#but goddamn still brutal tho

[toxooz]

been binging tf outa Avatar the last airbender bc ive been puking my EVERLOVIN guts out since yesterday and hear me out

[cloud-based-and-rainpilled]

Tom wanted election night to be perfect because he knew it would be the last time he’d have any power.

He wanted Greg ‘Gregging’ for him because he knew it would be the last time they could be together before he was useless to him.

He pushed Shiv away because he knew, even if she was telling the truth, their relationship and child are doomed.

He couldn’t go to the funeral because he’d have to face that all he’s ever wanted was power, and Shiv bearing his child, and for Greg to be independent, and how he’s getting exactly what he asked for in the most devastating way possible.

‘Normie’ Succession fans have said from the beginning that “Tom is fucked,” and they were right.

[shima-draws]

Still going through it emotionally btw. I've seen a lot of character death in anime but it's been a WHILE since I've seen one as brutal as Ace's, especially bc of Luffy's reaction to it. Character death isn't unusual but the trauma and PTSD that comes after it isn't really shown that often so Oda actually showing Luffy going through it is. Oof. That shit HURTS bro. And the fact that Luffy's immediate reaction is to just. Self destruct. To hurt himself and risk his own life?? Like it was never explicitly said but I could see the suicidal intent there and jesus CHRIST. Just sitting there watching him refuse to accept it and then mourn and grieve was absolutely brutal;; Not to mention the fact that like. We can see him having PTSD flashbacks. It was just written very well (too well bc I'm still a goddamn mess) and I gotta commend Oda even tho he's putting me through the fucking wringer

[fictional-orphan-smackdown]

Once again I have no similarities. They should still fight tho

All propaganda and what each competitor is from under the cut

Trafalgar D. Water Law (Once Piece)

Law is a genocide survivor who saw his parents' dead bodies along with experiencing a whole bunch of other messed up stuff (his sister burning to death, the people of his country being shot for being poisoned by their own government, being terminally ill, escaping the genocide by hiding under a pile of dead bodies, etc etc). After all this shit, he eventually got forcibly adopted by this one guy and dragged around the world looking for a cure for his illness. Right when Law started to trust and love his new caretaker, he is also brutally murdered in front of him. Law's life goal for the next decade is to get revenge on the person who killed his adoptive father. Vote for him bc he needs a goddamn win for once in his life. He is the people's princess and the narrative's favorite punching bag. Also, his depressed, PTSD-ridden autistic swag and scoliosis realness have captivated me body and soul

His biological parents were killed (before his eyes, by the governement) when he was 10(?). He then joined a bunch of pirates, knowing he wouldn't have much time (and will) left to live anyway. There he was sort of adopted by the Big Bad Pirate's brother, who managed to save his life, only for said brother to be killed (more or less before Law's eyes, by the Big Bad Pirate), when he was 13. You could say he was orphaned twice.

He’s literally got the double orphan special (Parents died and then the guy who took him in after them died too) that’s a 50% increase in orphannedness above your standard orphan. He’s also cool as fuck.

Law's parents were already on death row along with him and his younger sister due to a disease that shortens the life span of a person. The disease can only be passed down genetically and has afflicted everyone in the town that he has grown up in. Due to the sudden outbreak and unknown nature of the disease to the rest of the world panicked and the government closed off his city, killing everyone there. That is how his first set of parents died when he was 10, I think. Still then Law would later join a pirate crew where he would eventually be taken away 2-3 years later by Corazon, marine working undercover as a pirate in order to take down this brother, who is the captain of crew Law joined. Corazon took him in order to cure Law's disease which he still had and to get him away from Doflamingo, his brother. Over the course of 6 months the two became close with Corazon essentially becoming a father figure to Law. I am simplify this but at some point of Doflamingo catches on to Corazon being a double agent and finds him. Doflamingo then proceeds to find Corazon and shoot him in front of a chest that Law was hiding in.

Law has faced many hardships since he was a child, but used his experiences to become an extremely powerful doctor. His pirate crew theme and his Devil Fruit ability are all owed to his adoptive father. Law acts really gruff and serious most of the time, initially seeming like a cool, calculating character and feared swordsman… but one second around the Straw Hats and you quickly see just how silly he really is. He hates bread. He collects coins. He is obsessed with ninjas and superhero comic books. In one arc he just fucked around with his powers and INVENTED harpies and centaurs. Oh, and his First Mate is a polar bear. What could be better than that?

The government ordered to kill everyone in Law's country due to everyone getting "fantasy lead poisoning" disease, which was wrongfully thought to be contagious stroked. Law's family was living at the hospital when they got attacked, his parents (who were doctors) got killed and the hospital got set on fire with his little sister inside. He managed to fled the country hiding in a pile of corpses and ended up joining a pirate crew lead by Doflamingo. Law knew he had the disease and it was going to kill him in three years. Doflamingo's brother, Rosinante took Law hospital to hospital to find a cure but they always rejected him thinking the disease was contagious. Then they learned that someone had offered Doflamingo a devil fruit that could grant him immortality. The fruit could also cure Law so Rosinante stole it and made Law eat it. He then made sure Law could escape Doflamingo and got killed by his brother.

dude spent his childhood getting thrown out of windows, while dying from a deadly disease (that was eventually cured) but while he was still showing symptoms of the disease no one would go near him out of fear and disgust, save for his father figure.

nothing can ever go right for this man. its fucking hilarious in the series and makes for some wonderful angst content. i want everyone who has not watched or read One Piece to know that, for half of his 'main' arc, he's carried around like a potato sack by MULTIPLE people. he is a damsel in despair. he didn't even need to be carried, he honestly could've walked, but he had to save that energy so he could take the like 17 lead bullets out of him. he's always getting shot or thrown out a window and he's severely injured more often than not. he's also a doctor/surgeon, one that should be able to cure incurable diseases, yet his pathetic loserboy ass is too busy being emo to worry about the several gunshot wounds and internal bleeding. god help this man but also don't because honestly it's really fucking funny

Ok, FIRST, when he was a tiny frog-disecting little kid, him and his family and island contacted a disease equivalent to cancer BUT his fam didn't die from that. No, no, his parents got gunned down by the military and his little sis was burned alive with the rest of his house, so, yeah, very traumatic, horrific in a way that makes you very angry at yourself and life and want to oh I don't know, kill everyone and everything possible until the day you die, which won't be long because you have cancer after all. Later, after joining a mafia/cult/gang, Law meets Corazon who after like 2 years kidnaps him to try and get him healed and so they spend the next 6 months bonding, WEEEEEE!! Wait, no, NOT weeee because Cora who is now his father-figure DIES having protected and saved him, and thus bruv becomes orphaned not once, not thrice, but TWO very traumatic times! If this isn't an orphan, idk what is……

Adrien Agreste (Miraculous Ladybug)

[Putting on a creepy white mask as I prepare to unleash the most insane lore ever written] Once upon a time…

Okay so not only is Adrien an orphan, but he's an orphan who unintentionally and unknowingly was partially responsible for their own orphaning. Adrien was created via the Peacock Miraculous, since his mom was infertile. But since the Peacock Miraculous was broken at the time, using it caused her to slowly become sick, until she "died" (mostly. Probably. She might have been on life support), just afew months before the show began. Later on, Ladybug had a plan to take down the Big Bad, Monarch (who, unbeknownst to the heroes, is actually Adrien's father), via putting him in a position where Chat Noir (Adrien's superhero alter ego) could threaten him with his Cataclysm, a superpower that destroys everything it touches. Monarch willingly took the Cataclysm, actually forcing Chat's hand onto himself, which infected him with that Cataclysm, meaning that he was slowly dying throughout the rest of the season. When the season 5 finale happened and Gabriel sacrificed his life to heal his assistant, and the closest person Adrien had had to an actual parent since Emilie died, he only had a few hours left to live anyway. Adrien is still unaware of how his parents died, he has no clue that either death involved him at all.

BIG MIRACULOUS LADYBUG SEASON 5 SPOILERS AHEAD Sooo first his mom went into a magical coma as the result of him being born through magical means and was considered dead/missing by everyone. They had a funeral for her and everything. Adrien dealt with it pretty well, but his father did not and decided to become a supervillain to get his wish, recreate the world and bring his wife back. Which he almost does! He ends up trading his life for (I assume) the life of his secretary/former crime partner/Adrien's mother figure and joining his wife in death. (We see wife's comatose body ascend with him so I guess she's dead? Sokka voice You know, it was really unclear) But anyway, yeah, our babyboy is a full orphan now! Also in an alternate timeline he accidentally created an apocalyptic event and killed everyone so it's not even the first time he was orphaned. So there's that

Adrien is the superhero Chat Noir, who had to fight his father as the supervillain Hawkmoth alongside his superhero partner Ladybug, neither Adrien nor Gabriel had any idea they were fighting each other, and Adrien still doesn't know his father was a supervillain, or how exactly he died, but Marinette does and is keeping it from him. Adrien's father is abusive towards him, having kept him effectively locked inside the house for the first 13 years of his life, and forcing him to model for his company. But still, Adrien is the sweetest boy ever to exist, he's endlessly kind to people, sometimes to his own detriment.

I am no good at infodumping I just love this little guy. However, Harrowhark Nonagesimus is such a close second, but I chose Adrien because he's from my current hyperfixation… ily Harrow. Listen, Adrien is the most guy and catgirl ever. If anything happens to him I will go nuts. Unfortunately, so much happens to him. I am not normal. Give my baby some hugs and some real parenting. Did I mention he was not even born as a real human being? Born at the cost of other's life? Oh my god that's actually so Harrow of him and this is so funny I can't do this anymore

[corvidares]

bro i fucking LOVE that gregory dumped cassie thats so fucked up. thats a child making that brutal decision about his friend for the greater good. goddamn.

people are trying to be like "oh it was still Mimic" [that killed cassie in the elevator] - but like NO IT COULD NOT HAVE BEEN. THAT WOULDNT MAKE ANY SENSE. the radio Mimic was using to trick cassie fell to the floor and broke before it starts chasing her!!

plus during that last chase scene the real gregory mentions he knows how to get her out + that a friend is helping him (the friend being freddy i'd assume? tho i also saw someone saying vanessa after shes no longer evil) which would be pointless details to bring up and not to mention.. mimic is chasing her. why would it.. make it harder to get her.. for itself

also!! its very in character for gregory to do that!! like he was more than willing to fuck up the other animatronics just to give freddy wholly unnecessary upgrades. kid does not fuck around! yeah its cold, yeah its painful to see happen. but i do think he'd do it.

[bright-and-burning]

i know a runner on my circuit that is CONSTANTLY rotating through different shoe brands and literally every time i see them at a meet they have a new pair… that to me is lando while oscar has stuck to the same type (his mclaren ones) for the last eight years and will Never change them

i saw this right when i woke up (the first time) this morning and proceeded to fall back asleep and dream of runners au. jflkjadlfj.

youre sooo right tho. for once in my life i am deeply on oscar's side here. i tried a new brand of regular trainers (new balance vongo v5s when i was a dedicated saucony kinvara wearer) and every single run in them i feel like something brand new feels weird. it's never the same thing either. i could not IMAGINE pulling up to every meet in a new brand like fjeadoskjfladsjf

i have visions of lando in nike dragonfly zoomxs.... like the fluoro ones... but yeah he would show up in diff colors and brands every goddamn week. shows up to the last meet of the season in mismatched colorways of the same shoe for funsies. for shits and gigs...

oscar's gonna be like my mom; he's gonna find out his fave trainer isn't being made anymore and he's gonna buy up the entirety of amazon's stock and then have to deal w a closet full of shoeboxes for several years.

wait eve running shoe rant under the cut that has nothing to do w landoscar at all sorry 😭

ok so i always get such brutal shin splints w any kind of mileage in my kinvaras (like literally 20 miles a week w workouts and bam . i have to ice my shins after easy runs) which i kind of think might be bc i brutally fucked up my shins w soccer in high school (like, getting them beat up in games, obvi, but also by doing 2-4 mile runs lapping around our shit field in cleats on dirt so dry clouds of bugs would come up w each step). like they might just be permanently little bitches. idk. also entirely likely it's bc i hate lifting and thus do not have the strength training part in hand.

BUT. i thought it was maybe bc kinvaras are kind of. lightweight? they aren't hella cushy imo. oh wow i did just look at the 15s online and they look thick as fuck. but i always bought 10s and 11s. anyways. i thought it was maybe bc there wasn't a ton of cushion and i was doing a lot of hard surface running. so i was like fine lemme buy something cushy. lemme get something less neutral. i've also got flat ass feet (which is why my daily wear shoes are all like, converse and vans. arch support actively makes my arches catch FIRE for daily use LOL)

so i got the new balance vongo v5s. i went to my local running store, my brother (he works there lol) pulled a bunch of shoes for me, i did some runs up and down the block to try em all out. and like. i dont ever know what im looking for bc ive stuck to the kinvaras for so long lmfaooo. so i was like yeah sure these feel fine i guess.

WRONG. well ok theyre less bad now. but my god those suckers felt HEAVY. and also the mesh upper made me feel like my toes were gonna rip out of the damn shoe. my toes went numb the first few times i ran in them which was not great. i had other complaints cuz i was not kidding about like. the first fifteen runs i went on in them something different felt bad each time. but i cant remember and im not looking back thru strava to figure it out. im still wearing them. bc i did not spend. well i got the employee discount so i think it was only $50. but i did not spend $50 just to throw them out before i even hit 50 miles.

[danganronpafan777]

It been month how is your day and progress on danganmon and your fanfiction is life going well we love you

Just finished AP tests, so things are going pretty well! I’m been mostly focusing on my fanfic “Beyond” a lot tbh, but I do still have some requests in the works

I feel better about taking my time with requests with more x reader blogs in this fandom emerging :D Thank you for the kind words!!!

I also finished Chapter 1 of Danganmon, here’s some notes:

(Spoilers!!)

I wa so scared Apollo was gonna die, glad he okay tho

Maria with the hug to Kami is holding up some death flags 🚩 

And yeah, I jinxed it 😔

Bruh someone literally vented 

Investigation is so short goddamn-

Century really swapping his personality at the drop of a hat- 

Okay, didn’t expect him to be the killer. I honestly found the two traitor motive kinda stupid, but I like what they did with his character, and how he genuinely regrets what he did

Even if the trial was extremely short, Stella assuring him that they’ll all be his family hurts

“Well then… goodbye new family… please… don’t make the same mistake I did…”

😭

Why Faust mask breaking 🤔🤔

His friendship with Sam is so cute tho

Century: *is executed brutally, literally becoming fish food*

Maya: Hey Kami, can you give me some advice on talking to people?

Faust BBBYYY 

It’s not even the end of ch 1 and I’m already starting to simp bRO

Overprotective Sam and Roxanne to the rescue!!  

What an innocent and cute kids book :)

“??? The Eighteenth student. The ultimate 5’5, hidden somewhere in this school. Watch out for them”

No clue what’s happening in the intermission, but Sylvia sounds cool

[callsignbaphomet]

So I've been playing with the PTSD mod for a whole day now and I'm really enjoying the immersion it gives my playthrough. The hypervigilance stage can get a little annoying with everything either friendly, neutral or enemy being lit up in red. This is stage 1, I believe. Stage 2 are the night terrors and I tweaked the settings so that every time he goes to sleep he has a nightmare, which is pretty much in lore. 9 outta 10 times Jelani will have a brutally messed up nightmare detailing either or sometimes both traumatic events or have some fucked up shit sprinkled inbetween.

NIghtmare I just saw was a deathclaw and he had to run away from it and it was so horribly appropriate. I'm still in shock at how fitting this mod is for him.

I do have a few gripes with it. I personally think drinking alcohol and using drugs would make the symptoms worse not better as it is with the mod. Granted this is from someone who doesn't have this so I'm probably wrong in that assumption. The mod describes it as "feeling relaxed" when drinking alcohol or using drugs and relaxed is not the same as stable or better.

If you die in a nightmare you actually die, you don't wake up which makes zero sense to me but I guess it's some type of limitation to the game and not something the mod author intended. Also if you get hurt it transfers over to when you wake up.

The more you kill the worse your mental state gets and that makes sense but I wish you could make the symptoms randomly jump no matter what you do or caused by triggers, as is the case with Jelani. Also I didn't know PTSD could cause hallucinations. Goddamn.

So far I'm really enjoying this mod and I'm super glad I downloaded it, it's making me wanna write even more than I already am lol. I paired this mod with Maim and Advanced Needs 76 and honestly it's an amazing combo tho I'm turning off the headshot damage for Maim 'cause this is turning into "Fallout But From Software Developed It" and that's not what this run is at all. I'm going for a more survivalist run like I told Arcade the other day.

So far it was impressive and actually sad hearing him wake up gasping and shuddering when he woke up from a nightmare. The mod is really well done and the mod author's warnings were right. I don't have PTSD and at times I gotta take a step back so I imagine someone that does might not have a good time using this mod. The further into the symptoms you are the harder it is to calm them which can be done by a lot of different activities such as sleeping, eating, drinking (both non-alcoholic and alcoholic), smoking, petting dogs (in this case Dagny), running with Dagny as a companion, and a few more. Really good mod, if you can stomach it I highly recommend it.

[wastedlychee]

CW: DEATH BATTLE SPOILERS, FIRE EMBLEM THREE HOUSES SPOILERS AND SEMI-SPOILERS FOR BERSERK.

For people who don’t know me, I’m a loser who absolutely loves Three Houses and Berserk. I'm going to take time to talk about Dimitri VS Guts, because holy fucking shit I love this Death Battle so goddamn much. I was going to make a prediction blog for this fight but didn’t really see the point as Dimitri stomps being brutally honest.

I want to talk about Guts VS Nightmare first before talking about Guts VS Dimitri, as this is the only time I'm probably ever going to mention it: I genuinely dislike the episode.

When it originally came out, how they portrayed Guts wasn’t right at all; the thing I find

genuinely annoying is how is how after that Death Battle was released, people formed this thought that Guts was this Doom Guy/Doom Slayer-type character who slaughters demons for nothing more than sheer hate, which is true… at least at first. But then later on, Guts became-

much more than that due to his hate making him do nothing more than just become a hollow shell who fights only for his selfish desires to fight Griffith and protect Casca, even letting people into his life again and becoming friends with other people.

The story of Berserk went from being about an angry nihilist who fights just to fight, into a story about broken people helping each other in any way they can. So what did Death Battle do for Guts VS Nightmare? Make him just his angry, nihilistic self and not mention how he has changed.

There was also some research-related stuff that had issues, but to be blunt I don’t personally care about if either Guts or Nightmare should have won. If you want the truth of how I feel, Nightmare is so much stronger that the argument of “Guts beats people stronger than him everyday” isn’t really a good argument - not when unlike everyone Guts has ever fought, he's thousands of times stronger than the strongest person Guts defeated.

But that’s the main reasoning on why I don’t personally like Guts VS Nightmare - despite thinking it was okay animation-wise.

Now let's talk Dimitri VS Guts… well kind of.

I wanted to talk about my attraction towards this matchup; as mentioned before, I love both Fire Emblem and Berserk.

Starting with Dimitri: I got into Fire Emblem around the time the GBA games came out, and while I did fall off the games, I got back into them when Awakening was released.

With Berserk, I got into the manga around middle school after I was talking to a friend that I absolutely loved Hellsing and Black Lagoon. To be blunt I didn’t like Berserk at first because I disliked Guts until the time he changed, and to me changed for the absolute best. (I still wouldn't recommend Berserk tho cause....yeah)

Dimitri himself is a character that I absolutely fell in love with, from his story of mental health problems to his desire to change after the events of the timeskip as the redemption arc of sorts

happens. I’ve been wanting to do a "Who’s My Personal Favorite Characters of All Time" list, but I haven’t found any personal time to do so.

Now onto the actual episode with the analysis of Guts- this time, the episode did Guts legitimate justice as a character, as he is treated to much more than his past. With Dimitri, it also did pretty well as there’s not really anything I personally disagree with.

I know there were some people who took issue with the analysis, starting with the fact Dimitri was stated to have magic; however, they also were factoring in Three Hopes, which in that game he was able to use magic. To briefly touch on the animation, I can understand the issue of Dimitri stomping should have ended the fight with the lightning attack shutting down Guts’ armor, though I dislike that possible ending and you'll see why when I get to the actual ending.

Next, let's talk about those who disagree with the Rhea thing- you need to realize something with Death Battle as it's clear you guys don’t do VS Debating stuff: scaling is important, and Dimitri should get the scaling considering Edelgard and Byleth did kill Rhea in Edelgard's route.

There's also the fact that Dimitri kills Edelgard in his route, and also fights a powered-up version of her anyways. Scaling matters in these match-ups.

But onto the animation itself: I absolutely loved it - the back and forth with them becoming more bloodied and hurt, but neither caring due to how they fight. I especially loved the "voices in their heads" scene before Dimitri and Guts power up again. Plus, holy fuck the music is so good,

Brandon Yates did an amazing job with God's Hand.

Now the ending: if the voices scene didn't happen, this would be my favorite part. Dimitri thinks Guts is dead, then all of a sudden he gets up and breaks his lance, but ends up dying because he fought until every drop of his blood was gone. I also love the touch that the Berserker Armor is the reason why he is still standing despite dying. Dimitri realizes Guts fights for those who lost their lives too, and then decides to fight for Guts. Holy fucking shit man, this may be one of my favorite Death Battles of all time.

Closing thoughts, I absolutely loved this episode of DB and the team did an amazing job with it.

[savventeen]

I JUST BINGED YOUR ENTIRE “THANKS FOR PLAYING” AND I HAD TO STOP MYSELF FROM CRYING IN THE LIVING ROOM AND GODDAMN I GOT SO MANY QUESTIONS/IDEAS so here’s a dump lmao

AND SPOILERS ‼️‼️

and be honest if you honestly don’t have any idea or want to leave it up for interpretation

dino’s friend recommended it to him and he recommended it to mc right? well what happened to that friend/person?? i bet they are alive because they sent that game to 13 people before 3 am so the lady in the closet doesn’t get to them 🤭

if mc didn’t mess around and acted seriously in the game, would the outcome have changed? or was it always the gamemaster’s intention for the player to fall into obscurity?

how come dino remembered the mc? power of love??? or because he knew about the game (im pulling stuff out of my ass)?? or he has an android phone in this au 🧐

what if the pfps for the “AIs” are actually previous victims

so if you actually finish the game against all odds everyone is released (if they aren’t dead) hmmmmm sequel merhaps?? jk

imagine the only clue left about the players existence is the goddamn phone bill for texting 💀

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MC????? wait that’d be really sad if the mc was actually still alive but dino couldn’t recognize them as “mc” but knows they exist somehow uGH

i know you wrote this story for fun so these don’t need to have answers/comments but please provide any extra tidbits of info about this concept it’s so interesting 🙏🙏

SKLJDFLKSDJF OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING????? AND IM SO HONORED HOLY SHIT I WILL DO MY ABSOLUTE BEST TO ANSWER WHAT I CAN 😭💜

also you are not the only one with questions so I'm going to do my best to answer them all here!!!

[for anyone who hasn't read it yet and wants to know wtf we're talking about, you can read the entirety of my .|X| THANKS FOR PLAYING |X|. smau here!]

*cracks knuckles* alrighty buckle up folks time to try and answer some questions and take a deep dive into savv’s personal TFP lore here we gooooooooooooo

[putting it all under a readmore bc it got long af and also i didn't realize how hard it would be to translate the lore in my brain into words??????? i somehow didn't realize how oddly complicated it is??? like writing all of this out in any kind of semi-coherent way was SO HARD sdkjfsdlkjf]

~ Was it all a dream? (this one was asked by @junhui-recs)

Sadly, no. 😭 In the reality of this fictional universe, a tragedy very much did happen and Dino and MC are very much suffering from it 🥲 (I will not stop you from imagining that it was all a dream tho, we all have different ways of coping dklsjfsklj <3)

~ What's the main purpose of the game? Why are they doing this? (this one asked by @diamondyjh)

OKAY SO to start off you need to know that this au was heavily inspired by an episode of a podcast called "The Magnus Archives", specifically the episode “Binary” (transcript here). [If you're a fan of horror, I highly recommend giving the episode a listen/read, it's delightfully creepy — you don't need to have listened to any of the other episodes to understand it (just stop at the ending 'supplemental' part)]

The episode goes into detail about this sort of digital urban legend/creepypasta/copypasta about a guy named Sergey Ushanka who, long story short, tried to upload his brain/consciousness into a computer because he was afraid of death and wanted to try living forever virtually. There are tame versions of how he did it and other much more brutal ones, but basically "Sergey Ushanka" is a prank that various coders/programmers like to pull when making chatboxes in which you could talk with "strangers". It would start out normal and then steadily devolve into something creepy. This paragraph taken directly from the episode transcript sums it up very nicely:

"But then the responses start to break down, become more sinister, and keep referring to how much pain Sergey is in. Eventually, the only response the bot gives you is screaming and pleas to be released. The idea is that the chatbot is Sergey Ushanka’s mind, and he doesn’t like being in a computer nearly as much as he’d hoped."

So the idea that I stole from the episode essentially was: but what if it was real? What would the reality of being turned into cold, unfeeling data feel like? Agony is what the episode posits. Here is a list of phrases that the Sergey in the episode uses:

cw: vague body horror, blood mention "the angles cut me when I try to think" / "it peels my mind like knives" / "it feels like thinking through cheese wire" / "there's no feeling, but the no feeling hurts" / "it's cold without blood" / "the maze is sharp on my mind"

My next thought process was: What happens after? If someone were able to survive this process and were somehow able to keep any kind of agency, how would that person try to get out of the digital hellscape that has now become their existence? After knowing what it feels like to become distinctly inhuman, wouldn't they do anything to feel human again?

And how do we feel human? How do we find connection with each other and our humanity without ever having to come in contact with another person?

Stories. Fiction and non-fiction alike, we are all connected through storytelling, by finding feeling through other people's words. The thing about stories, though, is that they aren't messy in the same way that actually feeling our feelings is. That being human is.

So what does all of this have to do with the purpose of the game?

Essentially, when it's all boiled down, in this universe the story of Sergey Ushanka is real, and in this universe he is trying to gain his humanity back by stealing that of others. He started off with stories, with whatever online libraries and resources and archives he could find across the internet. And while it wasn't even close to enough to satisfy him, to get rid of any of the pain he was constantly experiencing, it was enough for him to learn, to grow, to realize that if he wanted his humanity back, he needed to go to the source.

So he started stealing real people from the real world, with all of their messy feelings and emotions and humanness.

That is the purpose of the game, why "they" are doing this. (pls don't ask the how bc i don't have an answer for that, just -waves hands- you know, insert your supernatural/sci-fi explanation of choice sldkflksj)

~ Did all the other characters from the game also get pulled into it the same way reader did? (asked by @diamondyjh) / What if the pfps for the “AIs” are actually previous victims

Short answer, yes to both! (Longer answer in the next question lol)

~ Who are those other people? (asked by @junhui-recs)

Essentially, the other characters/bots/whatever you want to call them are a kind of amalgamation of all the previous players who got sucked into the game. Once someone's been... let's call it absorbed, whatever parts of themselves are left after the process basically get shoved into whatever "character" they fit best, sometimes different pieces going to different characters.

And while the pictures could just be random ones, I like the idea that they're taken from the most recent players that got absorbed :')

~ Why was Changkyun evil? (asked by @junhui-recs)

Well, the main reason he was "evil" was because he's, y'know, a part of the game and the game is trying to steal people's souls or whatever. As for why he's mean, that's because he's trying to trigger an emotional reaction. The more messy, human feelings that are happening at the time of absorption, the better :').

~ Dino’s friend recommended it to him and he recommended it to mc right? What happened to that friend/person??

"i bet they are alive because they sent that game to 13 people before 3 am so the lady in the closet doesn’t get to them 🤭" SJKDFSKLDJ this made me snort, so thank you 😂

BUT to answer your question, in the story, Dino says that Yeonjun gave it to him and that he got it from "a friend of a friend of a roommate". Because the absorption and the consequent complete erasure is such a big process, not everyone who plays gets sucked in. In fact, most people who play don't get sucked in. Which is why Yeonjun is totally fine! (And why the friend of the friend of the roommate, aka this universe's irl Changkyun, is not 🥲)

~ If mc didn’t mess around and acted seriously in the game, would the outcome have changed? Or was it always the gamemaster’s intention for the player to fall into obscurity?

This one's a little bit complicated. It's kind of a yes and no situation? Generally speaking, the game isn't looking to ensnare every single person who plays because 1) it takes A Lot Of Effort to take/erase a single person, and 2) the game needs to spread to other people somehow, thus it needs people to play it and then tell other people to play it too.

For MC specifically, though, it's hard to say. How they played the game didn't matter so much as how they reacted to the game, specifically the first phase(s) of the Mnemosyne Protocol. The whole point of the game is to get big, messy, emotional responses, so if MC hadn't had such a big reaction, the game probably would have turned out differently. That being said, if MC had played the game as blandly as possible, the game might not have ever decided to test out the Mnemosyne Protocol, so. *shrugs* Do with that what you will lol.

~ So if you actually finish the game against all odds everyone is released (if they aren’t dead) hmmmmm sequel merhaps?? jk

Sadly, nothing special happens if you finish the game 😭 Plenty of people finish the game and pretty much go "huh, that was cool I guess" and then move on with their lives after telling their friends about it. This can be said about all four games mentioned actually, since we only see one of them get played.

As for a sequel... almost certainly not 🥲 I'm not going to give a hard no/no forever, because who knows if I'll end up getting another idea/get suddenly struck with inspiration, but... it is Extremely unlikely. Another story in the same universe??? ...still not likely, but slightly more likely than a sequel lol.

~ Why is Dino the only one who remembers reader? (asked by @diamondyjh) / How come Dino remembered the mc? Power of love??? Or because he knew about the game (im pulling stuff out of my ass)?? Or he has an android phone in this au 🧐

I almost want to make the answer "bc he has an android" because that is So Funny to me like sldkfjsldkjfslkjdf amazing 😂

But no, that's not the case lmao. And while I am a huge sucker for the Power of Love being an unstoppable force (ESPECIALLY when it's non-romantic love!!!), the reason Dino and only Dino remembers is thanks to sheer luck and a glitch.

So, in episode 28, MC drops their phone when meeting their brother and in episode 29 we see the alert ".|| MNEMOSYNE PROTOCOL COMPLETE ||." show up on a cracked screen.

The final phase of the Mnemosyne Protocol is the erasure portion, and the reason players get erased instead of just like, disappearing is because their "essence" is basically being transferred from reality into this digital realm of Sergey's existence. And reality, because it's now lacking an entire person and their history, just kinda... rewrites itself to make sense with the missing gap. Think of it as the universe doing like a sort of reverse autocorrect.

But because MC's phone got broken in the middle of that transfer, there was a slight glitch in the process. A glitch wherein Dino, because he was on the opposite side of the globe when this was happening, got accidentally missed in the autocorrection process. If he had been in Korea (or heck, anywhere within a few thousand miles) when this happened, he would have forgotten MC as well.

So long story short, Dino was just extremely (un?)lucky 🥲

~ Where is reader? (asked by @junhui-recs) / WHAT HAPPENED TO THE MC????? Wait that’d be really sad if the mc was actually still alive but dino couldn’t recognize them as “mc” but knows they exist somehow uGH

Well, sad news here friends. Most of what's left of MC is now stuck inside the game. They got absorbed and are now a part of Sergey's dataset and will be used/distributed into "characters" as needed.

Notice that I said most. Because, thanks to the glitch, the part of them that was connected to Dino didn't get transferred properly, and now that part of them is kinda stuck — it no longer exists in the real world, but it also didn't get fully absorbed into the game.

Which leads me to the next question:

~ Did reader turn evil and try to pull Dino into the game or is it the game itself being evil and impersonating reader to lure Dino in? (asked by @diamondyjh)

When I wrote the original version of this, the answer was a kind of combination of both — MC had gotten absorbed and corrupted by the game, so while it was the MC reaching out, they were doing so because it was what the game wanted.

But in this version... It's actually neither! Which I think would normally be a good thing but I think in this instance actually just makes this sadder oops.

So, the epilogue isn't the game impersonating MC and it isn't an "evil" MC trying to lure Dino in, it's actually just the part of MC that got stuck during the glitchy transfer. This is why the messages show as being from "Unknown" instead of the phone number associated with the game. And the reason what's left of MC asks Dino if he wants to play a game is because that's the only way it knows how to connect with anything anymore.

Basically, this sliver of MC that's left is experiencing what the original Sergey went through when he first "uploaded" himself, but instead of reaching out to anyone through a chatbot for help, it's reaching out to the only thing it "remembers" about humanity — Dino.

...I honestly didn't mean to make this story any sadder than it already is and I'm glad that the epilogue by itself just reads as spooky/freaky as hell instead of, well, this. 🥲

~ If Dino plays the game, will he be reunited with reader? (asked by @diamondyjh)

It pains me to say that there is no longer an MC for Dino to reunite with 😭 The part of them that got absorbed by the game is, well, a part of the game now. And the piece of them that's left and trying to reach out to him? Well, like I said, it's just a piece.

There could potentially be a chance for him to find some closure here, but that's about it I'm afraid :')

And now because I want this to end on a more lighthearted note:

~ Imagine the only clue left about the players existence is the goddamn phone bill for texting 💀

It becomes the next biggest conspiracy, that there's someone (or a group of someones) out there completing the world's next biggest scam by raking up random people's phone bills and somehow finding a way to steal the profit lmao

~ Some last thoughts from savv:

If y'all made it all the way to the end of this... holy shit I applaud you sldkfjsdlkjflksjdf LIKE!!!

thank you for taking the time to read all of this?????? it's not even fic it's just me rambling and making things Even Sadder??????

i also want to say that i'm a believer that 'canon' is whatever was posted in the story itself and that anything else is just headcannon, even if it's from me, the author. so if you don't like/don't agree with anything i've said here, feel free to ignore it!! fill in any gaps/questions you have in the way that makes your reading experience the most enjoyable!!

but yeah tHANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR READING AND I HOPE THESE ARE SATISFACTORY ANSWERS TO YOUR QUESTIONS AND IF YOU HAVE ANY MORE/HAVE A RENEWED DESIRE TO FIGHT ME MY INBOX IS OPEN SDKLJFSLKJFLSKFJSLKD

[hurrakka]

oh man. theoretically in a l4d au luis would've helped develop the green flu yeah? sure it's a naturally occurring virus in l4d canon (maybe. we're not really sure where it comes from cus ceda doesnt say shit but ellis mentions the government using bio-bombs in one of his keith stories so it could be a bioweapon?) but this is an au we can do what we want.

anygays im just imagining leon getting infected. we know better-safe-than-sorry-guy (i call him scout cus his va is the same as scout from tf2) is human when we first find him but experiencing extreme paranoia and some compulsions then a few minutes later he fully turns, going from able to speak and function to choking and growling and fully mutated (either into a hunter, boomer, or smoker) so there's always the possibility of a rapid transformation too. im thinking leon falling behind a bit while theyre walking because he's coughing and chokin and shit n he falls to his knees and luis is all like "bro whats wrong!!" and he gets to watch as leon Turns Before His Eyes. even better if he turns into a hunter cus if you look closely at their models they don't have eyes. we can't be exactly sure what Happens to their eyes when they turn but the two most popular headcanons are both equally brutal-- either Luis has to watch Leon's eyes quite literally melt out of his skull or he gets to watch him claw his own eyes out. Fun!

BUT there's graffiti in one of the safe rooms arguing over how long it actually takes to turn-- whether it's 20 minutes, 2 hours, overnight, or some other wacky chunk of time. so there's also the thought of Leon turning slowly. progressively becoming irritable and irrational and confused and him slipping in and out of conciousness for days until Luis goes to check his temp one day and he fucking Lunges.

and if leon turns and luis makes it out alive imagine the Guilt. he feels awful enough in re4 canon when there's a cure,,, but the green flu mutates too often to develop a proper cure for it. if leon gets infected and he isnt immune then he's just. done. theres nothing that can help him at that point. and luis already feels so goddamn guilty about the millions of people he's killed and now leon's gone too and he cant help but visualize every single person who had somebody ripped from them by his hands.

oh man and if luis has to put leon down? its joever. that man would Never recover. i dont even know if he'd keep trying to survive at that point. maybe just for that shred of hope of developing a cure (even though he knows it'd be damn-near impossible but it's the only thing hes got, dammit) and stopping this whole disaster.

coughs. sorry for the rambling i simply have been obsessed with l4d for going on 12 years now so <3

I had to lay down for a moment bc of the feels and potential outcomes in the event luis lives on while leon well...yeah (thinkin abt how buddy from re damnation would jus turn as well since leon is no longer there and that made me big sad dgkrnekhbfgnjklh) Since the re verse has like morbillion viruses, the green flu existing would be plausible so its just another stonks moment for umbrella lol. But yeah luis would absolutely be devastated. He probably doesnt have the guts to pull the trigger, least he can do is to restrain leon for a while and tries to find whatever humanity he has left in his nonexistent eyes. Tho in my witch!leon hc I think luis may have a chance to keep leon around??? Since witches seem to have the most humanity among the infected (and thats not saying much) he could probs observe him a lil bit without getting eaten right away. It would just be a warm bodies scenario ngl (i just watched that movie recently so this is huge copium dksfghbshgndfh) Honestly Im glad l4d fandom still alive after all these years. That game will always be goated and it was one of my high-school obsessions. I used to do crossover stuff back then and Im back to doing it now. Time rly do be a flat circle

[neon-green-reagent]

Vampire Films That Suck My Blood

But don’t SUCK. You know? What I mean? They’re good. Anyway. 

Let’s start with the super obvious ones you’ve probably seen. And if you haven’t, go see them, they’re classics. Near Dark (my personal favorite), The Lost Boys, Interview With The Vampire, Horror of Dracula (Hammer), ‘Salem’s Lot, Blacula, From Dusk Till Dawn, Let The Right One In, and Fright Night, by which I mean the one from the 80s. Now we can get into some deeper cuts. 

Night Owl | Filmed in black and white and set against the backdrop of the New York nightclub scene of the early 90s, this one is OOPS ALL VIBES. It’s full of house music and brutal murders. One of those films that feels intensely gay despite its best efforts to be straight. Very moody and arthouse. Obviously I recommend the hell out of this for a very specific crowd of people.

Pale Blood | What a nutso concept. A human is running around killing people in the style of a vampire. So a real vampire shows up to stop him. With Wings Hauser being super unhinged, as he tends to do. Lots of neon lighting that makes it all extremely 80s. And a neat little turn at the end that gives it a satisfying twist. 

Bliss | Vampirism as addiction. It’s been said, but this isn’t just about having an insatiable need. It’s about getting so goddamn high that you destroy everything around you and awaken from being blackout destructive and realize you’re ruining your own life. Pretty intense stuff. Meaning it’s very bloody and wild. It goes the extra mile, for certain. The main character is a painter, so there is also a super gorgeous painting that she creates in her very high moments that I wish I could have on my wall. 

The Night Flier | An adaptation of a Stephen King short story starring Miguel Ferrer, which I personally feel should be recommendation enough. But I’ll gladly keep going. Ferrer plays a tabloid journalist who is chasing after a serial killer who thinks he’s a vampire. THINKS, right? He just THINKS he is? Well, the deeper he goes, the more it looks like he has a real one on his hands. And he’s so fucking cynical that he’s probably going to stare into the abyss and the abyss will stare right back. 

30 Days of Night | Hey, I just recently rewatched this one. It still slaps. In Alaska, there are periods during the year where the sun doesn’t rise at all. In this case, a bunch of vampires are like SWEET. And go there and absolutely body slam everyone in town. A handful of survivors are left trying to defend themselves against these superhuman creatures that are... just the scariest looking fucking things. It looks like if a human were crossbred with a shark. What a LOOK. There are so many memorable and standout moments in this movie. Truly just watch it. 

Fright Night Part 2 | We all know the first movie. But the sequel tho. DAT SEQUEL. The big draw being Jerry’s sister Regine and her entourage of absolute characters that follow her everywhere. They’re out for revenge for the death of her brother, and suddenly the tables are turned. Charley becomes the one that can’t resist the vampire’s charms, and Regine is laughing all the way to the blood bank. She’s a queen. 

Vamp | Another intensely memorable and awesome female vampire. Grace Jones dominates the screen here as Katrina. A vampire stripper who kills when she mates. She for sure steals every scene she’s in, but the movie is also bombastically neon 80s with the dumbest and most fun sense of humor. It’s a charming movie with an amazing villainess. 

The Hunger | AND ANOTHER! Sorry for being so gay, but here’s a lesbian vampire movie. Miriam Blaylock is a vampire looking for love. And she both cares and doesn’t if that means eventually keeping your desiccated, still alive body in a box somewhere down the line. She’s a complicated lady. This was beautifully shot, very dream-like, and also stars David Bowie for some extra gay. 

Dracula (1979) | Genuinely my favorite version of Dracula. It was based off of a stage play version. Which means all the names are reversed and nothing lines up with the book, but Dracula just seems fated to be adapted very loosely. Frank Langella swaggers rather moodily through the piece, melting every woman he passes with a look. I like this take, that Dracula is just a Chad that no one can possibly outdo because no one is good looking enough to stop him. It’s all rather romantic and swoony while also featuring one of the most terrifying ghouls in cinema history. 

The Forsaken | Vampirism as an STD. If you’re bitten, you’ll battle daily with the virus that’s trying to consume you. Which makes the movie coded extremely queer, which is very fun for everyone, because it thankfully doesn’t stop there. The bad guys are super flamboyant and fun. The good guys are getting a little too involved with each other and sort of ignoring the girl sitting between them. And it makes one wish they could’ve just made it as gay as they wanted to, but the subtext is still very fun. It’s also action packed and exciting. Think 2001 version of Near Dark. 

[enzombie]

I just finished season 4 and im. Im ruined. Ive already watched the show like 6 times btw but FUCK. GOD DAMN

Blaine being truly honest for the first time in as long as we've known him by telling angus he made the sign from god, only to get a reality check when his dad isnt as selfish and cowardly as he is, except thats such a mindfuck because his dad is a horrible awful child abusive son of a bitch, and it must have been so confusing to watch the church devour fraud bater under angus's orders. How eagerly angus watches blaines reaction, how he so hopes that makes up for everything, its sickening. Especially at the end of their arc where if i got it correctly, enzo sold them out? Told FMG they'd be coming and led them to a trap? And we saw angus and his flock get shot down. I cant help but feel bad for blaine

Peyton refusing to let FMG get away with moving up the time of the execution, marching into that studio and taking iver the broadcast, being the REASON people SHOWED UP at the warehouse and being right there with johnny fucking frost of all people, and ravi right by her side.

Major leaping over the crowd of soldiers to tackle chase, raging out completely and rightfully after all the shit he had to do for what he believed to be the right cause, only for the leader of that cause to spit in his face by trying to execute the love of his life. Because despite everything they still love eachother still and major is so goddamn pissed hes not gonna let another person murder his kids and get away ith it (even tho we saw so little of captain seattle i do not rememebr his actual name. Or jordans half the time)

Liv's stone cold expression at pulling the level and crushing chase's skull, and being so right about it too. Still tho, it wasnt enough to bring levon back, just like every time she tries to do the thing she thinks is right, someone she loves dies for it. When she tries to shoot blaine on sniper brain but cant, lowell tries to and gets killed. When she saves the chaos killer victims and clive from dying to a zombie, that zombie just had to be drake. When she tries to help human-zombie relations (misguidedly) and save lives by being renegade, she gets a front row seat to levons head being crushed. Her pain is so real idec chase is done with. It wasnt a good ending for her and i can feel that so clearly, even with that hopeful ending scene

My friend and I talked abour how selfish Liv can be when we started watching together (her first time), but how selfish can someone be when they give up the cure for their ailment twice for other peoples happiness?

And Chase. God. That entire decline during the latter half of the season was brutal. When thwy announced renegades execution and the video came out, he was done it was over, there was truly no coming back from this. He was so out of it at the point of the supporters breaking in that his voice cracks when he shouts at major to stop and when he says dont shoot and hes scrambling wildly for some form of control, in this case a gun that he places his head right on the gillutine. I think its a mercy that he died so painlessly.

At least Dale and Clive got a happy ending to the season though, getting married and getting the cure. Clive calling liv partner when they were saying goodbye in chase's office, it was just so bittersweet

Hope its okay that this is so long i just wanted to dump my thoughts onto someone ^^ this show is phenomenal i cant recover from this tonight.

DAMN. THATS A LOT OF WORDS. DAMN.

I uh idk how to respond to most of this cus there's so much but I'll try my best (also why this took so long to reply sorry)

Blaine is a mixed feelings character, he's a fan favourite and he's always enjoyable to watch. Angus on the other hand idk a single soul who likes that bitch. Say what you will about Blaine, but Angus was EVIL. Shout out to Enzo for killing him off fr. We are grateful. All my homies hate Angus.

Also Enzo didn't exactly sell them out, he more completely set them up - he went directly to Blaine and Angus to make sure they went the exact route, made sure he was there for all the final plans, he collaborated directly with the US military to get rid of Angus and his pals. Like it wasn't a split second betrayal it was a planned execution, he knew full well Angus would take the bait and was probably hoping Blaine would too. I'm not sure if it was even an official FG operation because as far as we know, Chase didn't hear anything back from Enzo about the church. He didn't tell the press his name, he was the only FG personnel there - I'm sus that he just took it upon himself to deal with them. King behaviour.

And yeah Peyton was girlboss at the end of season 4 but it's like. When her bestie in danger she got all this proactive shit but when she's acting mayor the energies like half that. Makes me mad.

As for major. Little sympathy. Oh did your child soldiers get killed? Maybe child soldiers are a bad idea? Maybe you wouldn't be upset if you didn't have children as soldiers in the first place? Maybe giving untrained children weapons is guaranteed to go badly and end with them injured or killed? Do you think? Like. Honestly. And the way he was with Levon. Major was weird in season 4 idk. And I disagree with them killing Chase. There's so many worse people in the show that she can't bring herself to kill but Chase she executes without hesitation. He wasn't even that bad. I don't think its very fair for him either. Like he was trying his best to keep Seattle under control, and renegade was actively making everything worse. And if you think he was doing a bad job what came after in season 5? With Major: terrorism and hatecrimes peaked and he did nothing, he made Seattle completely reliant on Blaine who (bless him) is not trustworthy and not a good person and is obviously going to be a controversy. With Enzo: the second he took over, Majors mistakes blow up and Seattle dealing with civil war. Not to mention Enzo isn't great at de-escalation, at any point - not even just when he's in charge, since his introduction he walks in and makes situations worse on purpose (can't help being a girlboss)

As for your question about Liv being selfish - it's shortsightedness. She'll do selfless things that make her feel good but she won't consider the consequences. Stuff like giving up the cure is fine, not really any consequences, she gets to help her friends. The renegade stuff, she gets to scratch sick people and feel good about it - but the whole of Seattle gets closer and closer to dying horribly every time she does. It's like only caring about what's directly in front of her. Irritates me a little tbh. Especially when she's one of the only zombies not experiencing the food shortage so it's just this whole privilege thing while thousands of people are at risk.

Clive and Bozzio are so precious I love them so much they deserve everything. That's all.

Anyway, hope you and your friend enjoy season 5✌️

[the-blossica-fan]

Glad you're enjoying the chaos lol o7

The Coven was founded 600 years prior by Dynol Cyn, a Gynoid who's name could mean "Human Before" or "Human Cyn/Sin"

Some include; Dynol Cyn, Connor Tomo, Akiloria, Roshia, Llo'Llo, Benjamin Iroha Griseo, Kanae Severus, Philip Agro Isolde Tomo, Maria Tomo, 4859, Harlequin and Aluya Tomo

They sit and discuss inside of The Ark, and sit as such in a circle on chairs on problems in the other cities, or happenings in Diianas. Each with their own humour to add, as well

Friends wise, Aluya's childhood friend was a girl named Sophie, and later called 110, and 28; they are from Ancient Greece, and are the last "true" followers of Pythagoras, brought by a Paradox in time to the future

Now, that's just the simple parts. Just wait until I explain the fact she died, came back as a robot, split her Soul in half to be HoSa and a Gynoid, and how she is related to the Primordial Deities c;

I read all of this and was like "Holy fucking shit what the hell??!!", Very impressed with a gaping mouth, then you tell me what happens next and I just 😦

My friend I am scared of you, what did you do to Sophie I got emotionally attached to her (I just heard she was Aluya's childhood friend and got attached)

SOPHIE STILL EXISTS RIGHT?!

And, woah The Coven is 600 years old?! Well- actually makes sense, still surprised tho. Where are all these plot twists coming from you're literally telling the plot to me

Goddamn poor Aluya, I was literally about say "hey at least she has a friend!" Before I got brutally spoiled 😔

Well technically not spoiled, still left me wide eyed mouth gaping heart trembling.

Everything in the story is so good, like, every part of it. I'm also interested in The Ark but I think that's a place where The Coven stay.

Wait if Sophie is now two different entities, does either have her memories?? (I may have gotten attached to Sophie I'm sorry)

But more importantly

Aluya does get more friends, right?

[can-i-make-image-descriptions]

[Image IDs: Image #1: Tweet from Nobody Likes When You... reading: person who only watches Disney and DreamWorks movies: Animation is for Everyone. *posts the four most recent Hollywood animated kids' movies*

Anime fan: Oh yeah? How about you watch something made for Adults *posts for shows make for teeangers*

Image #2: Tumblr tags reading: #now that I think about it what anime aren't for teenagers? #cuz I can't think of any #genuine question I just can't think of a single anime aimed at adults.

Image #3: #you Cannot convince me Tokyo Ghoul was aimed at adults. nobody but 12 year olds could have watched that #how the hell is One Punch Man aimed at adults???? #Bungou Stray Dogs???? For real??? Nah ive read that manga that could Not have been aimed at adults #the only one i could mildly believe is Elfen Lied but more so because of the brutality than anything else #tho all the blood aside it feels like its aimed at teenagers #just like Guilty Crown or Ghost In The Shell #ok i could believe Berserk. if i squinted hard. but its the same case as Elfen Lied. Like...yeah its brutal. but im pretty sure #that 15 year old boys love it. #isnt Kaguya Sama Love Is War like....a goddamn romance comedy??? why is this site trying to convince me its for adults? Chobits???? Dorohedoro??? Houseki No Kuni???? at this point this site is just actively lying to me #Edit: ok for a second i forgot that Chobits is also ecchi so yeah that one is for adults for obvious reasons. the rest still stands tho /End IDs]

[spif-lol]

So I saw some half life opposing force related thing where someone made a comment about gearbox were idiots who don't care about continuity bc when they reused the hydroelectric dam in opfor they had the secure access door (from the above image) connect to a random storage facility (which is one of the coolest parts of the game btw) INSTEAD of to the area in forget about freeman with the same door, which was OBVIOUSLY meant by Valve to be the other side of the door since you can't go through it in surface tension. And so my map layout loving ass decided to look for the door in question so that I could defend my boy half life opposing force - fully expecting it to be just another secure access door that COULD be the same door but ultimately might just be a similar door. So i found it, at the end of forget about freeman right before you enter the lambda complex and like...

WTF. I was not expecting it to be literally the same building and layout. Like yeah this could just be a reused asset but it's like, not a building design I remember seeing anywhere else, with all the details the same, the pipe things on the roof. what the fuck. And of course even if this was intentional it might just be part of valve's minimalist map design but the narrative implications do not escape me...

In the hydroelectric dam sequence where the chopper and other soldiers camped at the bridge force you to retreat into the desert, neither you nor Freeman knows what is on the toher side of that door, or even has a specific destination in mind at this moment. Like yeah you've been directed by security guards and scientists to head towards the lambda complex 'on the other end of the facility' but we don't know where that is exactly, and since the start of the resonance cascade - and especially since we recently got captured and almost killed by the soldiers - our main goal has been just to survive; the saving the world stuff is pretty secondary tbh. You don't give this door a second thought

Inbetween the dam and the lambda complex, however, is quite possibly the most brutal and taxing stretch of the game, and of any half life game probably. There are so many incredibly difficult battles during surface tension, in particular the one as you navigate the cliff face, then there's a gargantua chase, and then in forget about freeman you go through an underground facility filled with grunts, vortigaunts and snark mines. Every time I've played through the game this stretch has been a struggle, even knowing what is to come (surface tension almost made me give up on half life on my first playthrough even).

So you get to the end of forget about freeman, reach the elevator which takes you to the heavily guarded lambda complex. And you, Gordon Freeman, turn around and see this fucking door. And maybe you remember that you've seen this before, you've been on the other side of this. And you realise that you've just spent HOURS battling across the desert when the lambda complex was just beyond that door the WHOLE TIME

Like goddamn if that was valve's intention that is INSANE environmental storytelling.

I still count opposing force as canon tho, so in my mental map of the facility this is a bit of a schrödinger's door i suppose. Gordon never goes through it so maybe to balance things this building design is reused next to the storage facility adrian travels through, so that either way Gordon's journey just gets that little more futile >:)