#but i truly don't understand why people think that this would then force the players to do what the audience wants

[disastergenius]

by far the worst take i've seen so far post-ep19 of Junior Year is that having a week-by-week live play would have allowed fans to essentially influence the direction of the story in the way they want it to go and that would have resulted in the cast being more sympathetic to the Ratgrinders (ie getting them a redemption arc)

why do you feel the need to try and control this story? YOU ARE NOT THE ONE TELLING IT. if you want to tell a story please go write your own, or go write fanfiction to cope or whatever but you don't get to say that the players are telling the story wrong when it's their story they are telling

[wake-me-up-inside-imagines]

Hia! Would you want to write another thing with the yandere jock/ Jason? Maybe smth where he or reader gets jealous of the other?

Sure thing! I'm gonna do him getting jealous because I think that would be more fun, but I'm definitely down to do jealous reader as well, just let me know!

Also, this isn't going to be a fully fledged story like the other Jason one was, this prompt felt more headcannon appropriate in my eyes. Hope you don't mind!

Yandere jock getting jealous over reader

Warnings: yandere character, jealousy, slight stalking, Jason's victim makes reader uncomfy, public embarrassment, Jason beats someone up pretty badly, toxic relationship in the sense that Jason's kinda crazy

Gn! reader

Divider credit goes to @cafekitsune

Yandere! Jason who never has to worry about others trying to take you away from him. Besides the fact that you're madly in love with him, he's attractive, he's quite popular on campus, and he's the star football player of his college's team, for fuck's sake. He's got a stacked reputation at best and a nasty mean streak at worst, so why would he ever assume someone would try to take him away from you? That would be social suicide, the worst thing any one could possibly attempt to do, only someone with half a brain stem would attempt to try that-

At least, he thought.

Yandere! Jason who's proven wrong when he overhears someone asking for your number one day, his ears perking up almost instantly when he notices the person who's now sitting at his table in the restaurant, trying to shimmy up to you flirtatiously while you back away silently. Your attempts to distance yourself from this random stranger are proven futile in front of Jason's eyes, your constant reminders of your disinterest and your current boyfriend doing nothing to deter the person now sitting beside you.

Yandere! Jason who can feel his blood boiling as he walks closer, about to blow a gasket. Who was this random person beside you? Didn't they understand that you were taken, by him of all people, no less? Not only that, but did this person really expect to get away with invading your space without any consequences? Were they truly that dense?

This was not going to fly. This was not going to fly at all.

Yandere! Jason who immediately slams your food down, angerly questioning the person in front of him before they can get a word in edgewise. Who are they? What did they want? Didn't they understand you were taken? Were they craving a fist to their face? Because Jason would be more than happy to make that happen.

Despite his threats, the person bothering you seems undeterred. They back off, throwing half-assed apologies over their shoulder, but Jason can tell they don't mean a word. Jason wants nothing more than to punch them in their stupid face, to beat them to a bloody pulp right there on the restaurant floor, but he's in public and has a reputation to upkeep, and besides, you're there. Normally that wouldn't stop him, but he knows his actions may come back to bite you if people know you were with him at the time, so he keeps himself in check, forcing as much of his anger down as possible as he focuses his energy on making sure you're all right, and then on enjoying eating with you. He will not let this ruin his day, his or yours.

Besides, that should be the end of it, right?

Wrong.

Yandere! Jason who can feel his anger returning full force when a couple days later, you tell him that the person you two had seen at the restaurant had somehow gotten your number, and was now texting you nonstop. You don't know how they got it, you certainly didn't give it to them, a fact Jason knows full well, since he was within earshot of the conversation. A friend must have given it to them, or somehow found it online. Either way, they refused to take no for an answer, and in fact, were actively mocking Jason to your face, promising to treat you far better than he ever could.

Yandere! Jason who can feel himself losing control of his rational as he scrolls through your phone, reading message after message after message. There were way too many to count, all of which ranged from slandering Jason, to proclaiming their love for you, to repeated attempts of asking you out. It's not like the person's complements were wrong, in fact, Jason agreed with every loving word that was sent, but that wasn't the problem! The problem was that you were his, only his, and this person couldn't seem to understand that! Not only that, but they were going so far as to insinuate that Jason was treating you poorly, that he wasn't really a good boyfriend, that he was a cheater, no less.

Jason would never, not on you. He loves you. You knew that!

...Right?

Yandere! Jason would is a little relieved to here your reassurances of trust, that you don't believe a word out of this scumbag's mouth, but he can't shake the insecurities this person had planted in his head. Was he treating you right? What if you secretly hated him? What if they could treat you better than he could? What if they were right?

...No. No. They were wrong, they had to be. He was the best man you would ever be able to find, no one would be able to treat you as well as he did. Nobody.

Yandere! Jason who immediately channels his insecurities into anger, excruciatingly burning anger. How dare they? How dare they do this to you, to him?! They wouldn't get away with this, he wouldn't let them. They'd pay for this, for all of this. All rational was out the widow, they were going to suffer for their actions. He'd make sure of it.

Yandere! Jason who's beyond reason at this point. He asks you for the name of the individual, and you happily provide it, thankful that he's planning on stepping in and stopping this madness. You trust your boyfriend, and with his influence? He'll get this person off your back in no time.

...But you have no idea what lengths he'll go to to get back at this person.

Yandere! Jason who easily tracks down the individual who's been bothering you. It's not hard, there are records of who attends the school after all, and even if they weren't a student of the college (which they were, he checked), he'd be able to find them within the city. There's only so far they can live if they're asking you out in person. He quickly makes a list of all the classes the person takes, and then finds all their social media, all their friends, all their clubs, all their connections. He's gonna need to do some digging if he's gonna get some dirt on them, so he'd better start now.

Yandere! Jason who manages to track down the person on campus fairly quickly, it's not hard when he has a comprehensive schedule to follow. He has no trouble following them from class to a more secluded area, it's not like they'd suspect anything with the sea of people coming to and from classes all across campus.

Yandere! Jason who makes his presence known as soon as their are less people around. He curtly brings them to a secluded area (what are the gonna do? Say no? To him? Yeah right) before immediately questioning them, his anger only rising with every nervous, half-baked answer. He was toying with them of course, he already knew there was nothing they could say to satisfy him, but it was still anger inducing to watch them flounder for an answer, only making things worse for themselves the more that they talked.

If the person he's cornered is a woman, Jason will let them go. He's not really in the habit of beating up women, it's not a great look for him, so he'll allow them to escape his questioning, watching them scurry away like a scared little mouse.

If the person isn't a women though...

They don't get to finish their little interview before Jason is on them, beating the ever-loving shit out of their defenseless body. He's a star football player, a prime athlete, so there's very little one could do to defend themselves from his powerful punches once he's angry enough. All they can really do is shield themselves as best they can, praying that he'll run out of energy before they pass out from the beating their body is taking.

Yandere! Jason who stops when they're just on the cusp of consciousness, backing off as his victim tries to regain their senses. He's done enough to them physically, and he's managed to get his anger out the best he could using his fists, so he turns to walk away, throwing a harsh warning over his shoulder. Nobody else is to know of what just took place, or their will be consequences.

But he's not done yet, oh no. The best part is just about to take place.

Yandere! Jason who has a lot of influence. He knows it, the college knows it, and the person he beat up definitely knows it. So why not use it to his advantage? After all, besides the beat-down, he managed to find a couple interesting pieces of dirt on his victim, and it would be a shame to let them go to waste...

Yandere! Jason who watches as this person's reputation goes down in flames seemingly overnight. All he had to do was let a couple of people know what he found out, mostly his team, and boom! The whole campus has suddenly become aware of this person's creepy tendencies, and just like that, any relationships this person had are flushed down the drain. Nobody wants anything to do with them, actively avoiding that person if possible, and in the most extreme cases, people begin messing with the individual, pushing them around and harassing them whenever they're near. It's an amazing transformation, and Jason revels in the chaos of it all, watching the individuals downfall with a smile.

It's a shame, really. All they had to do was leave you alone.

Yandere! Jason who keeps you completely in the dark about everything that he's done. He doesn't want to scare you off, he doesn't want you seeing the full extent of what he's capable of, and besides, you're already upset enough with all that's gone down. Finding out that the person hitting on you not only didn't care about boundaries, but was also a terrible person is a little bit frightening, to say the least. So he'll focus on comforting you, playing the part of the innocent boyfriend who did nothing more than warn the person off, pretending that everything was fine. This was just what happens when someone comes for what's his.

And it would be fine. he'd make sure of it. You weren't going to leave him, least of all for that low life, so really, everything was ok. It had to be ok. He'd make it ok.

You were meant to be with him, and no one else. You were his.

Only his.

[sasahuaa]

Can you add scaramouche to your omega character series? He'd be a disastrous omega that needs lots of healing but I'm sure his partner can provide

You're doing great! I love reading your fics and characterization

Scaramouche as an omega

I was really considering Scaramouche before to start with genshin! I was a bit scared to start with Scara because I could see that I would start yapping, and almost did, I had to cut so many things bc my initial idea was to write him in all stages of his life, also not sure if you meant the canon timeline or fatui!scaramouche, but I can do that in the future, for now this fic has some brief mentions of Kabukimono and the fatui. And thank you for the kind words, it means a lot!

gn!reader; cw: contains deep dives into his mindset so he has pessimistic thoughts in some parts (like him thinking that reader is a sort of player, bur nothing too heavy)

This poor omega is indeed disastrous, since the moment his creator abandoned him, Kabukimono was left with a lot of questions regarding his worth. He does not understand, truly, by venturing around he discovered that omegas were not treated with much respect, was that the reason why his mother abandoned him? Does she think an alpha would be more appropriate to be an archon? But he was a puppet, designed by her will, it didn't make sense why she would make him an omega to begin with if that was her reasoning, so what was wrong with him?

The little fledgling was happy during his stay in Tatarasuna, Niwa was a father figure that teached him many skills, and the village helped each other, he was pampered by everyone. What a pity that disaster caused by a doctor's interest befell such a kind community.

Scaramouche felt his dignity crumble more each year, month, day, second that passed. At every step that he was corrupted by the fatui's ideals and methods - his body torn apart from Dottore's experiments - the thoughts of self-doubt grew in his mind. He wasn't enough to be a god, discarded before he had the chance to try, his hands didn't purify the water nor cut through mountains, no one would sing his name in worship, but he also wasn't enough to be human, his skin is artificial, unflawed like porcelain, not even a mechanical heart occupy the emptiness of his hollow chest. Forever lost in between the limbo of where his existence belongs.

For a being so emotional, Scaramouche wonders when was the last time he felt anything besides rage, it doesn't matter too much for him, as he learned how to use his anger as a tool. His underlings - though only in the fatui, as the people of Sumeru never faced the omega's wrath (or better worded, don't remember) - whispered out of his earreach, murmurs wondering if the beautiful omega was capable of love.

And now, carrying the title of Wanderer and face to face with the reason that made the vacant part of him tremble, he finally found the answer.

Courting

Nahida's orders indirectly led him to you, to be a student of the Akademiya would eventually force him to interact with other scholars, you being from Vahumana or not didn't matter, as students from different darshans would often benefited from cooperating. And like many people he met nowadays, he was indifferent at first, which considering his past as The Balladeer, when everyone was an annoying fly in his way, is a considerable improvement.

But for many aspects of life, even as he accepted that this would be something that he never would reach, he was interested in humanity. What makes people human, their flaws, traits, mannerisms and personality, what makes them yield or fill them with confidence. His almost deification didn’t bring him the same satisfaction as he felt with Niwa and the rest of the Tatarasuna people, but watching the Sumeru's citizens may be close enough.

If it's something he can't be, then he will appease himself by observing.

As he looks at alphas, he thinks that this is another thing that he is flawed at. In his studies, Scaramouche determined that omegas supposedly went crazy over alphas, but he never felt it before, or maybe he never gave himself a chance to try. A long time before he learned the consequences of creating genuine connections, that humans tend to betray the same way gods do.

But… he learned that they never did abandon him, that maybe he can trust again.

And while you both worked on your project, these types of thoughts ushered to the top of his mind like never before. You were nice to him,and laughed it off when he was being purposely cunning. You were also attentive, meticulous in your work and doting on him, always bringing him tea or other types of bitter delicacies, and just shrugged when he said there was no need to feed him.

He liked to see your reactions, there were moments when your behaviour took a tired and upset turn, when you mumbled curses about the things that went wrong with your work. It was somewhat relieving and entertaining to witness, that the gentle façade crumbles when faced with challenges.

“It's always better to work with a full stomach” you said, not sparing a thought that he didn't need to eat.

“This is pointless” the omega grumbled, he took a step away from the food.

“So just eat for the satisfaction of it, the success rate of content workers is higher than stressed ones” you insisted, and Scaramouche hated that.

Why do you treat it like there was no trouble in taking care of him? Getting out of your way to please others is dumb, especially for the likes of him.

The omega knows that he is a pessimist, that people always have motives behind their actions, and even Nahida didn't escape his judgement as he does not believe she is merely being kind and benevolent. You are no different, and when he is alone with his thoughts after bidding you goodbye and retiring for the day, he must find your intentions.

As he looks himself in the mirror, Scaramouche looks carefully at his appearance, “alphas and betas are always kinder to pretty omegas, we all know that they only want one thing” it's what the older men from the bazar say. He raises his hands to cup his face, fingers touching smooth skin with no marks, doe indigo eyes look back at him with something akin to divinity, and as he glances lower, he does not think his body lacks in beauty.

That must be it, they clearly are being good to me only to get in my pants!

Scaramouche is not a saint, he knew that, but since he started to work on his path to atonement, he was completely honest about himself. The omega knows that not everyone is like that, people that mask themselves behind lies and generous mannerisms are the worst kind of evil, and to think that you would be capable of that-

Hurts.

There is an annoying pain in his chest and a prickle behind his eyes. He needed proof, he will uncover the worst in you, that's a promise he made to himself.

Scaramouche was snarky and insufferable the following days, refusing to cooperate at all. And though he won't admit it, it was hard for him to do that, your scent wavered with a hint of sadness everytime he was rough, and he felt a need within him clawing to be free, he had to fight himself against releasing a comforting scent to appease you.

But his instinct quieted down whenever he saw you acting honorably to other omegas, when you held the door open for a nobody, or when you generously lent a hand to someone feeling troubled. The rage he felt was immeasurable, he growled lowly and was almost convinced to attack whoever was taking your attention from him.

So he wasn't special at all, he wasn’t needed, he wasn't wanted, it's always like that.

It all came to a boiling point when he snapped at you, harsh words thrown at your directions about what he thought you were doing, messing with omegas hearts just to set them aside when you were done getting what you wanted, truly shameful. Nonetheless, he felt regretful when he saw your pained expression.

“What made you think that?” your voice was quiet, and Scaramouche would prefer if you looked pissed by his accusations, anything to reassure him that he was right “You could have told me you were uncomfortable, I would've stopped”

Uncomfortable? He isn't uncomfortable by your actions towards him, he is… pleased that you did not shy away from a broken thing like him. What he did not like was when you did things for others that he believes should be only for him, and the perceptions he created himself even when you never gave him a reason to.

During all this time Scaramouche was overwhelmed by feelings, and though he is used to feel too much, what he felt about you was completely foreign to him, not the familial care he felt for Niwa and the kid from ages ago, not the gratefulness he felt for Nahida and the traveler for giving him a chance to atone for his mistakes, and not the kinship when he met Durin.

“So are you saying that you were running away from it?” Nahida questioned, placing a flower crown above the omega's head, aranara's joyfully circling around both of them “It's fine to be scared, and if you talk to them about it I am sure they will understand”

“How are you sure that people won't disappoint you? Don't you believe it's easier if you cut the problem by the roof so you never have to discover it?”

“I decide to give an opportunity for everyone to prove themselves, and maybe you would be happily surprised by the results” the goddess cupped his face, pinching the fat of his cheeks and giggling when Scaramouche bat her hands away “You look different since you met them, even your scent doesn't hold that sour end from before”

And he followed Nahida's advice, not because she told him what to do, but staying away from you was killing him inside. This is not normal, is it? To think the world is falling apart just because your desired person is not close by.

Moreover, he guesses that since becoming a citizen of Sumeru he started to work on redeeming himself, what is one more person to apologize for when you acted out of line?

Scaramouche prepared a basket of fruits and Padisarah flowers and headed to your work station, exchanging these types of words is still unfamiliar to him, but he made it very clear that he wanted to improve your relationship.

It's possible that the state of your relationship was just confirmed when someone he was jealous of before questioned him.

“Of course we are courting, don't ask stupid questions”

Honestly, it's possible Scaramouche just came to terms with his feelings after he said that. The omega was still astonished that he is loved back, he doesn't know if he deserves this.

And yet, he can't deny himself the pleasure of being in your arms, taking deep breaths of your scent and resting his eyes with your rumbling under his head. If he is being selfish and taking a good alpha form a good omega, so be it! No one deserves you anyway, if another omega even thinks of taking you from him they will be met with sharp teeth and claws.

You both become inseparable, while it's mostly because he enjoys spending time with you as much as you - and he sees you as one of the few people that it's not a waste of time to be together -, it's also a result of a deeply buried insecurity of being betrayed, he knows that some were misunderstandings, but it's hard to change a mindset after hundreds of years believing in it.

He prefers the reassurance coming from actions instead of words, so when his alpha permit him to scent all of their clothes and also their body, or hold him tight and shows that he belongs by their side when he is feeling bothered by the presence of another, it's moments like this that he feels the most complete.

Scaramouche is truthful in a relationship and he expects you to do the same, if he feels that he needs something and you can provide he will ask, he may not be the romantic type, but everyday he makes it very clear how much he adores you.

He doesn't have a favorite gift to receive - unless you make a table full of sweets, he will complain non-stop if you do that. Spending time together is enough for him, but he appreciates anything you give him, gift him a small plushie and say you thought of him when you saw it, perhaps he will tease you and joke a little, but he will keep it safe. If you give Scaramouche jewelry or any small token, he will bring it with him anywhere he goes. His gifts to you include artifacts he finds when Nahida sends him on expeditions, also Scaramouche doesn't have hobbies for himself, so instead he will engage on yours.

Growling

During the fatui era, growls were very frequent sounds he made, it was almost impossible that someone that worked with him and never heard him growl. And he felt so powerful doing so, a long time ago, while he still lived in Inazuma, omega's were heavily punished if they growled at someone, and though this conservative behavior diminished a lot compared to the past, it was far from being extinguished.

So with his title as a harbinger, Scaramouche growled until they all cowered by his feet, just like a god should be revered.

But since living in Sumeru, he doesn't growl as much anymore, this is because he is not as stressed as before, he lifted the weight off his shoulders that was having to act like something he would never become, he was not trying to sacrifice his body for his objectives anymore. There's the occasional growl when other people irritate him, as a warning to watch their words and actions.

In a relationship with you, Scaramouche also growls when he is feeling jealous or insecure, but overall, he does not growl at you unless he is in a deep mindset that something feels wrong, he will require reassurance in times like this.

Purring

Scaramouche doesn't remember the last time he purred, and now he is almost sure his purr box is broken. The omega has two reasons to think that, one is that it has been centuries, he does not know how to purr due to the disuse of that part of his vocal cords, another is because of the experiments Dottore made on him, turning his body almost inside out.

Nowadays he does not care whether he purrs or not, it's a thing he lived almost his entire life without, and he does not miss it.

If he somehow discovers that he can purr again, it would be an almost inaudible sound. If you want to hear it, you would need to rest your head over his chest, it's more vibrational than vocal. Scaramouche will not purr in public, for him, it's a thing that just both of you should be aware of.

Nesting

Scaramouche does not have a proper nest, actually, what he calls his nest is merely two pillows and one blanket that he carries around his home. at max he will try to put the blanket in a circular shape.

He took a while before introducing you to his nest. He was a bit insecure at first, other omega's have big and filled nests, with an enormous assortment of colors and textures, while his… during the fatui, he would say it was just another thing that proved something was wrong with him.

And he enjoys it so much when you are with him in his nest, you could be just relaxing around the house, and he would bring his blanket and wrap it around you wordlessly. It made him feel warm with adoration whenever he saw you inside something purely his.

He won't get out of his way to buy or make things for his nest, but he will increment it if it is a gift from his alpha. He thinks it is kind of lovable that his alpha would try to get things to make him more comfortable, and Scaramouche deeply appreciates that.

Marking

He marks you all the time, even before you started to officially court. His scent is now almost ingrained into your skin, and if he already had permission to give you a biting mark, he would.

It's not just a sign for other omegas that you are already committed to him, it's also a reminder for you, that you have an omega to come back to, and that he would do anything to keep you with him.

But even after he becomes confident that you won't leave him behind - no omega or yourself is going to separate you from him - he still covers you in his smell, Scaramouche became very fond of the whole process of scent marking and to claim you for himself.

It's therapeutic to him, he will nuzzle quietly your cheeks and bring the scent glands of his wrists to your neck, not a single gland of your go untouched. For him, it's a mandatory procedure that you must go through before leaving home, especially if your agendas oblige you to not be together for the rest of the day.

Subspace

He never entered subspace before you, and it also took a while for you to achieve that. He denied himself the mindset many times before, he felt kinda scared by it, to be so vulnerable. Anytime he felt that his mind was starting to feel like it was becoming cotton filled, Scaramouche immediately backed away from you and tried to distract himself.

When he does enter subspace, he is whiny and clingy, following you around your home and hugging you when you are busy, from behind if you are cooking, sitting on your lap and throwing his arms around your neck while you work.

Scaramouche feels like he took a shot of serotonin when he smells your skin, he is addicted, touching every exposed part of your body to his contentment. He also likes to bite, so you probably will be covered by marks of nibbles by the end of it.

And when he sobers up again he gets flustered easily, he can't believe he let instincts control over his body. He will hiss if you mention anything that he did during subspace. Nonetheless, he will eventually get into it again and the cycle will repeat itself.

☽ ☼ ☾

Scaramouche supposes things should turn out like they were before, that everything would come back to normal, he followed Nahida's advice, the instinct in his gut that begs to be with you, and yet, it seems worse than before. The omega may have had a strong reaction before and jumped into conclusions far from the truth, but he has also gotten used to silently pine for you, not expecting anything from it - maybe he can be and was aggressive towards other people that had your attention, but he won't mention it! -, for he can count the number of times in his long life that situations turned into his favor.

But Scaramouche reminded himself that he has to learn that your entire existence is too good to be true. You give him hope in many ways that he never imagined before. Your arms are stretched before him, holding a light blue and soft blanket.

“And for what reason would you give me that?” he stepped forward, picking the material from your hands.

“Can't you guess?” you chuckled and shook your head, the movement dispersed your scent that was reeking of amusement “If anything, see it as a gift to compensate the time we spend apart, to show how much I cherish you”

His eyes widen at the proclamation, under his nose he can smell that the blanket is scented. An item for a nest and carrying your smell, isn't that a sign of a courting gift? He couldn't help but hug the blanket tighter at the thought.

“Thank you for trying to look out for me”

For a long time he desired for a normal life, all his objectives from the past had the intention to lead to it, sadly all was for nothing, and he hopes he didn't look pitiful for that. And yet, in front of him, he saw an opportunity for that, he just needed to reach for you.

Once again, he gives himself the chance to dream of a better future.

[the-meme-monarch]

hopping on the kr/alsei hate train. the theme of being Forced Into Circumstances (Romantic Or Otherwise) is very prominent with the two of em, but especially with Kris. it's basically the entire game. every single one of the options to be "romantic" towards Ralsei are a choice on the player's behalf and nothing to do with what Kris wants.

hugging Ralsei is so sweet from our pov. until you recall that Kris doesn't like hugs. this is plainly stated by Asgore if you visit him in Chapter 1, and VERY telling by the way they don't reciprocate Toriel or Asgore's hugs. Kris does not make the decision to hug Ralsei - to do so goes against their personal boundaries.

some of the dialogue choices in the Acid Tunnel of Love are such polar opposites. the "nice" options, however, are incredibly presumptuous of Kris' feelings towards Ralsei, having a stark contrast from the "mean" option being silence or shutting Ralsei down. of course the player will pick the kinder one, even if it's odd.

I do want to mention that this lends itself to the notion/theory of the narrator being a seperate entity (as they were in Undertale) who may have the goal of keeping Kris and Ralsei together. for what purpose I have no idea, but it makes sense why one choice for dialogue ("Is it strange to say it's nice spending time with you alone like this?") is either shutting Ralsei down completely ("It's strange") or assertively reciprocating ("I feel the same way"). the narrator entity understands there is a third party, and they understand how to make us work for them without even realising it.

this isn't even getting started on how Ralsei's feelings towards Kris are incredibly idolising. Ralsei tends to be subservient to Kris and Susie, and talks about his sole purpose as a Darkner being to assist the Lightners. "It's the only way we can feel truly fulfilled."

not to mention, Ralsei has been alone for his entire life. he very reasonably wouldn't be able to understand the difference between his feelings for others, nor would he ever have experienced someone caring for him in a platonic or familial manner.

Ralsei saying "it's nice spending time alone with you" is not an inherently romantic sentiment. It is, however, probably the first time he has expressed any such sentiment. Of course he's flustered about it! He doesn't talk to other people, and this is someone he looks up to and admires as a hero from a legend. Kris has thus far fit into Ralsei's narrative perfectly - of course they're his favourite.

For Kris to reciprocate the sentiment is unique and new for Ralsei, which he even acknowledges. ("I mean, e-everything's a first for me, but... Hearing it from you, um... It... it means a lot.") Ralsei has idolised Kris, and as long as Kris continues to play the part forced by the player, nothing good can come of it.

I'm not saying Kris doesn't care about Ralsei. But it's an incredibly toxic dynamic regardless of the whole almost-siblings shenanigan (which is terrible enough to put me off from this ship anyway.)

TLDR kr/alsei sucks get better <3

NODDING AT THIS i don’t have anything else to add i think you verbalized everything i had thoughts on

[characteroulette]

Okay y'know despite not receiving any answers on Apollo's apparent lack of character, I think I have figured out why people think as much about him. It's purely that they tend to just fill in their perceived lack with a more Phoenix motivation than Apollo's own actual motivations. Apollo gets conflated with Phoenix, especially in DD, despite how in AJ he wants nothing to do with Phoenix after his first case. It's easier to just treat Apollo as an extension of Phoenix since Phoenix is the main stay, the main focus, even if that couldn't be the furthest thing from the reality of the text.

Apollo wants the truth above all else. It's why he reveals that Machi is a smuggler and Vera is a forger despite how it might damage his clients' credibility. (We don't get things like this in DD, and in SOJ it's more revealing Datz is a terrorist would lose his case immediately. I think, at least.) But usually, when I see people muse in their fics on how Apollo would take defending an actually guilty client, they have him swap sides immediately. Just like Phoenix would. And I think that's not what Apollo would do. There's plenty of evidence in AJ that shows Apollo doesn't flip sides so immediately. He accused his teacher since the evidence and logic led him (/us) to that conclusion, but the entire time he was hoping for a different explanation. He pursued the truth in spite of his own misgivings on the situation. He presents the forged card because he is being manipulated into this, being led straight into the waiting jaws of that snake trap made specially to snare Kristoph.

He was naive, and he makes sure that doesn't happen again. Even in the final case of AJ, he makes sure to explain the second forged piece, to explain the same trick of it that Phoenix made for the first forged piece. It doesn't work this time (and I am begging Phoenix to have thought up a better way to get traces of poison from a convicted inmate's cell, even despite how favoured Kristoph was), but Apollo knows what he is doing now. He acknowledges instead of attempting to fudge anything, in direct contrast to Phoenix's own actions from the original trilogy.

I don't think he'd deny his client's guilt if they did truly commit the murder. I think he'd still fight for the truth, wouldn't settle for just a guilty verdict until the whole plot was figured out. Apollo wants to help his clients, sure, but that's never been his driving force. How could it be when it was never his choice who he ended up defending? What he wants is to know the truth. He wants to understand how the crime happened and follows the logical conclusion from that on how this crime occurred.

To be fair to Phoenix, he was under duress when this happened to him both times (Matt and Iris). But Phoenix is driven by belief in his clients while Apollo is driven by the desire to uncover the truth. Similar but very different motivations, I think.

I think this is also what separates Phoenix from Ryuunosuke. Phoenix believes in his clients. Ryuunosuke had to learn that belief but also carries Apollo's drive for the truth. He will claw and scrape until the worst is revealed, even if it hurts someone. (He'll feel terrible about it later, but he will still expose Kazuma's guilt in almost killing a man for the sake of the truth.) Taking this even further, the one who decides how like Phoenix or Apollo's motivations Ryuunosuke is are the choices the player can make. They might be meaningless choices narratively, but they matter in the same way the Matt Endgarde decision matters. You can choose for Ryuunosuke to turn a blind eye to McGilded's forgeries, belief in your client above all else. Or you can have Ryuunosuke acknowledge there is something shady happening here, truth above all else. Or you can have a mixture of the two! (I chose this option, making Ryuunosuke question the new evidence but ultimately pleading for a Not Guilty verdict.) It's a fascinating way to mix these two's strongest driving forces and leave it to the player to determine how much each side affects Ryuunosuke's personality as shown in the text.

Phoenix is willing to fudge the truth for the sake of his clients. We see as much in 3-3. Apollo would never do such a thing, he is here to find out the truth, no matter how ugly. And Ryuunosuke sits in-between the two, a little of column A and a little of column P. I just find this distinction between all of them so fascinating.

All this being said, I'd love to see Phoenix be put in this situation where he isn't under duress for once, actually. What he would do is fascinating to me hahaha

[galene-gothic]

𝖥𝗂𝗀𝗁𝗍𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝗈𝖿𝖿 𝗒𝗈𝗎𝗋 𝗇𝖾𝗀𝖺𝗍𝗂𝗏𝖾 𝗍𝗁𝗈𝗎𝗀𝗁𝗍𝗌

୧ ‧₊˚ ⋅* ‧₊ I hope this reading found you in good health, every reblog is appreciated and thank you for everything :) ˖♡ ˎˊ˗ ꒰ 🐇 ꒱

˗ˏˋ༻ʚ♡︎ɞ༺ˎˊ˗             PAID SERVICES

⸼ ۫ ︎︎⊹ ! 🪡︎ Pile 1 ꒱

꒰ Your negative thoughts ꒱

You have low-key villainized yourself, while others think that they're very kind people, you think that you're selfish and pushy. You also think that you're kind of catty and don't have an easy time making friends with women especially? You have internalised a belief that connections are not what make you truly happy. You kind of seek revenge, you might not be aware of it but you might imagine the look on people's faces when you look a certain way, have a certain amount of money or a certain lifestyle. Once in a while, you also tend to feel insecure, it could be regarding different things for different people, like for some of you, it might be when you're scrolling on tiktok and see pretty girls, for the others, it might be in regards to how much money you have, etc. For a select few of you, if someone was chosen over you by a love interest, you tend to wonder why you weren't enough. "Was I not pretty enough?", "Why would he/she choose me anyways?", etc. You have a strong belief that men or well, whatever sex/gender you're attracted to in a romantic manner, are not ready to commit (honestly, I do not blame you). You also believe that the people who you are attracted to are players, the type to leave people who they love. Most of you want people to present something tangible (like money) to you in terms of romantic proposals and relationships, etc. but rightfully, you tend to wonder if that's even possible in this generation. The people who you've dealt with in the past or have seen people in your life deal with, might've been really difficult to reason with.

The kind of people who don't apologise after doing the most soul crushing things but hold you accountable for every single thing that goes against their will. Honestly, they might have been the kind of people to go, "you do not understand me, my ex broke my heart in middle school!!" or maybe even the type of people who don't appreciate people doing household chores and are like "I bring a paycheck home so well, I do 90% for this house, all you do is stay at home all day. Household chores aren't even difficult," but are not willing to do them either and say something like "why would I cook and clean? I'm not a slave." I'm not saying that the above are the exact scenarios that you've had to deal with but the level of unreasonableness is just really concerning. Due to their unreasonableness, you think that most people are unreasonable. You also tend to worry about being unreasonable and think about things A LOT. You're the type to be like "was it necessary for me to act like that?" or "I will apologise since I was being unreasonable." You also tend to think a lot about whether the way you're acting is reasonable too. You might sometimes be like "I'm being too thoughtful in a world that lacks thoughtfulness" and feel bad though. You think that you're undergoing some sort of a negative karmic cycle. You are someone scared that you're stuck or not moving forward because maybe for some of you, you were forced to quit your school, university, job or whatever and for others, you simply feel like cycles kind of repeat in your life.

꒰ The loving truth ꒱

I think that for most if not all of you, your selfishness is just a result of resentment, maybe, you ended up being too selfless in the past and it didn't do you well. However, you guys are self serving, you like to make decisions that are the best for you and it doesn't make you selfish. Seeking revenge is kind of being heavy on you since you might end up making decisions from an ego-centric place but you're more than capable of fixing it. You're loveable for being you. Ofcourse, if someone chooses someone else over you, it's normal to be upset about it but trust me, in actuality it has little to nothing to do with you. You do not need to have a certain amount of money, certain kind of beauty or lifestyle in order to be loved. I hope that you're able to stop taking things so personally. I'm saying this from the most loving place, 'not everything is an attack on your worth.' About, people being non-committal, honestly, there are many people like that, however, some people do wish to have a loving relationship with a strong commitment towards one another.

Not all men or women are shitty, the ones you give your time to are. The right people will be willing to do everything you for you, as long as you appreciate it and wish to return the same energy to them. Trust me, you'll find people who you will be able to reason with and vice versa, people who do not victimize themselves or turn everything against you. The fact that you've dealt with unreasonable people actually has been quite helpful for you. You are able to correct your actions and face yourself in the mirror. While, you do villainize yourself, you cannot deny that you're a good person who tries to be a good person. About the karmic cycle, it might actually be true, however, everyone has negative karma and well the cycle is helping things work out for the highest good of all. I'm not sure if before, you tried to get out of toxic cycles but at this point, you're not lazy anymore, you're trying very hard to move forward and do what's the best for you. So, you're not stuck in any cycle. As I said before, things are working out for the highest good. Take good care of yourself, all love.

⸼ ۫ ︎︎⊹ ! 🪡︎ Pile 2 ꒱

꒰ Your negative thoughts ꒱

You guys tend to look at things through rose-tinted glasses and you know it. You often wonder if something is just your wishful thinking. Some of you might have gotten very comfortable with having options, if you do not make a good decision soon, you'll lose all the options (I'm not sure whether it's romantically, career wise or just life in general.) You always feel the need to refocus in life, you're always like, "what am I doing right? what am I doing wrong?", etc. while, it's quite good, it's kinda bad because you feel like it leads to you being worried about being disorganised. You wonder if people are not who they seem to be. Another thing is that you are in the spotlight and for some reason, it causes negative thoughts to emerge. You might have people who love projecting and call you ugly to your face or in another case, say that you're not all that just because you're pretty and popular. 'Prom queen' by Beach Bunny started playing. You understand that beauty is pain but most of you still continue striving for it. You might think that you're pretty because I'm not getting you being particularly insecure but there are times when you wish to look different, like, you might be Adriana Lima kind of pretty but want to be Blake Lively kind of pretty sometimes.

You really care about being popular, it seems to be something quite important to you or atleast your reputation. You do not like to look insecure, no matter how bad your day might be going, you try to look as confident as possible. Omg, the popularity didn't do you well is what I'm getting. You feel like you're tired of all the hardships in life. People love competing with you and you know it but you do not wish to compete. People try to compete with you and then accuse you of looking down on them? You're really guarded and wounded, you are aware of it too but you're not being able to stop it yet. Ofcourse, it's not possible to just switch it off but you'll get better soon, I have faith in you. Your negative experiences tend to weigh you down at times but it's only natural, it doesn't make you a bad human. You know that difficult times have made you a really resilient person but you wonder if you're being too guarded. You're aware that so many of your thoughts are simply just self fulfilling prophesies and you're trying to work through them, one at a time. I'm proud of you. You often look to the past in order to become a better person. You know that no one is coming to save you but you might overwork yourself due to that. You're really critical of yourself in general.

꒰ The loving truth ꒱

Honestly, there is a need to look at things through a realistic lens but don't become cynical. Some options are good while some aren't, that's just the way life is in general. Just try to use your discernment. You're beautiful just the way you are, you could try different looks but my advice would be to accept your body while still experimenting (as long as you're not harming yourself or anyone else). About being popular and your reputation, it is something you shouldn't worry about. The moment you start simply focusing on being the best version of yourself without caring about popularity, etc. is when you'll receive the most popularity and support, ofcourse, there'll be haters too but you get the point. Confidence is good, one more way of building confidence is through working on yourself and growing as a person. It's not your fault that people project onto you, slowly but surely, you're healing.

You shine which makes others insecure but it has nothing to do with you. While, your reputation and popularity does mean something to you, you are really scared of being the center of attention in any way at this point. My tip is to love yourself enough to not dim your shine. You are a really persistent person so you shouldn't have to worry about competitive but incompetent people trying to make you feel trashy. My tip is to let your guard down in front of certain people. Try to understand how your choices affect you without being too hard on yourself, you've always done your best and still are. It's quite obvious in the cards. Try to pace yourself in terms of work and self development. Realistically, it's not possible that you become 1% better everyday but it's possible that you try as hard as possible, not to the point of a burnout though. You know it but you're living life and learning through your experiences, I'm proud of you.

⸼ ۫ ︎︎⊹ ! 🪡︎ Pile 3 ꒱

꒰ Your negative thoughts ꒱

You've suffered the loss of something that wasn't exactly good and you know it but you're still letting it occupy your mind. You tend to have a lot of negative thoughts, like it seems like it's difficult to even keep a track. You think that people gossip about you and you don't mind it but maybe when it comes to your achievements in life, you are kind of insecure. You find yourself being jealous of people, you don't let it get the best of you ofcourse. You might feel a lot of anger, even at small things. If you're plotting something against people who have hurt you or well just plotting against someone in general, you need to stop. It doesn't need to be a great plot, it could be something like "I'm going to date ___ so that I can make her realise who the fuck I am." It doesn't need to be this ofcourse but you get it. Just don't let these people control how you live life. This plan is going to terribly backfire if you continue going. You're bitter about almost everything right now. Probably, past things still weigh heavily on you, maybe for some of you it was recent and for others, you just take longer to heal. People seem to have been really reckless when it comes to you because you seem very strong and they felt insecure. You wish to win, no matter what it takes.

You know that you need to get your mindset and life together but you don't know where to start, it's causing a lot of mental health issues for you. I feel like your emotions are making things mentally really hard for you and it's completely understandable. Emotions are normal, trust me when I see this, even people who decisively take actions in order to leave certain people and situations behind because it no longer serves them tend to cry and take time to heal. Most of you have let go of something or someone really precious to you even though they were definitely not worth it (could be multiple people) but some of you are still not being able to let go. Once, you let go, your negative thoughts will decrease. Letting go seems to be really painful for you, it's alright ! You're allowed to take your time. The changes you've gone through have been really drastic and it is scary. I feel like something is still very fresh, it still tugs at your heart, something or someone that makes you feel disappointed everytime you think about it or them. You think that you're a failure even though you're not. You just seem to be extremely disappointed at how things have turned out.

꒰ The loving truth ꒱

People do seem to gossip about you but it gives you the opportunity to become the best version of yourself to the point, people do not even believe negative things about you and if they do, it's out of jealousy. About your negative thoughts, you should meditate and write them down, process them properly and let go, little by little. You being insecure about your achievements is a clue as to you not being happy with where you are in life. You should try to accomplish things and better yourself. Also, your worth is not attached to anything outside of you, your character makes you worthy enough. Learn how to turn jealousy into admiration in order to become better as a person. Once, you start meditating, I'm sure that your anger will get better. It's okay to take time to heal but you do not have the right to hurt others just because you're hurt.

You will win, if you direct energy into yourself. Use the anger and bitterness as a source of toxic motivation. If you got involved in some sort of drama or fight recently, you need to think about what the other person/people said or did. You'll find your answers. It's alright, healing takes time, getting better takes time, building a certain lifestyle takes time. You should take time and space to consider your next steps (I feel like you're already there but you're still struggling, it'll get better if you try to be more decisive). As I said before being upset and grieving is alright ! You're allowed to take your time. Your outsides changing is simply a redirection for you to change your inside too. You'll find friends who will support you very soon. It's okay to be disappointed but you're not a failure, you have everything you need in order to move forward. Please take care of yourself, all love.

[bubblybloob]

So, which run from Scarlet Hollow would you say has been your favorite until now? Any favorite trait/trait combo?

Favorite combo was the first I took of course, Mystical and Talk to Animals! You get to be so weird and everyone is so put off by your antics!

Some long ass rambling and spoilers below!

Individually, TTA can feel a little useless at some points, it’s never a passive ability so you only get use out of it when there’s animals around. It especially feels lacking in chapter 2, where there are two instance of running into wild animals (the bird and the bats) that feel weird since you don’t get to pause and chat with them and they don’t say anything noteworthy about ditchlings, the mines, the town, etc.

I get why it can feel like that, you don’t want players to feel they made a mistake choosing talk with animals by not having animals appear throughout a chapter, but you also don’t want player’s who didn’t choose it feel like they’re always missing out on important stuff by having too many animals.

I really think they should let more passive thoughts with TTA occur. The only instance I can recall of it appearing as a thought is if you’ve had Sybil’s tea and it’s like “she won’t judge you for your quirk :), go talk to her”. It caught me so off guard when I first saw it and Mystical pointing out that my thoughts were all weird made me almost stand up like “WHAT”. But even though it doesn’t sound like TTA would have passive moments where it’s not directly in action, I think it should, maybe our character is privy to random facts woodland critters have told us, or we’re more in tune with nature or something. Idk, it’s not useless and it’s incredibly hard to compare it to the other traits cause it essentially makes previously non-characters like Dustin or the Goat into characters, that’s something no others trait does.

Now for my more positive thoughts on TTA, damn is proving you can actually understand animals at the library so satisfying, and it stays satisfying as Kaneeka slowly comes to believe it herself over the course of the chapters! I'm so glad it seems to be getting taken more seriously by the characters as the chapters pass, we start by getting introduced to the trait in chapter 1, then we don't use it much in the second, then we get to talk to the mayor and, if Gretchen is alive, get the knowledge that something is up with Reese. And then we can learn that the PASTOR TALKS TO ANIMALS TOO. In chapter 4 visiting Pastor Daniel is great, I love that the game is setting up for TTA to have more of a spotlight.

Now Mystical. Mystical is probably my favorite trait. I've heard some people say it feels useless early on, and I think those people may not have played with it in their first run, cause going in blind with mystical makes you aware of a lot of stuff, like knowing someone will die out on the trails on Monday before it actually happens made me so tense, and knowing something is suspicious about Sybil when she gives you that look, or that "You're finally back where you belong" sending the shivers of foreboding up the spine!

It gives you longer visions if you have it (and are drinking Sybil's evil tea), so it's great for me who loves theorizing and lore. And the channeling of Charlie’s spirit in his funky funhouse of fright? That whole sequence with the seance options is what truly got me hooked on the game.

I also love how it seems mystical MC’s can be a little frustrated by chapter 4? The whole “hopefully my powers will finally do more than make me unwillingly channel ghosts” makes you sound so fed up with how not only are you forced into knowing things will happen and having no control over it, but also fed up with how no one takes you seriously. Like Stella seems a little excited at the prospect you could be a psychic when meeting Duke, and Avery is chill with everyone so they don’t judge you, but everyone else brushes you aside or looks at you weird. Also Sybil, fucking Sybil trying to make me feel my abilities are less than her’s during the tea reading. Lady I will find a way to have me and your daughter mystic blast you, you can’t even do anything without making people drink tea, suffer.

Anyway sorry for the rambling! I’m obsessed with this game, so much so I joined the discord, I rarely join stuff like that due to nerves, so that’s how you know the brainrot is REAL.

[bleue-flora]

Why I think c!Dream is Autistic - Part 3

[Part 1] - [Part 2] - [Part 3]

Alright, you’re gonna want to probably go read part 1 and 2 first, promise they aren’t too long.

Done? Long time no see buddy. :) Good deal. Now finally, the last reason(s) I think Dream is autistic is because of how it fits narratively.

Who better to frame as the villain than someone who is already on the outside, who is already different, weird, a little off, not like everyone else, obsessive, abrasive, and already setting off subconscious red flags of not fitting the norm. There’s a quote that most have probably heard by Andrew Smith that says, “People fear what they don't understand and hate what they can't conquer.” And does that not say it all? Talk about history repeating itself, real history. This truth is the basis of many real wars. And if communicating and thinking differently weren’t enough to garner dislike, sucess and intelligence are another foundation of hate and as I said in part 1, while not true across the board, high IQ is one way they identify people with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). So who better to frame as the villain than an autistic admin infamous for being one of the best Minecraft players.

Of course, I hear you ask - couldn’t you make the same argument for sociopaths/people with ASPD (Antisocial Personality Disorder) are they not also different than most people to garner inherent fear? The answer is: No, not really. Contrary to popular belief, people with ASPD are not the odd balls out but are more likely to be popular and well liked as they lie and manipulate others to get what they want. In other words, there is a more calculated persona/masking in both ASD and ASPD, but while ASD is just trying to fit in, people with ASPD often have an inherent entitlement to the things they want and are trying to gain power and stand above the crowd not in it. In addition, autistic people tend to be honest, to the point of inappropriate or rude because they are straight forward. In the dsmp, Dream’s default isn’t to lie in fact he tells a lot of truth before often being forced to change his answer [clip]. Unlike people with ASPD who lie because they enjoy the power it gives them and to get what they want.

There is of course empathy to be considered when comparing ASD and ASPD as perhaps the main difference between the two and I think there is a lot of evidence that Dream does have empathy. In fact, I think his moral compass is originally one of the strongest before the dsmp slowly wore away the edges. He returns items after wars, fixes creeper holes and destroyed property, helps people mine or gather materials, fights for the side of who was wronged first, constantly gives out food to feed people… etc. He does a lot of caring things he doesn’t have too. That give him no real advantage, but often even end up putting him in a sticky situation. I mean what better example do we need to prove he has empathy than him rebuilding Tubbo’s house [post]. There was no reason or manipulation or obligation to do that, he did it because he saw that Tubbo was upset. I mean I’ve said it before that we can’t truly prove whether someone does or doesn’t has empathy, but we can look at behavior and I’d argue that his less empathetic acts come much later on his arc and are not consistent across the board like they would be if he truly were a sociopath. Leaving us with the most obvious conclusion then that his logical mind that makes him look like he’s unempathetic and his masking must be because he’s autistic instead, which again aligns well with his high intelligence and obsessive development of skill.

Finally, and perhaps most notably, while a lot of times masking is associated with ADHD it is much more notable and important for an autistic person. Because we are not masking just to cover up our stimming or hyperactivity we are putting on a different face to blend in and be accepted and loved. We are shifting the very parts of ourselves to fit in a circle shaped hole when we’re squares. Which is a skill and habit I don’t find it hard to believe that Dream would use for his villain persona, especially since our (my) masks tend to change too based on environment, whether needing to fit into the family dynamic, student culture or professional world where the social rules change. Which is exactly what we see from Dream as his mask changes depending on who he’s with whether that be Tommy, a large audience, Wilbur, his friends, The Warden, Quackity, Badboyhalo, Techno… etc.

In other words, how fitting would it be if a character with the disorder infamous for masking had a literal mask. One that he literally had to take off to discovery who he was all along. What better example of the dsmp main theme of seeing things from other peoples point of view to gain understanding, than the extreme case of that. What better picture of communication issues than a disorder infamous for social struggle. Like not only does it fit so very well with Dream’s character, not only does it make sense with the symbolism of his mask, and the narrative, but it fits the overall arching dsmp story too, because by being autistic Dream is kind of like the ultimate version of the theme and for him to be a main front runner of the story just truly drives the point home in a beautiful and important manner.

[ga-yuu]

About Ikegen Management Team Message!

The fact that Ikemen Genjiden Management Team formally send out a statement to thank everyone who send them supportive and kind messages after the announcement of EoS and saying that they themselves are sadder than the players itself really makes me think that Ikemen Genjiden must have been their passion project. This really feels like a shut-down that is forced rather than planned like Ikemen Revolution. Correct me, if I'm wrong, because Ikemen Revolution suddenly stopped releasing new trailers for their game out of nowhere, and sometime after, they formally announced their EoS. Usually, an EoS of a game means that, a new game announcement is right around the corner. Ikemen Revolution was killed to bring out Ikemen Villains. But I feel like Ikemen Genjiden's EoS is out of nowhere. I don't really think they planned this to happen, at least not this year. I don't know. Everything really feels sus, because they just released Kurama and Ibuki's sequel and everything was going well. Let's just wait and watch if there will actually be an announcement for a new Ikemen game this year or not.

According to them the management team haven't changed since the start of the development of the game, which means, every single member in the management team has longing memories for this game.

The story is about Rikka was already in development 2 years before the game's launch, and he is meant to be the counterpart to Tamamo and the starting point of the whole Genjiden story. According to the Management team, the story hasn't even reached its full potential yet. If the game was still on-going, we would have been able to see more crazy things unfold. It's sad that no matter how many kind words and encouragement to continue the game we sent, nothing will change because at the end of the day, it's a business and this is a strategic decision made for making profits.

The management team, did say that they will try and release as many stories as possible before the end day. So lets' look forward to that.

I really love the management team of Ikemen Genjiden. They are so creative and passionate about Ikemen Genjiden that it saddens me that the game did not get the recognition it rightfully deserves. People were asking for the English release, but they don't seem to understand that if the Japanese market doesn't do well, they won't be releasing it in English. That's why I have always been saying people to go play the Japanese app if you're that interested to play the game. But whatever. This was bound to happen someday.

When I saw the introduction of Rikka, I had hope that this game would at least go on until Rikka's story is released but I guess it did not and that makes me even more sad. Rikka is such an interesting character and I'm still dying to know more about him. I wish, if they are not going to release a main story, they at least release an event of something or give out free stories about Rikka just so that the fans could learn more about him. The fact that everything about this character is now going to disappear in fucking space.....I'm sad. I'm really really sad.

I wish that this Management Team really gets the praise that they truly deserve. I hope this same Management Team, comes together again and create new game which could be even better than Ikemen Genjiden. This Management Team has the potential to create stories that truly touches one's heart and soul. A MC like Yoshino who is so beautiful and lovable than any MC I have ever seen in my life. Eccentric but lovable suitors with very unique and some of which have never-before-seen personalities. Hilarious brain-dead nonsensical humor. Amazing and heart-touching dialogues. Beautiful music. Beautiful art style. Best cast of VAs ever. Everything about this game is so positive that I'm dying from the inside when I see my child slowly dying.

I love you, Ikemen Genjiden Management Team. You guys are literally the GOAT!!! I really hope you guys do well in the upcoming years and have more opportunities to shine!!! I'll always pray that upcoming projects get recognition it deserves!

[coffinbrotherr]

Istg I keep seeing videos in my recommend that have either Andrew or Ashley sprites in the thumbnail and it's always in the lines of "shock storytelling is BAD" or "this needs to STOP" (I'm not providing examples as to not install a witchhunt but if youve seen them, you know EXACTLY who im talking about.) and I dont...I don't get why? Like, ok genuinely I'm having an actual hard time understanding why because being disturbed and being made uncomfortable is quite literally the definition of horror, so why is it a problem now.

To I guess throw my hat into the ring, I'd like to explain why i personally think incest integral to Tcoaal not only because I'm just fucking tired of seeing people not like the game just because of that aspect and I'm not knocking those people because of it because people can not like things for specific reasons, for example I am not one for horror involving teeth or the mouth so I tend to ignore horror media that prominently use those as setpieces. I'm mainly talking about people that bash it without actually playing it and people that see it at surface level and just make a Baseless assumption because to me and obviously a lot of other people as it still has great reviews, Tcoaal is wonderfully written and that IS thanks to its incest themes.

We see that throughout the game, Ashley obviously loves her brother, not only in the romantic sense but also in the power dynamic. While some aspects have yet to be revealed about thier relationship as we still only have two chapters, Ashley obviously manipulates Andrew and has since they were little as evident by the hide and seek flashback. It's incredibly obvious that Ashley likes control over people and since she doesn't really have anyone else that's closer to her, she uses Andrew exclusively as he's always been there with her figuratively and literally. While this behavior definitely comes from a sense of loneliness and fear of losing the one person that tolerates her as not even thier own parents wanted to stay around them let alone her, I think it also comes down to enjoying the control. Genuinely think about the story of the game for a sec, could you imagine being in that exact situation we see the siblings in. The closest thing we can even relate it to is covid, and we could at least still leave the house to an extent and have things sent to us that we wanted. Imagine going through all that not being able to leave, literally having the bare minimum of food being dropped off to you and being FORCED to stay inside not with a slap on the wrist but with active threats of death even though you know other people get to freely live outside peacefully. Not only is that terrifying but it gives a lot more insight to Ashley's character as she's literally stuck in a place she cannot control in an unfounded situation that is positively awful, but she does have one thing she can control, she has one person she can make exclusively hers and make him do whatever she wants through manipulation and the connection with love. The same goes for Andrew as we know Andrew was at least a bit more popular with people to the point where he even had a girlfriend (Julia) and to have literally all that stripped away from him is tragic, however for him there's one more person he can interact with, one person that cares about him and truly does love him in a way only they can share. It's a beautifully horrific way of telling a story because on the outside, it just looks like "oh hah hah, that's the incest cannibalism game" but if you actually played it you would see not only is the writing genuinely funny but also incredibly smart with its subtle meaning and player interpretation. It's NOT glorifying incest, it is actively showing an incredibly toxic relationship that was made through the circumstances and actions taken with both characters and to say it's just "shock storytelling" or "it's just trying to glorify incest" is just wrong, it's using the incest to further the narrative and that's why I personally find this game to be my favorite work of horror.

But that was just my interpretation, I'd love to hear your guy's views on it because I'd love to further the discussion and potentially add to my analysis as this was just something I wrote at 12:30 AM in bed. I could go on and on about my personal analysis but a lot of it would just be me being genuinely pretty annoyed with the games detractors and overall just make for a poor reading experience.

[fazball]

I want to talk about fights in Unstable Universe! How they work both within the story and from the perspective of a group of people simply playing a part. Before I start I do want to note that despite being really into the game almost since release I am not exceptional at any aspect of the game and that includes things like PvP which I will be talking about in this post, so I may miss something or not fully understand something.

I want to start with the fact that when a fight happens they don't actually want to kill anyone who is not supposed to die, they are simply telling a story, but they are still using actual fighting strategies and their own personal skill is accounted for as well. They use potions, cobwebs, ender pearls, and many things that the average player (as in someone who is not a PvPer) would never even think of. When I first started watching I was baffled by the idea of holding onto stacks of XP bottles to heal your armor mid-fight. And when there is someone meant to be a powerful force they make sure to either choose someone who is exceptionally good at PvP (like Clown) or they have so many people dogpile the person they're fighting that it's almost impossible to win (like Zam or Ashswag). With Zam and Ash its not completely based on dogpiling as they do have higher ranked fighters, like Zam with FlameFrags and Ash with MinuteTech, but most of the time their teams are dependant on dogpiles.

So how do they determine a winner if not by death? It's all based on whose materials can last the longest and who has to run first. By materials I mean literally everything, totems, gapples, armor, pearls, sometimes even rockets. Of course with it being rp we don't fully know if the intent is actually to get someone so incredibly low multiple times OR if that just happens bc the fight is just supposed to last that long. I think my favorite example of this is in Parrot's "It's Impossible to Find this Player," specifically the fight with Boofser, Kier, and Dev. They so obviously lost, almost all of their armor had broken and they literally flew away multiple times just to come back then fly away again because their armor and gaps could not keep up with the damage. Another example I like is from Spoke's "I Got Hunted by the Minecraft Mafia" where he tries to fight the mafia with MinuteTech, realizes this is not a fight he can win and has fly off. Actually this is seen with all 3 POVs, a lot of the time they have to run instead of actually fighting so it simply becomes a situation where they fight, fly off to try and lose them, dig underground, and repeat. It goes differently in Wemmbu's "The Minecraft Empire War" where him and Zam both lost almost all their items, all their armor was breaking neither of them had anymore XP, they had both run out of rockets by then and I truly think the only reason one of them isn't dead is because of Clown stepping in.

Final notes and comments! I have such a terrible memory so i'm sorry if I got anything wrong, it's not my fault :(. When I was talking about XP bottles I used LifeSteal as an example since I don't watch any other PvP series or creators, but since i'm not caught up at all, nor do i interact with the community, i'm not sure if I should consider LS a reliable source for PvP info. I know it's become a rp-ish server as well, but as far as i'm aware they are actually intending to kill/get someone off the server during fights. If anyone would like to correct me on that feel free! And yes, I am aware that Zam had apologized to Wemmbu before Clown stepped in, but I truly don't think he meant it. Maybe he did in the moment, but I feel justified to think it wasn't 100% honest as once they got into the prison Zam immediately tried to kill Wemmbu again. You could try to excuse it with the fact that this was a dire situation and he was distressed, but not once has Wemmbu been the one to strike first. He is simply not a reliable person, especially in relation to Wemmbu. I'm not sure why I wrote this honestly, anyone who's watched UU probably knows this and anyone who hasn't seen UU probably doesn't want to. Maybe i'll send this to an oomf and lure them in.

[linkspooky]

CHOUJIN X, CHAPTER 41 HYENA

Hello, it's time to cover the climactic battle and rescue of Palma a recently introduced character who will probably turn out to be a major player considering the sheer amount of time that has been spent on this battle. This is also the first time we've seen the trio truly work together in a fight since they got separated before the time skip so there's a lot of interesting character and thematic moments to dig in here.

I think if there's any central statement that Ishida is trying to get across in this long drawn out fight scene it's that old cliche.

GOOD INTENTIONS LEAD TO HELL.

Tokio's mentor Sato reminds him of this. While he is trying to make Tokio into the successor of Sandek because of this heroic and selfless attitude he has, he's also the ahrshest critic of that same attitude. That no matter how hard he fights, or how beautiful the path he walks, or what his ideals are intentions are not outcomes.

The power of choices is a common theme in Ishida's works, often used with a railroad motif at the same time. We are capable of making choices, we are capable at switching tracks at critical junctions too, but oftentimes there are unforeseen consequences for our choices and because of that no matter how much you overthink a choice it at times feels like you've been railroaded into an unexpected result. There is always a choice and always a consequence, and sometimes these things aren't fair or just or logical.

Azuma makes a pretty clear reference to the train tracks monologue in Tokyo Ghoul when he's going to fight the scissor choujin to try and rescue Tokio. In both cases protagonists make a wrong choice that they are then locked into for different reasons. Kaneki correctly understands that Furuta might raid his home base, but instead of splitting his forces appropriately goes alone.

Azuma similiarly is told he can't handle fighting against a Choujin and to stay out of it, and goes anyway. In Azuma's case he's told straight up to his face that his intentions aren't as noble as he makes them out to be. Did he want to save Tokio because he wants to be the kind of person who save others, or did he just want to test himself because he thought being put in life threatening danger would activate his choujin powers?

The road to hell is paved with good intentions can mean two things, number one good intentions don't always lead to good results or number two people's good intentions aren't always as good as they make themselves out to be.

Tokio post timeskip is so far shown to be true to his good nature. However, he is an Ishida protagonist and Ishida doesn't really write straightforward heroes. There is a similarity between the two scenes as I mention, Azuma and Tokio both willingly choose to charge into fights that are far out of their depths and they're warned beforehand that while sitting and doing nothing might seem crueler it also might be the smarter choice and they might make things worse by intervening. Tokio is told that he was the one who asked to take the lead on this Opium operation and now he might throw it all away to save a random stranger by charging in with no backup.

When Tokio is fighting he's able to hear Palma's cries for help in her chaosified state because of their shared connection to Zora's blood and we see he is forcibly flashing back to critical moments of his life. The scene on his beach where he made the decision to leave his life and friends behind for one year and devote himself entirely to training. The memorial for the dead he left behind in his final battle where he beat the tyrannical choujin yes, but lost most of his allies.

The text are Palma's thoughts, but they are probably things Tokio highly identifies with because they're things he's said in his personal narrative before (I want to be stronger, I want to smarter, why am I weak? i can't anymore? Why? I can't give up) something that has even appeared to us in his internal dialogue right before the timeskip.

Palma is lamenting her fate, how weak, useless and helpless she feels and how it feels like nothing she did amounted to anything and begging for help while at the same time succumbing to her berserk state. Part of me wonders if Tokio is overinvested in saving Palma not because of some higher mind heroic goal, but because number one a year later he's still stuck with the feelings of uselessness he had on the beach from watching everyone fight and die for his sake. He's stuck with the idea that if he does not do everything on his own from now on that he'll revert to his old useless self.

Is Tokio trying so hard and so recklessly to save Palma because it's the right thing to do? Is he doing it because their psychic link makes him project his own feelings of uselessness and helplessness onto her? Is it survivor's guilt from all the people he couldn't save in Iwato?

Is it because Tokio like Kaneki hates being made to feel weak or useless so at moments like this he will act on his own and act recklessly so he can pretend he's in control. I think these chapters in general are setting up more for Tokio's character, at least to add a level of complexity because really importantly if Azuma had not shown up when he did Tokio would have completely lost.

It's also narratively interesting to me how this scene compares to when Azuma charged in blindly to save Tokio from the scissor choujin when he was warned against it. In that case Azuma's good intention truly did lead to hell because he got the worst result possible. Not only was he brutally cut in half and didn't succeed in helping Tokio at all, but he also turned into a Choujin and immediately brutally attacked the person he was trying to save. Azuma wanted Choujin powers too but when he awakens he's immediately told he's dangerous and needs to control himself.

Things just don't work out for Azuma narratively. That's always been the case since the beginning. The things Azuma wants get just kind of dropped into Tokio's lap. Tokio has more potential as a Choujin. Tokio awakens first. Tokio has spent years slacking off unlike Azuma who was a martial arts prodigy and overachiever, and in just one year of hard work Tokio has far surpassed Azuma. Tokio is Sato's star pupil, while Sato remarks to Azuma's face that Yamato Mori's quality of peace keepers is on the decline. Tokio is put in charge of a large operation when he speaks up against his superiors, whereas Azuma's attitude is keep your head down and listen to your superiors and he remains in relatively the same place.

Tokio is the protagonist so the story moves forward with him and it's about his growth, whereas Azuma is continually frustrated by both his lack of mobility and lack of growth. SO in this scenario where Tokio and Azuma basically do the same thing, run in to fight without backup Azuma's ends with this horrific scene of him turning against his best friend and even losing his status as "Tokio's hero" while Tokio gets to fly off into the sunset with Palma.

I'm not saying Azuma deserves better anything, I'm just observing that things work out for Tokio and they don't really work out for Azuma. Tokio keeps movig forward while Azuma stays in place and is oftentimes left behind. That's what Azuma long suspected and feared that if Tokio put the effort in that not only would he be on Azuma's level, but he'd be much higher than him.

It's why Azuma freaks out on Ely for not taking his side in the conflict between him and Tokio. In Azuma's mind at least everything he wants, Tokio just already has. Ely doesn't mind that Tokio ditched her for a year because she's more relaxed about those kinds of things. Not only is Azuma more sensitive he's also known Tokio for all of his life as opposed to Ely who only met him recently. From Azuma's point of view though the connection he's built up with Ely for the past year as her partner means almost nothing because he thinks she's naturally siding with Tokio, because Azuma fears Tokio's just naturally better. That there's something internally missing in Azuma that Tokio has and that fear makes him play stupid high school games with Ely. "Well, why are you on his side? You're supposed to be on my side" he yells in the middle of an important mission even though hes supposed to be the most mature and goal oriented member of the main cast.

Of course, there's the fact that Tokio didn't save the day in this situation because of anything he did specifically, besides making the decision to save Palma and not give up on that even when things were looking bad. No the day was saved because Azuma and Ely showed up and they were only there because Azuma considered Palma suspicious and was following up on a lead he established beforehand. It's Azuma's detectivework that brought them there, and luck to salvage things after they went south and Tokio wasn't strong enough to handle it, not anything Tokio did specifically.

It's still a pattern though Tokio tends to get good outcomes, and Azuma tends to make choices that lead to bad ones. I'm curious as to why this is though I don't think it's going to settle on a simple answer like Tokio good, Azuma bad.

Sato's heavy emphasis on "good intentions lead to hell" makes me think that the happy ending to this chapter mini-arc might get the rug pulled out of it at a later event. Palma turns into a hyena, and Azuma had a lot of connections to hyena symbolism early on in the manga.

Something tells me we might get a scene like this with Azuma and Palma at a later point, that the happy ending with Palma now might somehow lead to a tangled tragedy in the future. It might even be a romantic thing, because Azuma's jealousy over his perception that Ely is taking Tokio's sides has shades of romantic jealousy and possessiveness to it too. I'll talk about this theory more when I'm analyzing all the reveals in the next chapter though.

[jorvikzelda]

Also, I think one really weird part of SSO marketing themselves as a "girls' game" and sticking to that really really hard is their rock hard refusal to let the player character be a boy.

TL;DR because this got long: It is not progressive to, in a game about horse riding (a very stereotypically girly hobby), exclude boys.

(Spoilers for Saving Concorde and the Light Ride, but only in the first paragraph.)

We all know SSO's decision to only allow for girl player characters isn't about being Aideen reborn or the game being about sisterhood or only women being Soul Riders. Had that been the only problem, it would've been solved the second Rhiannon explained how Concorde could've been reborn as a mare - I quote, "A soul is not defined by the gender it's born into".

I absolutely do not mean to through this post make it seem like boys' inclusion in SSO is a priority over gender equality in gaming, and obviously I understand that women and girls have historically been excluded from gaming and have not had games catered to them. However, a) (as other people have pointed out) that isn't even NEARLY as much the case today as it was 10-15 years ago. b) I would honestly argue that not allowing the player character to be any other gender than a girl in SSO furthers that inequality. Also, this post doesn't even really touch on the full consequences of not having truly diverse body shape options and some variety of pronoun customization in a game that's "for girls", but in short: if you exclude all non-girls, you also cannot include all girls.

I've seen the (mostly community, to be fair) argument that "boy characters would lead to more problems with romancing", and that's bullshit. People already do that. Start reporting the daily weddings happening in Silverglade if you're seriously concerned about that.

I've seen SSO's argument that "in many games, girls are forced to play as boys", and I would really buy that argument if this was a single-player game with a premade player character, but do you know what games never ever do that except for SSO? Massive-multiplayer online games. That's right: that thing SSO is (or at least calls itself, but that's a topic for another post).

I've seen SSO's argument that boys can play Star Stable, they can play with the girl avatar just fine, but do you know which demographic of children interested in horses isn't going to look at SSO's website and go, "oh, that's all right, I'll play as a girl and it'll be fine and fun!"? That's right: preteen boys.

That's where we get to the next part of this conundrum: there are horses involved. Yeah, you know, that hobby that boys have never been shamed or bullied for partaking in! /sarcasm, obviously. If a boy is interested enough in horses to want to play a video game centered around them, it is more than likely he's been mocked and more than likely that mocking included insults aimed at his perceived femininity for partaking in equestrian sport and/or insulting him for enjoying a "girly" hobby. No 12 year old boy, especially not if he is being bullied a little bit, is going to look at SSO's character creation screen and go, "Oh, what a great feminist initiative! I feel just fine and dandy leaning into the perceived traits that I am being mocked for".

Horse riding is not traditionally seen as a "boys' hobby", and SSE is only furthering that perspective by actively choosing time and time again to not allow SSO's player characters to have physically masculine attributes or for SSO's players to choose their pronouns in game.

It's weird. I don't understand why they're doing it.

Part of me earnestly suspects it's a coding limitation: if SSE wanted to properly include non-girls in SSO, they would have to work for an amount of time ranging from many months to several years to change the way quest text and pronouns work.

I never truly expected them to care about true inclusivity enough to do that. I shouldn't be disappointed. It's easier to keep up the image of this being a grand feminist mission than to say, we would like to do this but our code is flawed and it would take so long and it's just. not. important. enough.

[davekat-sucks]

"the Light Player and Void Player must not meet this early"

Huuuuuh?! What’s the story again? And remember Vriska (light player) and Equius (Void player) are neighbours! So Rose and Roxy aren’t supposed to meet early, but it doesn’t matter to Vriska and Equius?

Or there’s one more thing I don’t understand?!

Part of me wants to say it is because their classpect. Heir has yet to be truly defined, but some speculate the class could be one who surrounds themselves with the aspect. For Equius as the Heir of Void, not only he can make himself invisible, but being besides others can make others invisible. Some could cite this as him and the others hiding in the meteor. That's why Bec Noir has not been able to find him, even with Vriska was present as the beacon. As well as the fact he was hidden away from Doc Scratch's omniscience. Unfortunately, the definition of what Heir would do is still up for debate. Light not only is related to being literal light or knowledge, but in a meta sense, Light Players are also tied to becoming huge roles within the story itself. In a sense, if you are a Light Player, you should be most relevant. We see that in Vriska as would create Bec Noir and she would try to make herself the hero. Hell, in the cancelled flash of Rex Duodecim Angelus, she did the killing blow against the Black King. Bitch was not lying that she did the final blow. Rose also played her major role within her Beta Session as she gained knowledge about the game to help her friends. Not only that, but Doc Scratch kept an eye on her to make sure his plans go just fine. He had already done this to Vriska too and is now doing the same to Rose. We even see this in Aranea as she is one of the only few dancestor trolls to be most relevant in Act 6 to the point where she becomes the next villain. Perhaps each relevance may differ from the class they are in. But for general statement, a Light Player in a session will have some important role to play. Whether they their actions are acknowledge or not, it doesn't matter as anything a Light Player would do would set in motion for bigger things to come. Which makes it all the more ironic by the time Post Retcon happens, most of the Light Players become irrelevant. Vriska may have been part of the army against Lord English, but she doesn't fight him directly. Not even a VRISKA GHOST is seen fighting against Lord English. Roes may have been present and actually fought The Condesce, but she isn't the one to give the final blow. When you even think about it, The Condesce herself wasn't her main goal to reaching to fight the bad guy. It was suppose to be JACK NOIR, the one who killed Mom Lalonde in her session. And if you wanna get deeper, Lord English, the one behind everything. The one Doc Scratch would become to be after using Rose for his plans. The Condesce may have been the one to kidnap Roxy to force her to make the Matriorb, but that is only after The Scratch happened that she had to move on to this plan. Rose's role would not be as great because she was stuck on that meteor and did fuck all to help anyone besides being a drunk depress mess by Act 6. By the time Post Retcon happened and Vriska saved her ass, she is suddenly fine and still didn't do anything on meteor besides be lesbians with Kanaya. She only become important just to fight The Condesce. Void Players in a meta sense, would be being hidden away from importance of the narrative. To the point the Void Player could be irrelevant, as we see in Horuss. Despite Equius would be one of the people to become the big bad, his role within the Homestuck series is barely touched upon, we don't see him do much, and Hussie writes him off as a JOKE CHARACTER despite that he would become a necessary component for Lord English and has Herculean strength that its a mutant gene that is not taken as seriously as Karkat's own mutant red blood. The only Void Player that manages to stand out was only Roxy Lalonde. The story with Calliope and Roxy is that after Roxy got knocked out, she fell asleep and is able to meet with Calliope's soul in a special hidden area, so Caliborn/Lord English won't go after her even after he killed her dream self. Calliope gives exposition to Roxy about the situation and then she gets taken by surprise that Rose Lalonde appears so suddenly without Calliope's knowledge.

Because Light Player can be surrounded by literal light, Calliope assumes that Rose would be a becaon spot for her brother to go after Calliope. Not only that, but she is upset that Rose would appear here. She doesn't know how or why, but it's clear that she did not expect something like this to happen. Thus, gets upset something like this comes by. As much as she knows about Roxy's relationship and longing to meet with her sister/mother, she postpones it for her own selfish needs to save herself. She blasts anti-majyyks without their conssent. What kind of friend or lover for those who ship Calliope and Roxy, would do that to someone who wanted to meet their family member? Calliope might have known how Rose is important to Roxy, but doesn't want it to happen this early, especially in a place where her brother might find her. But how would Caliborn/Lord English go about sensing Rose? It is not really stated. Calliope had no say or right to deny what her friends want. Especially if they are suppose to be friends that would help her against her brother. But apparently, only her method of how things should go is important. She is no different from Caliborn for how things should go his way. The way Calliope goes about it is playing as the victim that the whole situation is hurting her and she needs others for assistance. If others have any issues of their own, it's only second fiddle compared to her.

[mystxmomo]

I recently got a curiouscat asking for a primer on my characters, for someone who didn't know anything about them and was curious. Yippee!

Unfortunately, curiouscat has a 3k CHARACTER (Not word, but character!!) limit. I tried to keep this under 3k characters, but ultimately I don't know how to shut up.

Perhaps that's fortunate. Afterall, something like Tumblr gives me the chance to actually sit down and articulate my thoughts, as well as include pictures. I'm not going to fool myself into thinking I can keep this short, but I am going to try and keep it contained. As such, I've formatted each character as such.

What they're based on, be it an idea, a personality, a scenario, ect. What their personality is. And some things about their story.

I actually have... a Tumblr Development blog. The character page is a bit dated, with some character designs already having some changes, and doesn't have the proper descriptions up yet. But it should at least be enough to put a name to a face for most of the characters I'm about to talk about.

Here's a link to the character page directly

Basically, all of these characters are for a game I'm making. It explores the idea of the afterlife as something entirely mundane, and domestic. It's the lazy day where you have the fan blowing because it's a little too hot, or wading in the shallows of the beach. This is a game where a happy ending is assured. The characters are already dead. Though they cannot remember their lives, they have lived them already, and are about to rediscover them. And so the point becomes. Do they deserve it? A lot of the characters have done Bad Things. Some of them aren't good people. They're fun characters, but my god they suck balls. Does that make them any less deserving of happiness? Do they still get to grow?

(: so with that established.

my characters.

Estelle - (It's complicated)

Estelle is purposefully based on the stock standard silent rpg protagonist. She's very stoic, is noted as not saying much in game. People respect her, but she's a reflection of the players actions.

Despite being someone who's really reliable, she's kind of like. Implied to be a little bit of a sarcastic cunt? You know just because someone can't speak doesn't mean they are nice. But shes willing to put up with and do a lot.

Laelia - Forest God

Laelia is based on the idea of a whale fall deity. Like, a goddess who's death will feed an ecosystem. She explores a lot of themes regarding love through apathy? She's a nature goddess. To her, Humans are no different then rabbits, which are no different to dogs, which are no different then crows. Why should the death of a human mean anymore - and therefore, any less, then the death of a crow. Does the act of kindness matter less to things that will never truly understand you? She cannot bring herself to hate humanity, as hating humanity is against her very nature as a nature deity.

Personality is based on like. Stoic, noble knight characters. She was originally based on heathers-esc mean girls, and there are still aspects of her personality and design that shine through that. But it's been muddled down a bit. She's a heathers esc mean girl who got Older. She's melancholic, more then anything else, though she chooses to spend her time around people that are Hard To Deal with.

Her story deals with ideas of heroism and honor in small acts. Despite being a demi-god who's biggest claim to fame should have been in her death, she is explicitly most known for silent kindness. She's someone reliable, even in her apathy. There's no honor in glory, and no glory in violence, and no honor in death.

Also she'll just Do things. I think i said that already, but she's the type of character who's willing to jump off a cliff to discover if there are rocks in the water. Her demi-god powers are kind of lame, because "i can't force animals to grow, so why would I be able to do that to plants?" But plants grow on her and that's a fun perk of her design.

Kimon - (: don't worry about it yet.

Kimon is based on the idea of very peppy macabre artists. He's friendly! He's a little sassy! He's introspective! He's the one with the least amount of blood on his hands, canonically. He does graphic gore and decay art. He's canonically a clone of one of the other characters that was made incorrectly, and so his body is actively beginning to stop from the inside out.

The point of his story is three fold. The first one is the idea of identity, and the meaning of that identity. He's canonically a clone. What does that mean for his sense of self? What makes his identity different to the person he's grown from. Is it his experiences? His art? His relationships? He's someone who knew the moment he woke up that there was a clock on his life. What's the point of living a life you know will but cut short? To create? To enjoy what time you have? Kimon plays with the idea of living when you can doing what you can and enjoying the life you're living, and the romance in the mundane.

The second one is a theme I play with in my current fandom, but its one I like so it's one I'm taking. What makes something art? Does art need to have meaning to be meaningful? He has my favorite event planned for the game, where he man handles all of the characters into creating something because he wants people to create and wants to see people through what they create.

But the third one is exploring what makes a good person. Kimon is a nice person. As previously stated, theres currently no plans for him to have killed anyone. He DID cheat on his husband. He canonically says slurs. His sense of humor is offensive in a way that the narrative is judgemental of (because I, as an author, know there's a fine line between just Making An Offensive Character and making something that advertises hate) Like, to be clear about the source of his inspiration, he's based so heavily on emo-subculture and the people in it.

I like Kimon a lot as a character. He's a very passionate person, and that's really fun for me to write.

Poppy - Human

Poppy is based on turn of the century hollywood stars and the corruption of the era. The point of Poppy's narrative is... Hm. Self-discovery. She grew up with a mother who controlled her image, got married at 15 to get away from her mother, only to fall into the arms of a man more controlling than she was.

Poppy starts the narrative performing everything about herself. She's a very surface level polite person. She comes across as soft spoken, if not bashful. She refuses gifts that are like treats because, despite liking things like chocolate and cake a lot, it's something she's never been allowed to have. For a bulk of her life, shes only ever been allowed to be what other people tell her to be. There's the reason she's An Actress. There's also themes of the cycle of abuse. Poppy is a mother, but her own abuse leads to her neglecting and abusing her own child. Even when she's outside of her abusive relationship, she's starting everything about herself from scratch.

But there's also this theme of growth I like with her. She has a breaking point. She cuts her hair, she lashes out and breaks down. Life goes on. She stops performing her personality. She's actually a very passionate "follow your heart, do what's right" type person, she'll speak her mind when she thinks something is wrong and place herself in danger for someone else. Break the rules to do what's right and burn the bridge trying.

She has a gun. She discovers she likes working with machines. She becomes a better mother, and life goes on.

Ida - Human +

I'm going to be honest with you going into this. I'm still figuring a lot of things about this character... Out? She's not like my other characters in that she's kind of a very passive one, and that's by design of what she's trying to do.

Ida is based on the idea of a corrupt spiritualist. She's someone vulnerable who was prayed on by the authority of her religion. It's important that I note - it's not a cult. It's a statement on how religion by its nature, while it can be very important and impactful for people, just as often even the most main stream religions can become damaging to the vulnerable.

She has a concept of fate that she feels she cannot break. She believes in fate as a finality. She cannot control the outcome of her own life, it is predetermined, and so anything she does she has to do because that's the Will of it. And she hurts for it. There's a comfort in the finality, but is the comfort of that finality worth the pain of not trying to change? She wants to be a good person, but what happens when you have to do bad things to fulfil your idea of what Good is. You're doing something "for the good" but you're hurting others for it.

She's Human + because she starts as a human, but this is a world with demigods and psychopomps and deities. Her religion consumes her body, and she becomes an echo of who she was.

Personality wise she comes across as a quiet academic type, but she's kind of arrogant and pretentious and it's not in a very Fun way. She can be a little patronizing, and incredibly manipulative, but she's also. Disconnected. Quiet. She might change a little bit, we will see when we get there.

Thales - Lich

Thales is a subversion of the mad scientist/necromancer archytype. The first thing you need to know is that necromancy in this world, while not accepted by the people in it, is accepted by the GODS in it. Olette, psychopomp, LOVES this guy. Isn't it interesting! Isn't it fascinating, watching someone try and avoid death, killing to avoid death, only to be taken by it anyway? Necromancy isnt anymore against the natural order than mending a broken bone, or restarting a stopped heart. Because you can only do it for so long before death will take you anyway.

He's a socialite! He's a party boy! He's nobility. He's so scared of death. And it's fun, because what do you do when you've spent your entire life worrying about dying, only to discover that death is a reflection of life? Have you wasted your life in that worry?

I'm trying to save most of the relationships for the bullet points section, but kimon and Thales are interesting to me in the way they foil the idea of life as something worth living. Kimon accepts his death and spends his days creating and enjoying, and even when he fucks up his community and hurts the people he loves he still has people he loves. Thales loves life and wants to keep life, and he's willing to burn the village to keep his life. He works. He works on keeping his failing bodies alive and growing new bodies to occupy, and at some point he doesn't have anything in life other than that work and the duty of that work.

And so it becomes a question of. Like. If your life is only ever that work, and that worry, did you even enjoy the life you had for as long as you got to have it?

His story also plays into themes of what makes a person good and what makes a person bad, both as he himself reflects it and how he's choosing to kill people. Death horrifies him, and so he only gives it to people worth killing. But that contrasts the theme of the game, doesn't it? What if the person you kill, that you've decided is irredeemable, can grow and change. What if you've killed the asshole, but hurt good people by doing so?

Personality wise, he's very. Academic clever boy. He's kinda flirty. He's also miserable.

Floant - Kitsune

Floant is the little fox bitch I'm always drawing. Hes based on the idea of.. kitsunes, but also a asshole pacifist. He's the shopkeeper of the game! He's the only shopkeeper in the game!! He is everywhere, you literally will not escape this guy. He refuses to sell weapons, despite being the only shopkeeper in the game. Also, he doesn't actually understand the concept of importance of money. He'll just give people his wares if he likes them enough. He's kinda been shoe horned into this position, so why should he care? He's also the strongest character in the story, just sheer ability wise. But coming back to being a pacifist, he is useless for it. He is very good at running away.

The point of his story and the themes of it are... Tragic romance and love. He loves with everything he has.

And so Floant as a character plays into the concept of love as something neutral. You're not a better person for your love, suffering for your love is just a tragedy, clinging to ghosts

Personality? Masquerades as a Cheshire cat figure, but he's pretty strategic and level headed, all things considered. He likes being very annoying, like. He takes so much enjoyment out of being a shit for brains person. But he's not annoying because he's stupid, he's annoying because he thinks it's funny to get under people's skin.

Momoko - Kitsune (2 of them!)

Momoko is based on the idea of mothers who never grow to love their children. She's a Rotten Mother. Nevermind the fact that having children ruined her life, she is someone dealing with a lot of grief that she refuses to acknowledge or touch on. So she could not bring herself to love who she brought into the world. I won't say she's never hurt one of her children, because. Lmao. This bitch guilty of period typical infanticide. But she was not physically abusive to the child she chose to raise, nor was verbally or emotionally abusive. She just could never come to love him.

And so, that brings in the question of what actually makes a good mother, and really, what love even is. Momoko is mean. She's brash and loud, easily irritated and kind of snappy as a person. But she takes care of her son and keeps him safe in a world and time that really wants the both of them dead. She spends time with him, actively verbalizes that she holds a great amount of respect for him, and she does see him as his own person with agency. Is that still love, even when she says she hates him?

I'll give you a guess as to who her son is, based on the species alone. First guess doesn't count.

I do not generally like to advertise my characters for their queerness. I personally think.. well, one, it should go without saying. But two, the selling point of the character should be their story and the queerness of it should be an accessory rather than the point of it? It's the type of representation I like to see. I'm personally very, very tired of coming of age queer stories, and so I aim to write stories that happen to have queer characters in it, rather than stories about being queer. Or at the very least, I want to write stories where queerness is weaved into and reflective of the relationships and community of the characters, rather than the plot.

Having said that, I do want to talk about the fact that kitsunes bastard 1 and 2 are very purposefully playing in the realm of gender ambiguity. Like, a lot of characters are, but with these two specifically... Floant is drawn in very effeminate cultural clothing, long hair, ect, and Momoko has a very purposefully androgynous silhouette. Despite being The Mother, she's given a lot of very masculine traits and tendencies. Floant is the Romantic and The Caretaker, but he's the guy. If you're ever thinking "is this intentional?" The answer is probably yeah.

There are a few other trans characters. I refuse to say who.

I swap between they/them and he/him-She/Her pronouns for the two of them, but ultimately the pronoun aspect of it does not matter. Like I mentioned in the first paragraph of this ramble, I want the idea of it weaved into their design, rather than just placed there.

Anyway. Small tangent over. I like them a lot, they're fun characters.

Olette - Psychopomp

Olette is based on horror movie girl archetypes. Shes the nerd, she's the final girl, she's the popular girl, she's the killer and the monster and the victim. She's so much of everything at once. She's loud! She's performartive! The world is a theater and she's playing in it! I mentioned it in another recent curiouscat, but shes the only character who has Every Single Emote as a new indivual full body pose.

She's a lovecraftian protagonist. She saw the horrors and just rolled with it. She doesn't have to understand the old gods to know that they're there. She loves the horrors! She gave herself to them because she had no one else to give herself too.

There's a building joke that every character in this game starts off hating olette, and she loves them all despite that. They think she's annoying. She doesn't know how to stay out of their business, she's the reason they are where they are and why they're going through what they're going through.

Her personality is... She performs being loud and arrogant and confident and mean, but she's kind of pathetic and sad. She's a theater kid. If she succumbed to the mortifying ordeal of being known, it would mean admitting she's so horrifyingly lonely, so she won't! She's also kind of clingy, and scatterbrained. She chooses to dress like that. Yeah. In my idv au for her I had her as a fake psychic, and I think that fits still.

==

Bullet time. Important relationships

Laelia and Floant - Weird co-dependence. They Do Love Eachother, but ...

Laelia and Ida - what do you do when you can only consider yourself a good person if you manage to guide someone to their death? What if you grow attached to the person you're supposed to kill? Yeah.

Floant and Momoko - look back at momokos section.

Thales and Poppy - What do you do when the first person who has ever respected your agency as a person is Kind Of An Asshole? Let's find out.

Kimon and Laelia - they're just buddies. It's important to me that they're buddies.

Floant and Olette - they're so fucking funny to me personally. Floant cannot get under this girls skin and he's so thrown off by that it loops back around into him becoming a straight man to her antics.

Estelle and Olette - Ghost wearing my childhood friends face. No I'm not delusional. Why are you looking at me.

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Okay edit time

The warrior cats. — Today at 2:29 AM

Estelle is also insane but I can't talk on this post about her being a sleeper agent old god with amnesia wearing the face of olettes childhood friend (who olette killed) to keep her happy

That's insane and only makes sense in context

The warrior cats. — Today at 2:31 AM

I think the line I wrote down about their relationship is "Olette loves Estelle like a woman loves her wife Estelle loves Olette like a person loves their dog"

But like a really good dog owner. Who takes care of their dog instead of dragging them by the leash

She keeps her safe but blinded to the world

And it's this theme of Love and how people love and if the context of that love changes the fact it's love places my face in a pillow the lesbian drama in here is insane

[cvbullshit]

Headcanons for the Player Chara thing I thought of. Decided to name the concept/AU Player Character bc why not. And I'll be including both concepts of it.

Player & Chara Concept:

Chara is disturbed and disgusted with The Player, mainly if they do a Genocide route at least two times.

I can see them getting some information from some sort of source to help them understand their own role better. Like probably knowing of other timelines(if they didn't know at first), other AUs and worlds(not by name and not all of them, just some that count as other games, like Dusttale and Deltarune), and maybe that there is something more to the game itself apart from themselves and The Player.

If Gaster ended up involved in this situation, like for example he's what helped Chara be a stable "player" even with some drawbacks, I view his role as more of a Guardian Angel/Devil for Chara. They wouldn't know who he is, where he is, what he looks like exactly, but they know he's there and they know he can be a helpful force... In his own way. I can imagine Chara nicknaming him either "Mr. Man"/"The Man"/"Manny", "Mr. Voice", "Mr. Guide Guy"/"Guide Guy", or "Mr. Angel"/"The True Angel" depending on how he helps them and how much he helps them.

I can imagine Chara to not disliking Frisk but not liking Frisk either, feeling bad for them at times when they're being controlled, not caring a lot of the time, but also being jealous and spiteful of Frisk. I mean come on, not only do they have to fight for control over Frisk for their own reasons but Frisk is basically replacing them in their family!!

"Player" Chara(No outside anomaly) concept:

They'd probably start breaking themselves from the inside out due to their constant need to reset and try again.

Depending on how far they go with the resets, they'd probably start losing themselves, slowly but surely.

I can see them trying to control other people to change things up to see if they can work around the same old thing. Though, the only things they'd possibly be able to control are other humans or things injected with determination (Flowey, The Amalgams, Undyne the Undying(?), ect.).

I feel like at some point they'd grow spiteful of Flowey/Asriel, for not only implying he liked their vessel more but for not understanding. Even after all this time, they really don't truly understand each other, do they? They may think alike to an extent, but down to their core, they still have differences. And Chara hates that.

They'd grow spiteful of everyone to be honest, at least a little bit. They did all of this and they can't even join them in the surface? They can't be with them after all they've done for them?? After they got themselves killed and revived for them?!

Unlike canon Chara or the Chara in the first concept, they'd probably have a god complex. They'd probably grow to forget that there's such things to consequences as well, as normally they'd be the one reminding the player of consequences but there is no player, they ARE the "player", so with no one to truly remind them, they'd probably forget.

The only ones who would be able to emotionally reach out to Chara, without them being completely spiteful, would have to be any version of Papyrus. Normally a Frisk could possibly do it but with Chara viewing them as just a vessel, and being spiteful, they couldn't take anything a Frisk says to heart. Another Chara couldn't either, because Chara does have at least a bit of self hatred and is already pretty different from most normal Charas, so they'd be too stubborn to fully listen. But Papyrus is one everyone loves, even Chara can't be too spiteful toward him. So any Papyrus could talk to them calmly.