#but I cannot overstate how much I love these guys just as they are too

[helloagain-shinyred]

I found your fic on ao3, and while I originally read it for the smut, I ended up staying for the story. In fact, by the time the smut happened in chapter 8, I had actually forgotten there was gunna be smut at one point cuz I was getting super invested in the story and what was going on. I finally made an account on ao3 just so I could get updates on when you posted a new chapter. Your latest chapter wetted my appetite more on what's going on in the background between the bots and the company.

It's also a wonderful breath of fresh air to have someone write them as what they are...robots. Majority of the fandom it seems turns them into organic, and for me, just kinda ruins the whole animatronic thing which I enjoy way more (love me some sentient robos). I love when you write about the lil mechanical noises their bodies make, or talk about how they process or perceive things from a robotic point of view.

Like I said, I originally came for the smut, but man I am hooked on the story and writing. Patiently waiting for more!

Thank you so much!! You have no idea what a relief it is to know that people like the non-smut aspects of the story because hoo boy did the plot get away from me. I did NOT mean to make the story so complex. It just sort of happened. Rogue keyboard, I suspect.

Also, I must confess, while I 100% agree with you that leaning into the fact that the animatronics are just robots is *bass boosted chefs kiss* I’m not immune to making ✨changes✨ to them, like turning them into androids that look fully human on the outside but are still 100% machine in the inside. No of course I don’t have an entire AU dedicated to this idea why do you say that ahahaha… hmm…. But OH BABY do I still love keeping the robots as robots. Beep boop motherfucker these things have no soul and are always cold to the touch, bring on the lovin’.

Anyway, thank you kindly for the sweet words! It means the world to me that you went and created a whole ao3 account just for updates, that’s. Whoof. High praise, and motivation for me to really put out quality content. Gotta make those notifications worth it *audible wink*

[moinsbienquekaworu]

COMING TO FRANCE TO KICK YOUR ASS

Come on Alex! Anakin made the Worst choice ever just because his feelings hurt (because of his own precedent bad choices he knew were wrong when he made them but did it anyway) and then spent almost two decades stewing in his own misery when he knew what the right thing was and he easily could have done it! He's wet he's pathetic he's killed thousands of people including a bunch of children who trusted him and his entire "family" and also his wife he's extremely miserable and it's all his fault! Pathetic wet meow meow!!

[nalyra-dreaming]

Hello! Hope it’s okay to message. I saw your post about Marius and the paintings in the series/trailer but I’m dumb and don’t understand them. Can you explain them screenshots of when they’re in the trailer and series? Thank you so much

Hey!

Of course!

So in episode 2 we see Daniel in front of a painting.

Armand: "It's Venetian. A contemporary of Tintoretto's." Daniel: ""Marius de Romanus." Never heard of him." Armand: "Little of his work survives. Mr. de Pointe du Lac covets the rare."

Now. it's probably important to know here that Marius is Armand's maker, and he painted him quite a few times. (Armand also was an icon painter in his mortal life, in the book, we'll see how they'll spin it here, though the art in that one shot in the trailer is very interesting.)

Supposedly Armand thought Marius dead for long periods of time. However, given that we're in a mixed timeline, and that there are indisputable elements of the last trilogy in the show (Fareed, for example.) I believe that we are looking at the show's version of "Trinity Gate". And in the Trinity Gate era Armand was more than aware that Marius was indeed not dead. In fact there had been reconciliation. For me the painting on the wall of that apartment indicates that a certain reconciliation between must have happened already. I cannot see Armand look at his maker's painting when he still harbors the negative feelings he must have felt after it all came down.

In the trailer we see this guy, played by Justin Kirk, who I think will be/is Marius. He says: "You should fear the other one."

And right afterwards there is a shot of Louis hurling his glass with blood at a painting.

However, that is not the painting by Marius (that would be behind Louis there). This is "Rembrandt's "The Storm on the Sea of Galilee" (something which Assad Zaman cheekily posted ages ago^^).

Here you probably need to know that after the "chase" of the Devil's Minion arc (so when Armand hunted Daniel across the globe and eventually fell in love with him) there was a phase, where they hunted down art thieves. And kept the art.

That is stolen art from Daniel's and Armand's time together on the wall.

Edit: @cbrownjc pointed out that the timeframe of the theft doesn’t match the likely DM timeframe. So the painting might be from after DM! (But still stolen art^^)

And Louis throws blood at it in obvious frustration.

In the story referenced through the painting Christ calms the storm after his disciples panic, and he admonishes them: "Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?"

Given that (I'll just call him that until proven otherwise) Marius just talked about who Daniel needs to fear in the previous scene? Definitely not a coincidence :)

I also do not think the "presence" of Marius behind Louis on the wall there is any coincidence. (But it cannot be seen, and that is definitely no coincidence either, imho.)

Marius has been foreshadowed, and quite heavily, imho. He is also necessary for both Armand's and Lestat's backstories.

It's... too early I think to fully analyze what it means. It could mean Daniel has fully remembered and he and Armand are in their own little bubble (after all Louis seems to be alone there). We'll see.

Last but not least:

This - there's paintings.

Has Armand started to paint again? Has he shown Louis his paintings? Does he make himself vulnerable there for Louis, and Louis... accepts the invitation? Bites him there? Turns him to kiss him?

I would actually love that.

Because that would be a huge step for Armand. Huge. Cannot be overstated. Because Armand, too, carries lots of trauma. (They all do.)

[amariemelody]

So I finally got the courage to get my hearing aids today and...

Holy shit, I cannot overstate how much I cried and cried and cried and in sheer awe in my audiologist's office.

(Long story short, I've had mild-to-quite-moderate hearing issues since...as long as I can remember. It took me a metric shit ton of courage (and a steady job for the money, once again Fuck U.S Healthcare) to admit I needed and deserved help. I could still feel the stigma, but didn't need to give in to it. My audiologist has been endlessly patient with me as I mulled this big, big decision these past few months.)

(Con't.: To confirm my bravery, I asked my audiologist if there were pink hearing aids available, and if so could she order them for me. She squealed with enthusiasm and promised me she would do so. So I got the pink hearing aids. They are a beautiful soft rose-colored pink and my audiologist ooh'd and aww'd for me as she fitted them over my ears.)

So...yeah.

It was...kinda-sorta uncomfortable when my audiologist (I'll call her Em) turned them on because there was initially static and then everything Sounded Fucking Different And Too Loud And Is That The Air Conditioner, Why.

The first thing I heard with my new hearing aids was Em's voice asking me how I was hearing things and how I felt.

She smiled big because I know my eyes popped wide. Em's and everything else in her office sounded so crisp and clear and amazing. For the very first time in my life, I could make out consonants.

She turned down the volume for me when I asked and reassured me this would be a huge adjustment for my life and we'd be making follow-up visits to continue to monitor and titrate the hearing aids as needed.

But during the appointment today my hearing aids have felt overwhelmingly new but perfect.

So I only had to ask her to repeat something about 1x instead of my usual average of 2-3x, sometimes up to 4x.

I almost immediately started crying and Em automatically put the tissue box near me. I wiped my eyes and blew my nose and...

I found that I hate the sound of blowing my nose. So, so loud and unpleasant.

But tissue...makes a sound when you crinkle it/rub it together.

Tissue makes the most amazing crhh-shh-crhh-cruhh sound when you rub it together.

I kept rubbing it and rubbing it and crinkling it and crinkling it and Em just smiled, smiled, smiled in delight for me.

Some things...I found I didn't like with my new hearing aids. I don't like the elevator. I don't like doors because they may creak. I don't like the sound of driving and the traffic outside (it's like...a roar present in the background?).

But I love, love, love the sound of my blinker (I didn't know it had a sound!!!). I love the sound of people's voices that I've been listening to for a long time sounding crisp and clear. I love the sound of my purse when I rub the side. I love the sound of birds chirping. I love the sound of the elevator button when I press it.

Just...guys.

Tissue makes a sound when you rub it together. And birds chirp and squeak all day.

It's like...hearing color for the first time. You get to have the world's color in your ears for the first time, like most everybody else.

It's all loud and clear as thunder, but oh what a beautiful thunder.

[jkrockin]

Wait what guy who hadn't read Atlas Shrugged?

I was pretty sure I'd told this story here, but a cursory search suggests that I have not. Okay let's gooooo

Many moons ago, I worked in an emergency services call centre. I worked nights- I could get regular shifts, it paid well, and I am a huge freak, just like everyone else who works nights in a call centre. It is a lifestyle that attracts freaks. Some of my coworkers weren't full-time creatures of the night, but students or whoever who picked up occasional nights for the extra money, and one of them was Libertarian Shithead, who we'll call LS for short.

LS was a twentysomething white dude who wore a lot of name brand surfwear and designer sunglasses. I assume his parents were rich. LS loved nothing better than recreational arguing. Unfortunately, he wasn't very good at it; he had some of the most dogshit opinions I've ever encountered in the wild, and was terrible at defending them. He'd say some crap about how Gattaca-type eugenics is Fine, Actually, because if you let people make designer babies, the ~*Free Market will decide what traits are desirable! Racism and colourism and ableism and sexism and intersexism won't affect those choices at all! And I'd get mad, because I have principles to speak of, and we'd get into it, and WITHOUT FAIL, we'd get maybe halfway into an actual discussion about whatever horseshit garbage he was on tonight, and the second he thought he was losing, he'd say "oh, well. I'm an ~*Objectivist, so you can't really understand my perspective unless you've read Ayn Rand." Then he'd sigh, and change the subject.

At the time I had not read any Ayn Rand. Being fundamentally powered by spite, I withstood maybe three weeks of this shit before I pirated an epub of Atlas Shrugged, put it on my e-reader, and proceeded to slam through it at supersonic speed so I could finally get to finish an argument with this terrible boy.

Anon, I fucking hated Atlas Shrugged. The book is bad. It's way too long, every single character is an unbelievable douche, the prose sucks. Ayn Rand wants to fuck a train so so so badly, but the prose is so turgid I couldn't even get invested in how much she wants to fuck a train. And the core of the matter, the politics I was there to understand, are, y'know. Objectivist. Eye-bleedingly selfish and capitalistic, expressed in amazingly childish and blinkered terms. Even the bits where it seems like the shithead capitalist dudes want to fuck each other are too mired in the scunge of Rand's terrible views to be enjoyable.

But I read the fucking thing! I powered through it with only quite minimal complaining! I finished the book on the train to work, and when I saw that LS was on that night, I plonked myself in a seat by him, and metaphorically cracked my knuckles, ready to fuckin' party. In a perfect world, I would have been cool enough to have waited for the perfect mid-argument moment to drop, but I didn't. I think I lasted exactly until we were both off a call at the same time, and then leaned in as close as the desk dividers would let me, and said "So I finished Atlas Shrugged. I have some thoughts."

I cannot overstate how quickly it became obvious that LS had not read the book. For a hot second I thought maybe it had just been a while and the fine details had escaped him, but no; he didn't know who half the characters were, or key points of the plot, or even know any of the stuff in the John Galt speech, i.e. the big juggernaut of Here's How Objectivism Works near the end of the book about Objectivism that this fucking guy hypothetically based his Objectivist views on. It took me maybe five minutes, in between calls, to realise this, and another five for him to admit he hadn't actually read any Ayn Rand. He'd read her Wikipedia page.

ANYWAY I didn't speak to him for like a month after that, and I don't think either of us lost out there!

[obey-me-headquarters]

Mammon spicy headcanons:

• I've been converted by Frenchfry and seen the light: Mammon has a huge piss kink.

• He just loves it. Love it when you pee inside him, loves the taste of it, loves how needy he gets when you force him to hold in his pee, and loves how nice it feels to let go.

• If you don't let getting messy, then Mammon will ask you if you're willing to deny him going to the bathroom.

• He loves it when you bring out the pact and command him not to pee - that he's not allowed to pee without your permission.

• The feeling of not being in control really gets to him. The idea that you control so much of him that he can't even go to the bathroom without your permission.

• Probably calls pee something really cringey though like "liquid gold" so even if you're into piss play idk if you would want to play with him...

• When he goes into subspace, his brain completely shuts off. Mammon always feels like he has a million thoughts bouncing around in his brain, but when he falls into subspace, his mind blanks out.

• This freaked him out the first few times he fell.

• He was mainly worried about doing/saying something embarrassing as he doesn't have a filter when he's deep under.

• He's also a bit freaked out about how vulnerable he feels. He's so used to putting up walls and shaking things that bother him off, but when he's in subspace, he feels raw in a way he hasn't felt in forever.

• He wouldn't be able to handle it if you teased him while he was under.

• After a long conversation and many slow and gentle scenes where you ease into subspace, Mammon finds that he absolutely adores it.

• He becomes one of the subbiest guys in the cast who will fall into subspace from one look.

• Is also very much into dumbification, that you're literally fucking him dumb and that's why he can't think.

• That he's just your little fucktoy that's only good for getting fucked.

• Since subspace clears his mind so much, he often comes to you when his Greed gets too strong and have you put him in subspace.

• After this, he either wants to be fucked hard, or he just wants to kneel by your side as you run your fingers through his hair.

• Big into petplay. I cannot overstate how much of a puppy he is.

• It takes him a while, like with most of his kinks, to admit that he's into it.

• Once you break down his walls and prove that you would never judge him for what he likes? Oh. He's such an excited puppy.

• He never sits still when he's pupping, constantly crawling at your kneel or pawing at your thighs.

• Sometimes the two of you sneak away from the Devildoknand retreat to a summer house Mammon has in the Human Realm for a week or two.

• There you two go deep into petplay. Having Mammon eat from bowls, walking him on the beach on a leash, etc.

• The one thing he doesn't like is cages. He prefers to sleep in your bed, either cuddled up in your arms or wrapped around your feet.

[fruitytrollroll]

Nine Sols' narrative themes inform every gameplay element btw. if u even care.

saw someone call Nine Sols' gift sysrem for Shuanshuan "too dialogue-heavy" and "pointless" and I went temporarily insane

if the quest moments with Shuanshuan feel "pointless", it's because they are meant to be their own reward and you did them out of obligation!!! why!!! nobody was holding you at gunpoint to MAKE you raise this beautiful precious forgiving baby boy who loves you and nursed you back to health—but like a deadbeat dad on a custody visit just to be compliant with a court order, you spent time with him anyway and you resented him for it. WHAT!!!

also can NOT overstate how the games' themes of revenge and redemption tie into these scenes. they are not by ANY MEANS pointless!!! the way Yi goes out of his way to preserve his culture, by sharing it with the APEMAN he's raising, speaks VOLUMES about Yi's character growth in the 2 years since he and Shuanshuan began living together.

I was personally endeared by Shuanshuan immediately, and was delighted I had gifts to give him—AND that they each had bespoke cutscenes that revealed lore information about Solarian culture, and background information about Yi and Shuanshuan'a lives together?? do you guys know how rare and special it feels to have a gift system that WORKS like this??? SO many games give you garbage trinkets to throw at your companions for a quantifiable affection boost, so I cannot overstate how deeply impressive and heartfelt and dedicated to their story Red Candle Games clearly was to have put in the time and effort to make their gift mechanic so deeply character-driven, with custom animations and environmental changes for every skill you teach Shuanshuan. 🥺🧸✨️

if you don't like social sim elements in games, or the characters didn't succeed in endearing themselves to you, that's fine. They're not for everyone—but I suspect my experience was the intended one! you're supposed to like and care about these characters enough to bring them the gifts you find on your travels of your own volition!!

if you DON'T care about the characters, you can skip their scenes, and the game respects your time by LETTING you do that, AND by giving you an ending that is less involved in the characters' lives. but if you resent these scenes because "ugh i HAVE to do this to get the TRUE ending 🙄" then idk!! I think you are playing the game wrong!!

I think RCG gave players an opportunity to not care, and a perfectly satisfying ending despite it all (THE BETTER ENDING AND LESS EMOTIONALLY DEVASTATING ENDING, IN MY OPINION, BECAUSE RCG IS SO MEAN TO ME 😭), and if you passed that up for completionism's sake... IDK!!

I genuinely think achievments have poisoned too many games that don't benefit from them! Gone are the olden days of playing your big sister's SNES games blind—no online guides, no guardrails, just getting lost and wandering around the overworld, just playing by vibes alone and if you get stuck u just have to take a break and come back later instead of looking up a guide online because there wasn't even a GameFAQs page for it yet—but on GOD we need to get back there. Play games blind. Don't look up guides. JUST ENJOY IT, JUST ENGAGE WITH THE MEDIA, WE DON'T NEED INSTRUCTIONS I PROMISE, YOUR INNOCENT NASCENT FUMBLING IS ENOUGH, YOU CAN PLAY THE GAME AND HAVE FUN WITHOUT SOME CHODE ON "HARDCOREGAMER" DOT COM GIVING YOU A DISRESPECTFULLY SPOILERIFIC BREAKDOWN OF A PATH OR BOSS FIGHT OR ITEM LOCATION THAT ROBS YOU OF THAT JOY OF DISCOVERY!!

anyway. yes, if you forced yourself to sit through the dialogue of character-driven scenes for characters you didn't even like or feel compelled by, just to get the "True" end, then I imagine it would feel "pointless" and like "too much text". But failing to catch your interest is not a failure of the game's storytelling if you only disliked it because you were forcing yourself to do it for the achievment, just to get an ending that wasn't made with your play style in mind!!!

"it doesn't even affect the game's ending :/" *LOUD INCORRECT BUZZER*!!! ALL the sidequests have the CUMULATIVE effect of changing the ending! this is because Yi is a ruthless, analytical scientist deposed from his seat of political power in New Kunlun on a quest for revenge—yet he spent precious time doing a bunch of "pointless" sidequests for his friends he's come to care about, which allowed the villain's brewing plot the precious time it needed to come further to fruition. Yi is on a REVENGE quest, and it is the very act of saving Shuanshuan (thus alerting the island's security systems to Yi's presence) that puts a timeline on that revenge. He exposed himself for someone he cared about, putting his revenge in jeopaedy—and he postponed that revenge still further to make amends to the apemen he once thought so little of as to be complicit in their heinous exploitation!!! YI IS GROWING HE'S CHANGING, SHUANSHUAN CHANGED HIS HEART, AND IT'S ONLY IN THE TRUE ENDING YI CAN COMPLETE HIS CHARACTER ARC BY REALIZING HE FUCKED UP AND ACTUALLY REPENT (EVEN IF I HATE IT BECAUSE IT'S THE SADDEST ENDING, FUCK YOU RED CANDLE GAMES 😭)

also combat is focused around the parry because this game's primary thematic underpinning is giving proof to the age-old adage "fuck around and find out" (it's revenge it's about reVENGE IT'S ALL ABOUT FORGIVENESS AND CHANGE AND REVENGE)

[vaingod]

started watching a new anime w gf, a saga

- main character is a girl that crossdresses as a guy to get hired

- oh cool i guess we have a trans character? nice lets see what sort of trans they code her as

- she gets fired for being too pretty for a boy and getting female customers obsessed with him

- main love interest is a vampire

- vampire ends up owning him as a blood sack

- MC starts school in an all boys school

- MC continues to hide being a girl in her professional, educational, social, personal and love life

- MC constantly says she wishes she was a girl and wishes she met the love interest dressed as a girl so she wouldn't have to come out about hiding being a girl

- love interest is in love with him as a boy

- 2nd love interest, also in love with him as a boy

- MC tries to date a girl and gets sad when she isnt into him

- both love interests defend her as a feminine boy who wears womens clothes sometimes

- MC wears a wig for her boysona the same colour as her long hair cus she doesnt wanna cut it

- everyone is super supportive of them being gay and MC crossdressing as girl while crossdressing as a guy, everything is great, MC just feels like shes horrible for hiding that shes a girl. thats it. i cannot overstate how much that is the main conflict of the show

[differenteagletragedy]

OKAY BUT I LOVE YOUR HEADCANONS AND THE ANGST. THEY MAKE ME FEEL THINGS. This is gonna sound like a Weird Af request, you totally don't have to do it if you don't want to or can't or for any reason, BUT PERHAPS can I request some argument hcs? Like the OL Boys did something really bad / really made MC upset, like not just the other person's request where they're like scowling or just mildly upset, but like GENUINE Upset, like I mean somewhere near Heartbreak. Like how would they feel? How would they apologize? Stuff like that. WOULD REALLY APPRECIATE, but if not, I HOPE YOU HAVE A GOOD DAY ANYWAY

Oof these poor boys :( They're all going to be devastated

-- If Cove does something to upset you this badly, then I think it would be because he's angry (reference: that dramatic phone call with Miranda and Terri). So he would be mad, but after he cooled down, just immediate regret.

-- He can't be on bad terms with you. He just can't. So he's going to apologize his head off, probably cry some. He'd try not to because he knows this isn't about him, but he is who he is.

-- His stomach hurts, his heart is going funny, everything is just upside down because you're his best friend, his favorite person, and wow did he mess up. Seriously, he will do anything, please just tell him what to do to make it better.

-- If you can't get back on good terms immediately, if you're too upset and want space, then he's going to be an absolute mess.

-- One thing about Cove is that he's going to google something. So if that happens, he's going to get on his trusty laptop and be searching things like "how to apologize when you screwed up."

-- Cliff is going to try to talk to him, depending on how old Cove is he's not going to want to hear it though.

-- Is it bedtime and you're still not ready to make up? Better get ready for a tap on the window, because guess who's coming over.

-- He is physically incapable of sleeping if you are mad at him.

-- This will ruin Derek.

-- Like Cove will be heartbroken about this, but Derek will be just plain broken.

-- Honestly I can't even imagine what he would do to make you this upset because he's so careful.

-- He would probably at least think about breaking up with you because you deserve better.

-- I cannot overstate what an emotional crisis this is.

-- He'll apologize, but he won't want to apologize too much because he won't want to bother you. But then he'll feel bad about not apologizing enough. Then he can't figure out if he should be doing more to make you feel better or less to give you space. And THEN he gets anxious because he can't figure it out.

-- Eventually, if you don't come to him first, he'll compose himself enough to give you a heartfelt apology, telling you exactly what he did wrong, how he'll be better, and letting you know that if you don't want to be with him anymore, then he understands.

-- Baxter already did this in Step 3 lol, so let's focus on Step 4.

-- Oh no he's done it again.

-- This guy is going to straight up hate himself, all character growth down the toilet, he's the same messed up person he's always been, he never should have let himself believe that he deserved you, he should have left you alone because breaking your heart once was enough, and now he's done it again?

-- Suffocation, no breathing

-- This is a straight up spiral.

-- Derek and Baxter had very different childhoods, but they are also similar in many ways. The self-loathing is a real problem.

-- Baxter is going to think about running again. It's not that he doesn't love you, it's that he doesn't trust himself to love you properly.

-- But he doesn't want to lose you, not really, so he's going to have to do what's always worked: actually talk to you about the issues.

-- Please forgive these boys, because if MC ends up with any of them then they will never love another for the rest of their whole entire lives.

[searchingforserendipity25]

Brainstorming on the Maglor = Lindir concept for @funwithfanon and here’s a list of different takes, in no particular order:

Lindir does not exist. It’s more of a temporary, honorary rank, a job description - anyone can be the Lindir of Rivendell if their application is accepted. Duties include diplomacy, welcoming guests, playing the harp, singing beautifully, babysitting and being able to remember all the Dúnedain’s names. The usual contract goes for fifteen summers, which is much less than the regular yéni. Whatever you do, do not ask why Lord Elrond is very particular about having an open call for minstrels going on regularly. The Lindor of the book events is just some guy who is here for the steady pay to save up for a fancy dowry to take on his Ship to Valinor. It’s not that he has a sweetheart or anything, but he fully intends to nab himself a hot, rich, and influential Calaquendi once he gets to the West, and Elrond’s court is a good place to practice. I, for one, respect Lindir’s hustle. 

The same, but the current Lindir is Maglor. This is never discussed. If you recognize him, no you don’t. He shows up for the fifteen years, and then goes away, and then comes back. It’s fine. They don’t talk about it. It’s definitely fine! The job interviews have gone from dramatic to downright farcical. Neither of them is willing to be the first one to crack. The first time, Elrond gets to ask for a portfolio and watch Maglor draw a blank on anything that isn't a lament. By the fourth time, he has a long repertoire of new works inspired by Imladris ready, all dedicated to its gracious and most generous lord. They come up with ridiculously complicated linguistic crossword games and then swap them to play over morning tea. Again, I cannot overstate how much they do not Talk About It. 

Lindir is of the Falathrim of Sirion and he will fight you if you ask whether he’s secretly Maglor Fëanorian. He will hit you with his gigantic gold-and-ivory harp and you will deserve it.

Lindir is Maglor. Ish. Maglor-ghost. Maglor's remaint. If you look at him too hard the edges of him start to blur, like an old crosshatching drawing left to blur in the sun for too long. The shadow he casts upon the wall rests over his shoulders like a cloak. He is also rather misty. Somewhere by the sea, a body has been eaten by the fish, but the fëa wandered far inland and found refuge in the valley where all those in pain are made welcome. One day Elrond woke to a faint song. He followed it through the stairs of his house until he found - the smouldering embers in Hall of Fire stirring, and a darker darkness singing. Lindir has been part of the household ever since.

Lindir is Daeron. He loves the line of Lúthien more than all things, except for the Lady Celebrían, who was the one who found him, once, by the still dark waters of the North, and brought him home to the valley where the guards sing nonsense and the air in the twilit starlight smells nothing at all and very much like Melian’s kingdom in the days before the Sun and the Moon.

Maglor did not defend himself, whenever anyone found him wandering by the sea Maglor never defended himself, with words or Song, steel or harp. Not from wolves, or orcs, brigands or avengers, from the wrathful sea or the elements. Varda's Hallowing had scorched him through, a maddening and encompassing pain, the sort of continuous justice that left very little space for anything that was not regret. He could not defend himself from it, or the absolute, star-bright knowledge that its horror and ugliness should not and could not be denied. By the time he came again among the elves, there was very little left to recognize him by. He was so plainly beyond the ability to do harm - getting him in custody was less a matter of containing him than making certain no one went and killed him. It is imprisonment, in the sense that he’s in custody. There will be no Kinslayings or executions in Imladris (Glorfindel's passionate defence of Turgon's precedent aside), and even if it were allowed - no one could put him on trial presently. Elf parole gets invented eventually, after he is in the healing halls for half an Age, and slowly readjusts to society again. Much has his countenance changed, in grief and pain, and from wounds besides; few people recognize him outright. It takes him a long, long time before he touches a harp again, and longer still before he can be certain enough of himself to sing before an audience. 

You would not have caught Maglor Fëanorian admitting he could not identify a poem’s authorial contributions, be he dead or damned or deranged. Luckily, local musical prodigy Lindir, born and bred in Imladris, does not have weird First Age perfectionist hang-ups. Elrond’s students all have a perfectly non-traumatic apprenticeship and are very well-adjusted, thank you very much.

Lindir is a nightingale Arwen accidentally turned into an elf. Listen, it's a thing, it happens with Peredhel sometimes. He’s - adjusting. Focused on playing the harp to develop finger coordination and ended up enjoying it a great deal, after the first challenging yéni (Fingers! Tiny bony bits! What a notion. Lindir misses his beak sometimes). He does still trill sometimes; his old friends answer him during their afternoon songs, it is quite a sight. Mortals are very strange and they have the bad habit of dying fairly often just when he’s started to recognize them, but he likes the way the scruffy one makes his lady smile so he does not chirp in with comments on his poetry. Not many comments, anyway. 

They take his harp away, at first. Glorfindel, who had seen him in battle, wanted anted a geas of silence. But that would be a waste, in its way. His voice is bound to the valley instead, to the protection of it, and the working of its purpose as a place of safety and succour. Eternal servitude to the line of Earendil is not, objectively, the worst punishment that could befall the last Kinslayer. If Elrond is not entirely easy with having him in Imladris, neither is he able to countenance the idea that he might go free, and unaccounted for. The might in him goes away from his mouth, and beyond his mastery. He sings, sometimes, when it is for the benefit of the valley.  That he must be of use is a just demand, and a kinder end than exile. A grace, in its way - and it is not as if he has any reason or right to have any wish in his heart that is not to serve the line of Elwing. It is not, Maglor knows well, the cruellest captivity a soul has ever suffered. He can even speak, if he wishes; and in time, among the long Ages, he does gather enough nerve to ask leave to sing in the Hall of Fire in company, on those moonless nights when he is not needed to sing enchantments of protection. A minstrel can have many duties, after all. There are many ways to serve, in small and deedless fashion, without doing any harm. Pity is not torment, for all it is difficult to withstand, and difficult the making of a gift rich enough to answer it. Well, and he is an excellent minstrel; that much he can offer still, and he does it willingly. They call him Lindir, and that is fair, as well - it is only that Lindir does not and must not and cannot sing laments.

Maglor the Kinslayer is the minstrel Lindir. Everyone knows this. It's not clear whether Lindir, who cries when the cooks behead the hen and hums to the horses and loathes the silver sound of a drawn sword, does know this. 

[perfectlovevn]

I made something to store my notes and endings for the game I was able to find most of these on my own, except for how to acess true ending and 2 other notes. it took me a VERY long time of putting in names to see if there would be any reaction, i was really hoping setting the nickname to "love bug" would have a interaction considering how Milo doesnt like bugs. I noticed in the true ending that there was a red light flickering in the top, I tried clicking it and it did nothing, does it hold any significance? i think it could be morse code but im not too sure. Simply cannot overstate how much I love this game, ive replayed it many times so far, i never played a visual novel before except for john Doe. I also never used tumblr but decided to just say how much I love your game! this is a masterpiece, good job on the sounds and music throughout it all, also, sorry if there are any grammar mistakes, english isnt my mother tongue. Love from portugal!! :)

Whoa?? That’s amazing?? I’ve looked at this list a couple of times after receiving this ask and I’m still in shock and awe that there are a lot of you guys who are willing to put in the time and effort to make lists and charts for my game.

Love bug is actually such a cute nickname that I’ll probably add it to the update as an Easter egg. Milo does respond to some other bug nicknames like moth and firefly though that is mostly because they’re tied with some of the yandere vn Easter eggs that you can get if you rename Eris after a yandere in one of those games. Thinking in on this, I might add some more bug related names as Easter eggs (both good and bad) to the update if possible.

Oh, haha, I’m flattered you thought of Morse code for that but it’s likely a sketch that I might have accidentally put in the background that I didn’t hide since I tend to sketch out my drawings in bright red or blue. I’ll see if I can fix that mistake in the update.

Thank you so much!! I think it’s amazing that so many people made or started accounts on tumblr and itchio just to interact with me or say how much they like my game (right now Perfect Love is floating around on the main itchio game page which is insane to me considering there are probably like hundreds of thousands of games on there. It’s also really cool that so many people around the world are having fun playing my game!

Also I think it’s kind of funny when people are like Milo means dear and beloved it must be deliberate when in actuality it was a happy accident and I was trying to find a name that was similar to the word Chameleon.

[boxenstopp]

previous one here (ep 1)

EPISODE 2 OF CZECH IT OUT GOING INSANE TIME

LETS GO!!

omfg i love these boys so much. anyway shadow here calls them "double Ms" and carzzy makes, probably an innuendo by telling him to get between his legs? marek then, in the intro, says stuff about double m two, and refers to them as "me and matyas" which first of all. he says matyas!! second of all, the says matyas? without the š?? could be english-izing.

carzzy then with the. and this is literally all i can think of when i hear/see it. beauty vlogger intro. "hello guys :)" but his eyes look completely dead i love it so much.

then there's a cut because you know these bitches were just awkwardly staring into the camera for far too long.

NOW. HAIR SAGA. carzzy needs to check his hair with his phone (fucking girl) and humanoid just starts messing with his too like I GET IT GUYS. YOURE LITTLE PRINCESSES. humanoid and his movement actually like he thinks he's in a hair commercial. and then.

needs to bump into carzzy because while carzzy is loud about being an attention whore and everyone knows it, humanoid is also one, just. more private about it or something (not really if i'm pointing it out here) probably planning something devious.... like calling carzzy hot.

NEXT. i always do a watch of these beforehand so i know what i'm getting into but honestly. always makes me gasp when humanoid leans over and just says "you're so fucking hot, oh my god" . like okay he can do that sure but normally that's a backing down type thing not a teehee i want attention from by bf. cannot overstate how much this means to me foaming at the mouth im normal guys im normal

also nothing except humanoid has. arms. and carzzy says he's "lost it mentally" but i mean we all knew that already.

THIS FRAME. a) carzzy with the eyes b) the fact that he actually leans towards marek like he's going right baby? hmm? good midlaner!!

also marek has the "backing down" face again cause his ryze got countered by the pantheon oh no :<<< he also does a little apologetic look down at back at carzzy like he's ashamed. this also makes carzzy laugh way too hard cause i mean, free insult for him xdd.

THEN. the synchronized stomped "to the floor" is AMAZING because they look so fucking proud like yes guys WE GOT IT.

so far no "marek brazda"s :( also genuinely i need to state how much these guys are pretty much the same around each other. constant just blatant insults, intense neediness same fucking humor all of it. there is no like needy/patient angle to me. humanoid would call himself the patient one sure, but he is WRONG.

really good carzzy face here btw. what he looks like in my mind 24/7.

+ bullying carzzy time! poor little sad baby can't hit an mf ult and it's call his fault until it isn't :( he goes on to go boo hoo actually it's reallt hard to hit an ult and it relies on MY team who were doing shit and ACTUALLY they were calling me a perfect player like yesterday so whose fault is it >:(

humanoid's face when carzzy claims that he'd called carzzy a perfect player

here we also get one of the stupidest dom/sub moments because really i don't know what else to call it. carzzy says humanoid shouldn't talk cause he isn't allowed. and then as a little funny joke haha humanoid pitches his voice disgustingly high and says. fucking. "yes i agree master" i mean he regrets it immediately after but he still said. that.

THE THING I TALKED ABOUT LAST EP . where one of them just entirely backs down and goes actually youre the fucking best thing in the universe. and this time it's marek and he's cute and stuff about it and actually very thought through explanation of how carzzy carries the entire team 1v9 <3 i mean not that this is a standard, he goes right back to insulting carzzy's elise but the dynamic of it is so so good chomping on thoughts rn

next segment is just humanoid making noises :)

carzzy goes on a rant about how he was sad and crying and depressed (but in a teehee way if that makes sense. in a :3 way.) and like any normal person humanoid GETS UP, has a weird scuffle and pulls carzzy's hood over his head. i mean you could argue carzzy initiated it but they're always on the verge of bodying each other. classic carzzynoid behavior love how they never explain shit youre just supposed to sit and stare like wtf

FINALLY THE ENDING. YOU DONT UNDERSTAND HOW CZECH IT OUT TORTURES ME. BUT THE ENDING. IS EVEN MORE TORTUROUS.

THIS SHIT. i have no comment i feel like if i did it would be exactly this. silence. they do this shit in complete silence. (we also get a bit of a bi thing w carzzy and humanoid saying i love you which is a thing. they do. but im also so tired goodnight lol enjoyers.)

VIDEO END.

final thoughts: ouwghdhwja. ahhhooaaaaaa. every time i watch one of these i go damn, they posted this? they went, hmm, this is good for out branding. 2 disasters trying to overcome their disaster-ly mess and come out on the other side exactly the same, just way more fucking annoying aboutit. what am i even saying anymore. also no marek brazda's :( too busy being gay ig

[tauforged]

let's talk about the way we talk about sigma

and i’m not just saying this because i’m a hater or because i find the woobification of characters annoying (although i am, and i do, but that’s neither here nor there) but i AM saying it cuz it’s no longer mildly annoying so much as it is just hurtful and exhausting due to the casual ableism it perpetuates. whether it’s consciously or not, it’s there and i’m pointing it out cuz a lot of people probably don’t even realize what they’re saying (i hope) so i wanna spell it out crystal clear.

*granted, these are sentiments i’ve seen far more often on twitter or tiktok than on here (and i know complaining about stupid takes on either site is like going to the beach and getting mad about all the sand, but bear with me) but it’s ABSOLUTELY something that i see a lot on here too and i'm starting to get incredibly fed up with it all. someone's gotta fuckin say it.

im going to put the majority of this under a readmore because i've got a lot to say on the topic but here's the long and short of it:

you guys have GOT to stop acting like sigma is a poor little helpless confused manipulated innocent little uwu baby. like, for real. stop saying that shit. stop lamenting about “waahhh poor science granpa doesn’t know where he is or what’s happening around himmm 🥺🥺🥺”. stop acting like he’s being held captive or abused by talon despite evidence to the contrary so you can make your little “uwu i can’t wait for overwatch to save him and Fix Him uwuwuw” posts. and for the love of all that’s holy, if i see one more person say or imply that he was better off when he was being forcibly institutionalized than he is now working for talon, i’m going to start fucking attacking people with my teeth like a chimpanzee.

it's incredibly fucking weird and alienating for literally anyone who experiences even a fraction of the things yall are pointing out as proof of his incompetence. and before any of you hit me with the "oh it's not that deep 🙄" im gonna tell you right now that i dont care and im going to be mad about it anyway cuz its my party and i can post whatever i want.

ANYWAY!!

to continue my point, not only is it weird and infantilizing and demeaning and belittling to those of us who deal with literally any of the myriad of things going on with him that i’ve seen people point to as proof that he ‘needs to be fixed’ — memory lapses, time loss, dissociation, auditory hallucinations, disordered thought, just straight up being autistic, hyperfocus and/or complete lack of focus, panic attacks or meltdowns, i cannot overstate how many of the ‘weird’ things he does are just autistic traits so i’m gonna say it a second time for good measure — and those are all just things that i personally have in common with him (which is part of the reason i’m as mad about this as i am to make this post, but i digress).

to single out these things, all of which are completely reasonable for someone who is autistic, who is traumatized, who suffered through a prolonged period of forced confinement, and/or who has literal brain damage, and NONE of which are nearly as tragic and doomed as people are making them out to be, that’s all bad enough on its own!

but to point out these traits and then turn around and use them to color every single interaction he has with another character, every single thing he says, and tie it back to his traaaagic broken mind and how he’s clearly losing his grip on reality just feels… insanely othering in a way that’s really exhausting.

like, for fucks sake, a solid 80% of his character interactions could be lifted near verbatim from conversations i’ve had in real life with my friends, family, coworkers, you name it, all of which were friendly and usually in jest — hell, 9/10 times when i let out a random non sequitur or lose my train of thought or forget what i’m doing, nobody even bats a fucking eye! they sure as hell don't accuse whoever i’m talking to of abusing me because they expressed mild annoyance at my bad joke.

i’ve genuinely seen someone get all worked up and construe his one interaction with sombra where he comments on her tendency to disappear and reappear in odd places as evidence that he’s got dementia and is slipping away from reality altogether… and not, yknow, a nod to her fucking cloaking ability and translocator and the fact that she uses both very frequently just for the hell of it. that one still fucking baffles me i'm sorry. if i hadn't seen it with my own eyes i'd honestly think it was a joke. like. cmon now

another thing that makes it even worse is that most of this is also just…. not even grounded in canon. if this was the way blizz was writing him, it’d be one thing. it would still be shitty and ableist, but blizzard handling their oooh spooky scary mentally ill character badly is about as surprising as the sun rising every morning. i can't say i wouldn't still be upset to see people continuing to perpetuate it, but i wouldn't be AS mad, i guess.

but SO. MANY. of the popular takes on his character are either never concretely stated or outright contradicted by his ingame dialogue and interactions and it drives me insane!!! idk WHERE y’all are getting this shit but so many people are reaching so hard to make him a tragic sad uwuwuw glass bones and paper skin pathetic little meow meow that they’re going out of their way to misinterpret source material so they can shout from the rooftops about how sad and pathetic and unaware they think people like me must be.

i keep seeing people talk about how he probably has no idea that talon is a terrorist group, that he doesn’t know what talon IS, or that he doesn’t even know that he WORKS for talon, and it’s starting to go from mildly annoying to infuriating. this shit has literally no basis in canon aside from conjecture based on the fact that he’s Known to be mentally ill!! i don't see even half as many people getting this all up in arms about widow, who we KNOW FOR A FACT was literally kidnapped and experimented on and brainwashed by talon. like. that's her WHOLE THING. meanwhile sig literally just works there and people are clamoring for ovw to come """""rescue"""""" him as if hes like, a lab animal or something instead of a grown man who happens to not be particularly bothered by the fact that he works for talon.

this is something that's addressed in game MULTIPLE TIMES - he’d far prefer to watch an ant crawl on the ceiling than listen to s76 trying to ‘talk sense into him’, not because he can’t hear him or anything either, it’s pretty clear from his tone and cadence that he’s actively choosing to ignore him. when baptiste points out the fact that he’s fully capable of leaving talon if he wanted to, he doesn’t deny it or act confused or like that’s a strange thing to say, he just seems a little bemused that someone would think he WANTS to leave. yeah, he sure could— but why would he bother?

he's not "totally unaware of what he's doing" in the fucking slightest - hell, i'd argue that his new map-exclusive lines and interactions prove that he's MORE grounded now than he was in ovw1. yes, he gets a little confused on occasion when he can't quite remember the last time he's been somewhere. (memory lapses are just kind of like that. i had several while writing this post, in fact! it just fucking happens sometimes. it's really not the end of the world. frustrating, yeah, but i promise you we can manage just fine).

i guess the question i'm asking is: is it really all that difficult for to fathom that he might just... WANT to be there? that he might just straight up not care what talon is up to, so long as he's able to keep doing his research as he sees fit??

and for the record, before anyone takes this and runs with it and we lose the plot of this post, i am NOT SAYING that the very idea of wanting him to leave talon is #problematic or anything. i dont care, really. do whatever you want. what i do care about is just like.... being mindful about what we're saying and WHY we're saying it. it's reaching a point where people are somehow managing to look at the ass backwards already ableist as hell decisions blizz has already made with him and decided "hey, i bet i can find a way to make that even worse!"

[allsortzofcrap]

how come no one ever becomes obsessed with rewriting the role of irene adler and dramatically increasing her presence in holmes' life by making her and holmes develop some sort of deranged initially kind of one sided devoted friendship

my pitch:

following the events of a scandal in bohemia - holmes writes her and attempts to make up for his behavior by offering to do a task or solve a case or get her a gift or whatever but adler is like no thanks i don't need anything ❤️ have a nice life don't care

and because of his deranged and completely obsessional personality that cannot stop trying to complete a task once he starts trying, he would become extremely persistent. exchanging letters back and forth sooooooo polite but like increasing in frustration and desperation subtextually (this is expressed by increased formality and humility to almost comical levels - victorian letters vibes idk how to describe what i'm talking about but u know )

then eventually he would resort to trickery, burglary, and lying for what he imagines is a moral cause (classic).

and then i guess because my adler is also insane behind her responsible vernier - they end up just kind of in what amounts to a stupidly dramatic smart person war a la moriarity except with zero stakes

i'm talking shit like - holmes steals into their home in the middle of the night to deposit some jewled ring aquired as a reward from some case in their safe and when he gets home he realized he's now wearing it

it gets bad - this man has a crime web up with pics of everyone she's ever met, he's smoking the equivalent of 10 packs a day shooting cocaine and watson is like... god this must be serious it's probably the country at stake - i'm so glad holmes is here to selflessly devote himself to the cause 🥹

eventually holmes only wins because he finds some stupid rare brand of cigars that adler has been attempting to acquire through auction houses for some years and now that she has them she can't bare to get rid of them because they are her husbands favorite cigars and she LOVES HIM AND WANTS HIM TO HAVE WHATEVER HE WANTS (i cannot overstate how much her being absolutely besotted with some deeply regular guy who treats her insanely well is important to this character) and so she realizes she actually also has holmes to thank for her marriage (he was their witness) and also this whole thing was kind of a fun way to keep herself entertained between singing engagements

so she and her husband adopt him as a sort of pet/younger brother/son/elderly uncle you care for because he's a little odd

and they have him over for dinner occasionally and he tells them about his cases and when he gets stuck in one of his disguises he shows up at her door in the middle of the night so she can help him remove the fake nose off his face without getting chemically burned because he's too embarrassed to let watson help him because he wants him to always see him as cool and suave and mysterious (watson already knows he isn't and is absolutely in love with him)

[webbywatcheshorror]

Webby Reviews Horror: Thirteen Ghosts (2001)

Thir13en (or Thirteen/13) Ghosts is a story about a family that inherits a bizarre and beautiful house from a late relative that contains many secrets- and a basement full of murderous ghosts.

This is one of my personal favorites and has been since I was a kid. It came out in 2001 so the earliest I could have seen it would be when I was around 12 or so, and that’s assuming I saw it the year it came out, which I literally have no way of knowing. I’m going to operate under the assumption I saw it at 13 because it’s likely, and it’s thematically hilarious to me.

Also it definitely is one of about three ghost related movies that really solidified ghosts as being my ‘thing’.

Enough about that, let’s talk about the movie! Review under the cut, and as always, SPOILERS ahead!

I literally cannot overstate how much I love this movie. It’s one of the first real horror movies I ever saw as a child, and it’s definitely one of the ones that altered my brain chemistry to a degree that could never be undone. SO much of what I love in a horror movie comes from this one. 

Weird house? Check. Loads of ghosts? Check, obviously. Pathetic but attractive guy covered in blood? Check. Jokes that make me cackle but don’t interrupt the flow of the movie? Check. Body horror that makes my skin crawl? Check, check, check. A twist that’s set up previously in the movie if you’re REALLY sharp eyed? Check. Environmental storytelling, a weird morbid kid, two worlds in one space, and a WHOLE LOT of lore. It’s got it all!

The cold open is so good. It establishes the level of violence the dead are capable of (The Breaker having more than tripled his kill count after his death, for example), and gives us some major players and their clashing personalities. It also kind of reminds me of the opening scene in Jurassic park where they’re moving a raptor into the enclosure and it all goes to hell in a similar way.

Every new thing that gets mentioned just draws me further in, and I, a known sucker for lore, want to know everything. If I lived in that world, Cyrus would have had me hook, line, and SINKER, as long as he promised me ghost knowledge lmao. I’d be dead as hell so fast.

The inciting tragedy for the main characters plays over the opening credits and this, too, is something I adore. The environment changes along with the audio- a cheerful house with a loving family fades into a crummy, box-filled apartment while the anguished cries of Arthur and his children mourn the loss of their mother Jean as the camera pans to the left. We don’t have to see it to know what happened, or how much pain its caused.

One thing I love, love, love about this movie is how much story is told through the environment and small details alone, rather than just explained by the characters. Arthur doesn’t say he’s struggling to keep his shit together, but his instant mood swing at a small inconvenience sure does. The past due bills pinned to the corkboard in the background do, too. The set designers did an amazing job- I could probably find hidden important details in every scene if I had the time to comb through them.

Some other things I want to mention in this first part of the movie- the pictures of the house that the lawyer shows the family are all taken in a way that obscures the fact that every wall is glass; when we’re shown Kalina’s place, there’s a newspaper clipping about Cyrus’s death that names Ben Moss, the lawyer, as the spokesperson of Cyrus’s company, hinting at him having more of an involvement than simply the lawyer; and how nobody in the family really tries to deter Bobby from his obsession with death even if it makes them a little uncomfortable. 

The glass house is so iconic. It’s so fucking weird and impractical and sinister and beautiful all at once. And that’s BEFORE it goes full Rube Goldberg. There is nothing at all about this house that gives the vibe that you should move in here and raise your children. Hell there’s nothing at all that gives the vibe that it’s even a house. It’d be a museum, if anything, especially with how much stuff Cyrus has crammed in there.

Except the library. Almost all the books are on the floor in there. Cyrus I’m going to throttle you, you could have had the coolest occult library but instead you just stacked that shit on the ground. I’m so disappointed in you. It’s such a weird choice, given how much else he clearly planned out: every room has the ghost glasses in it somewhere, and there are multiple rooms that might tempt each new resident (living or dead perhaps). He wanted them to see their oncoming doom, wanted them to feel terror and heartbreak and despair. He planned for so many possibilities it’s actually pretty impressive- he knew the lawyer would kick off the process by going right for the money, for example, and it’s clear that he wasn’t told just how fast shit would pop off, since he just sort of saunters back down the corridor instead of getting the hell out as fast as possible. Nobody else was meant to leave that house alive, except Cyrus.

Cyrus himself is so easily hateable right from the get-go. He’s an asshole, he’s pushy and considers everyone else beneath him, and every new sentence out of his mouth makes me hate him more. There’s no attempt made to get the audience to sympathize with him, with the possible exception of the video they play as part of his will and testament, not that it works very well. What a great villain, and a fascinating character as well. I hate him so much. I’m delighted I got to see him die twice. (Ok so the first one was a fake out but it was still satisfying.)

And then there’s Dennis. Just as I hated Cyrus immediately, so did I love Dennis immediately. He’s a tormented little weirdo with psychic abilities, hunting ghosts and hating every minute of it just so he can have some kind of human interaction that doesn’t center on him being the target of whatever cruelty’s going on. He’s kind of an asshole, but he’s still compassionate (to the living at least), and funny to boot. Also, he’s played by Matthew Lillard, so of course I was going to love him. (However, at this point in my life, the only other thing I’d seen with him in it was Scooby-Doo, so the whiplash was real lmao.)

Honestly the man is prime blorbo real estate, as the kids might say. I’m surprised at how few fics there are on Ao3 for this movie/man.

My god, the lore in this movie is incredible. Each and every ghost has a name and a story, despite never getting addressed in the movie itself, and they all look phenomenally unique. They all have clearly distinct personalities, too, despite all (well almost all) of them being murderous freaks. I’d love to watch a miniseries or something about each spirit, I’d eat that up.

I loved the twist reveals, both Kalina’s and Cyrus’s. I really would like to know how he got her to fall for him, and whether she’d always been on his side or if she’d started out genuinely opposing him. One thing’s obvious though, and it’s that she is terrified of the man. Her personality does almost a complete 180 in his presence, she’s overexplaining, she’s desperate for his approval. It’s funny that, just a few minutes earlier, she’d taunted Dennis about how Cyrus was just using him and didn’t actually care about him, yet apparently never suspected the same about herself.

One more thing I’d like to mention is that I love how the family, and only the family, survives. Cyrus gets what he deserves, Kalina is betrayed, and Dennis sacrifices himself, but the entire family makes it out alive- including Maggie, the nanny. Where other movies might not have considered her family enough, and killed her off, this one says no, she’s part of the family. She gets to live. Which is great, since she was so right about pretty much everything, as well as probably the funniest character. (I will never not laugh at ‘did the lawyer split?’)

I do want to know what happens to all the ghosts, as after the destruction of the house they can all be seen presumably going off to commit murder elsewhere. And of course I also want to know where Ghost-Dennis went off to. Did he cross over? Did he decide to tag along with the family? Did he go off on his own? Whatever he chose, he finally looked somewhat at peace for the first time in the entire movie.

Maybe it’s nostalgia, maybe it’s because of how it shaped my interest in ghosts and horror, maybe it’s because I can’t resist a good pun, but I give this one 13 outta ten ghosts. I’ve seen this movie probably about 167 times and still haven’t gotten tired of it and I hope I never will.

[eegasleega-will-change-this-l8r]

Cannot overstate how much I love this sad old man

Mr. Geldegarde Monotoli, mayor of Fourside, rich in fame and fortune, servant of Master Giygas, absolutely sopping wet pathetic old loser who bit off WAY more than he could chew

I started writing my fic about him and Porky just because I thought their dynamic could be funny to explore, then as I wrote it it just naturally developed into the central theme of Monotoli seeing the good kid within Porky and trying to bring it out by being the kind and caring person he never had in his life and aaahhhhhh (god i haven't worked on it in ages i need to get back around to it aojdjoalkdjdk)

So I love Monotoli because he's a big spineless coward and I just love pathetic characters, but unlike, say, Aloysius, he's not an actively terrible person He gets caught up in his own ambition and greed and then immediately gets slammed in the face by the consequences of his actions Constant visions and nightmares, the guilt of everything he's done, his natural anxiety and fear being amplified by the Mani Mani statue, Porky (a fate worse than death) So he's stuck in this position and deal that he's suddenly realized he doesn't want, forced to continue to do more evil for Giygas

BUT he's also a good person!! He sees the good in Porky and wants him to be safe and happy, he makes sure to treat Paula well when he has to kidnap her, he immediately helps Ness and his friends when he's finally broken free of the statue, he's actually a very sweet guy when he's not being ordered around by a horrifying demonic evil

So I see Monotoli as being a guy with a pretty strong set of morals, horrified at the idea of doing anything wrong, but who got caught up in Fourside's business culture and becoming rich and influential Unfortunately he absolutely was not cut out for it and suffered failure after failure, until when he was at his most desperate he was approached with a deal He took it, rode the high of being on top for a couple days (in which he was incredibly nasty), then abruptly crashed as the ramifications set in His ending in the game is really sweet to me, having given everything he had wanted so much before back to everyone and taking a simple job as a doorman

So I always thought of Monotoli being, like, Italian (or Summers...ian I guess) Like his whole role being "businessman buys up the city, runs everything with armed goons, etc" feels like a spin on the mafia (subverted with him being a super meek cowardly guy who doesn't actually like the power he's gotten) Plus "Monotoli" just sounded Italian to me when I first played It's actually Japanese, "Geldegarde" is German for "guards riches" iirc, his name in the Japanese version was "Monomichi Monotoly" which is something like "has-riches steals-riches" So like a different localization of his name could be, like, "Richwealth Burglerson" or something Anyway he's still Italian for me

I see trout yogurt as being this weird niche thing that pretty much everyone finds disgusting, EXCEPT for Monotoli who absolutely loves the stuff It's hard to get in Eagleland (because nobody else likes it) so he has to get it imported, but the prices skyrocketed when it became known that it was Mr. Monotoli's favorite food and everyone started trying to emulate him (the industry completely crashed when he lost his power over everybody and they all realized it was gross)

He's probably Catholic, can't really get into any specifics because I know nothing about religion, but it definitely plays into his dilemma with having made a deal with what's basically the devil and now being forced to do evil

He has like a full-on Mr. Monopoly-type outfit that he wears for special occasions as the mayor I actually drew him in it a while ago but he looks wayyy too cool, if he's this well-dressed he needs to look like someone just poured a bucket of water on him to balance it out (also i meant to give him a sash but by the time i remembered it was too late)