#essentially her story is like. she learns how to have fun. essentially. depending on how i rp her idk yet actually

[swordmaid]

thalia is so growing on me i love my rich woman who has Problems.. i gave her ice powers for like. the elsa vibes.

[genshinemblem564]

Genshin Isekai Headcanons

These can be sagau, but they don't have to be.

• Xinyan is stoked that you love her music, and is excited when you offer to play her some music from your world, but she's confused by some of the lyrics. She understands metaphorical lyrics, like the person described in the song isn't actually a rocket, but some of them don't make sense or feel like they were added just to fill a void. Aside from that, she kinda wants to perform some of these songs, now if only she had some band members.

• Tartaglia doesn't have much to say about the guns of your world. The pyro and hydro fatui agents already use guns of some kind, and the cryo fatui agent uses, um. What would you call an ice based flamethrower? No, what he's interested in is the immense amount of new weapons that Teyvat doesn't have, or they probably do, and we just don't hear about them. Like chain blades, I don't know what else to call them, essentially a flail, but instead of a mace, it's blade. I would write something about axes, but I feel like saving that for my crossover series. A scythe is often seen as a special lance, but you tell him that it's much more complicated than that specifically pointing out the blade, and depending on your own skill, you give him a demonstration. He is way too excited to learn all of these new weapons, like a kid excited about a new toy, you can't help but smile.

• Baizhu is perplexed when he first prescribes medicine to you, as you give him a list of allergies, if any, and are more than willing to go through proper examination to learn how resistant your body is to certain toxins. He's even more surprised when you tell him that his unique practice is actually common in your world, so that's why you don't bat an eye at potentially poisonous ingredients.

• Bennett is rather surprised. When you hang out, his bad luck seems to go away. It's actually just you using a bit of foresight, like checking the date on a flyer before rushing to a sale that had already ended, but seeing that glimmer in his eyes, you decide to let his imagination roam.

• You and Cyno are reference lords. You two reference everything, Cyno, his favorite book or book series, and you, your favorite media source. Now, if only people actually understood them, and yes, you do quote Yu-Gi-Oh when playing Genius Invokation.

• If you're an artist, then you quickly catch Albedo's attention. When he sees your drawings, he is quick to ask what you used as a muse, and your answer will have great impact on his reaction. If you point to an object or animal, his response will be normal. If you draw from memory though, he is astounded, especially if what you drew was a scene of some kind, with people, animals, or what have you. Drawing all that from memory is incredible. If you say it's something you made up, he'll compare it to when he's commissioned for his own art.

• Depending on your own interests, you'll be interacting with several different characters. I can't think of anything in depth for these few, so here's a general basis. Barbara is relieved that you're so open to different views. She knows how cruel people can be when they're closed-minded, and she's happy to teach you about the Church of Favonius and Barbatos. Noelle was lamenting not being a knight yet, which led you to bring up the seven chivalric virtues. Yae Miko and Xingqiu are very interested in the stories of your world. Xingqiu hoping to learn more about your worlds code of chivalry, but he ends up learning about justice's different forms. Yae is simply searching for new inspiration. She often calls on you when her old nemesis, writers block, appears. Nahida takes interest in you right away, wanting to gain knowledge from your world, and you seem fun. She knows better than anyone how dangerous knowledge can be, so she asks you to omit potentially dangerous subjects.

• Mona was shocked when you said that you only wanted to know the bad stuff coming your way, not that she could help you, with you being an outworlder and all. When she asked why, you told her "It's best to be prepared for all the bad coming your way, and if you know all the good coming your way, it takes away from life's natural wonder." Which was promptly followed by you asking "Where did that come from?"

___________________________________________

I'm thinking making more of that last one, like " Characters reaction to reader who is randomly philosophical" might need to work on the title a bit. Also, as stated above, these can be sagau, but can also be normal isekai, so I'll use both tags so they can be found more easily

[bestworstcase]

Something I've been chewing on that I do wonder if you have any thoughts on. What is the intended characterization/symbolism of Yang's semblance. Jaune is a healer/support. Ren learned to control his emotions and then grew empathetic. Qrow has his bad luck which is probably a defense mechanism with consequences from the bandits that raised him and Raven. Taiyang's description of Yang's semblance is the closest to an analysis the audience has gotten and that is - "basically a Temper Tantrum". Very interestingly the narrative has so far let that description stand uncontested. And I believe you were the one that did the analysis that Yang's problem was overly depending upon her semblance as a finisher. Also fun to consider how one of the ways that Yang has her parallel with Cinder is with the fire association... which for Yang is just actually her preferred ammunition and the go to imagery for her songs that I can recall off the top of my head except for temper metaphors.

that was me yeah

a core theme of yang’s character is that she’s made of contradictions and cannot be easily defined or fit into a single box. this is true of every character in rwby—there’s always more than meets the eye, complexity beneath the surface—but yang as a character is subject to other characters’ struggle to parse who she is. tai sees a temper tantrum, ruby sees invulnerability, blake has been on an emotional journey spanning six volumes of just learning to see and love yang’s whole, complete self. yang is raven’s daughter, after all—but she’s also summer’s daughter so much that the resemblance screams itself out of the screen.

so. her semblance.

in the story, it’s been described three different times by three different characters:

ruby: “every hit makes her stronger, and she uses that to fight back. that’s what makes her special”

tai: “basically a temper tantrum, great in a bind, but it won’t always save you”

blake: “his semblance is like yours, he absorbs energy through his sword, stores it up and sends it back when he’s ready” (+ yang feeling it’s “cheap” that he “gets to dish out damage without feeling it”)

<- three bears.

in goldilocks terms, yang’s semblance is “too strong” (ruby sees her as invulnerable), “too weak” (tai sees the power it grants her as essentially hollow, false) and “just right” (yang is neither invulnerable nor fragile and her semblance is just a part of her). i also think that what yang says of adam’s semblance is more revealing of her own self-perception than necessarily being meant as an objective critique of adam—it’s not “cheap” to parry/riposte and in fact yang’s growth as a combatant post-beacon looks like learning to fight more defensively and evasively, less reliant on soaking up damage/power for explosive finishers.

insofar as there’s a meaningful difference between adam needing to block hits vs yang not it’s that yang’s semblance gives her a bit of a cushion—she can still riposte even if she misses the parry—and in all honesty i think probably comes down to their kit. yang is a hand-to-hand fighter. she’s blocking hits with her forearms and, gauntlets or not, she’s going to feel that. the specific damage-absorption mechanics of their semblances cater to their fighting styles.

but, yang feels that it’s “cheap” for adam to absorb energy through his sword rather than his own body, because yang takes a certain pride in being able to get back up after being knocked down. her idea that she must take damage before she can deal it back twice as hard is probably not a real, immutable characteristic of her semblance but something that developed in response to how yang herself copes with trauma—it’s a way of, i think, regaining a sense of control and security by telling herself that it’s okay if bad things happen because it will just make her stronger in the end.

the narrative challenges this way of thinking post-beacon—losing her arm and being left behind did not make yang stronger, receiving support from trusted adults like oobleck and port and reuniting with her friends/family is what made her stronger. learning to accept help and treat herself with more compassion is making her stronger. exploring who she is apart from ruby is making her stronger. this is the direction she’s growing in emotionally—that being hurt doesn’t make her strong, healing makes her strong—and her use of her semblance is shifting in tandem with that (still pops it as a finisher quite often but it is pretty rare since v6 that yang uses it to gain the upper hand in fights she’s at risk of losing, bc these days she’s more focused on evasion/outmaneuvering opponents to create openings for her semblance to end the fight)

and then it’s connected to yang’s anger (and fear, as when she gets between neo and ruby) because both the feelings and the semblance are in essence a self-protective response—yang gets angry when she or someone she cares about is hurt and uses that anger to protect herself and/or the person she loves. her semblance is about taking painful things that happen to her and transmuting that into the power to defend herself. same thing.

i don’t actually think that her semblance is hooked into her anger in the, like, mechanical sense (we’ve definitely seen her pop the semblance in context where she’s having a GREAT time, for one)—the correlation arises from yang’s anger being motivated by protectiveness and a desire to not be hurt, which is also what manifests in her semblance.

i would argue that “basically a temper tantrum” is meant to be read in context with ruby’s “that’s what makes her special” and then both those extremes are brought to a resolution by blake’s neutral description of what burn is, mechanically; in that sense i don’t think that tai’s analysis has been left uncontested except insofar as yang didn’t argue with him—but conversely, tai more or less tells her to think of her semblance as a risky weapon of last resort and yang went “k” and started using her semblance more, so i think it’s less that yang takes his advice at face value than it is yang recognizing that tai raises a generally good point [being creative and flexible is valuable] and thinking okay, i can probably get more out of my semblance if i try new things.

her position is that burn is normal (“how is me using my semblance different from someone else using theirs?”), and the way she takes this advice on board reflects that—if someone else relied on their semblance for just one specific tactic and nothing else, what advice would they be getting from their instructors? push yourself further, test the limits of what you think you can do, get out of your comfort zone. that’s what winter tells weiss when she’s struggling! that’s how RNJR are taught in v5! tai views burn as fundamentally different from other semblances, and his advice really comes down to “don’t rely on it, you don’t need it.” but yang disregards that part of what he tells her entirely. she quietly sorts through what tai tells her and only keeps what she thinks will actually help her improve—which is, in itself, of a piece with her semblance. she takes the ‘hit’—the harsh and rather unfair criticism—and then filters/converts it into something more constructive.

(there is also some interesting subtext here with the protective/self-protective drive behind both yang’s anger and her semblance and tai’s perception that the semblance is a “temper tantrum”—which aside from framing burn itself as abnormal also casts yang’s anger as irrational, childish, out-of-control. given the dynamic of yang’s childhood situation, the parentification and leaving yang and ruby alone at home for extended periods of time and over-identification of yang with raven plus favoritism toward ruby… and factoring in tai referring to yang’s anxiety and post-traumatic depression as “moping” well. across the board he seems either unwilling or unable to seriously/genuinely engage with yang’s feelings so how much of his perception that yang has “temper tantrums” follows from outbursts she had when overwhelmed as a child or young teen that tai didn’t take seriously or chose to ignore rather than deal with the root cause of neglect/trauma?)

[camellia-salazar]

Ed Edd n Eddy Pony Redesigns.

Ed Edd n Eddy; Friendships are Jawbreakers. (Ed Edd n Eddy rhymes with My Little Pony)

I did this last month, but for some reason put off posting it until now.

I was into both shows at the time, so it was easy for me to understand the characters as well as the rule set of the MLP universe.

I would tell you each explanation of their cutiemarks, but maybe in another post. For now, I'll explain at least a few distinct facts about each of them.

Ed: Him and Sarah's family are relatively stronger than the average earth pony thanks to them actually being hella strong in canon. AJ would be tripping on the sight of Ed casually lifting a boulder.

Edd: Does pretty well with certain spells, less than Twilight and Starlight, but more capable than most unicorns his age. It takes a lot of energy to even do them, tho, like teleport.

Eddy: Pretty much what Scootaloo has when it comes to his wings. A lot of his insecurities are from his lack of flying. He can barely hover for about 3 seconds but ultimately crashes hard at the end. He blames it on not being taught.

Kevin: Not many ponies ride bikes. He's one of the exception. Wanted to be a Wonder Bolt at one point, but eventually dropped it on account of the day he earned his cutiemark. (I'll explain eventually).

Nazz: Like all unicorns, her magical ability depends on her cutiemark/special talent. She can spark up visions that resonate the stories she would tell. She was also trained in defense magic to protect the kids she would babysit along with herself.

Rolf: His family is the only one that have a stipe across their torsos. It just develops like a cutiemark, but only when you figure out the role you play for the family. So basically, there's a little more pressure on this kiddo.

Sarah: If my pony version would be a version of the show, she and Jimmy would earn their cutiemarks at around season 3. She would be a teeny tiny bit more empathetic, too, since she's a pony now.

Jimmy: He and Sarah were a lot like the CMC prior to their cutiemarks. Mostly inspired by the fact that they act like so in canon, always trying new things essentially. He also struggles with his magic like Sweetie Belle did for a while.

Jonny 2×4: He acts a lot like Pinkie Pie and often would stim by bouncing on his tail. Also, much like how I thought of Sarah and Jimmy, he would learn to fly later on, but most likely the end of season 2, beginning of season 3. Most likely, the former.

Plank: Was supposed to be an imagined pony, but idk if I want to keep that or have him be a dragon. He would give off griffin vibes at times, tho. Idk. Maybe I should just draw his face like the OG so that the others would keep guessing.

Lee Kanker: I couldn't think of her with normal mare hooves, so she inherited her dad's hoof look. Rather, she shaved it, or it was just developed that way is pretty unknown. I thought of the latter at first.

Marie Kanker: Much like Kevin, she loves cloud bucking. The only difference is that she loves it while he sees it as more of a chore. She would often get away with chores because her mother would tell her to. But even then, she would have fun doing it.

May Kanker: Most would be threatened with her magic being red, that is, anyone but her sisters. Not only would anyone know it's her, but also red magic is usually frowned upon. The judgment doesn't bother her, tho, giving the fact that she's used to it.

Eddy's Bro: He got one of the biggest pare of wings anypony had seen on a pegasus. Because of his huge wings, Eddy would have another reason to not only look up to him but also envy him. Stupid bro taking all the flight genes.

So that's it for now, I went from EEnE to other things, so it'll take some time before I get back into EEnE again.

Thanks for reading all of this. Have a good one. 👍💖✨️

[neilgill]

Wish Defense I: The 'Complaints'

“Be to her virtues very kind, Be to her faults a little blind.” ― Matthew Prior

Disney's Wish was actually great and I'm here to defend it.

I'd like to start by negating most of, if not all, the 'complaints' this film's been getting. Please join me as I do this in 12 brief points:

Asha is a great protagonist. She is not just 'quirky' or one-dimensional: she's caring, strong, beautifully flawed, and doesn't solve every problem on her own; the movie makes a point of every one of these. I never saw her as a clone of someone like Mirabel or Anna. And she does have a character arc: she matures and learns to work hard for what she believes in. She learns that doing the right thing is difficult, but it's necessary. All this makes for a beautifully put-together character that gets through challenges and comes out stronger. Why aren't people talking about how great that is?

Magnifico is a great villain. He's an amalgam of familiar villains like Maleficent, Ursula, and Gaston, done in ways that seem fresh and unique. I've seen a lot of people say his motivation seems to change every few minutes or so, but I disagree. Him using his traumatic past is his excuse for his bad behaviour: that's what narcissists do. Just look at Mother Gothel and all her gaslighting. He was always a self-absorbed jerk who wants everyone under his heel, and whose darkness just got revealed more and more. And his 'villain shtick' is a cool and terrifying one: stripping people of their hopes and dreams to make them docile subjects who depend on him. He takes away their agency, essentially their souls and who they are as people. That is the bad thing he's been doing from Day 1, it's what makes him a villain: the film tells us that. How can people defend him? It's like people defending Gaston all over again. He's a great villain in that he goes against the values the story holds dear, challenges the protagonist in personal ways, is wonderful to hate, and is rightfully depicted as in the wrong for doing bad things. He's the selfish one, not Asha as the 'critics' are claiming. Why aren't people talking about that?

Star is a great secondary character. He is intentionally supposed to be a character that harkens back to those like Jiminy Cricket or Timothy Q. Mouse (I have a very personal connection with Dumbo, so this was important to me). People are REALLY misinterpreting that concept art of them: Star and Asha were never supposed to have a romance because Human Star would look like her grandfather. And 'Starboy' would just be a copy of Peter Pan or Genie, which people would definitely slam, thus I'm glad they changed him. See point 11 for more on Star and why his current form is the one they went with. People just care about having a Jack Frost clone (if they did go that route, they'd probably be slammed for copying Dreamworks, knowing 'critics'). The idea of a mute, magical sidekick, something that we haven't seen since Tinker Bell, is a pretty fun one that feels new and cool. And it's important to note that he never grants anyone's wish: he just helps out, letting Asha and others know that they themselves have to make it come true. Why aren't people talking about that?

I was really worried Valentino was going to be little more than a gag, but he wasn't. He helps out here and there, especially when aiding the Teens in freeing the wishes, proving his importance to the narrative. Plus I did find him pretty funny.

The Teens do stand on their own. I went into the movie knowing they were going to be new versions of the 7 Dwarfs, but each of them felt like their own unique person to me, especially Dahlia and Simon.

The animation is gorgeous: you have to watch it in HD or 4k, which people are doing for other films like Spider-Verse or Nimona, just not this one. It is far from 'lazy' or 'Disney Junior level': it harkens back to art styles Walt Disney himself loved. I can't believe they managed to replicate the feel of classic Disney backgrounds, like Snow White or Sleeping Beauty, so perfectly with modern technology. It looks like a painting, or a tapestry. Disney movies are still beautiful. Why aren't people talking about that?

The music is great: I've caught myself singing every song at least thrice. Each song brings something to the table. 'This is the Thanks I Get' fits Magnifico's character, and is something in the same vein as Gaston's song; you cannot tell me that one rent line is worse than 'nobody spits like Gaston'. I still get chills listening to 'This Wish' and its reprise. I don't know how people online are starting to think it's a bad song, but now others are just jumping on the bandwagon. You can see Asha's love and struggles within the song, and it even has the melody of 'Part of Your World'; how can you hate that? I've seen so many people personally connect with that song, myself included... Why aren't people talking about that?

'At All Costs' was never a love song between Asha and Star: Julia Michaels just wanted a love song (find that Variety article), and now it can be used for all kinds of love. I actually did tear up watching that sequence for the first time, seeing Asha hold her grandfather's wish dearly in her arms. I've seen people say it reminds them of what a parent would sing to their child, like 'You'll Be in My Heart', and I think that's just so wonderful and heartfelt. Why aren't people talking about that?

I don't have the actual post, but I'd like to bring attention back to what an artist on the film said: every 'Easter Egg' is meaningfully placed, a tribute to what has inspired generations. Not one of them felt shoehorned in to me. This movie is a tribute, a love letter, a celebration of what people have loved for 100 years. Why aren't people talking about that?

Magnifico's defeat is far from silly. It makes sense given the rules the world of the film runs on: the fact that 'we are made of stars' is a good Chekov's gun that carries a lot of meaningful importance. Each of us is special, each of us has magic, and each of us has hope. And this is where evil dies and good endures: Magnifico cannot comprehend that anyone but himself is worth anything, thus why he cannot quell this and it is the reason for this downfall. He, the villain, loses because he lacks the virtues the heroes possess. Why aren't people talking about that?

The story of this film is special: as confirmed by the staff, the film is an allegory for Walt Disney's life, and the story of Disney overall. Asha is Walt Disney, Star is Mickey Mouse: a magical force of creativity and inspiration that lights up a dark time. Because of the special nature of this, even though I'm a die-hard Disney fan, I'm fine with there not being any romance in this film (even though I'd like it back someday). This was intentionally made as a simple film à la Snow White, which was meant to be a happy, hope-giving film for people back in the 1930s. Just like this film is supposed to be now. One last time: why aren't people talking about that?

This is the first of a few posts I'll make defending this movie, so for other Wish fans out there, please stick around. I don't care if I get dragged for this: I'd rather stick up for my beliefs and defend myself my way than let online bullies like Schaffrillas, Aldone, or Astor Rhymemaster stop me from loving something I really enjoyed. I really hope this movie gets the Atlantis treatment and becomes a beloved cult classic down the line. Until next time.

[lara-cairncross]

Hi I did not expect to be hit with this much nostalgia for pixie hollow fairies lol

The way you draw them is so pretty!?!?!?!?! I love their designs so much

I'm considering drawing fanart now, especially since I saw the suggestion of drawing my personal OCs in your fairy au, and I realized.... I have an oc. That I created recently. Like so recently that I haven't even named her yet. And she's already kinda fairy-like??? She's the result of a one-night stand between Leo and a random bird yokai who decided to dump the egg on Leo (it's the accidental baby acquisition trope except its more like you-really-should-have-expected-this-leo baby acquisition XD)

Don't worry though, she's not bird-like enough to want to eat your fairy boys if she met them. She's basically just a feathered turtle who loves shiny things, and I haven't even finalized her design but now I wanna draw her as a fairy haha. I do know her feathers are blue-purple-pink-ish with red streaks, so her colour scheme matches Fairy Leo haha

Hmmmm maybe I should actually put a question here uhh....

You keep hinting at plot points but you've also said you don't plan on making this a comic, so are we ever going to find out what the heck is going on???

And I know the idea of making a whole entire comic can seem overwhelming, but have you considered viewing it as just doodling and practicing? For my own au comic I only have one part drawn so far and it is the first part, but I'm planning to just draw any part of the story at any point in time, just depending on what I feel like. Cuz no one says you have to do it the "normal" way, right? And I like to think of drawing the comic pages as practicing new skills, like learning how to do page layouts and composition better. Aka focus on the journey and not the end goal.

Whoo, that got kinda long and I only really asked one question, but based on previous asks you've answered I have a feeling you don't mind ;)

OK that was entirely just stream of thought after going through the whole au tag (there are more thoughts but most are incoherent and overlapping so this is what i managed to pick out of my brain), but to summarize: I love your fairy au and the boys are gonna be living in my head now, along with every other version of the turtles that I love <3 <3 <3

I'm glad to hear you're liking the fairy au!! I had a ton of fun coming up with their designs :D

I do actually plan on making this into a comic of sorts! I dunno if I could ever make, like, a long-form webcomic or anything like that-- but I'm definitely planning on doing at *least* a few mini-comics to elaborate on the story! And maybe build my way up to something longer and more fulfilled :D As of now, I'm trying to experiment with different comic styles on my own time so I can try and find something that's quick and easy, but still looks decent. I like the idea of treating it as essentially a glorified doodle page. Honestly, as soon as I try to take any of my stories too seriously, I burn out fast-- so I'm trying to stay pretty chill about this one and just making content whenever I feel like it lol

Yup, I'm totally cool with everyone drawing their OCs as fairies if they want to! It's not like I own the idea or anything lmao. The only caveat is that I have jurisdiction over whether or not something is canon to my particular au. Leo and the rest of the boys are still canonically kids/teenagers to me, and I've been writing/drawing them as kids this entire time, so I won't be including anything/anyone related to one of them having a "one night stand" with somebody. I can't really police what anyone else draws though, so have fun :D

Sorry about these little guys buzzing around in your brain ❤️💜🧡🩵

[maleyanderecafe]

Tentador Leches (Visual Novel)

Created by: Karmic Punishment

Genre: Horror/Romance

If you've ever played Don't Toy with Me, this is the same creator! They're actually working on another game with a stalker in it, which I will have to look into in the future. In this game, we don't play as the yandere's lover, but rather as someone who is investigating the rumors of the milk man. It can be stupid at times, but also rather disturbing depending on which endings you choose. Personally, I find it very enjoyable to play, since it's fun trying to unravel the mystery of what Koolie is hiding. If you want to know more, check them out at @karmicpunishmentgames for more info.

The story starts out with the MC signing up for the milk man delivery in town. They talk about how the people there would often talk about rumors about him- such as how strange his hair color was, or why his attitude is so cheery, but what seems to be the thing people talk Koolie's wife, and how they never see her. There are four endings: Spoiled Milk, Peach Milk, Milk and Cookies and Rotten Milk.

Spoiled Milk is pretty simple: talk to Koolie about general things, and is the easiest to get. We learn some basic stuff about him like how he enjoys being the milk man, how much he likes his wife and some ideas he has about how milk deliveries can be. We do mention that the town has started to spread rumors about Koolie and that he is sleeping around with other people (something he denies very heavily, as he loves his wife) as well as that his hair went white a long time ago. We also learn that he and his wife ran away together and gave each other different names, with his Koolie and her's Venus and that the reason why we never see his wife is because she's always sick. However, at the end, Koolie will continuously avoid the MC and essentially never talk to them after the first encounter. This can be achieved in a lot of different ways, but is likely the easiest ending to get.

Peach Milk is pretty funny in that the MC will start to flirt with Koolie, who doesn't really seem to know what is going on. Jazz music plays and the MC goes about doing some dirty jokes and flirting to see if the rumors about him sleeping around are true. Koolie seems to let all of this flirting go over his head, and as he's loyal to his wife, the MC will eventually have to give up on it, to which that he will wish that the MC will find someone as special to him as he feels towards his wife.

Cookies and Milk probably is the cutest ending, in that he will mention about how he wants to give cookies to the people in town to make them smile. The route plays similarly to Spoiled Milk except at the end, the MC will be greeted by Koolie in the morning holding some Cookies along with the milk that they came to deliver.

Rotten Milk is the route that reveals the most information about Koolie but is also the most disturbing one. For this, the player must constantly press about information of Koolie's wife. When he talks about how he named his wife after Venus (like the god) and she named him after Koolie (like the dog), the MC will mention that Koolie doesn't have a good wife, or at least seems rude to him, as she criticizes his looks a lot. Koolie will deny this, stating how much he is lucky to be with her, as she used to be the one who everyone would be dazzled by while he is simply just a "shrimpy looking guy". He once again mentions that she's very sick and that he has to go take care of her before attempting to leave. The straw that breaks the camel's back is when the MC asks if she's dead, to which Koolie will suddenly rip out his hair. Koolie will defend his position, stating just how much he loves her and how heartless the MC is for thinking that. After his slight breakdown, he reverts back to normal and leaves for his deliveries. However, at night, the MC hears the door ring. Upon answering their door, they see Koolie with a special "milk" delivery. He hands us milk with pieces of his hair and blood mixed into it, pressuring us to drink it as it would help us understand him and so there would be "a part of him inside of us". Not wanting to deal with Koolie, the MC reluctantly drinks it before Koolie heads off for the rest of his deliveries.

Koolie is an interesting case because technically we don't know what the true situation with his wife is- whether he has one, if she's alive or not or if it was a delusion in his head. It is very heavily implied that she is dead considering his reactions to when the MC points this out, but when or how she died is still a mystery. From how the interaction goes, it does seem that Koolie was obsessed with his wife before they married, and the insults might have been something that he internalized when Koolie kidnapped her and possibly made her immobile. It's also possible that Koolie never actually did get married at all, with the girl he liked running away, insulting his hair and looks, possibly calling him Koolie as some sort of insult as well, which is something that plays into the delusions that he is indeed married to someone. If for some strange reason Koolie's wife isn't dead, then she could be kidnapped and forced to stay at home, possibly again, somehow immobile, thus leading to the weird relationship where we never see the wife and why she would insult him. Once again though, just based on the game itself, it's hard to see exactly what happened with the wife. However, I still would consider Koolie a yandere considering how devoted he is to her (as we can never really date him), how much it seems his wife affects his life and his general response to when we do ask if his wife is dead. I really do like Koolie's general personality though- he's pretty cheerful, with a kind of wry humor about him, while still being enduring. I kept on laughing at the flirting ending with him because it's honestly so over the top that I couldn't take it seriously. The spoiled milk ending is pretty nerve wracking as well, I honestly thought Koolie would kill the MC for exposing that his wife was dead, but the ending we got instead was far more disturbing. To be honest, I'm not really sure why he chose this method, either because it's some sort of scare tactic or he was generally trying to disturb us, but it did work, and thinking about it makes me feel uncomfortable.

Besides that, I really do like the game itself, it's rather charming in its own way, and it makes me more curious about Koolie himself. It has a good balance of humor and horror, which is something that I can always appreciate. I think the idea of having a milk man yandere is very cool (though surprisingly not the first game I've played a game with a milk man) as well as unique. It's not surprising considering this creator makes rather unique and memorable games. I would recommend playing it for the fun premise and characters.

[gemapples]

Rant away my friend

apparently a few people wanted me to vent about the kirby novels so head in hands ig i'm gonna go for it LMAO (this is inspired directly from @desultory-novice 's posts about it)

ALSO IM SORRY IF THIS IS SO DISORGANIZED gonna be honest i forgot a good half of what i wanted to talk about. But Anyways. please note that all of this is entirely My opinion you ofc dont need to agree and despite everything i actually really love and enjoy the kirby novels a lot !!

so okay after hearing her talk about the reason we're likely not getting a magolor epilogue novel and knowing takase's erm.... Infamous reputation regarding how she handles magolor's character that had me thinking a lot and. Wow i'm kind of Really nervous for how this magoland novel will turn out actually because a lot is kind of at stake here when you think about it

takase will either be forced to actually develop magolor's character, or she will just completely scrap everything that happened earlier, remove any mentions of the epilogue and go straight back to square 1 where magolor is -- once again -- the villain of the story. Don't get me wrong i like evil magolor a lot lol i think if done right it can be a very enjoyable portrayal of his character. but there's only So many times you can make a character the antagonist before it just gets straight up exhausting y'know

i think it's ESPECIALLY different in terms of magoland. This might be a cold take idk lmao but merry magoland isn't just some wacky little theme park magolor created out of the blue for no reason. It's something that signifies and sets in stone how he's a changed character. Merry magoland is magolor's dream he's had for a really long time by his own words and truly shows that all he's wanted to do is make people have fun and be happy. if you make him the antagonist in that, that completely just fucks up Everything relating to his character and renders that entire development null and also invalidates all the hardships he's gone through to make that happen

i do think takase's portrayal of magolor is fun! i do enjoy it and i do appreciate how he has a hard time communicating his desires and showing true friendship. i think that's important. one of magolor's most significant flaws is how he has a hard time understanding how friendship is supposed to work and what to do when you have friends. but maybe instead of making him the villain. Over and over and over again you could idk... have him Learn?? and actually Develop from his issues??? i know waddle dee is a completely separate character but for the sake of comparing to another person who has gone through a huge amount of development in the novels -- why can't magolor do the same? why is it constantly so insistent that he be the one causing all the problems for no reason other than haha it's funny (in most cases at least. i know dreamy gear was different and i will give it a giant shoutout for that)

i'm so sorry if i sound too harsh here i literally don't know how to word it otherwise lol i think it's important to emphasize that despite everything i do like seeing magolor's character in the novels. but it just gets to a point where it's Grating to me at times and depending on the scenario is just completely inaccurate. that's why i think magoland is such a huge point for us here with a lot on the line -- if she chooses to not make magolor the antagonist and make it accurate to the game's actions and desires, that will be an essential key for his development and showcase that we're actually making progress with his character. but if she chooses to make him the antagonist again, the potential for him being something more than a villain -- which is RIGHT there -- is completely wiped

afaik magolor and kirby's friendship was also mentioned and i just want to throw out there. merry magoland happened because of kirby. merry magoland happened because of magolor's friends. kirby, meta knight, dedede and bandee are the reason merry magoland exists. so if takase chooses to not acknowledge any mention of that and make magolor go against them all, that also erases the potential of magolor's relationship with other characters as well yknow... the characters he's gone against for this whole time? it also makes no sense whatsoever??

so yeah this is a bit long but there's just a lot to either look forward to or dread about this novel -- or even both lmao -- the more i thought about it. i want to have a decent amount of hope that i could be wrong here, maybe takase will take advantage of what she has to work with game wise and create something truly special. but throughout all of magolor's appearances in the novels... *hand on mirror* it seems like all of his character is constantly scrapped in favor of treating him like some apathetic irredeemable character with no regard for others or understanding friendship. so that's kind of a hard pill to swallow

[otherworldseekers]

6.55 and onward to Dawntrail!

And so Endwalker is officially at an end and the months until Dawntrail stretch out before us. It's going to be a difficult wait.

Spoilers for 6.55 msq and DT ahead.

Personally, I've been excited ever since they announced our destination for the new expansion. There's little I love more than exploring new places and getting to know new cultures and Severia is the same. The set up of "participating in a contest for the throne" I've been more or less neutral on. I knew my response would depend entirely on the characters involved so I've been eager to know more. Having now met Wuk Lamat, I can confidently say that Severia and I would do anything for her.

I know some people have worries about the so-called conflict within the Scions, but from the information that Wuk Lamat gave us I think the whole succession issue is more about competition than "conflict" except for that one mysterious contender that she says cannot win. (Can't wait to find out more.) It seems highly probably that Koana, the miqo brother she mentions who studied in Sharlayan, is another contender and is the one that Thancred and Urianger have agreed to help. That leaves two unknowns. I'm going to make a prediction that Estinien ends up in support of a third Mamool Ja contender, who is not the dangerous one. I don't know how Y'shola and G'raha are going to fit in, but I have every confidence in the writers' creativity.

I am also intrigued by the little mentions of Garlemald in this patch. Alphinaud and Alisaie want to come specifically so they can gain knowledge that will help Garlemald. The "conqueror" Wuk Lamat warns about is interested in taking advantage of Garlemald's weakness. We even get to help some Garleans kick back and relax on our Island. As someone with an interest in Garlemald (for reasons), I am hopeful that this is an indication that Garlemald's future will continue to concern us in the future and that we can do something about its current state.

It struck me, now that we have our WoL's party set up, that it is meant to call back to our initial journey to a new city in 2.0. Alisaie and Alphinaud were there then too, though we did not know them. And Erenville, who travels for a living, could be said to take the place of the merchant. I believe the reason that they had a stand alone side story for the 6.x msq rather than the pattern that we are used to, is that 7.0 is meant to feel like 2.0. It's the start of a brand new story introducing us to a brand new world where we have no connections or history or baggage and are essentially back to being just adventurers again.

While Yoshida has joked about this being the WoL's vacation, I'm hoping that the tantalizing mentions of the City of Gold will lead to some fun Indiana Jones-esque adventures. But I am definitely most excited about delving into Solution 9 and learning its mysteries.

As usual, I am always hoping and praying that Nero will become relevant in the new content again. (Come on, SE, there are a million ways you could use him and he improves every single thing he's in.) However, even if he's not, I plan to drag him into the story in my own headcanons and writings. Severia's not leaving her man behind this time, not when he would be so eager to explore a whole new potential source of technological discoveries. How exactly he'll fit in I will leave until I actually see how the story plays out.

All in all, I am very excited and looking forward to more exciting story to experience this summer!

[go-learn-esperanto]

I'm making this post specifically for a new follower @crescentstudies to say:

This blog has a lot of MCYT stuff aka content related with Minecraft roleplay. Just so you're aware. This blog is very much my personal blog which kinda translates to a lot of fandom stuff. I know you followed me because you found one of the few Portuguese related posts I make. Now, I am very passionate about my language and culture and absolutely love discussing it but unfortunately I'm also obsessed with block people. I say this as a warning for the future of your dashboard

That being said the fact that you're learning European Portuguese is really sweet, and I assume it's not easy to find resources, at least not as easy as Brazilian Portuguese. So I'm gonna do a bit of a cultural post where I give something that I think is essential for learning a language; finding fun content that is culturally relevant. A lot of times when learning a language you see a lot about language and rules and although that can be fun sometimes it can quickly get really boring. Sometimes finding some content isn't easy when you're learning the language and aren't emersed in the culture.

Give it up for

My Portuguese music recommendation

A list for people who are interested in the culture or just want to hear some different music from a different country. Of course the music I'm gonna give is gonna depend on what I like and what I know, so you're not gonna get Pimba from me (for context Pimba is like... Usually very simple formulaic Portuguese pop songs that are played at parties... Not the kind your parties you're probably thinking of but more like festivals with a lot of people. It's not really good music in a cultural sense, and the music style is kinda stolen from Germany but that's a whole other story)

Let's start with a song that came out this year! Some might recognise this girl as the one that represented Portugal in Eurovision two years ago. I believe she has a lot of great songs, both in English and Portuguese. I'm sharing this one as I find the acoustic guitars in it absolutely beautiful.

(Flashing TW) Alternative Rock babyyy!!!! Even if you don't understand the lyrics this one is still fun as hell, although understanding them does make the song better of course. It's about how the singer is having a bad day so he's gonna be really really pissy about it. If you're wondering why the vocalist is half naked all I can say is that I've seen this band live, and he doesn't start naked but he's always gotta be by the end of the concert. Why? ¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯

A surrealistic song from the 80s. The lyrics don't really make much sense, however the song shouldn't have the right to be this good.

And keeping on the theme of "80s songs with lyrics that make zero sense but the woman who's singing them is absolutely killing it" we have this one. Clearly a pop-jazz that's just really fun to listen to.

A Portuguese folk song. I'm mentioning this song because last year I made a post about it discussing the lyrics and various versions of the song. I really enjoy it.

This song is just pretty. It's really difficult to explain. It seems to tell a fairytale like story of a man meeting and falling in love with Starfish goddess or nymph on the beach. The piano and the lyrics are just gorgeous. That's all.

A song by a band that is known for its very lively songs. Funnily enough the most popular songs from this group are not my favouritea from them. This group explores such topics as

The singer wants to get together with her neighbour

The singer wants to get together with a guy from a marching band

The singer wants to get together with a priest?? Is that what I'm getting here??? She keeps saying she has a lot of guys that want to fuck her in religious imagery and that she's better than the virgin Mary I fucking can't

The singer wanted to get together with a guy from the notary but he was an asshole so she hit him in the face with stamps (The paper and the ink kind of stamps) (the sexual energy and innuendos of this song though 💀)

The singer wants to fuck you up (In which way you ask? Wouldn't you like to know weather boy 😏😘)

The singer says you should stop playing video games because she wants to beat you up with her bare hands

The singer wants to go to the beach but the weather is always shit so she has resulted to judging her neighbours that actually managed to go to the beach for their lack of cultural knowledge out of jealousy

If you've done something good say it's from Portugal if you've done something bad lie and say it's from Spain (the actual meaning of this song is ultra nationalism is stupid)

Your parents' expectations are bullshit

The economy is bullshit

The singer is dinning with friends and they keep asking her to sing but she manages to literally flee from the restaurant without singing... Or paying

However this song in specific is about how after falling in love the singer can't help but see happiness around her. She knows nothing is perfect, she knows the world is fucked, but for a moment she just wants to be happy.

A comedy song! A very weird song that describes the tragic deaths of various animals upon touching lightbulbs. It's not in standard Portuguese, very much on purpose, but in the Alentejo dialect. I guarantee it's funnier than in it sounds by the description. Unfortunately this is a song where you do have to understand the lyrics to get it, but if you do It's really good. The images this person is putting on the video do make it 10× better too, as they are doing surprisingly well at showcasing the whole story the song is telling.

[hypnotisedfireflies]

Hi! what do you think about the Tess is a top thing? From that interview with Anna? I have noticed in your fics that sometimes she is and sometimes she isn't.

Hello anon! You mean this interview, for anyone who hasn't seen it. 😘

I have seen some writers take this to the domme extreme and others not so far. It's subjective and there's enough cake for us all to go around, so there's no right or wrong view here. So this of course is all coming from my interpretation of the character and Anna and Pedro's conversations as referred to in that interview.

I do love me a sexy top Tess but it also doesn't make sense to me for her to be a top ... all the time.

Driftersverse Tess and Joel have a very shared, equal partnership. The balance of power goes back and forth between them constantly, depending on their mental, emotional and physical states. Given the breadth of time I write in (I'm between 2003 - 2026 now) I'm constantly moving between different stages of evolution for themselves and the relationship. I think a switch dynamic is more realistic in the circumstances I choose to write, and also more exciting overall because it's like, who has the power now? Who is giving it up and who is getting the release from the giving or the taking?

I don't choose to interpret it simply as Tess Is Always the Top, because everything else is so in flux; and so is this.

Driftersverse Tess is largely in control of everything around her and Joel in as much as one can be. She's the one who is thinking ahead and doing most of the scheming, she plays the room and brings them out in front by planning, organising, out-thinking everyone else and being bold and cold enough to do what they have to.

That control that she maintains is kind of exhausting ... and sometimes, it's really good for her to relinquish that control into Joel's hands in bed. It's release. Losing that control and putting herself in the hands of someone she trusts feels really fucking good. She can just switch off and let him tell her what he wants her to do or make her do it, and that's cathartic. (Though sometimes he still has to work for it, see Cassius blue, lol).

Driftersverse Joel likes a woman who takes charge. I write about that most in SQ because I'm in his head a lot there but essentially, he's spent his whole life filling one particular role in bed as the dominant partner and he really, really likes a woman who will swap that around with him and keep things exciting. He finds sweet, shy violets kind of boring; he wants to be challenged. But just as much as he likes being controlled does he like taking it from Tess, especially as time passes and he learns how much she actually needs that.

So again, it's that back and forth, giving the other what they need when they need it and swapping roles as they see fit.

From a writing perspective it's more interesting for me, because I get to explore a lot of different smutty scenarios, lol. But more importantly, those feed directly into the story itself. I rarely write smut for smut's sake, so what's happening in those scenes is about advancing the story or the characters or whatever needs to be explored. And if it was always the exact same power dynamic ... yeah, it could still work, but I don't think it would be as effective. Or fun to read.

I hope that answers your question! ❤️

[sweet-beezus]

Edit: Somehow, my queue glitched and posted this earlier this week, so hopefully~ this works out-

Golly, another @khoc-week has come and gone, time sure flies when you're having fun-

Thank you for another AWESOME week full of such fun OCs!!! I love seeing everyone's creativity shine through their characters, it's like a small look into everyone's brains where we can admire the little worms living in there... in a good way!

Whether they're freshly hatched or well aged, these silly guys always bring me so much joy! :)

Genuinely, I wish I had the energy to interact with every single one of them, so instead I will blow them all a kiss from afar!!! ♥ ♥ ♥ They are what makes this week of the year truly special!

Beware, I will be lurking in tags ready to pounce on every OC I see after this is over I'm OBSESSED- (jk jk... unless?)

Onwards, then, to the final prompt of the year!!

Day 7 - Happily Ever After

Now, alas I've been following the canon timeline and filling in gaps with my own fun worldbuilding, characters and lore, so by all rights their stories are not gonna reach a happy ending for a WHILE (writing? who is she?), however the hypotheticals are always a good way to cope with that!

What their endings have reached so far while we're in lore hiatus (waiting endlessly for Missing Link and KH4... jk jk I hope they take their time tbh-) is that ideally after KH3, while everyone is looking for Sora, they're world jumping and clearing out remaining hoards of darkness together as a crew, alongside Reixen for more bonding time, in a variety of new places! They solve some mysteries surrounding their own personal character arcs and learn things about themselves they never considered, it's a real eye opener. Day 2 kinda hints at that with my picks of places I want them to go to fulfill that! At this rate, they may just be a series of oneshots...

Of course, it all eventually HAS to end, so here's some loose ends and how they may tie them up!

Iris:

Considering Iris ended up in the future, of course she has to cope with the reality that the worlds she knew are gone, or at least have yet to be restored (aside from Daybreak Town there's no repairing that-). Plus the existential crisis of having technically been dead AND given a new, puppet-esque body to inhabit. Lucky, she is, to even be here to begin with.

At the same time, she's helping Alto regain his memories from the same era they both managed to escape in some way. Being repeatedly reincarnated kinda screws some things up along the way, so it's a long haul process for the both of them to come to terms with.

Depending on what happens with the Scala ad Caelum plotline, they may both travel there, or to what's left of it, for closure, as well as to learn about the culture there to see what became of it after they were both long gone. Pay their respects to Alto's pal Ephemer and all that.

Her ending ideally is moving on and learning to live in a time she didn't anticipate seeing, which should be simple in theory since she's so young. She stays with Irene and Alto in Radiant Garden, and together with Alto they both take up lessons with Merlin and Yen Sid to learn more modern Keyblade skills, eventually (despite being Keyblade Master precursors) they are granted the titles of Master and help protect the universe.

♡♡♡

Irene:

She returns to her job, forever changed by her experiences, and helps her fellow castle staff move on and forgive themselves for the horrors they had to go through. It's a long haul process, but it will be worth it!

She finds herself a comfy living place in Radiant Garden to offer as a safe space for those she grew close to when they need it, where she essentially adopts Alto and Iris, since they don't really have a place to go that isn't rooming with a wizard or an on-the-road teenager. From time to time she also travels to Twilight Town to visit Reixen and her found family (maybe attending her polycule wedding at some point), but otherwise seems perfectly content staying put. Maybe the occasional visit from Iliana, as a treat. That doesn't require much aside from constant pestering, really.

While readapting to life a decade later than she's used to is a hassle in of itself, she seems to do it with grace, which is impressive considering she was presumed dead for said decade-

She also has that wonderful romance with Russell, as they deserve, and they both get to retire at some point knowing they have their chance to heal from all the suffering they experienced... and with more adopted kids than they know what to do with-

♡♡♡

Iliana:

What I envision for her is kind of complicated and long, so I'll try to keep it short-

Ideally, she gets to save her world once and for all while also getting rid of Igni, which almost costs her her life (nothing is allowed to be easy with Igni, as we've learned from Day 4-). So afterwards she's in recovery surrounded by the loved ones she gained along the way. For how long? Who's to say, miss ma'am will either be MIA or in a comatose sleep (jk jk... unless?) so it depends entirely on her and the awful side effects of Igni's possession tbh-

Chronically ill? With Igni goo disease? More likely than you think!

On the bright side, she finally gets to reunite with her brother in this timeline, though later than intended, and the two eventually take off on a journey of self discovery! Or they probably camp out with their uncle for a while before they do that, either way. They make up for lost time and get to grow together as people while also tying up a whole heap of loose ends their pasts left behind. A whole heap is nothing to sneeze at in this case-

In between, she makes time to check in on various allies as well as hang out with (her nerdy now bf) Ienzo. They have a funky long distance relationship because of her travels, so she surprises him with her presence when she can.

Maybe she gets an engineering degree, who knows? Certainly not me, at least not yet.

I like to think she eventually takes on apprentices or something and is probably the most annoying mentor known to the universe, especially if one of her apprentices is conveniently a secret younger sibling (I joke but... maybe-).

Nothing will be easy, of course some stupid new plot will pop up and she'll have even more nonsense to deal with, but that's a later issue to think about.

♡♡♡

And finally, they all get therapy ♥

They're doomed by the narrative to be absolutely demolished but can never truly die, so it's only fair they can live out somewhat happy and fulfilling lives despite every up and down I throw at them!

That's all I've got for this prompt, thank y'all for another wonderful KHOC Week and I will see y'all next year!!

Or in the tags, I'm always in the tags. :3c

[alissaming]

Paper Mario and the Thousand Year Door Review

So before I go much farther, I must admit, I'm having trouble beating this Paper Mario game. But I've seen the ending, and the game played from beginning to end, and I've gotten close to the end. This is probably the best of the Paper Mario games, because the story is fun and interesting, the enemy isn't Bowser, and it actually feels like a continuation of the original Paper Mario. Though it does feel like it's taking itself less seriously. Also, a few of the partners' abilities are replaced with something called Curses, but I'll get into that later. Oh, and a few abilities are combined into a single partner, so instead of having one partner for each thing you need to be able to do (swimming, flying, hitting far options, etc) a couple are just put into one partner. So fewer partners.

So the story starts with Peach being lured to one side by a mysterious merchant who tells her to take a box that is said will open for the right person. It opens for her and she sends Mario what is in the box. This brings Mario to Rogueport, where the Princess was visiting with Toadsworth. Oh, and Parrakarry is the one who delivers the letter for that fun nostalgia. Say goodbye, this is the last time we'll see Parrakarry in the Paper Mario games, which is sad. When Mario gets to Rogueport he meets one of his first companions, Goombella. She just graduated from Goom U and carries around a book that will tell Mario pretty much everything he needs to know about his enemies with one exception. And she's evidence of one of the reasons this is the best Paper Mario game ever. The partners are unique and interesting. Yes, you could argue they are not that different. Koops is a Koopa like in the original, Goombella is a goomba like Goombario, you have a bob-omb partner like in the original. But you don't have a cheap-cheap, boo, lakitu, parrakoopa, etc. But honestly, these characters are far, FAR more interesting. Goombella is a graduate of a university on a quest for treasure and knowledge. Koops is a coward trying to learn to be brave and has a girlfriend and a father to avenge...or rescue or something. Oh, and there's a fun reference to Kolorado (who is not your koopa partner in the last name, I believe that guy was named Kooper) who was an archeologist you met on your travels in the last game. Bobery is a sailer who tragically lost his wife while he was away at sea to a mystery disease, and now he's an old sea dog who is struggling with her loss. Flurry is a wind spirit who is a bit of a diva and loves the stage. You also get a Yoshi partner you get to name, and color is random depending on random factors (I honestly don't remember how to get specific colors.) and is characterized as a tough guy and can swallow enemies you can't normally hurt whole and spit them out for damage. Vivian is an enemy turned ally by Mario's kindness after being bullied by her sisters, and in the Japanese version is even trans, though it's not in the American version. Ms. Mouze is an optional partner, but she pops up from time to time throughout the game. Her main ability is to sniff out treasure, specifically badges, which, while it can be useful is in no way essential. It's hard not to enjoy such interesting characters.

The story follows Mario collecting the Crystal Stars to try to stop the Thousand Year Door from opening, meeting intereseting enemies, such as Hooktail who will try to bribe you into letting him go, but is just playing dirty tricks (seriously, say no to everything he offers) or Dooplis who will steal Mario's identity and the only way to beat him is to find the missing letter P and guess his name, without your normal group. (This is really funny, but if after this you not only return to the town, but talk to the group who is hanging out with the copy of you, you'll notice they all seem to realize something is wrong, without being able to figure out what it is). You absolutely need Vivian for this.

There's the curses too. Yeah, let's talke about those finally. Throughout the game, you'll find four black chests at various points that you open with black keys. They contain demons that curse you, though...I'm not so sure it's actually a curse. Mario gets VERY useful abilites from these chests. You would not be able to complete the game without these abilities. The first ability you get is to turn into an airplane, which you need to get to the Thousand Year Door, to Hooktail, and a few other places, such as being able to get to Yoshi's egg to get him. This ability is followed by the ability to turn "paper thing, when Mario basically can turn in such a way to get through very small spaces, like jail cells. You need this ability CONSTANTLY throughout Hootail's castle. But you also need it through the Boogaly tree and many other places as well. Then you get the paper tube ability, which you need to get through small gaps you can't get through at your normal size. You mostly need this to get to Dooplis's castle, but it's useful to avoid some spikes as well later in game. Finally, Mario gets the ability to turn into a paper boat, which you can use in a lot of places, and need to get through Pirate Grotto. These are all essential abilities.

Mario will get various quests to get certain things. To get to the arena where you have to fight Rawk Hawk and get the gold Crystal Star, you need to see Don Pianta who will give you the ticket for trying to stop his daughter from running off with one of his men. The way to see him is to buy two specific items and say a specific color. There's walkthroughs that talk about this better than I can, so I'll just leave it there. You won't need to do so again after the first time anyway. Or you can earn coins and talk to the right people to learn what to do. Anyway, you'll need to come back here for a train ticket, which you can only do when you bring the daughter and her love back so the father can retire, and his daughter takes over. Characters that appear throughout can frequently be important. Not only is Goldbob and his wife and child important to the happenings on the train, but you need his signature to activate the cannon to the moon. The only truly irritating part of the game is you have to find General Silver, a silver Bob-omb who you chase from town to town just missing him until you come back to the bob-omb town to find him sleeping. And you just...jump on him until he decides to wake up, which will take a while. Also, like in the last game, you get badges and badge points

Another thing you should do as you play. Talk to Luigi after each of Mario's adventures. Luigi seems to be having an adventure all on his own and the kicker? He doesn't appear to be lying. If you talk to his companions, they'll confirm his story, though they'll tell it slightly differently. Luigi will usually have a new story after each Crystal Star Mario collects. I do recommend you power up your partners as you can. You can find Shine Sprites you can get with your various jump and hammer power-ups, and go to Merlon to power them up for you. Finally, there's a job board you can take from time to time. This is how you get access to Ms. Mouze, as well as the final updates on your partners through a quest Merlon gives. And if you pay attention, you'll see lots of creatures like Merlon who can give various power ups and abilities, though these are temporary.

All in all, this game is so much fun. Make sure to fight plenty, or you may have trouble getting to the final boss, much less beating the final boss. I'd give it a 5/5, except that that chase quest is unnecessary and annoying. You don't really get anything other than a "too late, the general headed to (area)" and the eventual ability to travel to the moon. Yay? So as a result, I can't justify giving it more than a 4/5.

[emeraldgreaves]

Training, quitting, storybeats for Infamous ask if you please 👀🍿

ooooh, good choices!

⋆｡°✩ Infamous MC ask game ✩°｡⋆

Training: How did they learn to sing? Have they had any formal training? How do they continue to maintain and develop their singing voice?

Tatiana's largely self-taught, though she went to lessons after Orion made the shockingly reasonable point that there were ways to learn how to belt without her voice being shot afterwards. She's set a few rules for herself: no drinking before shows, try to stick to the vape (though the latter only works when she remembers to keep it charged). Lina picked up vocals from a combination of choir class solos and copying Mariah Carey CDs, though her performing instincts largely developed through car ride duets. I think Just Give Me A Reason was a staple for her and Seven just because they thought the dynamics were fun.

Quitting: Have they ever come close to quitting their professional music career? When? What brings them back?

Tatiana choked during one of their early shows. they were playing to the 2am crowd in a middle-of-nowheresville bar in Kentucky when she flubbed a verse and Seven had to finish the song for her. It was her first real onstage fuckup and triggered a crisis of confidence; she moped about it for a week before her friends pointed out each and every one of them was liable to screw something up at some point. After the sky didn't fall at their next gig, she largely got past it. Lina definitely almost gave up after the Seven thing. The only reason she'd gotten onstage in the first place was because he'd asked. She'd voted to keep him; she left him a voicemail the morning after the party begging him not to leave. There was a dry spell of a couple months during which she found herself dragged out to karaoke week after week in an attempt to demonstrate that she could, in fact, sing without him. Eventually she realized that losing her best friend sucked, but losing the band on top of it would be way worse.

Storybeats: If you could design one scene to happen in the story, what would it be? How would it change your character? What would make it so satisfying for the character arc?

Tatiana and Maya + a quiet moment on the road, where Maya's in some kind of fight over text with one of her friends and asks Tatiana for advice. Tatiana blanks, says some canned thing about communication that she heard Jazzy say once that leaves Maya confused, and she has to chew on it for the rest of the day. It's her "with great power comes great responsibility moment", where it really sinks in that being someone's idol actually has the power to shape their behavior. Lina, two thirds of the way through the tour and stressed out of her mind, is about to pack a bag and ditch the scene forever when someone (possibly Gina or Orion). What follows is a conversation where she says she can't take the pressure, and they point out that no one's actually making her do it. She essentially gets called out on her habit of feeling like she has less agency than she actually does, and in the act of defending herself realizes that she does actually care about the band. It would help her find a motivation for committing to her career other than 'everyone is depending on me so i'll suffer through this for the sake of the Music'.

[shdwtouch]

modern lore drop for shade. still need to do some research and some things may change but, for now this is what we have going

foster child, aged out of the system, has been homeless

basically worked three jobs to put herself through school, first to become a paramedic, then a mortician. she worked as a paramedic for awhile before realizing she couldn't handle the emotional pressure and decided to pursue being a mortician instead. she is much happier as a mortician, but still employs her skills as a paramedic to help others and via volunteering.

a lowkey content creator, mostly get ready with me and educational content, plus her work as a DJ. she has a pretty substantial following. she does it for fun more than anything, and doesn't really see it as a "career".

self-taught DJ, plays occasional gigs. performs for fun but creates music to relax / as a coping mechanism. her DJ persona greatly resembles how she appears in BG3, specifically the glowing horns. most of her music and work is narrative in nature, telling stories and creating "soundscapes".

incredibly socially awkward. AuDHD.

has two dogs: a chonky corgi and a pitbull and/or doberman mix. the corgi is a diva while her other dog looks scary but is basically a baby.

loves to volunteer, its how she combats her social anxiety and has been able to develop her masking skills. mostly she likes to work with animals, volunteering at shelters, but also does other volunteer work at hospitals, homes, etc.

book nerd. her escape / safe space while in the foster system was the library. she has read a lot, fiction and nonfiction, and has a wide breadth of knowledge and basic understanding of a variety of topics and concepts.

can understand several languages, and speak passably in a handful of those, including the basics of ASL. shes basically a duolingo pro but also just really likes learning about other languages and cultures.

worked as a bartender. can whip out the skills as a party trick.

as in BG3, she still has vitiligo and EDS

depending on the universe she is also developing psychic abilities and learning about being a medium. she can communicate with spirits and has the ability to "traverse" them through a connection; essentially, she can help spirits process memories etc by acting as a conduit / drone within the memory, helping them find peace and cross over (this is the same as what she is able to do with the shadows in BG3 !). in this universe she discovers her powers while working as a paramedic, which motivates her to work as a mortician instead.

[ssruis]

Nailing down fantasy au quest/other stuff… so fun… (death rattle)

> first arc is wxs forming The Gang but the overarching plot has already started

> essentially they have to find 4 pieces of a key. A star? A star key? Before they can meet meiko but they’re not aware of that until like. The final piece. They have to do research along the way.

> they’re aware there’s something the completed item will create/unlock/lead them to that will stop the corruption/blight but other than that it’s kind of a wild goose chase.

> each piece is held by one of the vocaloids (minus meiko. And also Luka. because she is dead </3.)

> actually. Could work that the reason emu figures out what to do is because luka entrusted her piece to emu’s grandpa and he gave it to her as a necklace or something before he died. Also gives meiko another reason to go “humanity should suffer and die” (assumes it was stolen)

> emu gets Miku’s piece -> rui gets len’s piece -> nene gets rin’s piece -> tsukasa gets kaito’s piece -> emu&meiko moment. Each quest to get the piece kind of operates as a focus event where they have to overcome a personal struggle. Minus miku because:

1) she’s chill and gives emu the piece (& some exposition) while helping her evade tsukasa during the first story.

Emu chasing a strange blue cat: lalala come back kitty

Tsukasa who has been chasing the princess he’s meant to be guarding for several days only for her to narrowly escape him each time: princess emu is going to fall in a ditch and die and King Otori Is Going To Fucking Behead Me

2) emu needs a good convincing reason that her plan will work for tsukasa to go “ok sure i will become a wanted criminal accused of kidnapping the princess to join you on this dangerous quest” bc at the beginning of the story i do not think they are close enough for him to just trust her with something that massive.

> or I could have emu&tsukasa have to work together to get the piece from miku because I did like the mainstoryism Ferris wheel ride wrt emukasa on the carriage home after emu’s like ok I’ll come back I guess my plan is a failure. & tsukasa speedruns his remembering the origin of his dream arc & steals a horse so they can escape. Also makes the ruikasa in jail scene funnier (unlike you I have never broken the law* -> hm. Emu was telling me about the time you stole a horse from a poor innocent carriage driver -> you- that was a necessary evil!!)

> to elaborate: rui technically broke the laws around the magic system (artificial life, dabbling in more dangerous and dark magic (in an ethical way) for funsies & knowledge, experimenting with the corruption, alchemy is completely banned despite it being pretty benign just because of how it can be abused, etc) however he evaded law enforcement every time. He’s not evil the law is just wrong (accurate but would not hold up in court)

> rui gets his piece from len through some vaguely curtain call aligned shit. Realizes he values helping wxs with the quest over free rein over learning magic and len is like 🙂‍↕️ you passed my test. Unfortunately already used wonder halloween plot points for plot convenience but maybe I can work rmd stuff in there)

> nene has to learn to have more confidence in herself and her abilities (idk. Witchcraft off with sakurako? Or maybe witchcraft was something she pursued instead of more bard based magic & she has to get comfortable with using it again. In a contest. OHE aligned stuff)

> (rui & nene’s parts can be swapped to better fit the pacing if necessary)

> kaito is probably a “tsukasa you need rely on your friends instead of being a neurotic little freak about being The Protector. Respectfully. Process your emotions a little.” Moment (This is his toughest challenge yet. Sort of depends on how much growth he goes through before this point though.)

> meiko & emu is a confronting grief moment

> maybe meiko has the last piece and reforging the completed item gets rid of the corruption? Maybe having all the pieces together allows wxs to enter meiko’s realm safely? Maybe I scrap all of this in a month when I have a better idea? We just don’t know.

> personally I think writing this au out of order without it being fully planned out is a great idea that will not frustrate me in the future.

> barebones framing of magic system stuff

> witchcraft: plant based, primarily centered around healing. Easiest to learn.

> sorcery: more of the typical fantasy magic. based in mana/energy that originates from yourself. Different colors for different people? Offensive/defensive magic. Everyone has the ability to utilize it, some people just have higher amounts of mana that can be used.

> alchemy/arcane arts: requires non living supplies to perform as well as like. Spell circles/runes/glyphs/etc. can allow for transmuting things from one thing to another. Sounds benign until you realize with sufficient knowledge/ability you could transmute someone’s blood to acid or get rich turning rocks into gold. Transmute some garbage into a functioning brain of sorts and put it into something like a robot you built (<- why rui is a wanted man. Most people frown upon the idea of playing god.) necromancy would also fall under this category.

> spellcasting: what category bards would fall under - requires reciting the right words or correct melody

> Nene is adept at witchcraft and spellcasting, rui is well versed in all 4 but only has true mastery over alchemy/arcane arts/sorcery. Over the course of the story Rui teaches tsukasa a little bit of sorcery & nene teaches emu what she knows, although both emu and tsukasa prefer regular non magical combat (tsukasa with a sword, emu with a bow&arrow/dagger/other rogue class weapons. I wanted to give her a huge fucking hammer but it just does not fit the setting)