#astral train

[kindred-spirit-93]

Sup, it's me Astron

I wanted to discuss the Poseidon of Astral Train.

Poseidon was one of the children Chronos didn't swallow. Rhea saved him by hiding him among lambs and swapping in a horse for Chronos to swallow instead, then had the Telchines (four mysterious sea-god magicians with dog heads and fish-fin hands) raise him.

Poseidon isn't truly a sea god. He's an earth god forced into the Sea God role by Zeus. As a Titan-era land god, he controlled earthquakes, droughts, and springs, punishing humans for hunting his horses - earning him a strong hatred against humans. When Zeus took over, he banished Poseidon to the sea to protect his precious humans from his wrath. Now, Poseidon relies on sea gods and monsters to do his bidding.

Stuck ruling the sea, Poseidon watches as humans tame his wild horses and pollute his springs. Making matters worse, humans won't stay out of his domain!

Long ago, he and Hestia were betrothed, but she called it off, choosing chastity and dedicating herself to all gods equally. This is something Poseidon never really got over. Hestia loves everyone, but finds it upsetting to deal with Poseidon, especially since he's hostile towards other gods. She finds this deeply disrespectful towards her as the Goddess of Family.

As a father, Poseidon's not very warm and fuzzy. Gods often hand off their divine kids to nymphs or mortal parents. Poseidon thinks this is for the best, given his experience with his own father Chronos. He believes gods naturally clash with family for dominance.

I like the idea of Poseidon and Hera being the most physically alike among the siblings, with their sharper features. I imagine they get along well.

I like Poseidon, mainly because of his IRL history. He is quite dangerous an almost antagonist in the myths so I'd like to keep him a bit scary which was a bit hard for me to do because I have a great fondness for the Percy Jackson books and it's depiction of Poseidon lol

poseidon having prolonged beef (over what to me is a trivial matter lol) with hestia who just wants to keep their dysfunctional family afloat is very annoying younger sibling of him.

golden child and eldest daughter syndrome hestia hallelujah amen. shes also traumatised, its just a different kind.

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eldritch poesidon is on my to do draw list. riordanverse poseidon seems like a fun guy tbh lol. hera and poseidon being the chaotic duo is a must. bonding over dreams of what could have been (cosmos and clay respectively) if it werent for a certain meddling god.

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plan to draw them both together and work on their facial structures. i want to find a way to incorporate poseidon not going down the cronus slip and slide into his design but idk how. yet.

take care till then :)

[aroaceleovaldez]

the dynamic of demigods thinking which other demigod is the most powerful is always amusing to me because. like, we know the big 3 kids are all the most powerful. That's just a fact of their universe. And then we know nearly every character views Percy as the strongest demigod, and most people are very rightfully intimidated by him.

and you look at the powers of the Big 3 kids and there's Percy, but then you realize Nico is just kind of objectively more powerful than him but simply chooses to hang out in Percy's shadow like he's Percy's scary dog privileges. Like, the two of them are pretty equally capable of causing multiple different apocalypses. Nico just also has like four different instakill powers and it's not like he doesn't use them. He very much uses them! Not infrequently, even! And they don't seem to take a significant amount of energy from him! And other demigods are pretty intimidated by both of them! But Nico makes a conscious point to keep his cards close to his chest and not let on exactly how dangerous and scary he can be if he wants to. People are already scared enough of him without knowing anything about him and he doesn't like that. Percy doesn't think about that nearly as much, and so usually just goes in guns blazing and that's part of why he's considered a wildcard. And then Nico himself puts Percy on a pedestal, so those who do know more about Nico's abilities then presume Nico knows something they don't about Percy that implies Percy is even stronger than him.

And even on a meta level Nico's narrative role requires him to be functionally more powerful than Percy, because he very often serves the purpose of getting Percy out of situations he can't handle on his own. That's just part of his function as a character! But also narratively he can't overshadow Percy so he just takes a backseat of his own accord and that's very amusing to me.

[mallleus]

Extraterrestrial Satellite Communication | Sunday

"There's always a paradise that needs to be built. That vow is like the sun in the sky — perhaps I'll melt and fall before reaching it… But some hardships I must endure."

The dream of the Order has dissipated, yet there are still those who will not give up on their original intent.

— The traveler whose wings were clipped… whereto shall his footsteps lead?

EDIT:::::BTW SOMEONE SAID HE SHOULD BE HERE AROUND DEC. 4TH WE HAVE A BIT TO SAVE UP STELLAR JADES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

[astrobuggy]

I really want Lunar to find stuff about himself now that he is living alone

For example(s):

□ They start to actually express themselves willingly now that they know nobody's in their vicinity that they could accidentally harm

■ Lunar starts to actually enjoy living by himself. Finding that there are benefits to it (he can finally have a whole room to nutella without being judged 😤🙌)

□ He finds a job he actually enjoys and is excited to go into whenever the hour comes

- Like an organization that helps teens (I saw this in a post, and I love that idea heavy!) with problems like emotions or family problems. And he's actually so happy to be there since now he can freely express himself since they aren't kids (exactly kids)

- Or Lunar opens up a small business that becomes a local store that the community he's built it around knows him and his store immediately whenever it's mentioned. Like a flower shop! Lunar does have nature powers at this point. Plus, it'd be such a great way to practice his powers

- Combined idea >:D! Lunar opens up a flower shop as a side hussle while his main job is the organization. And during his working hours at the shop, the teens he looks after come around his shop and just hang out with him there. Assisting him with the workload the shop provides. Lunar teaches them how to plant and take care of plants. Lunar does actually pay them a decent amount for the work they help him out with (I kinda see the business booming since Lunar can literally create flowers and change its colors willingly, only if the plant wants to). They come around so often that Lunar made them a hangout area at the back of the store. They appreciate it heavily (they try not to give Lunar such a hard time as payment)

■ Lunar finds a group of friends outside of the pizzaplex (FINALLY 😭🙏)

□ He starts to actually have a hygiene cycle. Lunar finds out he enjoys baths over showers. He finds bubble baths and bath bombs very enjoyable and fun to play with. And now he smells like vanilla with a mix of blueberries

■ They find hobbies other than gaming and watching shows (or nutella commercials 😐) Like gardening or even baking (shit, maybe even drawing, like how he used to during 2022)

I just need Lunar to be happy during this arc. PLEASE 😭🙏🙏 Ik I ain't getting that with the shit he's dealing (the astrals)

[naoreco]

I figure it’s worth putting on the Tumblr radar since much of this is current discussion of Niosi is happening on Twitter.

(content warnings for sexual assault, abuse, manipulation, and otherwise taking advantage of people)

On Chris Niosi, and Kyle McCarley’s defense of him:

Recently Chris Niosi (aka Kirbopher), who has admitted to abusing people around him for at least a decade, was cast in Honkai Star Rail as the character Moze. Five years have passed since his public apology, where he addresses some specific callouts from victims to debatable effect, but unfortunately he’s lied about apologizing to all of his victims (1, 2), and the specific apologies he has written are now deleted from his tumblr, calling his efforts into changing for the better into his question. Furthermore, as he has a history of taking advantage of his fans even in his more underground days (1+2, 3), putting him in a situation where he has access to more fans to put him on a pedestal is dangerous. Other users have iterated much of this already on tumblr, where it was already discussed in previous years, so this is just some context.

But I’m here to talk about something related that hasn’t gotten any Tumblr coverage. For example, people here have talked about Griffin Puatu’s reddit post defending him already. But nobody has mentioned Kyle McCarley defending him yet.

On July 19, 2024, in the replies of Moze’s introduction tweet, he had this to say:

He addresses his use of “bad boyfriend” downplaying legitimate abuse later. I don't think it's great but we’ll get to that. However, “the court of public opinion” is a concept that he does stand by, perhaps reinforced by the backlash he received for this. Some of this was vitriolic, given the kind of person he was defending from further criticism, but others did try to reason with him, including some of the above and more as evidence that Niosi isn’t being entirely truthful about his atonement, and overall most responses expressed disbelief and disappointment more than anything else.

Still, he deactivated his account the following day, on July 20, 2024.

Unfortunately, our story doesn’t end there. In the early morning of July 21, 2024, he made an announcement in his Discord server.

So here's the thing about Niosi not being a confirmed sexual abuser or rapist or pedophile. I don't have everything, with this being such an expansive case so this is off what I've found. You know the time he planned to take advantage of his girlfriend at the time while said girlfriend was intoxicated (plus this follow-up where he attempted to cover for himself)? Drunk people cannot consent, especially not when drunk sex is already a hard boundary. Although this technically doesn't make him a rapist, to my knowledge, if you're gonna argue semantics it'll just sound like "well he didn't ACTUALLY rape someone so it's not as bad". Is it not already terrible that he tried to and still downplayed it when called on it? Besides, as mentioned in Lighty's testimony linked above, he's let other in his sphere groom minors under his watchful eye, and his other ex Audrey had things to say about how he weaponized sexual favors too. If someone actually has more on a history of sexual abuse and pedophilia, though, please bring it to my attention. I'll add it to this post.

Either way, we don't know what he knows. At best, Kyle has a very incomplete picture of the situation, and at worst he does have a complete picture and he just doesn’t think it’s valid or up-to-date criticism. The person who first brought this to people's attention on Twitter also mentioned that her messages in the server were being deleted when she spoke up to provide evidence, so for someone who welcomes others to share evidence how open he actually is to it is questionable. (UPDATE: There's more to this part of the story but we'll get to it in a future update.) His final message a couple of hours from these just solidifies it.

Having joined the server myself to see, around the time of the announcements seems to have been scrubbed clean, but there is some current discussion of the topic as of this post. Furthermore, someone there has stated that they're compiling sources to send his way to give him a better understanding of the situation (even if they're not sure if he still wants to talk about this), so maybe this will finally get him to reconsider his stance! Only time will tell.

Overall, though, I stand by my point that if Niosi makes a living, it should be somewhere far away from the public eye. Don't give him a platform to find new fans to take advantage of. Don't give his victims the opportunity to be retraumatized whenever they start a new game of show. He's been given more than enough chances. It's time to turn over a new leaf instead of digging his heels into the ground.

Still, I don't know if Kyle will change his mind at this point. I want him to - I tried, back when his Twitter was still up - but even at this stage he's doubled down on a situation he knows he might not have the full story on and I'm not sure if I can trust that. For any other fans, give this some thought - keep an eye out for any future developments if you still want to have faith in him, move on from him if you can't stand it. I just want him to at least hold his friend accountable instead of trying to shield him from the lasting consequences of his own actions.

(I'll be linking future updates here: #1, #2 and #3 for now.)

[generalsdiary]

Dan Heng's diary

about Caelus

yes, he is messy. but he won't harm others. yes, he is childish. but he won't be convinced into committing an unforgiving crime. yes, he digs through trash cans with an aspiring passion. but he will never blame me for his mistakes. yes, he is a human equivalent of a raccoon. but he is clever, he is kind and warm and will not allow others to take advantage of him. and he is loyal to the bone and when he kisses me... when I kiss him, sometimes I feel like he blushes more than me. how does it feel like to kiss a star? he is one giddy star. the type that giggles with a boyish charm when I kiss him goodnight. a bright star with abnormal warmth and I can't help but gravitate to him. to seek his body next to mine. which he is almost always eager to do. my cuddly Caelus. my... just. just cuddly Caelus. despite his preference for a soft bed, he always sleeps on the hard floor in the archive with me. one pillow, one blanket.

weirdly, he is quieter than me. I still recall his silence when he saw my Vidyadhara form. days later he explained that he was shocked... and found me extremely attractive.

"they look like popsicles"

"is that why you wish to see my original form?"

"no, it is so I could do this!"

it was a strange sensation. him licking my horns. it is little to say I was surprised. yes, he does out-of-pocket things. but he only has the best intentions and means no harm.

thanks to him I feel more comfortable in it. although, I only relax in that form when I sleep. it requires concentration to appear the way I usually do.

Caelus is also a menace in the way he will wake me up by nibbling on my neck, leaving small bite marks.

"in my defense, I like the way you sound when I do" he would usually use as an excuse.

Pom-Pom told me Caelus was soon getting his own room. that they have been working on a new part of the train. he seems excited about it. overjoyed even. he kept asking if that meant that he was getting a roommate.

last night, Caelus insisted that I share the room with him. promising to buy turquoise or blue sheets and play water sounds so that it may feel like the archive. ... he is adorable. my Caelus

first night in his room. what a messy sleeper. and cute in the morning. I woke up before him, which is rare. the room was chilly so I got my hands under his shirt and cuddled more for warmth. strangely I was woken up by him rubbing my scalp and leaving kisses on my forehead. I fell more in love with him that morning. the reasoning behind his actions he voiced with big golden eyes and a rough morning voice, "I'm happy". loving him feels easy.

"you like the room that much?"

"no, I'm not talking about the room."

"don't lie, you were practically screaming when you heard you're getting a room."

"okay, okay- maybe~ but screw the room if you're not with me."

yes, he is messy. but he won't break my heart.

[buqbite]

it's kinda fascinating to me how welt has been "at the end of his life" for like. several decades by now. he goes on and on about how old and weary he is and how "his job is done" and his story is over but- oh wait i just realized i can phrase this in a very funny way- he's kind of sorta immortal now because he got the herrscher core back, so he's really just stuck in the epilogue for all eternity

[katyspersonal]

who do you think fucked up worse…gehrman or maria?

This is an interesting question, and I kind of didn't think of it before! Time to take a closer look at their crimes I guess. Some of these will be held on the possibilities and 'safe assumptions' though and addressed for the full picture!

1) Both were involved in Fishing Hamlet massacre!

With Maria, we can conclude as much because she discarded her weapons in the well at the place specifically. Her version in the Nightmare realm, a Hunter again, is supposed to be what punishes her, and she is focused on keeping Kos/OoK away from rummaging through. Considering the nature of the Nightmare, as well as the Doll who has spiritual connection with her, it should come from her guilt and regrets rather than.. I dunno, discarding the hunt over natural 'character development' and just picking a cool place to forsaken her past!

Gehrman sleeps better according to the dialogue Doll has after you kill OoK and free it's soul, so if it tortured him so, I think it is safe to say he had to be personally involved too rather than stay back while his students did the job:

They both were involved with Byrgenwerth, following their quest for obtaining the eyes of the dwellers from their skulls, and I suppose cord of OoK?

The thing about this point is that the description is written as though it was Gehrman's curiosity which ruined Maria's "idealisation" of him, or WOULD ruin it had she learned of it! This makes me wonder whether she was really involved in Byrgenwerth all that much, or whether she was aware of the real purpose of Fishing Hamlet massacre beforehand? Her goal, within the Nightmare, is stated to mercy-kill us so we don't allow that curiousity corrupt us to the point of "rummaging through corpse" and similar things, further supported by her visceral attack being an embrace if it is lethal!

I am just saying that here the balance might slightly shift towards making Gehrman 'worse' than her. Maybe she was not aware that it all was not just killing "monsters" but also a pregnant mother with her divine baby, but "well you didn't ask :/". Maybe Gehrman deceived her to use her aid. Maybe he didn't think it would be a big deal for her seeing that Maria was also interested in evolution through talking with Great Ones, and assumed she'd be just as callous about which means to accomplish the goals with?

2) Both were grave-robbing, or at least okay with that!

This one is a little less obvious, but Tomb Prospectors were not the first to go to the Chalice Dungeons! ...It were actually Willem, Dores and Gatekeeper lol:

BUT ALSO it were Old Hunters! We can see the remnants of it by Old Hunter Vitus being one the summons in Chalice Dungeons, hear Gehrman encourage us to go into the Chalice Dungeons to become stronger as via "tradition" of the Old Hunters,

and the fact that one of the things that torture Maria (again, remember that Nightmare Realm is Hell that punishes) is a Chalice:

(A video ( x ) for a better look at the Chalice from a figure)

I'd say that it is not very nice to disturb the undead Pthumerians just struggling in remains of their civilisation! Interesting thing: we can conclude they are even staying there to protect the Great Ones or their remains!

There has been some sort of civil war between ancient great-ones-respecting Pthumerians and who late became Cainhurst nobles! Maria, ironically, fell onto the side of "entitled guys" descendants! But yes, I could see why bullying zombie guys to get more history and archeology relics from them might not seem like much for her at start. Experience in the Fishing Hamlet likely retroactively ruined this period of her life for her: delving into Chalice Dungeons was likewise 'not leaving the corpse alone'. The remaining Pthumerians were right having some honour and dignity. So, that came to haunt her in the form of Pthumeru Chalice. Gehrman is.. well he's here too I guess dfshfdhs

3) Both knew a little too much about Laurence's shady business and did nothing?

Old Hunters used to be friends with Healing Church's Hunters and even had their workshops located close to one another! Gehrman was friends with Laurence and Ludwig, who are both quite strongly involved with Moon Presence (Ludwig's sword and guidance, Laurence's affiliation being known since Byrgenwerth times), as well as the key figure in creation of Hunter's Dream:

This was most likely a bait-and-switch, seeing how the cord itself is still in the real Workshop, and not in the grasp of Moon Presence (unlike, say, Wet Nurse taking Mergo's cord)! I think the purpose of creation of the Hunter's Dream was to "buy time" for the research conceived by the scientists! Remember: Gehrman was known to have "madness of curiosity" that Maria resented, or at least would resent had she known! He might have been fully aware of what Laurence wanted to do and support it! My point here, that with such proximity, he must have known of all Laurence's crimes and agreed with them!

Maria was at least overseer of the Clocktower's Research Hall, which, again, was just beta!Choir.

This last line IS a bit confusing, because it makes it sound as though the nerds looking for the Eyes Inside and the Blood Ministers got split. Laurence and Ludwig make it weird, as Moon Presence is also an Eldrich creature and Ludwig is for sure full of eyes! What also makes it strange is that Choir, and then School of Mensis, are both upper echelons of the Healing Church, but Laurence is supposed to be above both of them.

I think this can be worked with! Let's say what if Choir formed after Laurence's death, which also happened after Maria's death, and Vicars after him were somewhat "powerless" and walked over by Choir and Mensis, only leaders in the name! But that still leaves the bit that the mentioned "division" happened after Choir was formed! Maria and Adeline, however, are locked to the existence of the Research Hall, so, the timeframe when doctors and blood ministers were 100% working together! We find the Eye Pendant that opens the access to the Research Hall in Laurence's hand, and human Skull of Laurence on the platform that hides the secret elevator to that Research Hall. Again, by the Nightmare Logic, they must be connected with Laurence's sins: he started this research, or sponsored it, or was overseeing it, and so on.

This point is not an absolute thing though, because one or both of them might be freed from guilt here. Maybe Gehrman was not as informed and agreeable as we could assume and Laurence did lead him around? Maybe Maria wanted but could not do anything being caught in the web of complicated connections, blackmail and risks for the people she cared about?

4) Both are willingly involved in questionable practices (Maria with research, Gehrman with the cycle of Dream and Hunt)

This point I feel like transcends the morality a little bit, as it touches the matter of 'it is bad if you do it, but it is also bad if you DON'T do it'. I really love Soulsborne universes for having guts to say "you can't win, just pick your poison", but I think it is still worth addressing!

It is up to interpretation in which quantity Maria is involved with the Research Hall! Nothing states whether she founded it, joined in the research later, stepped in and turned the tides (ba dum tss) of the research, or simply was a caretaker/nurse/etc of the broken mess while Research Hall was getting ready for a bit of rebranding. She can be very guilty, or she can be barely guilty but in either case if that was her "redemption arc" that was a pretty bad way to go about it. ...or was it?

Fauxsefka turns people into Celestial Emissaries so they physically can't become beasts instead, and is even stated to be a hero / heroic researcher by Miyazaki:

First, I don't do Death of the Author (in terms of interpreting media I mean, not in terms of a style of writing)! Like, nope. Never. It is just not for me. Creator's word is the final for me; Fauxsefka is the good guy in the story, apparently, and it makes sense considering the fundamentally broken place characters are in! Maria has similarities with Fauxsefka: not only both of them have Cainhurst roots, but also both of them seem to favour 'Stars' line of evolution for humans!

Whereas other patients are afraid of the horrors of the Deep Sea, a concept Miyazaki could not get over well into DS3, Adeline desires them! Other patients seems to have gotten it right, and you can see one of them also clings to Maria mentally to "not drown"; Adeline "didn't understand"! The balcony that Maria wants Adeline to go to so she can forsaken the Deep Sea and seek something "happier" holds unique kind of patients who can shoot cosmic arcane spells:

Herself, Maria is associated with these lumenflowers: their petals are all over her boss arena, and the way to her lays through a much bigger batch of flowers, where Living Failures, other 'Stars' Kin are, whose song lyrics also feature lines 'ave stellar' and 'ave Maria'!

So, how this is different from what Fauxsefka is doing, who is stated to be as much of a good person as possible within this context and with the burden of her knowledge? Fauxsefka was doing more or less rinse-and-repeat practice, with maybe a few patients not surviving the procedure but we don't know what happened: maybe that person was already at the brink of death and she tried to make them live like this.

^ This guy I mean. Maria, on the other hand, is in the time period where the doctors and scientists were only testing the waters (BA DUM TSSS) (ok I will stop) and it was not SO certain what was at the stake, what were the alternatives, what was awaiting the humanity. It is even possible that the beasts problem was not yet bad to the point of "you'll either become a beast, be eaten by a beast or become a Kin, humanity is DONE for!" ! This was an unethical research at the cost of real people! The weight of Maria's sin here really depends on the interpretation, though

As for the cycle of Dream and Hunt, this is complicated and lingers on one's interpretation of what the purpose of the Dream even IS! Its existence provides two things: 1) a hunter who is immortal for the night, thus can sustain the beasts with efficiency like no other, but also effect the continuity of the night ( x ) and 2) supposed sustenance to the Great One Flora of the Moon, who holds the hunt as a concept!

I used to be a bit more set on the idea that if beasts are not sustained and hunted, they will simply overpower those who are yet humans and eat them! It is a self-feeding cycle of people needing to self-defend from beasts, thus having to consume the blood as urgent means of healing and power-up since beasts are too strong, thus risking to become beasts themselves because the blood they consumed during that hunt corrupts them. So, the Hunter's Dream would be a good thing, as it'd help to 'buy time' during nights of the hunt in which not only beasts are more active but Great Ones too! While the Dreaming Hunter holds everything together, the greatest minds of the Healing Church can efficiently study the ways to end beasthood, or ANY problem of humanity, once and for all! It is just better to throw the hunting resources on the Dream, so the scientists don't worry about the beasts and can focus on research. However, I almost forgot that:

This implies that had there not been Mensis Ritual ongoing, people WOULD have the chance to simply 'wait away' the beasthood problem. That, since Rom is not stopping Mensis Ritual but just conceals it, what really makes the inner beast within everyone who consumed the blood inevitably come out is Mergo's cry that draws the Bloodmoon close!

So yeah, the point about Hunter's Dream being helpful for the research of evolution still stands, especially under assumption that the deal with Moon Presence helped to bring more Eldrich Arcane close for "feeding" her. The point about how if the beasts are not hunted they'll simply eat everyone, though, is vague. It is safer to assume that the Hunter's Dream and Research Hall both are both example of hubris of man even if approached differently. Attempts to draw in something dangerous and horrifying, but it is "justified risk" because if you manage to 'tame' arcane/blood, sure, humanity will prosper!

Like... yeah, sure, there IS dangerous and undesireable nature of man that ruins everything and might or might not still linger in humanoids' genes after Loran. But did humanity ASK any of you guys to keep trying to fix it with so many victims and sacrifices? Like, was it WORTH it?

This point is closely tied to 'knowing Laurence's bad antics and doing nothing', yeah. Maria didn't seem to like blood ministration very much, as she disapproved of Adeline becoming a Blood Saint, but she also didn't even approve of blood antics of her own clan! I am not sure what would be her opinion on the Hunter's Dream had she lived to the point when it was created, just that she herself is not willing to ever hunt, so I am leaving this point aside. Is this just blood ministration that she opposes but proximity with a Great One Moon Presence would be something she can see the potential of? Or would she and Gehrman have a pointless cat fight about whose methods are better when they are both hubris of man? In both versions they are 'guilty'! Besides:

In the end none of THIS matters either and everyone was fooled ( x ). The blood offering is a blood offering in any way; whether it is through spilling blood violently during the hunt, or offering the blood's 'red' with how celestial Kin all bleed red. Moon doesn't care what paints it red, in the end.

___________________________________

My conclusion is: both of these characters fucked up almost equally! I think the balance shifts just a little bit and Maria is slightly better than Gehrman since she had some limitations set on how far she was willing to go. Her motivation was not in "curiosity" but strictly in helping humanity, even if in unfair ways, which is apparently not the case for Gehrman?

I'll say this though, NOW I am hooked on the idea of Maria and Gehrman being petty "rivals" ideologically (for as long as they could before Maria's own demons caught up with her). Especially since neither approach is better than the other and they are both cringe loosers! Again, lost comedy gold over Fromsoft making Gehrman's tender and warm feelings for her before and after her death plain. What is not lost, however, is the fact that the two should just kick Laurence and go home :pensive:

[sleepyorchidmonster]

I love how Dan Heng is just constantly WORRIED about everyone else.

He literally tried to stay out of the Luofu story. But immediately jumped into action as soon as he realized Blade was there and the others were in danger.

And now he is Penacony too!

Funniest part was all the way back in 2.0, when the Trailblazer disappeared and everyone was freaking out on the group chat. And Dan Heng was just. SHOULD I LEAVE THE EXPRESS, WHAT IS HAPPENING!?!?

I can just picture Dan Heng in his Imbibitor Lunae form, Cloud-Piercer in one hand while the other holds the phone, a bag filled to the brim with medical supplies and plushies slung over his shoulder, just standing in front of the Express's exit door, waiting for an answer.

And that was before Traiblazer got traumatized by Firefly's death. And the whole Aventurine broadcast. No wonder he also called Jing Yuan.

[kindred-spirit-93]

back from the dead (snort)

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WAIT WAIT ARE YOU TELLING ME DEMETER HAS AN EPITHET REFERENCING VENGENFUL FURIES?! WAHT??? >:D!?!

asdfghjkl thank you! really glad u like her lol shes becoming my favouritest to doodle lol. also not at all! i really love that you kept the aspect of her grief that so many are keen to twist to villainise her or erase completely to invalidate her. both are awful imo

heres a quote from le ask (soon i promise 😭😂): "Demeter and Persephone share a strong bond compared to the other gods. After Persephones "death" Demeter was never really the same. Demeter relives the painful cycle annually, and carries a deep rooted bitterness toward the other gods for it."

--

i actually think its hilarious and awesome to see that demeter can be herself with those shes close with (one of my favourite things in characterisations is when you have what seems to be a stern and serious presenting person breaking character at a dumb or inappropriate joke or something to that affect, it kills me everytime its so funny!)

anyway demeter is NOT not be confused with gaia (my girl knows how to have fun lol). but much like the rest of us shes got issues to work with and experiences to heal and grow from *finger guns*. 10/10 i think u did her justice. so much so i drew this for u hehe

under no cicumstances should she meet micheal scott lmao. humanity will never hear the end of "thats what _ said" jokes. ever.

her hair is lime green btw the light is making her blonde :/

[starheirxero]

YEA OKAY THE POSTS I SAW HAD ME SO MISLED ABOUT TLAES. Like, yes it's a "oh god oh fuck" moment, but also... can you blame them?! at all?!?!?!

Lunar, hours before that meeting, just got told that they're untrainable because they have feelings. They're untrainable because they're angry at the person who abused them, so that means they've reached their power limit and will maybe "some day" be useful to the council, but in the meantime, oh well!

LIKE OF COURSE THEY'RE GUNNA TAKE UP REZ'S DEAL OF "GET STRONGER BUT STILL BE ALLOWED TO FEEL" ARE U KIDDING. Dare I say, Rez knew of Lunar's vulnerability at that moment and knew that hitting their soft spots would be easier than forcing them into the negative side of things! Of course Lunar accepted the deal to be trained by Rez. It happened at just the right time.

[stelladess]

I have come to the conclusion that the astral express *has* to be off model.

If we look at it docked at Herta research station (other places we cannot do that I believe)

Right, there is the front locomotive car, which has *zero* windows, then a passenger car with multiple windows right?

We can also see that there are only 3 cars behind the locomotive. And the frontmost of these is right next to these barrel/crate thingies.

However, we go inside and the parlor car is the one that is in the spot of that "passenger car". Which is an issue because....

The windows do not match up. There are two bigger ones, and then two smaller above them, which is a totally different style from the outside of the car.

Furthermore, this means the Parlor car is the car right behind the locomotive, which makes sense. Except...

If we look, the passenger car is actually closer towards the side that we KNOW for a fact that the locomotive is facing when we look at it from the outside, meaning this would be the second car (Which also does not have windows like the parlor car).

So that also makes this confusing:

Why is that door up there? If the locomotive is there it makes sense that the layout for that door is different instead of it being at floor level like both the doors in the passenger car or the other door in the parlor car...

But then we get to another issue, Pom mentions there being a food car too. And also mentions bathrooms existing on the express.

The issue? There are no doors that could be bathrooms in the cars we can be in. And if we know we got a food car, passenger car and parlor car.... then that is 3 out of 3 cars. Which also means there would be no room for Stelle to have her own room... except there is dialogue making clear she does have her own room.

So we have to infer there is at least one more passenger car, and that bathrooms exist somewhere (and logically if people live on the express probably some kind of shower? But non is mentioned explicitly that I can remember)... furthermore there seems to be some sort of storage area based on some dialogue back on Belobog.

This would make more sense with how the express is depicted in Stelle´s splash art, where it has 5 cars after the locomotive... but non of them match up with the parlor car interior, so we have to assume this is also not fully accurate.

[eyvahbae]

They should have gone with Fishlegs actor (Julian Dennison) for Snotlout, it isn't a 100% fit obviously but the vibe is spot on

This just gives mean older brother that doesn’t believe in monsters in a pg 13 movie😭

Also this is just me but honestly i would have prefered if they cut Snotlout out completely cause they will do him so dirty and my poor heart won’t be able to take it

[bellringermal]

Sketched this a while ago as I practiced using Clip Studio > :3

No reason to keep it in a folder collecting dust. Enjoy!

[naoreco]

Update #3 on the saga of Kyle McCarley and his defense of Chris Niosi.

(content warnings for sexual assault, abuse, manipulation, and otherwise taking advantage of people)

Today, on July 22, 2024, he made an announcement in his server to apologize for his previous actions and ignorance. Details below, as usual.

First of all, the apology itself.

TLDR: He admits that due to his own lack of understanding of sexual coercion/abuse, he did not realize just how much worse Niosi's behavior was than he initially thought. More importantly, he also apologizes for inserting himself into the situation as a character witness and accepting Niosi's apologies on behalf of other people. While he's going to take a break from the internet, if he returns to Twitter he'll delete his previous statements and recuse himself from the conversation.

At the very least, this is a start. Rather than further doubling down, he's admitted to his mistakes, perhaps similarly to Alejandro Saab. Ideally, he'll learn from this huge blunder and think more critically the next time someone he knows is accused of abuse or assault or anything of the sort.

Whether you can believe him, though, that's up to you. (Personally my disappointment with how he handled it prior kind of sours this for me, and I'm still wondering how it took so long for him to realize that the internet wasn't actually making up the whole thing about him being a serial abuser because first-hand accounts were really not hard to come by. Generally an attitude that still bugs me, despite my relief that he hasn't pulled an Adin Rudd and quadrupled down on it.)

Speaking of first-hand accounts, people who aren't fans of his will likely have more issues with this than those in his fan-server; Look no further than Tara, who is still angry with him, as well as the people she's discussed this with. Here's what she has to say in light of his apology:

As mentioned in the screenshots, because this apology is in a Discord server none of Niosi's victims are in, they haven't gotten a direct apology from Kyle for his own actions yet. (Plus, considering he didn't talk to any of them when he was talking big about not seeing why people called Niosi an abuser, to say they have a bad impression of him is an understatement.) Still, until both parties are in a state to actually talk to each other, there's not going to be much headway.

(Final note before I go: I've also asked Tara if it'll help her to know what was included in the document, though I haven't gotten a response back yet. Maybe I'll edit this post when I do.)

[sam-is-tired]

Sunday better get on that dang train or I’m gonna lose my mind lmao