spell to have.

And you can learn a 4th level spell like Fire Shield from the Fiend List. You can make a Fire Shield for resistance to Cold damage or a Cold Shield to resist Fire damage which you already resist. But regardless of your choice anyone who hits you with a melee attack for the duration will take 2d8 damage of either Fire (if you chose the Fire Shield) or Cold (if you chose the other.)

Also I’d perhaps suggest replacing Misty Step with Dimension Door? Sure Dimension Door takes a full action (while Misty Step takes a bonus action) but Dimension Door has a 500 foot range which will never not be useful! Teleport can be just as useful as Flash you know.

LEVEL 16 - WARLOCK 8

8th level Warlocks get another Ability Score Improvement: put one into Dexterity and the other one into... yeah Charisma. You also could learn another spell but none of these really interest me so I suggest holding off on it for now.

(Artwork by MizuriOfficial on DeviantArt)

LEVEL 17 - WARLOCK 9

9th level Warlocks get another Invocation, and while again there’s plenty to choose from we strive for accuracy here so how about some spiritual levitation? Ascendant Step lets you cast Levitate on yourself without using a spell slot or material components, so you can float towards a wise old man who definitely isn’t an Asakana in disguise.

But most importantly you now gain access to 5th level spells! Hallow is a big spell with a lot of effects, a 1000 gold cost, and a 24 hour casting time but it’s the ultimate way to protect an area from Asakana! To seal the fate of your foes  Synaptic Static forces an intelligence saving throw on all enemies in an AoE to try to avoid massive damage along with a disorientation effect that tends to come with being knocked up into the air by a tornado.

LEVEL 18 - WARLOCK 10

10th level Fiend Warlocks get Fiendish Resilience, allowing them to resist one type of damage of their choosing. They can swap the resistance out on a short or long rest but damage from magic weapons or silvered weapons ignores this resistance, so probably better just to resist wind magic (Thunder damage) in general instead of specifically resisting a magic wind sword.

Additionally while you won’t learn any more Warlock spells you do get your final cantrip: for some more minor spirit projection how about Mage Hand to grab things within 30 feet and bring them to you?

LEVEL 19 - WARLOCK 11

11th level Warlocks get Mystic Arcanum, which are like regular spell slots which only come back after a long rest because you’re no longer special. Regardless if you want to harness the wind technique look no further than Investiture of Wind Stone, because the rock spell actually lets you knock people over.

Regardless until the spell ends you have resistance to nonmagical slashing, piercing, and bludgeoning, you can move across difficult terrain without spending additional movement, you can move through terrain without spending extra movement (but can’t end your turn there), and you can spend your action to try to knock everyone near you over with some basic wind techniques.

Yes there are better spells to take (even in the Investiture spell line, such as the genuine Investiture of Wind which would let you fly as well as block projectiles with a wind wall of your own) but you’re not your brother. You’re a simple, practical stone who gets the job done. Or you can be a wandering poet: make your own Yone - you don’t follow this build point-for-point.

You also apparently get another spell because Mystic Arcanum doesn’t count as a spell? Hold Monster is like Hold Person but it works against everything at the mere cost of a much higher spell slot, meaning that you can only affect one creature with parallelization but that should be more than enough for your little brother to get the job done and flash his fancy blue crest afterwards. You do have three spell slots now after all.

LEVEL 20 - WARLOCK 12

12th level Warlocks get our final Ability Score Improvement and... ugh. As much as I want to do something fun I have to accept the fact that Charisma will help us more, so you may as well grab the Resilient Feat with Charisma for better saving throws and a higher Charisma mod.

But that Charisma mod is going to get a lot of use since now you can take the Lifedrinker invocation which grants the Asakana’s blade Necrotic damage equal to your Charisma modifier! That’s a lot of damage? How much damage? Well...

FINAL BUILD

PROS

One to cut, one to seal - Let’s do the math for how much damage you do with your swords every round: two strikes from the Asakana’s blade (d6 + 6 slashing + 4 necrotic), one from your regular sword (d6 + 5), and sneak attack damage (2d6) for a total of... 5d6 + 25 damage (8 of it being Necrotic and the rest being Slashing) every round. Not to mention Eldritch Smites in a pinch and a large assortment of spells.

Fear, once named, controls no one - You are also incredibly elusive with 18 AC and strong saving throws. Swashbuckler lets you get into the fight fast and get out before your enemy has a chance to react, and cunning actions let you weave around the battlefield as you see fit. To top it off Echo Knight levels let you attack your foes without even being near them! "Cross the veil!"

Wear a mask long enough, and you forget the face beneath - You have a great deal of out-of-combat utility too. Language proficiencies (along with Thieves’ Cant), skill proficiencies (including expertise in two very important skills 23 passive perception, anyone?) Thieves’ Tools, several utility spells which you can cast pretty much at will, not to mention the utility of near-infinite teleportation and flat out infinite levitation.

CONS

Blink, and you'll miss your own death - Between two-weapon fighting, cunning action, and interactions with your echo there’s such a thing as too many bonus actions.

Do not wish to hide behind masks - There’s also such a thing as being too elusive. Swashbuckler gives you plenty of mobility as does Echo Knight, but putting them together means that you’ll be everywhere at once.

Are you here to usher me back? - Multiclassing a spellsword means that you miss out on some vital ability score increases. This means your Charisma isn’t topped off, the saving throws you aren’t proficient in are subpar at best, and your health is just barely over the Power Word Kill threshold.

But a hunter with many weapons will always have the right one to catch its prey. Lure out the Asakana and strike them down. Just remember that even if you alone can stop the demonic plague you don’t have to work alone. Your brother may have struck you down but if you learn to forgive the Asakana will be a lot weaker. "Long before blades and sorcery are needed, words... can save a soul."

(Artwork by @ThatwasforZED on Twitter)

[loxxxlay]

@summon-daze replied to your post “lukewarm take but idk... nobody (at least not this century) says shit...”

Great post but whats the game mentioned? I'm curious

Thank you! I was super nervous to make it so that’s reassuring. <3

The game I mentioned is Rimworld! 

The premise of the game is that you’ve crash-landed on a foreign planet and must build a colony, survive raiders, and prosper long enough to build a ship to get back off-planet. All this time, there are events that have a mathematical risk of happening (such as volcanic winters, cold snaps, flashstorms, and so much more) to make it a sort of storytelling game for your colony!

But honestly the beauty of this game is in the details and the lore! It’s like a dark scifi-esque galaxy of planets outside of the planet you crashed on. Imagine Le Guin’s Hainish Cycle but less literary and more bent towards the portrayal of tropes in fanfiction/pop culture, like prostitution, space pirates, and human traffickers. The darkness of the lore is exactly what appeals to me and what makes this game more intriguing than any other sandbox/colony-building game I’ve ever seen or played.

For example: with the base game, you can capture the raiders who periodically come to attack you, and you can either recruit them, release them, execute them, or harvest their organs for profit lmao. Sometimes factions will come by to trade and you can sell your prisoners to them, too. When things get tough and you don’t have food, you can also butcher human corpses and cook them into meals. Another example: mental breaks! If your colonists become unhappy enough, they can do anything from hiding in their room to digging up a corpse and displaying it on the dinner table (depending on how severe their mental break is). So yeah it’s clearly very dark and morbid gaming that isn’t often done and doesn’t appeal to everyone. (Hint: It definitely appeals to me. XD)

Another thing I really like about Rimworld is it’s blend between strategy games and more Sims-like games. You can control every single colonist individually, which makes it like Sims, but you can also set up the colony’s work priorities in a way that makes them act optimally without you having to guide them!

If you are the person that liked to drown your Sims in the swimming pool or light houses on fire, I highly, highly recommend this game to you!

Of course, Rimworld is not a perfect game and I will never claim it is such! It’s very heteronormative (honestly pushing lgbt-phobic). The game (which was an early access steam game) was made by what feels like the exact stereotype of a reddit dudebro-nerd coding from his momma’s basement because it’s the feeling of progressiveness (or the lack of) that his game gives me lmao. (No offense to such people, I have a severely mentally ill family member who is one of them. My family member knows bisexual ppl exist though lmao.)

The other problem with Rimworld is how boring it gets after playing it enough. There’s only so many events, so much mystery, before it kinda starts to lose its thrill.

However, this is where mods come in. And I’m telling you, this is literally where the game shines the hardest - the modding community. If you play Rimworld without Mods, then you’re not really enjoying the full experience lmao. The Psychology Mod for example adds in a lot of shit, including more sexualities, social interactions, and mental illness that the base game doesn’t have. There’s the Prison Labour mod where you can make your prisoners do work for your colony (haha, perfect for my Grandmaster-led colony). There are mods that add children/pregnancy, gladiator arenas, and the need for showers&water. That honestly doesn’t even begin to explain how many mods I use and how much they enhance the enjoyability of the game! I use like 50 mods and I’ve logged almost 500 hours in gameplay now soooo yeah, haha. Playing without mods is like playing Sims without expansions.

Anyway this finally brings me to the point of the original post, sigh. There is a mod called Rimjob World that I have found recently that adds noncon and sexual slavery (and even prostitution game play) to Rimworld. This mod was created by people who... equally fit the reddit dudebro-nerd coding from their momma’s basement stereotype. T_T I don’t agree with a lot of the language that the mod uses (i.e. adding trans characters but calling them “traps” or “futas” -_-) or a lot of the systems that the mod has set up (i.e. the default settings categorize women in a way that implies only certain women rape and only certain women get raped). 

I’m very frustrated with this! I’ve spent a lot of time trying to find another mod that puts the lack of noncon into this barbaric and violent world of Rimworld in a less problematic way. But when I look for it, there is nothing. And instead I’m always hit with comments (especially on reddit) like the one I mentioned in the post.

It always comes down to people thinking it’s okay to have games/mods with slavery, cannibalism, and organ harvesting, but making those games include rape is a step too far. -_-

It’s disgusting and just as rape culture-ish as the opposite expression imo.

Anyway sorry to ramble about this, I know I’ve complained about a lot of these things a few times, but it never ceases to infuriate me lmao so I figured I’d just consolidate all my thoughts (along with the positive ones) about Rimworld into one post! So thanks for the opportunity and I hope this was helpful! Have fun if you play and also:

Anyone feel free to hit me up for my recommended mod list lmao because this game can get so boring without it.

Also if you’re not sure about the game and wanna see some gameplay, I do play rimworld on stream sometimes lmao, but I’m a lame newbie streamer so feel free to find... other sources to watch let’s play videos too XD

[starswepts]

i thought those pups were neat. ANYWAY, what up, my name’s meredith and i never learned how to not make dated vine references. i like watching sims videos on youtube for all hours of the day, mcdonald’s chicken nuggets, and uh, writing / rping. i would hope so, at least. if you wanna message me, you can slide into my ims here, oooor if you’re in the discord, i am conveniently titled meredith in it. i’d love to get to know everyone and their characters ! speaking of characters ,

RICHARD ‘RICKY’ DAVIS — FORTY — PARANORMAL INVESTIGATOR 

the paranormal investigator thing is entirely self-titled, bee tee dubs. ricky doesn’t have a real job per-se, as he’s trying to live off the grid and without the shackles of modern life so he can write his book on alien life. he’s been writing this book for three whole years, actually, and has made VERY little progress in proving the existence of aliens. 

but, he’s wholeheartedly optimistic that they do exist, and listens to every story of capture or strange encounters with an open notebook and open-er heart. anything about the extraterrestrials:tm: / ghosts / strange happenings ( goblins? why not. faeries? he’s heard of sum nasty ones in oregon, actually ) 

ricky’s been living off the money he made in whatever the most boring job u can think of is. an accountant, maybe? something in an office. he sucked at it, and hated it, but it made him enough money to buy an rv and take the road to go around the country interviewing people about their own paranormal .... experiences .... after his younger sister’s insistence that she saw aliens. he was intrigued, she probably just had a bad trip considering she was a total hippie. but she kicked it a few months later in unrelated circumstances, he quit his job and decided he wanted to find ANSWERS:tm: for her. 

ricky is .... uh, however, running out of money since he doesn’t have that real job. sometimes he’ll do odd jobs around town, or write articles for the paper to keep himself vaguely afloat, but hey ... no rent and no real life to speak of makes the living easy, eh

he also is an angel, he’s very easily fooled and is lowkey gullible because people would do that? lie to him? not about aliens, no sir, even though he lies all the time to make his life seem more interesting. he’s never had a paranormal experience himself, but you betcha he tells everyone about it to make himself seem more credible. 

he has a vegetable garden in his bathtub, because u cannot grow tomatoes in arizona otherwise. he showers in an outdoor shower that he made. don’t ask him about it, okay? the tomatoes are important and i promise he doesn’t smell. 

CLAUDIA MONROE — NINETEEN — MOVIE THEATRE EMPLOYEE

remember how i said ricky was an angel? yeah, claudia is the opposite. she’s not a bad person, i pinky swear, just annoying af.

she lives in a dinky, shitty, house with her crazy ass alien obsessed father. she moved to eureka like two years ago, and is STILL super salty about it, mostly because she only moved in with him since her mama died. car crash, very tragic, and claudia was an extremely successful figure skater before that. won some championships, wore lots of glitter, could out-skate anybody and their mother. 

but when mama died she didn’t have the money for it anymore, and she moved from the east coast out west to eureka, with her formerly absentee father, who she hadn’t seen since he left them. it was real awkward. she’s so salty about giving up her dream and moving to some nowhere alien town, that she’s convinced:tm: she’s better than it. than all of it, than the people and the stupid fricking lore. okay? she is a VERY successful and smart person ...

she’s actually just a ticket taker that’s going thru a bit of a rebellious stage in order to get her dad’s attention. negative attention, mostly, so she can get kicked out and have an excuse to leave him and demand money so she can relocate elsewhere. she’s selfish like that. aka, she drinks a lot, is a bit of a rebel, whatever she can do to convince him she’s insufferable.

buuuuuut, that’s her night gig. during the day, she’s pretty straight edge. goes to work, does her job. leaves. sometimes goes to the bookstore or the diner. kind of abrasive, but not aggressively, she’s just brutally honest and never got used to holding back her opinion, since her mom was the same way. 

she lords herself over everyone, always thinking she’s the smartest and most talented in the room... and will never admit she’s wrong ever. makes a lot of literary references, likes nerdy shit. smart bean, without the bean. she read war and peace, probably, and is good at math shit. idk, i’m not a smart person so this will be hard for me. 

[kois-ts4-playground]

So this is my Maharet Challenge Sim, Vasalau. I haven’t fully decided on his given name, but the family name will be Vasalau, and that is how he will introduce himself. Now, Vas isn’t made especially for the Sims. He is an existing OC of mine, dumped into this challenge. He was created as a demon, and that is how he will be presenting in the game. I figure this isn’t against the rules because he will be PLAYED as a vampire Sim - how I mold that mechanic into my own canon would be up to me, yeah? Besides, in some lore vampires ARE demons, soo...yeah!

Anyway, you wouldn’t know it by looking but Vas is a total cinnamon roll. He LOVES humans and the human realm, so much so that it utterly infuriates his demon “father”. You thought sneaking out of your house to hang out with your friends at the corner after curfew was something? How about sneaking out of an entire world to hang out with another species in an entirely different flow of time.

Yeah. Pretty rebellious.

As such, Vas has been “exiled” to the human world to live among them indefinitely as a “punishment”. Jokes on you demon dad, Vas is gonna have a hell of a time. Pun intended. That segues nicely into Vas’ traits, actually-

He is a goofball, a music lover, and family-oriented! Vas is going to come to love his human family more than life itself. Perhaps literally. Who knows. Currently, his greatest love is comedy and music so you will be seeing a lot of awful dad jokes. The “vampire pun” interaction truly is a goldmine. Anyway, this is long-winded enough and I’m raring to get to actual story posts so...I hope you enjoy! Thanks for stopping by!

- Koi

[fanfic-from-a-67-impala]

A Supernatural x Reader Story Chapter Thirty-Three: I’m No Angel, Part One

Word count: 3236

ASxRS Masterlist

I tried to cram this all into one chapter, I swear I did.

P.S. This is the Charlie-est chapter I've written so far and it's making me so happy.

Long red hair tickles your nose as sunlight floods through the tattered curtains to hit your eyes. You almost pull the worn blanket over your face to block it out before you realize a buzzing sound woke you.

An involuntary groan leaves your lips as you remove your arm from where it drapes across Charlie's waist and reach out to the nightstand to grasp your phone. After blinking the sleep away from your eyes, you make out Sam's name on the caller ID.

Your stomach clenches. You have been finding reasons to spend time away from the bunker lately. You miss your boys, and your instinct tells you to answer the call, but you can't keep your mind from wandering to who else may be listening. Since you learned of the strange angel inside of Sam, you haven't been able to shake the unease at talking to him, or even being around him at times.

Hitting the red button, you set your phone back down and slide out of bed. Charlie stirs in her sleep, but you pull the blanket up to her shoulders and she settles back into a peaceful state. A lock of hair has fallen across her cheek, and the grey of the early morning air makes her freckles stand out against her fair skin.

You press your lips to her forehead before you pad down the stairs and into the kitchen to start a pot of coffee.

The bubbling sound of the coffee drip provides the background noise to the beginning of hours of research and phone calls. Hunter after hunter calls for lore or for a fake law enforcement supervisor. It's no wonder Bobby grew so surly after all those years, you think with a chuckle.

You almost don't notice Charlie wandering into the room.

"Your phone's been blowing up," she comments.

"Thanks." You take your cell phone from her outstretched hand and place it on the desk without checking it. "There's coffee in the kitchen, by the way."

She nods, but her eyes grow concerned. "Everything's okay, right? With Sam and Dean?"

You want to tell her. You want to talk about how screwed up things are with them, about how worried you are. But you don't feel right burdening her with your issues, and she shouldn't have to lie to Sam.

"Everything's good," you say, plastering a smile on your face.

"Then, why aren't we at the Death Star?" she asks.

"Um," you rack your brain for an answer, and decide to change the subject. "This place – it's kind of a hub for hunters. A big circle of us, anyway. People call here when they need info, or backup, or when they need someone to vouch for them." You gesture to the phones lining the wall. "It's been passed down a couple times."

"Bobby, right? A sort of crotchety version of Hagrid? I read about him in the Supernatural books," she admits.

"Right," you nod. "I spent a lot of time watching him run things here. After he died, another hunter – Garth – took over. But now he's MIA, so here I am."

She listens intently, her eyes travelling over the phones and lore books. "Speaking of which, the books say you go to Hell, but the series ends before you get out. How did that happen?"

"Uh..." you trail off, unsure what to tell her.

Before you can answer, your phone buzzes next to you.

You give Charlie a guilty look, almost relieved until you read the name flashing on the screen.

"Hey, Dean," you answer, crossing the room.

"(Y/N), what the hell?" he demands. "Where have you been?"

"I'm at Bobby's. What's going on?"

"What, you're alone? With the thousands of loose nukes out there, all gunning for us?" he remarks.

"I'm with Charlie," you say.

"It's safer in the bunker. Why don't you guys stay here?"

"Because we're here," you deadpan. "Dean, what's going on?"

He huffs into the phone. "We got a bead on Cas. He's somewhere near Emory Park, Iowa. We're going to go track him down."

"You're going after Cas?"

"It's been days since he called, and he's human now," Dean says. "Zeke says there's a faction of angels organizing, and Cas' got a price on his head."

"That's never good," you mumble.

"Right," he agrees. "So, you in or out?"

You think again of Sam, or rather the angel possessing him. You can barely stand to be in the same room with him. The thought of working with him, of having to trust him, makes you sick to your stomach.

You glance at Charlie, who observes the phones and the old computer across the room. With everything going on, you don't want to leave her alone either.

"You think you guys can handle this one on your own?" you say. "Phones to watch and stuff."

"That 'and stuff' got red hair and a novelty t-shirt?" he teases.

"Back to work, Winchester," you laugh. "If you need anything..."

"Got it," he says. "See you soon."

As you step back across the room, Charlie looks up from the wall. "I'm about to make your life a whole lot easier."

• • • • • • • • • • • •

You peer into the paper bag Charlie sets on the desk next to her tablet. "You just keep a bag of smartphones in your car?"

"You know me. I'm a sucker for new tech," she winks. "I was going to sell them, but this is way more interesting. You got that list of numbers?"

You hand her the sheet of paper with the numbers to all the phones on the wall, and she begins tapping away at her tablet, muttering things like "override the phone company's network" and "transfer the SIM card signal" before leaning back in her chair.

"I'm a genius," she says, throwing her hands in the air.

"Tell me something I don't know."

Giggling, she hands you your phone from the desk. "Try dialing Sandy West with the CDC."

You tap in the numbers, and the cell phone Charlie opened up and put back together rings.

You lean in to kiss her. "Think I can convince you to do that –" you tilt your head to count the phones "– five more times?"

"Hmm," she muses, and leans in to meet your lips again. "I think I can be convinced."

You wrap your arms around her back, smiling against her lips before you move to her jaw, leaving a trail of kisses down her neck as she runs her fingers through your hair.

As you make your way back up to her lips, the main landline rings.

You feel a puff of warm breath against your mouth as she sighs. You flash another apologetic glance at her as you reach for the handset.

"Yeah?"

Rustling can be heard over the speaker. "Bobby Singer there?"

"Sorry, Bobby's gone. Who is this?"

"You first, sweetheart," the deep, gruff voice replies.

"You called me," you point out.

He pauses for so long you think he hung up. "Name's Belzer."

"Belzer," you run the familiar name over your tongue. "David Belzer?"

"What's it to you?"

You give him a light chuckle. "It's (Y/N)."

"Little (Y/N)? Bobby's girl?" he exclaims, the harsh tone gone from his voice. "Well, damn. How've you been?"

"I've, uh, had my hands full. I would've called, but I thought you were out."

"I am. Got a job, a mortgage – the whole package. Routine checkup on an decade-old werewolf case caught my eye, though. Elroy, Wisconsin."

You fish around the desk for a pen and scratch paper. "Our kind of thing?"

"Sounds like," he says. "Two kids dead, both in the past week, both taken from the same school. Hearts missing."

You finish jotting down the information and thank him for the call. By the time you hang up, Charlie has finished another phone and tosses the next between her hands, eyeing you expectantly.

"Got us a case?" she asks, unable to keep the excitement out of her tone.

"Okay, easy, tiger," you warn. "That last hunt got pretty hairy, and that was – what, your second case? You sure you want to jump into the fire so soon?"

"Are you crazy? Of course we should take it," she exclaims. "If you start packing, I'll finish this and we'll be out of here in twenty."

You throw your hands in the air. "All right, all right. I'll load up the car."

She kisses you on the cheek as you head out.

• • • • • • • • • • • •

Donning pantsuits and sensible shoes, you and Charlie walk up the porch of a single-story house in the middle of town, blocks from the elementary school.

"And we're sure it's not the teacher?" Charlie asks.

"I slipped her a nickel, she didn't even flinch," you confirm, pressing the doorbell. "But she did say both the kids who got killed were good friends with the boy who lives here."

"You think it's a good idea to bother him after his two best friends just died?"

You shrug. "I hate turning over this stone as much as you do, but if he knows something..."

A young woman with short brown hair cracks open the door and greets the two of you with a small smile. "Yes?"

Charlie double checks her badge before flashing it to the woman, while you do the same.

"Mrs. Smith? Agents Wilson and Shair, FBI," you introduce. "We're here about the recent murders in the neighborhood."

She opens the door further. "Please, come in." She leads you to a kitchen table, where she pours you each a cup of coffee.

You eye the wooden teaspoons she sets next to the mugs.

"Sorry about that," she says. "We don't keep silver in the house. My son, Danny – it irritates his skin. We think it's some kind of allergy."

As you brush your fingers against the grip of the gun in your holster, loaded with silver, you turn to Charlie to find her looking at you with the same suspicion. "That's okay, Mrs. Smith –" she says.

"Please, call me Olivia."

"Olivia," Charlie corrects. "Like my partner said, we're here about the murders."

"Gary and Ron were good kids. A little rowdy sometimes, but aren't they all?" she says in a somber tone.

"You knew them well?" you ask.

Olivia nods. "They used to come over all the time to visit Danny. I don't know what he's going to do now. They were always so close."

"What about Danny's father? Is he in the picture?" you ask.

She gulps, eyes and hands occupied with spooning sugar into her mug, and replies shortly. "Chris passed away."

"We're sorry to hear that," Charlie says. "How long ago?"

"Oh, about ten years or so."

"And how did he die?" you ask.

"He was shot. The police tried for months to find out who it was, but they never found anything. They gave up, eventually, and so did I," she recounts the story as if for the dozenth time. "It wasn't until after that I found out I was pregnant with Danny."

You set down your full cup. "Could we speak with Danny?"

"No," she almost shouts. "I mean, um, no. He's still very upset about all this."

"It would be very helpful if we could look at these cases from every angle," you continue.

Her eyes dart to the stairwell at the end of the hall before snapping back to you, skeptically. "Maybe another time, Agent," she decides.

You nod, signalling for Charlie to follow you out, and reach into the pocket of your blazer for a business card. "If you can think of anything, please give us a– Oh!"

A quarter falls from the pocket as you pull out the card, landing on the wooden floorboards with a clang at Olivia's feet.

She reaches to pinch it between her fingers and drops it into your palm without a second thought or a sign of pain.

• • • • • • • • • • • •

"She was telling the truth," Charlie informs you from behind the screen of her tablet. "Christopher Smith died of a gunshot wound to the chest out a field in the middle of the night. No one was prosecuted, and the case went cold. Bet you can guess what the bullet was made of."

"Silver?" you suggest, and she nods. "Must have been Belzer. Olivia didn't react to the coin, but she knows something." As you speak, you reload silver bullets into a magazine, the individual parts of two handguns laid out on the motel room bed.

"So, what are we thinking?"

You sigh. "A werewolf falls in love with a human, gets her pregnant, and a hunter comes along and ices him before he can teach his kid how to lay low. And now Mom can't control him, so she's covering up for his kills. Meanwhile, there's still one night left of the lunar cycle for this kid to strike."

"Which means we've got to find a cure by tonight, or we lose our shot until next month," she says.

You hold out a hand to stop her. "Uh, what?"

She glances up at you. "We are finding a cure for him, aren't we?"

"There is no cure for lycanthropy," you state.

She narrows her eyes at you. "I don't understand. We can't kill him."

"He's a monster," you shrug. "Killing monsters is what we do."

"Bu– Isn't there a way we can... train him or something?"

You scoff. "Yeah, let's call up the local werewolf obedience school, see if they have any slots open."

She recoils from your spiteful tone, and you set the gun down, hoping to relieve the tension you feel building inside of you. You never meant to direct your frustration at her.

"There's got to be something," she whispers. "He's just a kid."

You let the bitterness drain out of your voice. "I know. Believe me, I'd like to find a cure as bad as you would." You wince as you hear the shot of a silver bullet from Sam's gun into Madison's heart. "But I've been doing this a long time, and I haven't come across a single cure that works."

She frowns, but types a few words into her tablet before holding it out to you. "What about this?"

You glance between her and the screen with a questioning look. She nods, insistently, until you take it from her.

"When I started digging into monsters and stuff, I came across this – a spell for werewolves, and I flagged it," she explains. "I figured it might be helpful."

You squint to make out the photocopy of handwritten text printed on yellowing pages. You recognize most of the ingredients as simple ones you carry in your car, while the rest can be found in the occult shop you passed on your way into town.

When you finish reading, Charlie studies you with hopeful eyes. "Well? Have you seen it before?"

"No," you admit.

"So, there's a chance it can work," she concludes.

"It's a long shot," you say. "And I mean, this is sending a dart into the void. I don't want you getting your hopes up."

She breaks into a smile. "You're saying we can try it?"

You inspect the screen again, and sigh. "Yeah, fine."

By nightfall, the two of you have gathered the supplies and sit in the front seat of your Marquis outside the Olivia's house.

Your eyes remain glued to the windows of the house, but you turn your phone over in your hands. Dean's last message said they tracked Castiel down to Indiana. Hours ago. You itch to call them, or shoot them a quick text, but again, the angel inside of Sam crosses your mind. The thought gives you a headache and twists your nerves every which way.

"You know, stakeouts seem a lot more fun in the books," Charlie says, pulling you out of your thoughts.

You look across at her in time to see her suppress a yawn. "I packed some coffee," you say, nodding to the bag resting between you on the bench of the car. "It's how you like it."

She unzips the bag, digging through containers and jars of less-than-appetizing spell ingredients until she finds the silver thermos you took from Bobby's. "Thanks," she murmurs as she pours a serving into the lid and hands the rest of the mug to you.

You sip the coffee, sweeter than you usually take it, and set it on the dashboard. The suspense of the night before you and the worry over the boys and what seem to be a thousand other things all race in your mind and make feeling tired impossible.

"Is there... is there something wrong?"

She says it as if the words are dismantling a bomb. You break your stare out the window to meet her eyes with a questioning gaze.

"It's just that you've been on edge all day." Her eyes dart to your lap, where your hands continue to fidget with your phone, tapping and turning the device with restless fingers.

You clear your throat. "I'm fine."

She raises her eyebrows, as if she doesn't believe you, but you pretend not to notice. "Are you warm enough? I think there's an extra jacket in the trunk."

"It's June," she says. "Seriously, are you okay? I mean, how are things with the boys?"

"I told you, everything's fine," you say, stretching your mouth into a smile.

"Okay, but–"

"Charlie."

"I just mean–"

"Charlie," you interrupt, giving a pointed look out the window.

She turns to face the house, where Olivia sits feet propped up on the living room couch, reading a book by the light of a table lamp. The shadow of a smaller figure, Danny, who rested in bed a minute ago, now sprawls down the staircase in an animalistic crouch.

"Showtime," you mutter, checking the magazine and reloading it into your gun.

"Whoa, whoa," Charlie stops you with your hand on the car door. "I thought you said we'd use the cure."

"I said we'd try the cure," you correct. "We've got to be prepared for anything."

She follows as you race across the street and burst through the front door. Around a darkened corner, Olivia kneels cowers in the far corner of the living room, where Danny advances on her, claws and pointed teeth bared.

He turns when he hears you, but you have already jumped to tackle him to the ground. He manages to overpower you, pinning you to the ground, but he goes limp before he can strike, his claws retracting, teeth changing back to his human set, one or two missing near the front.

As you roll him back over, you see Charlie standing over you, an empty syringe in her hand.