#establishing my domains obviously

[king-nyx]

So, first it's iced coffee and gays and now it's Mazdas' and gays? (I'm a gay who cried and prepared a funeral when my dad's Mazda broke down. I despised every other car in a fit of grief over that Mazda.)

[cursedvibes]

I’m still in shock of that chapter. Gege … why how and why did you think this was a good idea? Also why have one of the last chapters be about some random lore that nobody knew or cared about and be explained by the fandom’s two least favorite characters

I still have some petty hate for Yuuta, which is not helping my feelings of this chapter

I'm still baffled over Gege's time management. The Sukuna fight was already stretched in places were it didn't need to be, using up space with the gauntlet of people throwing themselves at him that could've been used to develop Yuuji, Megumi and Sukuna more, but this is just...so we rushed through Sukuna's end, skipped Hakari's and Uraume's fight and skipped Megumi regaining his body and the entire immediate aftermath of the Shinjuku fight just to spend 2/3 of the next chapter entirely with inconsequential bickering that sounds like Gege is beefing with reddit critics?

Remember the end of Shibuya? The hopelessness, the gravity, people mourned the ones who died, were devastated by the destruction of the city and the many civilians who died and they knew it wasn't even over. Their lives were fundamentally changed and it showed. Here everyone walked this fight off just fine. Megumi tanking 5 Unlimited Voids and having his brain leak out of his eyes merely results in him feeling a bit dizzy now. They do blame themselves at times, lament over what they could've done differently, but it doesn't feel serious, like they really struggle with it. It's just a set-up for a joke. Ui Ui and Kirara carried the corpses and gravely injured bodies of their comrades off the battlefield, being unsure who would survive all this and being powerless to do anything else, but now they make snarky remarks over who was the real MVP...where is this energy coming from? Gojo and Choso are still dead (Kashimo too, but obviously they weren't close), Megumi should be still reeling from his trauma of seeing his sister die and loved ones injured by his hands, and mind you they didn't fight in just some rubble out in the mountains, they destroyed Shinjuku, a district were many of them used to live and were also many other civilians used to live. They destroyed so many people's homes. Sukuna might be gone, but Japan is still fucked because Sukuna has never the real problem. Killing him won't fix up Tokyo again or soothe the international tensions created by the knowledge of sorcerers existing. But all that doesn't seem to matter.

I don't mind the focus on Mei Mei and I think the New Shadow Style school thing is actually very interesting, I love jujutsu politics, we got far too little about it, but this should've been something that was brought up during the Culling Games or shortly before they started preparing for Sukuna's battle. Y'know, then when it actually happened in the timeline. Not 3 chapters before the end, where you establish this massive power house that was never even hinted at and resolve it 2 pages later. Like okay? Why does that matter? Should I be worried? I'm not because I know far too little about this and Mei Mei handled it easily anyway. Should I be relieved? I'm not because I never even know there was a problem to begin with. Yes, we knew you can only teach Simple Domain to specific people, but that could've been resolved way easier than making up this whole issue and it was never treated with such gravity a secret society that drains their students life would deserve.

So this whole chapter was just pointless and a waste of precious space that could've been used for so many more important story threads.

[fluidstatick]

Not to get too far in the weeds equating Exandrian gods with established religions, but my lapsed Episcopalian ass has thoughts about Ayden and Sarenrae.

When Nick uses "My Father" to refer to Pelor, it feels pretty obviously a reference to the modern Christian concept of Father and Son. The fact that Ayden is a paladin of Sarenrae, though, sticks out to me as a possible Holy Spirit reference. Holy Spirit > Holy Dove > Doves often shorthand for benevolence or rescue. Sarenrae, the god of Mercy. Jesus talked at great length about the Holy Spirit in his teachings, constantly emphasizing love of the other rather than glorifying acts of piety.

Milo pretending to be a priest of Pelor, and Ayden gently playing along, is vaguely adjacent to Jesus telling his critics "Who do you say I am?" Like ok, keep mocking me, it's cute that you think you're pissing me off, you're still family. "Amen 😏" is a far cry from "TURN YOUR EYES FROM THIS SINNER."

I wonder if, when the Dawnfather incarnated at last - when ash so thoroughly choked the sky his light no longer touched Exandria below - did he decide to shed his former arrogance and rage as part of his disguise, or if, as he saw less and less of the mortal world below, he came to understand that war had made him smaller, more nuanced, less secure in his righteousness. He incarnates, and devotes himself to his elder sibling's mercy. He encourages her son to gamble. He gently yes-ands Milo's catty little jokes, and candidly wishes things had been different between them. As Trist heals the sick, he quietly removes himself and offers to heal the wounded - a similar but distinct vein of benevolence that doesn't cheapen her generosity or step on her divine domain.

I think the century between the Calamity and the Downfall changed the Dawnfather somehow, at least temporarily. He's been an unpleasant presence in C3 so far, but Ayden's gentleness illustrates how circumstances can change souls fundamentally - from arrogance to tenderness to wrath, from Father to Son to Faceless Might.

I'm not on Aeor's side, or the gods' side, or Ludinus' side, or even BH's side. I think more and more that this campaign is going to have an ambiguous, bittersweet climax, and tonight's Downfall finale is going to start The Hells toward something much more complicated than "picking a side".

[inamindfarfaraway]

In “The Summoning”, Tinky obviously singles out Pete because he’s weird about the Spankoffski brothers. Blinky taunts Grace because she has religious trauma related to shame and external judgement and lack of privacy and such.

But oh, the Implications of Nibbly specifically addressing Steph. Nibbly’s domain is hunger in every sense. He not only regularly craves the freedom to roam the Earth and has formed and maintained a cult to satiate this desire, but he finds unmet needs and wants delicious. The most desperate, unfulfilled, yearning human souls are the tastiest to him. And he says, “Stephanie, yum yum!” He’s happy to see her. Because she is delectably hungry.

Her father is abusive and uncaring, as well as constantly modelling and encouraging strong ambition. Her mother is gone. Her popular friends are shallow and don’t know her very well; compare their superficial school gossip to the more familiar, emotionally vulnerable and impassioned scene between Pete, Ruth and Richie. Her phone is what she has the most attachment to. She struggles in school and thinks she’s stupid. I elaborate on these points in this post, but overall, every aspect of Steph’s life before a certain bespectacled nerd enters it is a recipe for a very lonely, insecure person. A person who feels empty and needs to be filled, who's been starved of love, comfort, happiness and hope. Nibbly’s favourite food.

Doesn’t Solomon remind you of someone we met in Nightmare Time? Another critical, mocking father to a daughter with no siblings; another man of power, wealth and influence in Hatchetfield who knows about the place’s dark, supernatural underbelly and has dealt with the Lords in Black? Doesn’t even the detail of Steph’s phone being what she values most sound familiar?

'Narrator: She looks down at the shattered remains of her most prized possession. Her veins bulge, her blood bubbles thinking of all the things she never got to back up on there.

Zoey: My pictures!'

— “Honey Queen”.

'Stephanie: Be careful with that, Dad. Please, Daddy?

Solomon: I'll be careful with it. I'll carefully smash it with this hammer.

Stephanie: You wouldn't. Not even you would do something that evil! You know all my pictures are on there!'

— Nerdy Prudes Must Die.

Steph is well on her way to becoming the sweetest woman in Hatchetfield.

Except… in every timeline, she meets Pete. He believes that she is more than anyone else sees and better than she thinks she is. Something real and unconditional fills her cracks. Something warm sits securely in her stomach. Someone is willing to die for her, someone cherishes her more than anything, and that readily given love changes her fate. Steph is to Nibbly the perfect meal just barely out of reach. Forbidden fruit; it's always the sweetest.

Perhaps Pete is in the same boat. After all, Tinky says “I’ll have the whole set in my toybox”; he will, if the deal works out how Tinky wants, while “Time Bastard” establishes that Ted already is in the Bastard’s Box before he dies. Pete isn't yet. He might still not be even after the deal, since Grace pays the price instead of him. Grace is involved and the situation forcing them to make the deal exists, in a roundabout way, only because Steph got involved with him. Maybe Pete and Steph save each other.

[steadfastpetrel]

Worth Existing (or, Frank Webster Gives Keegan An Existential Crisis)

been busy this semester, but have a reflection comic I got away with making for an information history class! it's rambling, but i had some fun digesting my thoughts.

image descriptions from alt: The title page contains the title “Worth Existing, or: Frank Webster gives Keegan an existential crisis.” In front of a mirror, Keegan stands with their back facing the viewer as a reflection of them as a librarian looks back worriedly.

Page 1 features a sequential cartoonish sequence of Keegan’s head rolling and landing on his shoulders. He says: “Finding out how we’ve come to view our information society has been a ride. My pea brain can only fit so much, ideas only roll vaguely when I try to talk about what I’ve learned, but I’m at least seeing things from new eyes. More specifically…”

Dialogue continues on Page 2, 3 panels sequentially zoom in on a horrified Keegan. She says, “I’m seeing how much Frank Webster hates libraries.” The quote from the book she’s reading is as follows: “Moreover, library staff have benefited disproportionately from the establishment of these services, being provided with secure and pleasant (if not lavishly remunerated) employment. Why, one might ask, does the public purse need to support the likes of Agatha Christie and Jeremy Clarkson when their books are readily available for cheap purchase and their literary merit, still more their intellectual and uplifting qualities, are at best of minor significance. Such observations raise questions regarding the efficacy with which public libraries actually operate. It follows that a driving force behind their establishment and continued state support, the appeal to mitigate the inequalities of capitalism in the informational domain, seems to have been less than fully effective.” End quote.

Page 3 has Keegan looking with hands clasped, paused. They then look at the camera, asking “Did the dude just insult Agatha Christie?” The bottom has them lying on their bed, looking up at the ceiling in thought, saying “There’s something that just bugged me ever since I read that chapter. I never really understood the theory we talked about in class, it’s a skill I’m working on, but the weird beef he has with libraries at least gave me a vibe on ‘Hayekian Neoliberalism.’ And also how weird it is that capitalism got so far into deciding what’s worth existing. If the thing I wanna do with my life is worth existing.”

On Page 4, Keegan walks with his crutches as the dialogue continues. “I could go on for hours about all that sucks with Webster’s opinions! Of course I want the staff to ‘disproportionately’ benefit from their work. Unlike books, people have to eat! What’s ironic about Webster’s whole spiel about the efficacy of libraries is that he provides several examples of figures from his area heavily aided by libraries. Panels feature novelist John Banville, author Jeannette Winterson, and sociologist Richard Hoggart. Keegan continues and says, “And yet he goes on to be like…”

Page 5, a sock puppet speaks angrily: “People are getting free books and are hurting the poor bookseller! Libraries are stupid because it doesn’t miraculously fix the inequalities of capitalism!” To the side, the text says “Artist’s exaggeration. Don’t take this seriously.” Bottom panel contains Keegan pointing with her thumb at Frank Webster’s Wikipedia page. She says, “I wouldn’t be so hung up if this was some random guy, but considering this guy is so largely quoted and touted in my field of information sciences? Ouch obviously doesn’t cut how much all that stung.”

Page 6 contains an Asian man with a bun protesting banned books. The next panel contains a white woman with a turtleneck reading in a library as a winter storm brews outside. Keegan off-screen says, “While Webster calls libraries ‘censors of society,’ librarians are fighting vehemently against book bannings! And the way he says that public libraries are ‘captured by the better-off section of society?’ Like what, you’re going to ignore how libraries act as comfortable spaces for folks without housing during harsher months?”

On Page 7 a gavel bangs on a panel. “As if that’s not enough, publishers are suing libraries for distributing e-books, calling them ‘direct economic competitors’ when, if anything, they often support these publishers and their authors by buying multiple copies, hosting events and collaborating with local businesses.” As an example, the comic features a scene of a Black woman in a cardigan talking to a white cashier with a shaved head. She says to them, “I just read this at my library earlier and just needed to get my own copy! Can’t believe it took me this long to discover this author!” A panel below, a pair of hands scoops sand and watches it flow from their fingers. Keegan says, “I don’t know. Even in good company, it sometimes feels like the future is slipping through my fingers.”

Page 8 is a pillar of falling sand. Embedded in it is an Apple pencil, a floating feather, and a book. Keegan narrates, “As an artist and a writer, it’s wondering if I’ll be prioritized over a generative AI that doesn’t have to eat or sleep. As a birder, it’s wondering if the backyard visitors I always see at my feeder will end up as myths and taxidermied specimens. As a librarian, it’s wondering if the institutions I often called home will be felled by the swift axe that the invisible hand holds. It’s a weird feeling of perpetual free fall for a drop that is light years away.”

Page 9, Keegan is holding a book to the sky as they read it. They narrate “Learning is a language I’ve always used to make sense of the thoughts I’ve had swirling in my brain. Finding out ‘information capitalism’ was a thing was like learning about the leash that has pulled at my throat since I entered the schooling system. I am learning because I am not a person, but a tool to be put to a trade. The world around me whispers in my ear…”

“Feel wonder if you must, but don’t linger long enough to turn in something too late.” On page 10, Keegan lies on a grassy field looking up with the book on his chest. He narrates, “I can’t deny that’s a message hard to unhear. As of now, I don’t think I remember much before 2022 other than the grades I got.”

On page 11, a hand wipes a bathroom wall with a sponge. The bottom of the page is filled with floating bubbles. Keegan narrates, “This sounds silly, but I was in tears when I heard about the concept of degrowth this past week. It could’ve been the clorox I was using to clean my bathroom, but the toil of my body and mind must’ve come to some crashing conclusion when I listened past what we were assigned.” The quote goes, They’re essentially making the argument that if we stay on this growth path, the only end to that is, you know, our own extinction. They are not just saying it’s not possible. They’re also saying it’s not desirable. It’s the kind of life that you and I ultimately do not want. We don’t want to drown in just stuff. We want to have a life. We want to have time for each other. We want to have time for creative thinking and art and love and kindness.” The quote ends. It comes from Vox’s Blame Capitalism: Degrowing Pains and is spoken by Dirk Phillipsen.

On page 12, Keegan sits in the bathtub with a few tears. Narration goes, “It was just nice that someone smarter than me in this topic wants the same things I do. Time to live and space to breathe. I know it’s not a perfect solution, but it’s one of those moments that culminate to tears when you’re having a rough week. This time, it was the reminder that this doesn’t have to be all there is to it. That there were people echoing my heartfelt belief that the system that tears down those I love doesn’t have to stay.

Page 13. A frog and toad book. “One-sided beef with Frank Webster aside, this unit has bolstered my love for librarianship. As hastily made and rambling this comic went, I realize I feel this strongly because I love this field so much. Against all odds, even as the internet grew to commodify knowledge, libraries adapted to the best of their abilities for their patrons. Why should some British dude make me wonder if libraries will continue to exist? As depressing as learning about capitalism gets, it’s helpful to understand the hand that takes from you. To understand why and how I’ve always been hurt by the systems that be and make sure I can lighten the blow for those who come after. I’ve learned there’s a lot that can come out of being so sad and scared about the future. Sometimes drawing it out (even if you turn in a late assignment) reminds you that there’s still so much ahead. That, and the fact I should probably read Frog and Toad sometime. So, uh, I’m gonna do that now. Bye!"

The references page lists several sources: Frank Webster’s “Theories of the Information Society.” An article by Brewster Kahle called, “The US library system, once the best in the world, faces death by a thousand cuts.” An article by Rachel Kramer Bussel called, “How Libraries Help Authors Boost Book Sales.” And a podcast episode from Vox’s Today Explained hosted by Noel King, titled “Blame Capitalism: Degrowing Pains.” end descriptions.

[barryogg]

On Democracy

A recent post made me think about finally writing an effortpoast from a series that's been bouncing around my head for years.

What does it mean to Believe in Democracy? Because, uh, I don't think I do.

If I would, I think it would mean something like this: I am a citizen, and I have sort of a partial share of the country. I am able to identify my interests and causes that are important to me, and I want to redirect my share of governance towards those interests and causes. Constant direct voting is cumbersome and costly. (Is it? The Swiss manage it. We may get to it later.) So I look for reasonably like-minded people to band with in a party, and get representatives.

As in, people who represent me. As in, people who are my subjects. Who are supposed to defer to us. And if they don't represent my interests and causes I owe them jack shit.

It seems that the median person has this relation inverted almost exactly. Instead of treating politicians like they're public's servants, they treat them like celebrities! Like movie stars, Taylor Swift (I'd say "music stars" here, but she's the last remaining western one) or top sportsmen. They think that the public has an obligation to the political class, that the public owes them to vote in certain ways that'll give certain politicians more power.

Politicians who act like they're kowtowing to the public's most voiced demands are called "populists", and I'm led to believe that it's a bad thing that we're supposed to minimize.

So I don't know what is it that you people believe, but it sure doesn't look like what I would call "democracy".

Step 2: ??? Step 3: Policy!

The usual way people try to square this circle is pointing that nobody can be a completely informed voter. Economy is fractally complicated, therefore you can't intuit your economic interests! Biology if fractally complicated, therefor you can't know what's good for your health! Etc.

The thing is, how are politicians supposed to be better at that than genpop? By education, they're primarily lawyers, i.e. people who operate in the symbolic space to get what they want from a bureaucratic system, and not in any object-level knowledge domain. Map, not territory. The typical answer to that is that the domain knowledge is supposed to come from either "experts" or policy wonks.

But even if we assume: that the median voter cannot be informed about their best interest, that the experts interfacing with politicians operate not with their immediate interests in mind, but with the goal of allowing the politicians to make the best decisions (ahahaha), and that the politicians listen to the wonks and experts to the best of their ability (ohohoho).

Even if we assume all that, how are the voters (who we've established as not informed) are supposed to know which politicians to trust? At which point of the process the not-knowledge is supposed to be transmuted into knowledge and expertise?

If only the emperor knew!

But sometimes there are discrepancies large enough that they can't be explained away by parts of the public not knowing what's good for them. Things like banks not being allowed to fail in wake of a financial crisis, or Disney getting another copyright extension. In that case, it's because democracy has been corrupted, you see. It cannot be that a system may be suitable for governing 300 thousand people (Iceland, which managed to basically expel the banks after the crisis, or so I'm told) but less so for governing 300 million people. Not, the system is flawless, definitionally flawless! The flaws mean we've strayed from true democracy, towards corrupted one!

And then sometimes you get a mix of the two, when the corruption exists because some voters (who don't know what's good for them) have been deceived by the Evil party and are voting against their interests. They cannot possibly have different fundamental irreducible values which are split 40+%/40+% in the population because obviously my values are the only correct ones, and true democracy would mean tiling the country with my values.

(Dropping the snark for a moment and being explicit: if you believe something that's even passably familiar to the above paragraph, and if you want to centralize the bureaucracy e.g. by removing the US senate, you don't actually value democracy. Never have, never will, and it would do us all some good if you dropped the façade.)

...except for all the others that have been tried

Surprise! Despite all that, I'm still glad that I'm living in (some approximation of) democracy. This is an inversion from my teenage edgelord years, where I believed in the democracy but nonetheless wanted to supplant it with something more efficient. I like it now because there's a huge upside: peaceful transfer of power. But as the (social media-induced? that's the leading hypothesis, right?) gap between values widens, that center may not hold in the future.

So what do I want? These are all a bit pie-in-the-sky, but:

I want people who are softly authoritarian to be honest with themselves (obviously won't happen because they have a tremendous amount of energy invested in not thinking about themselves as authoritarians, but sill, putting this out there)

I want people to turn off fandom brain when thinking about politics. Have a healthy dose of disdain for politicians on your "team".

Decentralization! Direct representation! Switzerland has direct voting about tons of stuff, and it works! Cantons' population ranges from 1.5 million to 16 thousand, so they can vote on things that matter to them without intermediate assholes inserting themselves into the situation.

Fuck first-past-the-post! Let's do ranked voting! Down with thresholds, let's have 50 parties in each parliament! "But that would severely disrupt the process of passing new laws and regulations!" Precisely.

Sortition! Because why the hell not, the current system of career politics is an industrial-strength asshole filter, random people would genuinely improve the situation.

If I were good at writing essays, there would be a sentence here that ties everything together. But I'm not.

[catgirlhell]

hi! about the "learn how it works before you start making assumptions" about the bluesky post and its networks; what assumptions should we be looking out for? that its not twitter and not everyone is going to be connected like on there? your description of federated networks is understandable, but the default domain it seems to have at signup is bluesky's. I feel like most people would be using this, and only people looking for a certain thing and knowingly leaving that "sphere" will know that theyre isolating to a different community.

I'm new to this too and theres very very minimal, well explained things about it online, and youre the only person I've come across who seems to know anything, so if you have more advice to share I'd appreciate it!

as much as I would like to answer this as an authority and really contribute to the nascent understanding of federated instances as an alternative to current social media platforms, the fact of the matter is that im not. i have a basic understanding of the way in which they work and how to use them, and I dont think im the best source of information. this being the case, since i did bring it up and i did get an ask, i'll try to explain the best i can.

the "fediverse" (dont mind the silly name, we know its silly) might best be explained with the similarities to email. Misskey, Mastodon, and others marketing themselves as federated instance platforms are basically like if you took your email account and stapled twitter to it: Misskey/Mastodon are not platforms themselves, so much as they are frameworks for web servers that connect to one another independently and are run by individuals. These frameworks are usually open source, have different alternative forks that offer different additional features/ui elements, and ultimately all connect to one another regardless. but they are not "platforms" like tumblr or twitter or facebook. anyone can make their own federated instance, and what that instance looks like depends on what framework they used to set it up.

Bluesky and Threads are different. Bluesky differs in that it is run on a private protocol-- it runs differently to the protocols used by the aforementioned open source alternatives and currently cannot connect with them. It's still in beta and its too early to call how it will operate. Threads, like Bluesky, is also a private protocol. At current, it merges your information with other Facebook/Meta products (facebook, instagram, etc). Supposedly, these will eventually be able to communicate with the Fediverse at large, but you should keep a great amount of suspicion with them, as both are run by billionaires. Bluesky is the project of the former head of twitter, and Threads obviously belongs to Zuckerburg and Facebook.

If you head about "x platform is homophobic/racist" in reference to the earlier federated instance frameworks, understand this very crucial thing about Mastodon/Misskey/etc:

They are not websites. They do not have established moderation policies and staff dedicated to managing who posts what.

as stated, Masto/Misskey are just server frameworks. Each federated instance using those frameworks is run by individuals on their own private web servers that they either operate themselves or rent out from a company. the largest Misskey instance, Misskey.io, is currently under fire for having homophobic moderation practices. This does not mean that every instance of Misskey is moderated with homophobia in mind, and homophobic moderation tools are not built into the code of Misskey.

As the old guard of web 2.0 crumbles, the internet is changing again. whether we fall back into the ad-friendly hellhole of yesteryear or we enter a new phase of the internet's wild west depends on platform migration patterns and whether or not people develop some pretty basic web and internet literacy that's been lost over the last 20 years as the internet corporatized and users had to learn less and less about how the websites they used work. my explanation here probably has incorrect information and holes in it, but that is because i, myself, do not fully understand the total extent to which the fediverse and federated protocols operate; i, too, am a layman.

that being said, i hope this was helpful to anyone trying to figure this stuff out. i've already carved my own space on a small, invite-only instance with friends, but i've got no plans to move shop until this place really does burn down to the ground. hope that helps. good luck!

[wouldntyou-liketoknow]

Hi, do you take requests for x readers? Im really wanting some natemare x reader (they/she pronouns) fluffy cuddles maybe a cute date? Protective and mildly possessive Mare has my heart lol hes so precious and i love him, maybe its a date and Mare left to get drinks or something and a creep wouldnt leave y/n alone so Mare has to step in etc? Its okay if not that and its okay if you dont write x readers too ^-^ thanks :P

Call me Lyxie or Lyx ^-^

(for anon, ill be either Lyxie/Lyx or ^-^ anon if theyre free :P)

Weeeeell, this is a tiny bit awkward, considering the role I wrote Natemare into for Goretober 2022 (sue me, I took inspiration from FNAF lore.) But I'm still happy to write for him again! I really appreciate your patience. Hope it's okay!

(I am SO, SO, SO SORRY this took such an incredibly long time to post! The Goretober stuff and my last-minute Halloween Special Story had already been keeping me busy, AND THEN CHRISTMAS SEASON CAUGHT ME SO OFF-GUARD THAT MY HEAD IS STILL SPINNING FROM IRL CHAOS. I guess I should've expected that, because Christmas is always like that, but whatever.)

(Also, this is kind of my first time writing an x reader type story, or one specifically in a romantic sense, at least. So, sorry if this comes across a bit awkwardly 😅)

(Trigger Warnings: alcohol, eating/drinking, unwanted advances/creepy behavior, body horror, slight physical violence, strong language. Please let me know if I missed anything.)

___

You can be described as someone who’s skilled in rolling with the punches.

Now, rolling with the punches doesn’t always mean being able to understand things that really aren’t meant to be understood, but it seems you’ve got a certain knack. 

If you didn’t, then how else would you have found yourself in a nice relationship with a banshee-esque spirit?

Yeah, your and Mare’s first meeting had been a little awkward, considering you’d been sabotaging a cult that was trying to hold blood rituals in his adopted brother’s name, but you two still became fast friends afterwards. (‘Matter of fact, the adopted brother in question is a pretty chill guy, too. Shockingly chill for an eldritch abomination in disguise, at least.) 

Really, dating Mare has helped open up more of reality to you. Pretty much every aspect of the human world has a counterpart for no-so-human entities. (Yes, you sort of already knew about that, but thanks to Mare, you’ve been able to actually explore it for yourself.)

For example: the setting of your latest date. 

Holy Water Distilling Co. was one of many establishments owned and controlled in Phantom’s domain. 

By day, it was a tidy bar offering a pool table in one corner and a stage in the other. 

By night, it was. . .well, the same thing. The only parts of it to change were the clientele, as well as certain items on the menu. 

One particular evening, Mare just so happened to be up on the aforementioned stage, alongside a few of his musician-buddies. You, meanwhile, were seated at the counter, watching and listening as he performed.

(Not that you minded this arrangement. Mare’s affinity for music was what you initially bonded with him over, after all. You’d tagged along on his gigs before, and he’d never failed to make it a good time.)

Patiently waiting for him to wrap up his band’s last song so you two could enjoy the rest of the night together. . . 

“Y’know, it’s always easy to find some nice toys in this place,” an unfamiliar voice whispers from just a few seats away. “But I never thought I’d see a worthwhile human around here.” 

. . .and trying your absolute damnedest to ignore the stranger who just couldn’t seem to take a hint.

Similarly to Mare and Phantom, the stranger in question could almost pass for a human. Just not at the moment, since he’d obviously taken off whatever disguising veil he used (those were pretty popular among this crowd for many reasons). 

His eyes bulged from their sockets, lacking both pupils and irises. Just two orbs a little larger than the average tennis ball, coming in a shade of dark pink that looked more toxic than fluorescent, ever-so-slightly rolling around in his head as he stared at you. The grin he aimed in your direction would’ve been creepy even without his particular mouthful of oily-looking needle-teeth. 

You ground your jaw, feeling one of your hands curl into a fist on the bar counter. 

The bug-eyed stranger seemed to catch onto that body language. Though you didn’t look at him, your peripheral vision still allowed you to see how his smile fell. 

“What? I don’t get any gratitude for the compliment?” Mr. Bug-Eyes asked, his voice changing from smug to indignant in a heartbeat. 

“If you really think that being called a toy is a compliment,” you finally murmur in a clipped tone, “then you’re in for a rude awakening.”

“Oh, c’mon. I know what girls like,” Mr. Bug-Eyes retorted. “I’ll just never understand why you’re all so repressed.”

“I think you’re mistaking repression for self-respect,” you observed. 

You kept your focus on the stage, on Mare and his bandmates. You knew they were on their last song for the night’s performance. The music was winding down, but it was still awesome as ever. He’d asked for your help with lyrics and fine-tuning a good few times in the past, and that had been flattering enough.

But the fact that he was having such a good time singing the stuff that you helped him decide on. . .well, you weren’t sure when you’d stop riding that high, but you certainly weren’t complaining. 

“Fine, fine. I get it: you don’t want things to move so fast,” Mr. Bug-Eyes piped up again, nudging his bar stool a few inches closer to you. He didn’t seem to notice how you automatically nudged your own chair a few inches further away. “Can’t I just get your number, honey? It’s clear you need someone to talk to.”

“I’ve already got that covered,” you replied. “That’s how having friends works.” 

“That’s big talk for someone who’s here all alone,” Mr. Bug-Eyes sneered. 

You feel your knuckles turn white. “I’m not alone.”

“Well, if that’s the case, your company isn’t paying enough attention to you.”

“That’s none of your damn business,” you hiss, trying to keep your voice down. Yeah, you weren’t shy about potentially clocking this guy in the chin if he tried anything, but you still didn’t want to cause a scene. Not when Mare was wrapping up his gig, so close to finally coming offstage and continuing his date with you. “I already told you: I’m. Not. Interested. If you were half the guy you think you are, you would’ve left me alone after the first time.”

Mr. Bug-Eyes gave a melodramatic sigh, and a sickeningly sweet smell permeated the air around you. It almost instantly caused the first stage of a migraine to flare along the bridge of your nose. You shook your head, blinking as your eyes grew watery way faster than necessary.

A chill raced down your spine as you registered the weight of a hand on your head, ruffling your hair.

You jerked back, slapping it away. “Get away from me!”

The quick motion, combined with the smell, caused you to lose your balance. However, instead of collapsing onto the floor, you felt yourself being caught. Despite your now hazy vision, it took no time at all for you to recognize the colorful tattoos adorning your rescuer’s arms. 

Relief sliced through the awful type of adrenaline that was thrumming through your head. 

From there, things moved pretty fast. 

The environment around you was a blur as clouds of dark violet smoke poured from Mare’s eyes, from his mouth, through his skin itself.  

Mare guided one of your arms to rest along his shoulder, helping you to keep up with his pace. 

Cool nighttime air rushed past the two of you; you almost didn’t notice the deep whooshing sound of a heavy glass door being swung open. 

And before you knew it, you were suddenly sitting down again. The weight of Mare’s arm was still around your waist.

“Deep breaths. Take deep breaths,” Mare coached. There was a slight echo in his voice; his pitch seemed a bit all over the place. That always seemed to happen whenever he had too much energy, good or bad. 

You nodded, following those instructions. You raised a hand to knead at your temple. Then, after a moment of scrubbing at your eyes, you realized that you were now in a completely different part of the downtown area. If memory served, you were now a far distance away from Holy Water Distilling Co.

“Are you okay?” Mare asked, keeping a firm yet gentle hold on your hand. 

You finally looked over at him. His eyes were pitch-black, the purple tear tracks on his face now branching out like veins or tree roots. His skin had turned a deathly shade of gray; if you looked closely enough, you could almost see the shapes of his teeth and skull through the barrier. 

Despite his obvious anger, concern and fear were still present in his features. 

“I’m okay. I’m okay,” you eventually reassured him. Your head still felt a little funny, but now that you were away from the scent, your senses were much clearer. You didn’t hesitate to hug him, resting your head on his shoulder. He returned the gesture tenfold, sighing. 

The minutes dragged along, but you didn’t mind. 

“Whoever that idiot was, I think I’m gonna have to kill him,” Mare murmured after you pulled away. The edge in his voice had died down a bit, and his features were slowly but surely turning less ghoulish, but his eyes remained dark. 

“I won’t stop you,” you hummed, having long-since grown accustomed to his more monstrous side, “but could that wait a bit? Just until tomorrow?” 

Mare squinted at you, understandably incredulous. 

You shrugged. “I mean, you seemed really excited about the movie. The screening’s supposed to start in about. . .” You glanced down to check the clock on your phone, “. . .twenty minutes from now, I think.”

Mare’s eyes widened as a surprised snicker escaped his lips. “Priorities, priorities.”

You tilted your head as you rose from the sidewalk bench. “Consider it your reward for rescuing the damsel in distress.”

“Well, when you put it like that. . .” Mare was quick to follow, locking arms with you as you began strolling together.

[vigilskeep]

idkkk ive always loved that scene with petrice and elthina. elthina is so scared and so obviously out of her domain...i think this might be one of the most character-establishing scenes of hers for me. i wonder if that moment marks the start of sebastian's fervent desire to protect elthina at any cost that paints his whole life in act 3

it IS an interesting one in that it’s the only time i can think of we really see elthina actually face to face with violence rather than untouchable on her balcony (excepting, of course, the obvious moment where violence, ah, arrives at the balcony). remarkably poised in the face of it, too. i feel like i need to develop my thoughts on elthina a bit more to say what it establishes about her character for me; i don’t think i’ve ever focused enough to have a good picture of how the qunari situation was handled

[lu15d4]

Revisiting Infernal Tokyo now that Akira is king (SMT4)

Did you know you can revisit Blasted and Infernal Tokyo after defeating Lucifer in the neutral route? Have you seen all of its new content?

2 things to say before we start

This blog contains spoilers of Shin megami tensei IV so I wouldn't recommend you to read this blog unless you at least got locked in one alignment and be in the monochrome forest.

Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures, I took them directly from my phone

With that said, let's get started!

Not long ago I realized you can revisit blasted and Infernal Tokyo if you get locked into chaos or you beat Lucifer in neutral.

After getting locked in one alignment, if it allows you to freely get to the yamator reactor room (am I right Merkabah?), go there. Once you're there, Burroughs will ask you if you want to go to either Blasted Tokyo or Infernal Tokyo, or just stay in the Tokyo you're in now.

So I didn't think twice and decided to explore both Tokyos to see what's new in them.

For Blasted Tokyo I haven't seen much change. But for Infernal Tokyo tho, damn there's a lot here to discover:

Ikebukuro and Shibuya are fully open to explore

New sidequests

A LOT of new dialogue from npcs

Ikebukuro and Shibuya

During your first time in Infernal Tokyo, before Akira became king, you couldn't enter these districts because they were owned by Kenji, and if Akira was only allowed to pick up trash and be humiliated in there, of course the guard wouldn't let you to even set a foot in.

But now that Akira is king, I went there to see what would happen if I got there. And well, the guards are now even polite towards me.

So now that they let me pass, we can freely explore the districts. Obviously, being Infernal Tokyo a Tokyo that isn't meant to be stayed in for a long time, the districts are much smaller than ceiling Tokyo, but in both of them there's a pub where you can heal and take challenge quests, shops, npcs to talk with and even a domain (pretty much all like Infernal Shinjuku). Speaking about sidequests...

The sidequests

There are both sidequests you can get from the pub and from speaking with demons.

The pub ones is killing one of the many funny d*ck demons from a ritual and Fornite in Infernal Tokyo :)

The others are beating the demon from the domains (Loki and the 4 horsemen of the apocalypse) and sidequests mostly about hindu mythology demons.

Honestly, none of them are bad, but compared to other sidequests of the game, they aren't the greatest either. The Kartikeya one is pretty cool because it gives you a bit of hindu lore but not much else.

The npcs

Now this is what I really want to talk about.

There's a nice amount of npcs around Infernal Tokyo with new dialogue, from the ones of the newly unlocked districts to the ones from Shinjuku and Akira's former base.

What they talk about can be divided between:

The ones who talk about how life has been as demonoids/nurishers.

The ones who talk about king Akira

The ones who talk about their life as demonoids/nourishers

There's not much to say about them other than how most npcs say positive things about it

However, there are 2 cases I want to mention

1- the one who calls Kenji a hero. He says that before the nourishers were a thing, demons used to eat humans until Kenji arrived, killed the demons and established the demonoid/nourisher system.

What I find interesting is how, despite Kenji leaving Tokyo a place where everyone kills each other and the strong abuse the weak, his actions improved the situation for some people to the point some of them call him their savior.

What's kinda funny is that how Ikebukuro from the unstable Tokyo is somehow more stable than the Ikebukuro from the lesser unstable Tokyo (ceiling Tokyo).

2- The demonoid you find near the cocoon in Shijuku (while his dialogue already appears even before Akira took Shinjuku, I believe this is still worth mentioning).

What this guy says is a bit of his story about the reason he became a demonoid, which was to overcome the death of his daughter, who just like Akira's sister, rot in the cocoon.

With this I think it's safe to say that Akira's case wasn't a unique one, with the cocoon filled with nothing but children (and maybe teenagers); once it was opened many had to see at a very young age their siblings/cousins/friends not only dead, but also in a rotten state, as well as many parents who had to see their children dead and in a rotten state.

Probably many people turned themselves into demonoids just to overcome the death of people really close to them. After all it must have been a really traumatic experience to all these people. Just look at Akira, who after 25 years of the events he visits his sister's grave every time he picks up trash, which it's pretty much a routine. There's also the demonoid near the cocoon, who might visit it frequently because of his daughter.

The ones who talk about Akira

Because how can a story of a walking joke who did nothing but be humiliated and pick up trash and suddenly becomes the king of Tokyo not be a topic to talk about a lot?

A lot of the demonoids talk about his obvious lack of strength compared to Kenji and how they feel bad for him or believe he really needs help.

Others give their opinion about his plan of making Tokyo more equal.

Most demonoids say how unused they are to the word "equal". Some nourishers on the other hand, say some of their new rights for nourishers, such as having more food (said by the same nourisher who previously said that Akira would give them access to baths) and even having vacation days.

For that to work, Akira decided to every now and then go to each district and count the amount of nourishers each district has, to bring more to those who lack of them.

It really looks like when he became the leader of Shinjuku, he found out the big amount of nourishers he had, so he decided not to let the nourishers keep feeding the demonoids all the time. And since he really liked that, he decided to do the same regulation in all Tokyo.

A sentence that stands out a lot is "he's (Akira) kind of a weird demonoid. But then again, he's the only one who treated us like real humans". This opens a headcanon I have about how nourishers are treated.

While initially, the main perk of being nourisher is that you won't be killed by demonoids, it was just initially.

There's a nourisher in Kasumigaseki who said (before Akira took over Shinjuku) that the good thing of being a nourisher is not being killed, but the thing is that the districts weren't keeping in touch each other, so each of them had their own way to manage things.

Which means that while Akira's nourishers might actually live the perks of a nourisher (because he's a cinnamon roll) and think that's how other nourishers live, the nourishers from other districts might not at all. And since everyone can do literally what the want, I'm sure the nourishers must have been living severe cases of abuse or even be killed if the demonoids thought they had more than enough nourishers.

Because it's in our nature to take advantage of the weaker, to exploit the weaknesses of the one next to us, just like when you nonstop threw bufu to minotaur once you realized he's weak to ice, and if nothing is stopping you, even if it's just your morals, then you'll just do it.

Akira was a special case, he wanted the nourishers to be treated like decent human beings, plus even more if he couldn't get more nourishers.

Also, I'm pretty sure the leaders of the districts usually abused even the demonoids from their district. Just like in a company, one person from a higher position in the company, can easily abuse the ones from the lower positions.

In a place where strength is was matters, the leaders surely are the strongest of their district, and there's nothing stopping them for doing what they want, so why not doing what you want with your people?

But with all that, there are 3 dialogues I want to highlight

1- a demonoid from Shinjuku was asked by Akira to pick up trash for him, just like how he has been doing before being king. What's impressive is that he seemed sad when asking that.

Maybe Akira after many years being humiliated by a guard, picking up trash and going to his sister's grave as a routine, he might have developed some form of Stockholm syndrome to that and therefore he might actually deeply miss that routine.

Plus, that same demonoid mentioned previously how Akira murmured about how he won't be able to visit his sister frequently anymore.

2- In a pub in Ikebukuro, there's a demonoid who talks about how some demonoids from Kasumigaseki killed demonoids from Ikebukuro because they didn't support Akira. And to that there's a lot to say.

First of, there's something clear about this, no matter what you do, no matter how good your actions are, no matter how good you are as a leader of a region, there will be ones who will not be happy, who will prefer the other thing; and probably there are a great bunch of demonoids who preferred Kenji as the ruler, maybe because they had more freedom.

Second, the fanaticism some developed for Akira. For every famous person, there are people who will follow them like if they were Jesus, who will agree with whatever they say and will do something against anyone who disagrees/doesn't support them. And even if the people from Kasumigaseki got their life improved, they probably didn't get the fact that there are people who not only didn't, but also politically disagree with them.

And this might perfectly be something Akira didn't even want, but this could perfectly make the ones who initially were against him, dislike him even more, specially if Akira doesn't do anything about it, things could go really bad.

3- A nourisher from Ichigaya was given a new role by Akira, which she says she's grateful for that because she just won't give brain juice anymore. However she says that Akira was apologizing "from the bottom of his heart".

For what she, other nourisher and a demonoid in Ichigaya say, I think Akira brought some male and female nourishers and made them do nothing but make babies.

If it's true, I have to say

Akira is so damn cute.

After seeing how others have done far worse things for "the greater good" (ehem ehem, Tayama, ehem ehem, Yuriko,...), as well as finding them justified and on top of that, showing no remorse whatsoever, Akira apologizing from the bottom of his heart for a far lesser bad thing, Akira, I really love you.

Although this shows how even Infernal Akira, despite having the role of representing the nice, benevolent, necessary, uncorrupted side of law (just like Blasted Akira with Chaos), has to dirt his hands even if it's a little bit.

And finally, Akira

As for Akira however, he doesn't say much. It's much more what others say about him rather than what he says.

What he says is how difficult it will be to take care of everyone in Tokyo (now that it's not just the people of Kasumigaseki) and how he's already tired, but he has to stay strong nonetheless.

We already made him king of Tokyo and there not much we can do other than hope for the best, now that Tokyo and its future is in his hands.

Also notice how he calls you "boss", which it's not the first time he does. I think we're pretty much a hero for him, making his biggest wish come true, which was something that would be practically impossible if it wasn't for us. Plus, it could perfectly be the only reason why he decided to stay alive and endure 25 years in an unfair and depressing Tokyo.

And well, that's everything Infernal Tokyo offers. I'm surprised how more than half of its content is inaccessible until you get locked in chaos or you defeat Lucifer in neutral. And it's quite a lot considering it's from something really hidden I didn't know it existed until not long ago.

So hey, thank you for dedicating time to read this ;)

[cafeinthemoon]

Unexpected Changes - Part I

Chapter 1/2

Wordcount 3,4k

Title Part I

Fandom Shuumatsu no Valkyrie / Record of Ragnarok

Pairing Hades X reader

Symbols ✔ . ➕ . 💛

Warnings: none, just comedy and family fluff!

Tagging: ? (If you want to be tagged in any of my stories, just leave a comment here or send an ask or a message)

N. A.: So as I don't post the 11th chapter of my other story with Hades, Ruins, enjoy this little drama/comedy starring reader as an established goddess, queen and wife and her ever loving husband Hades <3 This was a quick idea I had a few days ago and decided to write down as a way to rest, because the last weeks have been tough, ugh.

I'm sorry for not choosing a better title, but I hope it doesn't kill interest in this little ff XD

It’s been at least forty minutes and you were trying to ignore the growing sensation of burn in your eyes, focusing your gaze on the frail figure of Zeus sitting on his chair many floors below you. From there, you were still able to hear his voice, but each minute that passed this task became harder: your brother-in-law’s voice was now showing the first signs of tiredness, and you were fighting the urge to zone out.

You were sleepy. It’s not that you haven’t had a good night of rest before attending to your first divine council since you were received as a deity, but the necessary preparations and the anxiety that would obviously come with them were taking their toll, and now you realized how much mental work you’ve been doing since the day you’ve got the invitation by Hermes’ hands.

Until that moment, you thought you were succeeding in disguising your discomfort, and perhaps you managed to hide it from the ones sitting around you, but there were certain eyes you knew could never deceive – the ones of the King of the Underworld and your husband, Hades.

The silence around you was tangible and the attentions of everyone were for Zeus, but you could feel Hades’ look on you. With a shy glance to your left, where he was sitting, you confirmed the direction of his thoughts.

You gave him a brief smile and was going to turn your attention back to the speaker, but leaned to you and whispered something in your ear, which you couldn’t ignore.

– Is there something wrong, dear y/n?

You took one moment to understand what he was saying, and then another one to formulate a reply.

– No, I’m just a bit tired – and, forcing yourself to widen your smile, – But thank you for asking, Hades-sama.

His response was to approach his hand and caress your face for a second, then brush your hair behind your ear. You still referred to him as your master when you were in public, even when the necessity for this already disappeared: you were now a member of the divine race, and the majority of the gods there paid their respects right in your wedding’s day, recognizing you as one of them and the Queen of the Underworld; but old habits die hard, and in your heart, you were still the young maiden who married a god older than your world. Hades never tried to correct you in this sense, maybe waiting for you to get used to your position after some time, but today he seemed to find grace in this, always reacting with contentment whenever you used that treatment.

There was silence for the next few minutes, since your husband accepted your answer, but it wouldn’t take long until a sudden, loud yawn escape your mouth and catch the attention of the people closer to you, for your embarrassment.

While you tried to cover your mouth, a chuckle was heard beside you. You looked at Hades to inquire him, but he was faster: standing up from his seat, he offered his hand.

– Come with me.

– To where? – you asked as you put your hand over his.

– To a calmer place.

You stood up from your spot, avoiding the curious looks of your pairs, and soon the council was left behind.

***

It was Poseidon who found you.

He was walking down that lonely corridor, taking time to observe the landscape through the clouds, a part of his brother’s domain that he hasn’t seen since the last council: the greenish territory filled with exotic trees and what looked like colorful dots from that height, but would be easily identified as flowers at a smaller distance. You yourself appreciated this view from that same porch before Hades took you to a less visible spot at the end of the corridor, but still under people’s reach.

At that moment, the King of the Seas was the only observer.

When he approached the couch where his brother was, the scene he found was absurd, to say the least: Hades had you sleeping on his lap, wrapped in his coat, with his arms around you while you rested your head on his shoulder. You were snoring softly and didn’t even sense your brother-in-law’s arrival.

Anyone who’d see you like this would only shrug and move on; the King of the Underworld had the right to spoil his wife as he pleased, after all, especially when that was her first time attending a council, and every god knew how tiring this could be. Unfortunately, the person who found you was Poseidon, who had a more critical view on such small eccentricities: what he saw there was nothing but his indulgent brother holding a big child.

The first words said between them were his, and they were exactly like expected:

– What’s the meaning of this?

Hades' response was to raise his eyes to him and show a discreet smile.

– The trip from Hellheim to Heaven is long and tiring, brother. Even you admit that. This is her first time doing it for something that’s not a visit or a party – and, with some diversion in his tone, – Show some consideration.

Poseidon twisted his lips.

– It’s been at least two hundred years since y/n became one of us, elder brother. She must be strong enough to stand the travel by now. Isn't it why you waited so long to bring her to a council?

– Yes, that’s the main reason. Still, don’t you think it’d be cruel to not give her the necessary support? – your husband sighed, caressing your hair as he spoke – You know, I still remember when you attended this type of meeting for the first time. It was very stressful, and you told me that many times in the days after.

The other man crossed his arms, giving no verbal response to this. Hades didn’t show the slightest sign of irritation: knowing his little brother as he did, he knew he still had a long way learning the difference between taking care of a beloved one and spoiling them. Besides, he never approved this habit of his elder brother to recall his past experiences to try and evoke compassion from him: it was so unworthy of a god that he couldn’t take it seriously, so he would prefer not to say anything.

– But what can I do about it? – Hades laughed at his brother’s annoyed expression – Just wait a bit until you decide to find a significant other, Poseidon. It's for your own good, and theirs.

Poseidon would have rolled his eyes if that was a common gesture of his, but he just limited himself to give the other a blunt reply.

– I didn’t travel here just for you to lecture me, Hades. Besides... – he stared at you in a strange manner – This is not the first time I see her in such deep sleep. Are you sure everything is okay with her?

Hades raised an eyebrow at the sudden change of subject.

– What do you mean?

Poseidon turned to the clouds, leaning one hand on the parapet while the other was hidden behind his back.

– It's been a few days since you two came to visit me at the seas, but even then, it didn’t go unnoticed by me that y/n has been feeling often tired even when she didn’t do hard work. As far as I remember, it hasn’t always been like this – he glanced at your sleeping figure and lowered his tone, as to enter a subject about which he wasn’t sure to have the right to discuss – Not only this, but she has shown such appetite that differs from what we’ve seen from her since her transformation. Don’t you think it’s strange? It’s like she’s unconsciously trying to restock her body’s energy… from something that might be stealing it.

The smile hanging on Hades’ lips since the beginning of the conversation disappeared when he heard that. There was something... wrong with you? Well, he had to be honest and admit that you’ve been showing some strange symptoms beside the uncommon sleep and hunger lately: you’ve been more sensitive to physical contact, to some textures, smells and tastes, and have been avoiding long walks and other forms of physical effort.

However, your aspect was far from bad. Instead, you’ve became more beautiful these last days: your eyes gained more vivacity; your skin had its tone renewed, especially on your face, where it was now showing a sort of glow; your hair was thicker, though you haven’t tried any new treatment lately; also, the curves of your body were accentuated, something visible even when you wore floating dresses.

Surely, that didn’t look like the case of someone whose vital energy has been sucked. Did Poseidon understand what he was suggesting?

– Something that’s stealing her energy? – Hades glanced at you, then back at his brother – Are you suggesting that she might have been... cursed?

It wasn’t surprising that this was his first thought: gods didn’t get sick as the humans did, so the most effective way to cause dysfunction in their divine bodies without getting into a physical fight or making them use all their power was cursing them.

– It’s hard to believe that someone would have the audacity to do this to the Queen of Hellheim – Poseidon stated in a calm tone – But we cannot discard the possibility so soon. You know that not all gods have good relations with Greece. And, I have to say that, not everyone here has a positive view on Psyche’s ritual. You know what it means, brother.

Yes, Hades knew it. A human turning into a god is never a simple case. Psyche herself and Heracles were the most famous in this category, and the challenges and adversities in their way were well known by each god of each pantheon. When he proposed the wedding and the ritual, Hades was aware that a similar fate would be waiting for you, and he warned you about it. For love, you said yes to him despite that, but your willingness wasn’t enough to calm down his worries, so he took measures to protect you in every way he could. As time passed, the possibility of some evil force touching you became more and more improbable, but it never left his mind completely.

So, when Poseidon brought it back, he was ready to act.

He woke you up whispering your name. Once you were back, you straightened up and rubbed your eyes...

And startled when you saw you were not alone.

– P-Poseidon-sama! I’m... – you tried to fix your hair, avoiding his glare as you spoke – I’m so sorry for this scene...

– Don’t worry about this, y/n – was his composed reply – I'll be leaving soon. I think my brother has some matters to discuss with you now.

You turned to Hades and the slight sign of preoccupation you saw in his eyes made you shiver: with Hades being the most confident person you’ve ever known, it was rare to see it in him, and unsettling precisely because of it.

– My brother and I were talking and he said something that made me think of you – Hades explained before you said anything – That’s all.

When you seemed to calm down, Poseidon excused himself, stating that his presence in the council would be soon required. It only took one moment and you no longer heard his steps on the corridor, as his silhouette disappeared in the nearest corner.

Once you were sure you were alone, you turned to your husband and touched his face, making him look at you.

– Hades, my dear – you whispered – I can see you’re worried. What were you talking about? What did he say that put you in this state?

Hades took your hand in his and kissed its palm.

– He just pointed out some things I myself noticed these days concerning you, little one, but refused to acknowledge.

– Concerning me? How so?

He put your hand upon his shoulder.

– You’ve been acting… weird these days, y/n. You’ve been experiencing changes in your sleeping and eating habits, as well as frequent episodes of tiredness. When we visited Poseidon in his palace, he noticed this too, but only brought it to my attention now. But this is not everything.

– What do you mean?

– My brother suggested that these strange symptoms are being caused by some force or influence over your body, which is stealing your energy and forcing you to compensate the loss with more resting and food.

You frowned, trying to process what you heard.

– Something is stealing my energy? Are you telling me that Poseidon-sama thinks that I’m sick?

– My dear, have you forgotten that gods don’t get sick? What he suggested – he caressed your hair with visible preoccupation – Is that you might have been cursed.

You gasped.

– Cursed?! But… how? Why? And... by who?

Hades took a moment deliberating before giving you a verbal answer.

– This is what we need to discover. But we won’t do it if we stay here.

– So, where do you think we should go?

The answer was categorical… and not entirely pleasing to you.

– Back to Hellheim – Hades helped you to stand and started leading you back inside the building – I’ll talk to Zeus and ask him to excuse ourselves from this council. I'm sure he will understand. Then, once we reach home, I’ll contact Beelzebub. There’s no person who knows more about curses than him. He will know what to do.

You swallowed. If your husband considered necessary to reach out to Beelzebub-sama, he surely believed the case was serious, more than he’d like to tell you. However, you weren’t feeling that bad: the strange signs were as vivid to you as they were to Hades, but you haven’t sensed in them any threat against your life. Besides... you were still unable to feel entirely comfortable in the presence of the Lord of the Flies, mostly because the human perception of him was still alive in you, so you still avoided him as much as you could.

And you tried to do it that time as well.

– Do you really think it’s necessary, my dear? – you stopped and held his arm, making him turn to you – I don’t think my situation is that serious... And I don’t like the idea of disturbing Beelzebub-sama. He must be too busy with his works.

Hades’ response was to stare at you for a while and show you a teasing smile.

– After all this time, you’re still afraid of him, aren’t you?

You gasped.

– What?! I-I'm not...!

Though your moods were inflamed, your indignation was just too cute for your husband, whose laughter made you give up on the argument.

– There’s no need to worry, little one – he pulled you into a warm hug and kissed the top of your head – I’ll be there with you during the whole visit. Besides, Beelzebub is an excellent, reliable professional. I’ve told you about the times he helped my family, right? This case must be no challenge for him.

***

You were anxious.

On the first break of the council, Hades hurried to Zeus’ private room to announce your leaving. You were present at that moment and heard all the conversation, of course, and even wanted to make your opinions known, but weren't willing to interrupt: Hades already decided to leave Heaven, and making him change his mind would be too complicated by now; besides, you didn’t want to cause more disturbance to Zeus-sama, who was already busy with the matters of the council.

The thing is that there were some details about your case you didn’t tell your husband, for you yourself weren’t sure of how to deal with them and didn’t want to make him worried before understanding what was going on: besides the symptoms noticed by Poseidon, you’ve been feeling dizzy at random moments of the day, something that you would solve with a few minutes sitting on a comfortable chair, and during mornings, your stomach would feel weird, forcing you to leave the bed to throw. You didn’t know the reason behind these episodes of nausea, since you haven’t made any changes in your diet, so you just ignored them, thinking they were a consequence from the anxiety about the council and hoping they would soon pass.

But they didn’t.

Right in the morning of the trip, it happened again, but you were lucky that Hades used to leave the bed hours before you, so he didn’t see anything, just like in the previous days. You knew you couldn’t hide this forever, so you started to think of how to talk to him about it. However, before you could do it, Poseidon came to speak with his brother; and, trusting him as he did, Hades soon decided that taking you to see a doctor was the best.

And, now that Zeus accepted his request to leave and was saying his farewell, there was nothing you could do. You would just go back to your lodge and pack your things as your husband went to prepare the carriage that would take you back to the Underworld.

***

Hades closed the door of that strange room behind you after you entered, then led you to the middle of it.

The place was filled with tables covered with bottles of all possible shapes, containing bubbling fluids, bowls with colored powders, tools and paper notes, everything touched with a soft, white light descending from the ceiling. It was a quiet room with just occasional noises that barely disturbed your ears, yet with so many things happening at the same time that you were afraid you were going to have an episode of dizziness if you stood there for too long. As if it wasn’t enough, the smells of mixed chemical composts invaded your nostrils, threatening your stomach with a nausea crisis.

In the middle of this, sitting calmly on a chair and reading the last lines of a note in his hands, was the man about whom your husband spoke as being the greatest specialist in curses he knew: Beelzebub, the solitary god who has traveled between all the known worlds seeking for a cure for his own curse.

Because of his decision of not establishing close relations to his pairs, you’ve only seen him in a few occasions since you became a goddess, and he would never stay for too long in your presence; besides, Hades was the one who used to lead the conversations during those occasions, so that you never had an opportunity to talk directly to him for a more than a few minutes. This always caused a sort of discomfort in you whenever you had to deal with him, as if you never knew if you were bothering him, even less how he felt towards you.

That time wasn’t different, and the fact that you were the main subject of the encounter only made you more nervous.

When Beelzebub finally left the paper over the table and raised his eyes to you, you swallowed. Not only those dark, lightless pupils scared you as much as Poseidon’s aura used to do in your first years in the Greek family, but the contrast between them and that young face of his still unsettled you. Letting him notice your discomfort was your worst fear concerning the Lord of the Flies, so you avoided his gaze and waited for Hades to lead the matters for you.

– So, what’s bothering you, Hades-san? – he turned his chair to you; and, with a soft smile, – It’s been a long time since you asked for my help.

– And I’d be forever grateful if you could help me once again – Hades put a soft hand over your head – My y/n has been experiencing strange symptoms that could be considered the consequences of sickness if she was still human. I talked to Poseidon about it and he suggested that this might be a case of… curse.

Beelzebub spent a few seconds looking at Hades before turning his gaze to you; you shivered, crossing your arms over your chest as he examined you from head to toe. He looked back to your husband...

And asked the last thing he was expecting.

– What do you mean, she’s cursed?

Chapter 2

[recreationaldivorce]

I'm not super familiar with lemmy and the broader fediverse, but where are some good places to start? Are there competing sub-lemmys (unsure what they're called) I'm only familiar with I think a piracy one (lol) but id love to learn more and start using it more, especially given this update. thanks! <3

apologies if you already know all this & this is patronising, just explaining the basics in case that needs to be established:

so you know how emails work where i can be eg revolutionarysuicide@tumblr.com and i can email billgates@microsoft.com just as easily as i could email joshawatt11@tumblr.com, even though billgates is on a different domain to me whereas you're on the same domain? the fediverse works the same way. in the same way that it's not a huge deal what email provider you sign up with bc you can still send and receive emails to/from anyone, it's not a huge deal what lemmy instance you sign up with because you can still subscribe to and participate in any community. to use reddit as a familiar comparator, if you were joshawatt11@otherreddit.com you could still post to r/askreddit@reddit.com as though you had a reddit account.

the points at which lemmy instance would matter is that each lemmy instance is run by its hosts, who may set their own rules on those instances. eg a left-wing political instance wouldn't allow conservatives to sign up and would ban right-wingers from their instance. so if someone were a fascist they could be banned from an entire left-wing instance, including all the communities in that instance.

another way that they matter is that you can "defederate" where you ban an entire instance, eg some pretty liberal instances like to talk about defederating with some of the more commie instances so that people from those instances can't interact with anything on the liberal instance, and vice versa. like in the above example, if tumblr.com and microsoft.com defederated then revolutionarysuicide@tumblr.com and billgates@microsoft.com couldn't email each other because tumblr.com and microsoft.com have blocked each other basically.

you can also host your own lemmy instance—with the email example that's like registering your own domain and you could just use that domain for your own email address and nothing else, or alternatively you could decide to let your friends use that domain for their email addresses too, or you could decide to host an email service on that domain allowing anyone to sign up for an email at that domain.

you can browse some of the instances here. some of them are very general instances, some of them may be instances centred around a particular interest/hobby, a particular political viewpoint, a particular common identity eg lgbt instances, and so on. like i said above i dont think it particularly matters so long as you join a generally non-offensive instance that other instances won't have blocked and you wouldn't get banned from.

i really dunno in-depth about many lemmy instances & tbh i rarely look at what instance someone is posting from so i wouldn't notice those kinds of patterns, but off the top of my head i can think of:

lemmy.ml, the original lemmy instance run by the lemmy devs. the lemmy devs are communists so they're chill. politics seem to be generally left-leaning, like from reddit-style socdems to actual communists is the range i've seen on there.

hexbear, an explicitly "leftist" instance. politics seem to be similar to that of left tumblr, so take that how you will...

lemmygrad, ml instance

obviously those are listed by politics but if you wanna pick an instance based on interests or something that's fine too, literally just read the rules and see if you agree and have a look at their front page to see what kind of posts & communities are on that instance. if you like the vibes sign up. you can always sign up for a different instance if you get banned or if you don't like the one you signed up for

[megandcomics]

Tears of the Kingdom vs Breath of the Wild Story Thoughts Ramble

There will be lots of Story Spoilers!!!

So I beat the main story of Tears of the Kingdom last week and I’ve been thinking about the emotional impact of BoTW and Totk and the stories they are trying to tell. In most regards Tears of the Kingdom is a superior game in gameplay aspects, the world having the land, sky, and chasms, there’s just a ton to do. There’s a feeling of hope and teamwork, the world is more established. I love the game with all my heart, as I love breath of the wild, but I just felt a little more attached to the BoTW story and I wanted to just go over why.

Tears of the Kingdom story is essentially, Ganondorf is revived, Zelda vanishes (to the past) and Link lost his arm. His arm is replaced by original king of Hyrule, Rauru. Once you get off the sky island you go to talk to Purah and find out about regional phenomenons and sightings of Princess Zelda. You are tasked with investigating those regions to get info on what happened to her and also helping the local groups of hyrule.

How I played the game was similar to how I played Breath of the Wild. I go after towers and wanted to check in on some places just to get a lay of the land. So as I’m getting towers I get the dragon tears quest, and a lot of the geoglyphs are near towers. So I did those and memories pretty simultaneously. I also went to Rito Village, Zora’s Domain, and Gerudo Town. I like to know lore so going after the memories was something I always did early. (I actually forgot about Goron City for a minute too, I went there last because I forgot)

ToTK Memories

So the memories explore Zelda’s time in the past, her encounters with Rauru, Sonia, and Ganondorf, the assembling of sages, the Imprisoning War and Zelda’s draconification. I don’t know if getting the memories first made the rest of the story fall more flat to me but that’s really what I want to discuss.

So now that I’ve activated the quests and know what happened to Zelda, the regional phenomenon quests felt kind of silly. Like the dungeons were awesome, I loved having the sages as companions, helping them get out of their environmental situations, but the aspect of the quest where you were supposed to be “investigating” what happened to Zelda just felt repetitive. I kept going, obviously this isn’t Zelda, Zelda is that dragon up there.

I also felt disappointed the ancient sages had like no story and no personality. Each cutscene where your companions met with their ancient ancestor followed the same script. I was a rito/Goron/Zora/Gerudo sage who fought in the imprisoning war. Followed by a generic cutscene of them standing looking defeated while ganondorf is looking at them menacingly. The amount of times they said “let me tell you about the imprisoning war” “so that was the imprisoning war” “he wanted my secret stone” started sounding like the scene in Pokémon where they go “just wait till I use my secret weapon, hydreigon. So that’s his secret weapon. No wonder your Hydreigon is your secret weapon” scene.

Then after the imprisoning war scene you see Zelda saying hey I need you to support this guy named Link in the future he’s going to beat up Ganondorf. And you get that essentially 4 times. So not only am I not attached to the past sages, the cutscene is repetitive (because the game doesn’t know what order you’ll do things in).

The 5th sage quest does improve on this exponentially but it’s because we know who Mineru is (if you got the memories) and even then her take on the imprisoning war is more personal and you get to see Rauru’s sacrifice. That’s what I felt was missing from the other 4.

I also did the Lucky Clover Gazette side adventure where you are investigating Zelda sightings and proving the leads aren’t actually Zelda. Again, the story heavily relies on the idea that you don’t know what happened to zelda.

When you go after Zelda in hyrule castle I didn’t feel as desperate as I think I was intended to feel. It was a great experience chasing her around and the fight with phantom ganon is fun. I do understand the whole point of Link going after these leads and the lucky clover stuff is because any mention, any possibility of finding Zelda is what matters most to him. I think that notion is beautiful but I still felt generally disconnected from it since I did the memories.

Should I have waited to do the memories? In breath of the wild it just helps you get an understanding of what happened 100 years ago, but TOTK memories actually tell you where Zelda is and what she is doing. Yet Find Zelda is one of the main quests.

Once you do everything necessary to get the master sword and decide to confront Ganondorf it’s a lot better though, I think the story has a great payoff where you lose zelda to start and you are able to save her the way you lost her the first time. Fighting Ganondorf was rewarding, and it was tricky. I think that the boss fights overall were on a whole other tier than BoTW. The dragon battle was epic, the Light Dragon assisting even without her sense of self while wielding the sword she gave everything up for. Then Link falling and catching Zelda had me cheering. I think the best way to describe the story overall is that the ending feels earned.

So why did I personally feel less connected?

I think Breath of the Wild thematically is more coherent. The concept of waking up in a different time with no memories, the strange quiet and loneliness of the world. Something about it is so melancholic. I know breath of the wild gets a lot of “there’s no story” comments but I feel the story is in the landscape. I went after a lot of towers in my first play through and some memories first. I didn’t get memories in order. But what I loved about the memories were the fact they were MINE, they were Link’s. There is such a tragedy in the story that really does pull my heart strings. You learn of all these people, the champions, Hyrule’s effort, Zelda’s distress, and how despite everything they did, they didn’t win.

The shrines and towers were in the world because they were unearthed in an effort to stop Ganon. Every Divine Beast was heartbreaking because you experience first hand what happened to the champions and how they died (plus the SOS signals and the dungeon themes were filled with desperation) They are trapped in the beast that killed them. I wanted to set them free. I felt so bonded to the champions, their stories, the way their people spoke of them, the memories of their relationship with us and with Zelda, and how they fell one by one, sacrificing it all to save Hyrule. Knowing I had also fallen but was lucky to still be alive.

I think in that respect Zelda herself had a story most could feel attached to. She has so much on her shoulders, her Dad puts a lot of pressure on her, she feels not good enough. Her interests and person are sidelined for the good of Hyrule. Watching her break down and blame herself every step of the way was hard to see. I’ve felt that way, even without the weight of the world on my shoulders. And unlocking her powers too late, it was already over. But the fact she went in to hold back Ganon and sacrificed herself showed her sense of duty to her kingdom.

I felt like that was something to fight for. For your fallen friends, for that princess who gave up her life to a cause that she was powerless to stop, the guilt on her shoulders. All of that in the backdrop of this quiet world.

I think also having so much bonus content with the champion’s ballad and even Age of Calamity made me so attached to that struggle they shared. The knowing of a timeline where they all survive, juxtaposed by going back to play breath of the wild to know that it wasn’t real. But you still feel for the characters deeply. You think about what could’ve been.

That sadness and tragedy is not as present in tears of the kingdom. Yes Zelda is gone, there are gloom holes all over. But the threat doesn’t seem immediate. Ganondorf stays in his hole in the ground until you come to him. I understand through his phantom form/phantom zelda he was impacting the world but again everyone seems to be alive, just struggling. There aren’t guardians running around to make you feel like the battle isn’t over and the Divine Beasts causing havoc. There was nothing like the feeling of climbing hyrule castle for the first time, being full of guardians and monsters and still finding more memories from zelda and rhoam’s diaries.

Yes Tears of the Kingdom is a superior game, it’s a blast and I still cried my eyes out during the story because I’m a sucker. I know Zelda isn’t really known for having strong stories, it’s more about discovery and dungeons. But the story is still something I deeply value and especially in the music with the use of leitmotifs you can feel everything. At least I do. The thousands of years of in game history and the concept of reincarnation and fate are so strong. I could talk about it all day and my love in general for The Legend of Zelda.

I do wonder if part of breath of the wild’s impact on me was that I started playing in December 2019, and then 2020 hit and I played it constantly during quarantine. That lonely world reflected what I felt during that time.

I guess my overall point in this post was me wondering if anyone else felt disconnected especially with the nameless ancient sages when before we had unique champions who were decently fleshed out with individual experiences and relationships. I’d love to hear thoughts on all of this. This was a ramble so hopefully it’s semi-coherent.

These thoughts are also based on my first impression and first play through. I’ve had years to sit with my breath of the wild feelings so my overall feel of the game may also change with time.

PS. I think I spend too much time in game flying around with the light dragon cause I miss Zelda

[kingdoms-and-empires]

Ola there dearest dear author! Would it be rude of me to ask for a snippet/sneakpeak of the Academy Arc? Any crumbs would do. 👉👈

I'm starving. All I know is that we get to inflict inferiority complex on the masses. Just that small bit of info already makes me excited orz

This is hilarious because during my time not writing for reasons related to life, I would be penning down ideas whenever they came to me, and you just reminded me i had one penned for this occasion!

THIS MAY BE LONG

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

The St. Hytera's Imperial Academy was a sight to behold. Nestled in the heart of the city, it was a grand and imposing structure, with towering columns, gleaming marble floors, and intricate carvings on every surface. It was a place of learning and enlightenment, where the children of nobility were taught the skills and knowledge they needed to become leaders.

Inside, the academy was a labyrinth of corridors and classrooms, filled with the sounds of laughter and learning. In the grand hall, students practiced sword fighting and horseback riding, honing their skills and their bodies. In the library, they studied history, philosophy, and the arts, learning the wisdom of the ages. In the classrooms, they learned the art of diplomacy, strategy, and governance, preparing them to lead their people and their domains.

Everywhere you looked, the Academy was a testament to the magnificence and beauty of the empire. It was a place where the young and the privileged could learn and grow, preparing themselves for the challenges and opportunities that lay ahead.

And today was the day of introductions.

At the Imperial Academy, it was a long-standing tradition for the children of nobility to introduce themselves to their peers. This was seen as an important rite of passage, and a way for the students to get to know each other and establish their place in the school's hierarchy.

On the first day of term, each student would stand before their classmates and deliver a brief speech, planting a flag with the sigil of their house on the ground beside them. In this speech, they would introduce themselves by name and title, and outline their accomplishments and achievements. They would also speak about their family and their background, and explain why they were worthy of being a member of the Academy.

After each student had delivered their speech, their teachers and peers would have the opportunity to ask questions and engage in a brief conversation. This was seen as a way for the students to get to know each other better, and to form bonds and alliances that would last throughout their time at the Academy.

The tradition of introducing oneself to one's peers was an important part of the Academy's culture, and it was something that all students looked forward to. It was a chance to showcase their skills and talents, and to make a good impression on their peers. It was also a way for the students to learn more about each other, and to build the connections and relationships that would be vital to their success in the future.

Friendly MC is friendly about it, obviously. Theyre polite, patient, and charming, and not at all what people expected from the infamous crown pirnce/princess

Carefree MC is making everyone laugh and everyone wants to be their friend.Gonna make sure that it isnt the MC making an ass of themself, its just gonna be a jolly good time with the MC loosening up the room.

Stoic MC gets up, plants banner on ground without saying a word.

No-one speaks or cheers as MC stares at Emperor Otto who is bored on his patio. Emperor Otto slowly smirks, nodding at his grandkid.

Silence.

MC walks away with Drive Forever playing in the background.

Imperious MC will get up, stare at everyone, plant their banner, and will simply say, ”You know who I am.”

And walk away with Big Dick Energy.

Lmao jk, this is all just an idea atm, ill obviously refine it more in the future. Hope you had fun!

[madhogthymaster]

Down The Cabbit Hole: The Weird World of Klonoa Literature - An Archive (Part 3)

[PART 1] [PART 2]

This is where our burrowing ends, in the most awkward crevices of pro-bono fandom work: the oxygen-depriving hole of amateurishly translated Japanese comics. The older among you might recall the days where the only way to read your favourite unpopular manga was to rely on some random fellow on the Internet to provide it through the incomparable medium of "scanlations." That is to say, poorly scanned pages from a physical copy they somehow owned subsequently localized through the power of Grit, Determination and Google Translate. Right about now, your bones should have begun turning to dust. Before you're gone from this world, however, please consider holding on for a while longer as I share my last archived tweets on the subject of Fluffy Boy Literature. As you might have guessed, the covered works belong within the domain of fan-translated scans and, as such, they occupy a very specific, very niche place in that befuddling collective unconscious we all know as The Web. In layman terms, stuff's about the get wacky.

---

25 July 2022

It is now time to enter the (forbidden) world of Klonoa's physical literary media - as scanned and translated by community hero, powerstone05. Appropriately, I will start with the much lesser known, unofficial and self-published story by Mofusuke, Dream at Night.

-

I shall not rag too hard on the obviously unprofessional translation work here - it was done by a fan, after all. The awkward lettering and sentence repetition give it the distinct charm of something decisively made in the early days of "Scanlationns."

-

Which is a surprisingly good fit to the adorably simple art style that was also drawn by a fan. I do like the sibling dynamic between Klonoa and Huepow, whereas the latter acts as an impatient older brother to the former. Grandpa reprimanding them at the end is the icing on top of this fluff cake.

-

There isn't much else to say: it is a short, fifteen pages long doujinshi and it's pure slice-of-life. It is all it wanted and needed to be.

-

As an addendum: the existence of the Namco x Capcom anthology manga, based off the Japanese-exclusive gaming crossover of the same name, has been made known to me. I've read the only Klonoa centric comic from it and it's just one dumb, obnoxiously protracted joke. I don't care for this.

-

27 July 2022

I have been postponing the inevitable for far too long. This is Shippuu Tengoku Kaze no Klonoa (2002-2003) by Hiroshi Katou as questionably, yet valiantly, scanslated by powerstone05. It is the most "renowned" official literature within the Klonoa community.

-

Ah, of course... puns. Bad puns. Bad Japanese puns localized into English. Those puns.

-

This manga is a fast-paced, madcap comedy - emphasis on fast-paced. It moves at a speed of a million kilometers per hour, constantly shooting visual gags at your face on almost every panel without any proper sense of pacing and with flimsily established setups.

-

The translation does not help but it's clear that this lack of focus and breathing time between jokes is an intrinsic issue. Frankly, I find this brand of "Machine Gun Humour" exhausting to read. I'd much prefer my comedy to be akin to a shotgun: powerful and deliberate.

-

On the other hand, I enjoy the artwork. Take a look at this delightfully detailed two page spread of pure wanton destruction, capped by Klonoa's comically traumatized features.

-

It must be pointed out that the entire premise of this manga is Klonoa being the biggest moron who ever lived. Your mileage with it may vary.

-

Right! This manga is turning into a "Looney Tunes" short and I'm starting to warm up to it. Katou has a clear penchant for slapstick humour. The propeller hat made me chuckle.

-

I finished reading the whole thing - well, skimming would be the appropriate term. It's a tiresome little deviation that could not quite distract me from its flaws. There isn't anything worth noting as all the over-the-top, frenetically paced gags tends to blend together.

-

With that, I have successfully covered all the major, currently available comic book media related to Klonoa: a thoroughly mixed bag, overall.

-

The fan-made web series Dream Crusaders sits atop the proverbial hill even with its troublesome connection to the insipid Sol Noctis storyline. Everything else is various degrees of forgettable or insubstantial.

-

'Tis an unsurprising result considering how hard to follow the games are - the first two games, that is. Regardless, this was an illuminating experience in its own right from the perspective of how malleable (or not at all) this franchise can be. Thanks for reading.

---

As a posthumous note, there was a final piece of literature worth mentioning to you, an officially licensed short manga that served as promotional material, introduction and basic tutorial for the 2009's Nintendo Wii remake of the first game, Klonoa: Door to Phantomile. The comic is readily available online if you're curious about it.

With that, the excavation has been halted, the dream has ended, my terrible analogies have been put to rest, my archive has been shared. As I lack a romantic way to see us out of here, I shall simply bid you a fond farewell and a good night sleep. Stay wondrous, fellow Phantomilians.

[adamwatchesmovies]

Creature from the Haunted Sea (1961)

While I didn't enjoy this film, that doesn't mean you won't. No matter what I say, the people involved in this project did it: they actually made a movie. That's something to be applauded. With that established...

There are only two good things about Creature from the Haunted Sea. The first is its laughably stupid-looking monster, whose comedic appearance was used in the opening credits of Malcolm in the Middle. It brings back warm memories. The second is that it’s in the public domain. This means you can easily find it for free or packaged together with 49 other horror films for less than $20 - like I did. That price tag is a valuable lesson, which we’ll get to in a bit.

During the Cuban Revolution, American gambler and racketeer Renzo Capetto (Anthony Carbone) is hired by deposed General Tostada (Edmundo Rivera Alvarez) to smuggle the national treasury out of the country. Capetto and his criminal crew, which include his girlfriend Mary-Belle Monahan (Betsy Jones-Moreland), her brother Happy Jack (Robert Bean) and animal impressionist Pete Peterson Jr. (Beach Dickerson) come up with an idea. They will murder the General and his loyalists, then keep the gold for themselves. To avoid suspicion, they will convince the Cubans they are being stalked by a sea monster. Little do they know a real-life monster is following their ship. if the secret agent onboard, XK150 (Robert Towne) had any kind of brains, he’d be able to figure this out quickly and put an end to it.

Even though this is a horror comedy and that much of the criticisms that could be thrown towards Creature from the Haunted Sea were likely intentional, the movie’s not funny so they turn into marks against it anyway. The characters are flat, uninteresting and annoying, with Pete Person Jr. easily winning a gold medal in irritation. Speaking almost entirely in animal noises thanks to a brain injury, his schtick gets old immediately. You’ll spend the brief 75-minute running time wishing he would shut up or get torn apart by the sea monster, which is obviously a scuba diver covered in seaweed (or something that looks like it) with toothpicks glued on the end of their gloves, vampire teeth, and ping pong balls for eyes. Go into any Halloween store on November 1st and you could piece together something better.

Even before the dreadful creature shows up, this premise is just dumb. I know if my shifty shipmates told me two men were just murdered by a sea monster I wouldn’t believe them. No one with their head on straight would. What’s much more likely to happen to Capetto is that the Cubans will see right through his dumb scheme and chop him up into shark bait.

It’s a bad movie and would’ve been bad even in 1961 when the Get Smart comedy thing was popular. If there was any kind of justice in this world, this desert of laughs would’ve been forgotten to the ages. Instead, it made its way into the public domain and regularly finds itself for sale/viewing. The problem is that no one cared about this movie then and they certainly don’t now. Every print you’ll see is scratchy and dusty, with muddy sound that will require you to crank up the volume just so you can understand what the hell is going on. Worse, you won’t find any subtitle option anywhere. You practically have to read the Wikipedia article just to understand what’s happening. It got so bad with the disc I was watching that I actually wound up going on Tubi, hoping that a better print would be available there. I got “lucky”, starting watching again. In no time, I was looking forward to the commercial breaks. At least those were lively, professionally made, colorful and audible.

Suddenly, it hit me. The only reason I was watching this movie is because it came in a box set I bought years ago. I would have to do this 49 more times to “get my money’s worth”. Meanwhile, there are thousands of other movies I could be watching. Even a horrible film like The Snowman or The Love Guru didn’t make me exhausted because I was able to passively absorb them. This was work. A job I wasn’t going to get paid for so I’m cutting my losses. I might've wasted my money, but I'm done wasting my time.

Even if you were sent back in time to see Creature from the Haunted Sea in a top-notch theatre with impeccable audio in the most comfortable seat ever made, I still wouldn’t recommend it. Today, presented like this? It would take all the gold in Cuba to convince me to hit "play". (On DVD, September 13, 2021)