#game theory writers do not fucking interact

[ktownshizzle]

Honey & Citrus | an myg drabble

✎ ˎˊ˗ Pairing: Min Yoongi x female reader ✎ ˎˊ˗ Genre: Fluff, Meet-cute coffee shop!au, to be confirmed if Yoongi is an idol or not

✎ ˎˊ˗  Summary: You haaate your job, but at least there’s this sexy eye-candy at your favorite cafe to distract you from your miserable 9 to forever grind. Your simple, casual nods with him turn into a silent caffeine war when, after his small act of kindness, you buy him his coffee—and he refuses to let the favor go unanswered. Suddenly, you’re locked in a daily battle of who pays first, and just when you think you’ve reached a stalemate, fate (and a very nosy barista) throws in a twist you never saw coming.

✎ ˎˊ˗ Warnings: None ✎ ˎˊ˗ Word count: 1.6k ✎ ˎˊ˗ Posting date: February 13, 2025

✎ ˎˊ˗ Notes: Welcome to another unplanned story. Just a little something I whipped up for the boss babes and corporate girlies working in their city's business districts, desperate to find a semblance of happiness in their robotic working days–did I mention this was really self-indulgent? I am not sure if this stays as a one-shot or a series of drabbles? Idk. Anyways, enjoy!~

Series Masterlist | More Yoongi stories this way > Masterlist

There’s a rhythm to your mornings. The kind that makes life feel like a well-oiled machine—predictable, efficient, sharp. That’s what you tell yourself, anyway, as you sidestep a finance bro barking into his phone to push open the door to Honey & Citrus cafe.

Not Coffee Bean. Never Starbucks. Not even Compose—even though Kim Taehyung’s face could certainly make you wanna come (in).

But you don’t need the soulless corporate grind in your caffeine routine when you already live it from 9 to god-knows-when. Honey & Citrus has the good beans, the real baristas who actually know your order and don’t try to be fake-friendly with you, and the quiet that lets you inhale a moment of peace before stepping into the battlefield of bullshit board meetings.

And then there’s him.

“Iced Americano for Yoongi…” 

He’s always there at the same time as you. Every. Single. Day.

A handsome stranger with sharp, feline eyes and an ever-present air of quiet confidence. The very first time you see him, he was wearing a suit. A medium gray set with an interesting burgundy tie. He held a small suitcase, fit for a macbook air, maybe a thin stack of paperwork. Definitely some VC vulture or hedge fund guy, gifted with the face of a luxury brand model.

But then one day he was wearing… a hoodie and black slacks with headphones slung around his neck, the expensive kind audiophiles swear by. 

Hmm. With this look, your previous assumptions did not add up. Now, you couldn’t quite place his profession. 

Since then, it becomes some sort of game you play in your mind. To discover what this dude’s job is.

One day, he holds a notebook filled with messy, poetic scrawls—you catch a glimpse as he flips the pages, and your mind spins wild theories. Another morning, he reads a printout of a Shareholder Meeting report as he awaits his coffee. Then the next day, you spot a vinyl tucked under his arm, and something about that sends your curiosity spiraling further.

Music Executive? Writer? Producer? Who is this mysterious artsy type in a sea of wolves? But maybe is a wolf. Lawyer, City Prosecutor, some Start-Up Founder… who likes to dabble in poetry?

You’re fascinated. Man has aura. And on top of that, he sure looks like he can fuck.

Unlucky for you, your interactions so far are limited to polite nods, the occasional small smile exchanged as you both wait for your respective coffees. Maybe the universe has a sense of humor, slotting you into the same ten-minute window every day with a stranger who intrigues you far more than your own coworkers do. But of course, he is not interested in you.

You wake up with a migraine, and instantly, you know—it’s a morning from hell.

Your alarm didn’t go off. Your inbox is already on fire. Your boss sends a cryptic “let’s talk” email before you’ve even left your apartment, which is never a good sign. You forgot about the afternoon presentation you’re supposed to give, and your deck isn’t even half-finished.

The thought of quitting—of walking into that glass tower and tossing your resignation onto your boss’s desk like a dramatic K-drama lead—has never been more tempting.

This morning has no rhythm. More out of tune than drunk-you in a Coin Karaoke.

By the time you drag yourself into Honey & Citrus, it’s already a god-forsaken Friday. You’re barely holding it together, probably leaving a trail of smoke in your wake. Your hair is frizzy, your face frazzled—it’s just a fucked-up day all around. And it’s barely 8 a.m.

You’re so deep in your own misery that you don’t even clock the fact that your favorite stranger has been looking at you since you walked in.

Not until—

“Fighting~”

You blink.

He’s looking right at you, his dark eyes warm with quiet amusement as he mouths the word again, this time with double closed fists, like a cartoon character summoning energy. And then, just for good measure, he smiles.

A real one.

The disbelief must be all over your face because suddenly, you’re giggling—actually giggling, something you didn’t think you were capable of before noon.

Yoongi—the mysterious, unreadable stranger you’ve been quietly fascinated with for weeks—just gave you the world’s softest pep talk.

And then, as if realizing what he’s done, he quickly looks away, pulling a face mask over his mouth, his pink-tinged cheeks disappearing behind black fabric.

A second later, he’s heading for the door, stepping out into the cold like he didn’t just single-handedly save your morning.

Your eyes follow him until he disappears around the corner, but the warmth he left behind lingers in your chest.

Maybe because you needed to hear it. Maybe because no one’s said it to you in a long time. Maybe because he said it.

You take a deep breath, square your shoulders. And somehow—somehow—you make it through the day.

You survive. Without handing over your resignation letter.

Small wins.

The next Monday, you get to Honey & Citrus first. You don’t even think about it—you just do it. You buy his coffee.

And then you sprint out before he can react, because suddenly, the idea of watching his expression feels too embarrassing to bear. You tell yourself it’s just a small gesture. A thank-you for a kindness he probably doesn’t even think much of.

The next day, though, he beats you to it.

You walk in, and the barista just hands you your usual order with a knowing smile. “It’s covered.”

You blink, turn, and find him already at his usual spot, sipping his drink like he didn’t just declare war.

Because it is so obvious he did this just to one-up you.

You narrow your eyes. He lifts his cup in a silent toast, eyes glinting with something dangerously close to amusement.

And so it begins.

For a week, you play the game.

One morning, you bribe the barista to let you pay first. The next, he somehow convinces them to refuse your card. 

You show up earlier to get ahead, but the next day he shows up even earlier.

Your schedule is screwed. You’re suddenly up way earlier than you like, but you like it.

It’s ridiculous. It’s fun. It’s completely unlike anything else in your day.

Until, finally, one morning, you both arrive at the exact same time.

You grab the door handle—he does, too. His palm brushes against your knuckles. Both of you freeze, eyes locking, realizing at the same time:

Shit. No winner today.

You swear you see his lips twitch, like he’s holding back a real smile. And then—before you can overthink it—you finally, actually, talk to him.

“You know,” you say, tilting your head, “we could just both buy our own coffee like normal people.”

“But where’s the fun in that?” His voice is deep, lazy, laced with amusement.

“Are you always this competitive?”

“Are you?”

You huff, trying to suppress the warmth creeping up your neck. He leans in slightly, and it’s the first time you’ve really, truly studied him up close—the sharp cut of his jaw, the quiet intensity behind his eyes, the scent of something subtly musky clinging to his coat.

“Since we’re doing introductions before the next round,” he says, “I’m Yoongi.”

Of course, you already know it. You give yours in return, and he nods like it makes sense. Like he already knew it as well. Which makes sense.

As you walk in, the barista snickers, clearly entertained by whatever weird silent war you and Yoongi have been waging for the past week. You’re about to step back, let him go first when the barista clears her throat.

“Actually,” she says, way too pleased with herself. “It’s on the house today.”

Both you and Yoongi blink in unison.

“What?” you ask.

“Why?” Yoongi adds, looking just as skeptical.

The barista leans on the counter, grinning like she’s been waiting for this exact moment. “Valentine’s Day promo.”

Your stomach drops. Your brain stalls. You look around and Honey & Citrus has little cherubs hanging from the ceiling.

“First couple to walk in together gets free drinks,” she further explains.

You feel the heat crawl up your neck, your face burning so hot it could brew the damn espresso yourself. Beside you, Yoongi makes a tiny sound—like an exhale caught in his throat—and when you turn your head ever so slightly, you see it.

His ears are bright red.

The barista just smirks. You are going to die here.

You should correct her, actually. You should explain. But words? Language? Coherent thought? We don’t know her.

But that’s when Yoongi does something absolutely insane.

He clears his throat, thanks the barista, and then—looking at one of the booths of the cafe, still not looking at you—he says, casually, like this isn’t the most absurd moment of your life,

“How about we have that first date right now?”

Your head snaps toward him, and he finally meets your gaze, and oh, he’s serious. 

Your heart stumbles over itself, but you manage a tiny, shy smile, and a quip, “…you mean this coffee? Here?” Because that’s all your pea brain can compute.

His lips twitch. “Mm. Unless you wanna go somewhere else?”

Huh.

You hate that he’s smooth about this. You hate that you kind of really, really like it. 

You swallow hard, shifting on your feet. “This place is fine.”

His smile curves, small but victorious. “Good.”

The barista practically vibrates behind the counter as she hands over your drinks, joyful even though two drinks are getting docked from her pay that week. 

“Happy Valentine’s Day!”

With Yoongi, it feels like it's definitely going to be...

:)

A/N: To you, my dearest reader. I hope your heart is filled with joy today and forever. You deserve it!

Want more for our coffee shop couple? Let me know if you’re interested in me turning this into series of drabbles?? Look at me adding more stuff into my WIP list.  Caved! Here's the H&C masterlist

Thank you for reading this you lovely, beautiful human! xo

Permanent Taglist:

@wonh0oe @hyukaluve @glossdebut @kiki-zb @kookiewithluv

@agustblog @maryhopemei @perfectiondazesworld @kimsaerom @kam9404

@00-sleepdontweep-00 @tea4sykes @mggv97 @marnz1990

@whydoeyecare @pastelmin @tarahardcore @minjenna @chimmchimmm

@aaclariww @mar-lo-pap @tinytan-gerine @vesperbells @butterymin

@eve1633455 @baechugff @lilkittenjenjen @wobblewobble822 @coffeedepressionsoup

@futuristicenemychaos @jadestonedaeho7 @granataepfelchen @whoa-jo @annyeongbitch7

@chimmisbae @sexytholland @idkjustlovingbts @kpophosblog @tinyelfperson

@yoongicatagenda @codeinebelle @parapiop7 @diame93 @janeelizabeth1216

@withmuchluv-tannie @abadiimm @angellekookie

Divider by: @cafekitsune (thank you!)

[audliminal]

It's Just a Game, Right? Pt 6

Masterpost

"I'm telling you, Fenton!" Wes announces. "I'm onto you." A few of the kids walking past snicker at them, as Danny does his best to look confused. The startled part is easy; Wes is turning out to be a surprisingly good actor. He's been gradually leaning even harder to the image of a conspiracy nut, and the result is impressive. Danny, on the other hand, is simply trying to keep up with the insanity.

"I have literally no clue what you're talking about, dude." Danny says, attempting to push past Wes, so he can enter their classroom. Wes doesn't seem inclined to let this confrontation end, though.

"You may have everybody else fooled, but I know the truth. You made a pact with the so-called ghosts and their efforts to take over our world. You're just manipulating your parents' tech in order to convince everyone that they actually are ghosts, and not the invading fae army they really are!"

"Dude, what?" Danny responds, not quite able to hold back the laugh.

"Honestly, Wes, don't you have any common sense?" Star asks, as she walks up. "Rumor has it that Fenton's failing like half his classes, and you think a bunch of fae lords, or whatever would trust him to help their scheme? Surely they'd choose someone more competent." She flips her hair, and then walks past the both of them, as a couple of the kids nearest to them start snickering.

Outwardly, Danny winces and hunches in on himself a little more, as he takes the opening Star just created and ducks into the classroom after her.

In hallway outside, Danny catches Wes muttering to himself before following them in. No one says anything for a minute, but the moment the bell rings and Mr Lancer shuts the door, Star turns to Wes.

"I think you should be a writer or something after we get out of here." Star tells him. "That theory was honestly inspired."

"It gets even better. I have so much evidence to force on you guys, it'll be great." Wes answers, then turns to Danny. "You good? I know we don't mean any of it, but it's still gotta suck to have us acting like assholes all the time."

"I mean," Danny hums. "I'm not gonna say it's fun? But like honestly compared to everything else, dissing my work kinda seems..."

"Banal?" Sam offers.

"Yeah, sure, that." Danny nods. "Like, compared to people wanting me dead, who cares, I guess."

"Yikes," Kwan mutters. "Your life is a fucking mess, dude."

"Well, i do have some good news about that." Tucker announces, turning his computer to face everyone else. "Looks like the fanbase is making some progress towards finding the real stuff.

Danny stares at the reddit thread Tucker is on. He's honestly been only loosely paying attention to the actual stuff Tucker and Wes have been posting. He's happy to offer his knowledge of space stuff, or engineering, but the intricacies of secret code aren't really something he ever pursued. Well, except for the secret language he and Tucker had made as kids. Wes, on the other hand, peers at the screen and lets out a soft whoop.

"Hell yeah! They found the second layer!"

"Yeah. Which means they've found our first plea for help."

"Oh, wow," Sam says sardonically. "A plea for help that's so great. Why are they gonna think it's anything other than another part of the damn story."

"Chill out, Sam," Tucker responds. "The point is to encourage them to look harder. And once they find the next level, they'll start finding our info on the infinite realms."

"Whatever," Sam says, frowning. "I just... Don't like how much waiting this involves."

"Yeah it would be a lot easier if we could just, like, beat them up and call it good," Dash agrees. "But, like, jail would probably suck."

"At least they're making progress," Danny points out. "I don't really get how you guys are making these layers, but. It's more progress than anything else we've tried."

"Yeah, but like, what does this mean for us?"

"Why not interact directly with that post?"

"Maybe. We'd have to be extra careful about what and how we say it, so they don't write us off as a copycat or anything, but it could serve to reinforce, uh-" Wes leans in, to read the username. "BenBlues379's theory."

"Okay then, let's draft a reply." Danny zones out as they start to discuss the specifics. He hadn't actually had to go deal with any ghosts last night, but his parents had been working on some new invention, and the noise of their trials had made sure he didn't get much sleep despite the supposed reprieve. Luckily, nobody in this class is going to complain if he takes the opportunity to catch up on the missed shut-eye now, so with one last deep breath, Danny folds himself down onto his and relaxes into sleep, as the sounds of his classmates debating echoes around him.

[not-poignant]

My only criticism about UTB are that the chapters are too short. 😭

So, something wild is that I used to write much longer chapters and The Ice Plague taught me that this was just...really bad for folks commenting or interacting on chapters.

Like I have written chapters in the past that were over 12,000 words. (Heck, the chapter at the end of The Ice Plague is a Beast).

They're a pain to edit properly, and sometimes in retrospect I'm frustrated with how much I tried to put in the longer chapters. I know for a fact I did this with both Game Theory and The Court of Five Thrones because I was really embarrassed at how long the stories were getting, and I somehow thought if I compressed everything into super long chapters no one would notice (lies). It's actually my plan to break those chapters up.

I thought about giving this question a really quick answer like 'well you can always write longer ones for yourself if you want' - but the reality is that chapters that are 2.7-4.5k long for me personally, seem to get the most folks looking at the work and reading the work. I don't know why, I wish I could explain it, but I can't. I'm going to assume this isn't a joke anon though, because it reads like an actual criticism and it's one I've had before.

Anyway, now even if it changed, where shorter chapters didn't engage readers at all, I've realised that a chapter with an average wordcount of 3-4k is actually a pretty good spot for editing and also a pretty good spot for betas as well (presenting betas with around 50k+ sometimes of writing to read per month for years on end is insane actually).

Do you want to hear something wild, anon? I write unusually long chapters by serial standards. And I break with all the rules and conventions of written serials because of that.

The current professional advice in writing serials (for profit) is to write chapters that are between 500-1500 words long. Maybe 2000 words at a maximum. To which I was like 'are you fucking kidding me?' Lol - But research has broadly indicated this is the best ratio for rapid release in serials + retaining engagement. I personally couldn't do it (as a reader or a writer!)

There is actually a weird kind of psychology behind the chapter length though, both like, for me and what is realistic for my workload as a writer, but also for readers too.

It's actually just more likely that folks who get 10k chapters aren't going to comment, or send anon messages, etc. because they get mentally fatigued faster and more profoundly on longer chapters. It might feel more satisfying, but ironically, it ends up looking like the story is doing really badly. So for me it was about finding a sweet spot, both in terms of what felt natural and right for the story, what actually helped find a sweet spot for folks commenting, and what felt good for editing and keeping the prose tight as well.

[clegfly]

Woo, it’s about time I made one of these… *cracks knuckles*

MORE ABOUT ME!!!!

HIIII!!!! My name is clegfly, or just cleg!!!! I’m an artist/ writer / professional paint drying critic/j. I’m just a silly person doing silly things, don’t mind me. I use they/them pronouns and I am aroace!!!

LIKES

BULLET POINTS BULLET POINTS BULLET POI

Pancakes. All day. All the time. Everywhere, anywhere. Pancakes

That goes for bacon too

JELLYYYYYYYYYY!!!!1!1!1!

Why are these all foods what else do I like uhhhh

Warm. And cosy bed. And fire. And all that stuff

OLD COMPUTER AESTHETIC!!!!!! N64!!! WINDOWS XP!!!! ALL THAT SHIT

Bugs in theory

PLANTS

MUSICAL THEATRE

Graphic novels

Video games… ough my beloveds

Books

Okay now this is too long

Oops

Sorry

JELLYFISH JELLYFISH JELLYFISH

The ocean full stop actually

In theory

CHINCHILLAS

Uh

Yapping

Analysis

IS BREA LIOM GAEILGE!!!1!1!2!!1

Law

History

Drama (as in like. Theatre)

DISLIKES

anything on my DNI >:((((

Bugs in practice

Sport

Exercise

I’m literally hero omori

Commitment

Stress

Internet drama

Anyone who gatekeeps like. Anything.

INTERESTS???

All day every day, baby.

MAINS

OMORI

PMMM/ Madoka Magica

DDLC/ Doki Doki Literature Club!

Coraline

TADC/ the amazing digital circus

LITTLE GUYS THAT HURT MY BRAIN SOMETIMES

Petscop

Fnaf

BATIM/ bendy and the ink machine

BSD

Deltarune (I also have a deltarune sideblog now: @battery-acid-p1e go follow that for my UTDR stuff!)

Undertale

Hawaii: Part II

SUBJECT TO CHANGE BECAUSE IM PROBABLY FORGETTING LIKE 20 AND ALSO HAVE LIKE 20 STILL TO DISCOVER

HOBBIES?!2!2!

Ya!!!! :D

Art

The main thing I do on my silly little page!!

…in which the art is mostly unfinished doodles… but that’s okay!!!! We ball anyway

YOU CAN SEND THE CLEG REQUESTS!!!!! ALL DAY ANY DAY UNLESS I SAY OTHERWISE!!!! Do not expect premium quality though lmao. (And also nothing related to DNI. Shouldn’t have to say this but. Uh. Yeah)

You cannot yet commission the cleg :(

you can view all of my art via the my art tag on my blog!!!!! most of it should be there :)

Writing

Currently on a writing hiatus and have been for a little while (5 MONRHS WHAT) but… i do!!!! That!!!! Aka I write fan fiction AGH

Mostly. Heromari stuff. Actually all heromari stuff. I think I have one fic that isn’t heromari and it’s one I co-authored I love them your honour…

Yeah

DNI

Bit of a bummer, but I gotta set my boundaries to keep the riff-raff out!! That being said, do NOT interact with my blog whatsoever if you:

Are a shotacon, lolicon, pedo, etc etc etc. (yucky. Yuck yuck yuck. Fuck off)

Are a proshipper

Are homophobic

Are transphobic

Are aphobic/ arophobic (why. Why are you even still here)

Queerphobic in general actually get OUT!!!!

Actively shit on any of my main interests. Like ACTIVELY go out of your way to tell me how bad it is (what. What is the point. Just go)

NSFW is on thin ice but I will likely just block the tag if you post about it so it doesn’t really bother me!!... however PLEASE keep it away from me I am very sex repulsed and WILL block you ON SIGHT!!!

Are racist/ xenophobic

There is likely LOTS more I’m forgetting so I will update this later… also just saying I reserve the right to block ANYONE no matter if you fit into this criteria or not. If I don’t vibe with you I will politely block you and look the other way!!! No theatrics required, I just want to curate my experience and NOT cause needless conflict hsjshshsh…

Anyway with all the negative stuff out of the way… I really hope you enjoy my blog!!! I’m just here to have fun honestly and express my ideas and passions and work on a little page of the internet so!!!! Hope you have fun too!!!! :D

[baronessvonglitter]

Get to know your moots

(I know I'm late to this one, so no judging looks, okay? 👀)

thanks to the beauties who tagged me in theirs: @probablyreadinsmut @itwasntimethatdidit40 @joelmillerisapunk @milla-frenchy @myownwholewildworld

what's the origin of your blog title?: it's the title of an album by Fatboy Slim (maybe I'll change it monthly? i dunno yet)

favorite fandoms: the PPCU, baby 🫡 but honestly any show I binge on the regular has a fandom I love

OTP(s) + shipname: Joana (Joel + Adriana) 😊 Joeliana? It's a work in progress.

favorite color: i know it's kind of a cop-out but i love all colors. except burnt orange and brown. i'm on the fence about gray.

favorite game: i'm old so i immediately thought 'board game' and i can rock Clue all day all night. I've never lost at Clue. I don't really do video games anymore because i get addicted really easily and will literally block everything out during gaming. But! I used to love the old-school Resident Evil series and the Tomb Raider series. Also fucked with some GTA in my time.

song stuck in your head: "Feels Like We Only Go Backwards" by Tame Impala.

weirdest habit/trait?: randomly speaking in a (terrible) English accent, saying 'tanks' instead of 'thanks', spouting off random facts about things i believe to possess vast knowledge of, and oversharing. I also like to randomly sing out, even though i hate when other people do it.

hobbies: writing! reading, cooking, discovering new bars/restaurants, finding enrichment time in my enclosure, convincing myself i'm normal.

if you work, what's your profession? i'm a jill of all trades. i've done everything from working in a library to teaching cpr.

if you could have any job you wish what would it be? i would love a job where i solely get to travel and enjoy other cultures. i also think it'd be awesome to get paid to be an urban explorer, or one of those ghost hunters who stay the night in haunted hotels. I'd be a less douchey Zak Bagans.

something you're good at: i like to think i'm good at writing, or else i wouldn't be so happy on this platform 😊 I also like to think I can see both sides of a situation, really play devil's advocate (it's a Libra thing 💅🏽) and in that vein i'm also good at spending money, not always wisely. Another negative is I'm good at giving the cold shoulder. Fire signs absolutely hate it.

something you're bad at: managing time (it always seems to outrun me) and explaining my true feelings. growing up, we weren't encouraged to express anger or sadness, so at times it's still a battle just to tell people how i feel.

something you love: all of you! Really! Imagine being a DM away from your favorite writer and you exchange snippets about your day or any little random thing, and you discover the person behind that beautiful collection of words you love so much.. that's what this platform is for me ❤️This time last year I was reading fics by many of the same people i now get to interact with and it's such an incredible feeling! I also love anything with white chocolate. I'm a sucker for it.

something you could talk about for hours off the cuff: the Pedro boys obviously, astrology, conspiracy theories, The Office, horror stories, past lives, movies and what they mean to us, food.. you name it. I can talk to Aquarius people forever, they are the best to talk with about anything 💗

something you hate: snobbery and entitlement, violence towards kids, racism, bigotry, rude manners, the standard usual. i also hate that i don't possess teleportation powers or super strength.

something you collect: nail polish and lip products. i can't go anywhere without picking up a a lil something.

something you forget: i sometimes forget people's ages. i still sometimes think my parents are fifty. they ain't. 😔

what's your love language?: i'm not sure what it is officially, but something i love to be on the giving and receiving end is "i saw this and i thought of you" whether it's a song, a small gift, or a meme.

favorite movie/show: literally too many to name.

favorite food: i like a little of everything, but honestly nothing quite hits the spot like Mexican food 😋

favorite animal: armadillos are my favorite! also possums, raccoons.. i guess anything that ends up roadkill lol 🥲i'm also becoming quite fond of the axolotl.

what were you like as a child? i was a weird kid. i was usually pretty quiet but i had my super-hyper moments. also i got bullied in my younger days, but my knee jerk instinct was to fight back. i had a mean streak when provoked lol.

favorite subject at school? English of course, and French because my teachers were amazing. but as a whole, i didn't really enjoy school.

least favorite subject? math, and physics because my teacher was a prick. why the hell are math teachers so mean? I didn't have a good math teacher until college, and she was amazing because she was so patient.

what's your best character trait? i like to think i'm good at listening. use me as a sounding board or ask my opinion, i'll be happy to help.

what's your worst character trait? procrastination. my fear of rejection has kept me from many things, but i just tell myself they weren't meant for me. also i noticed a lot of people saying they feel like others hate them and... hello?? is this a universal experience or what? i feel like people probably groan when they see me in their inbox or emails🥲like i said before, i hurt my own feelings worse than anyone else actually can.

if you could change any detail of your day right now what would it be? that my allergies weren't attacking me right before bed.

if you could travel in time who would you like to meet? i've always had a crush on Edgar Allan Poe, so maybe i'd go meet him.

recommend one of your favorite fanfics (spread the love!): i can't! i've read so many special fics by wonderful people, and everyone has their own style and voice. anything that i've ever reblogged is an automatic fic rec, and i'll start doing them monthly (or every other month) this year. i really need to gussie up my masterlist and add a link for my recs. and THAT'S the project i'll be doing this weekend!

this is crazy late, so i won't tag anyone specifically. if you see this on your dash and you're interested, consider this your invite ❤️

[dokjas-lostselfpreservation]

i know we have theorised so much about cxs and our thoughts are really similar regarding how S3 should handle cxs character arc and etc. i mean i just love interacting with you idk just love being your mutual thank you for introducing me to orv and also tagging me to countless Tumblr games and asks I wanna respond to but keep losing track of i hope you survive this fucking bad weather and all your exams

ok so...I need your opinion on this. emotional reaction, sincere thoughts (if u think it's plausible enough) anything

ik people keep spreading rumours and theories etc but today I saw a xhs comment saying lu guang is going to die in S3 *some inside info or whatever*. honestly this never actually crossed my mind in a serious way. first of all, it's a very ugly thought, very painful. absurd. and then...I REALLY don't want CXS to lose the last permanent person in his life, his literal lifeline. shipping or not shipping, that would hurt equally bad.

but emotions aside, do you see any possibility? i love your insights and this is obviously not a way to just start a conversation because I am dumb and dk how to talk again hahaha help

HELLO THERE (⁠｡⁠•̀⁠ᴗ⁠-⁠)⁠✧

first off, yes I remember our long ass convo about cxs and how his character could be so much more than what we're shown in the plain sight. it's VERY fun to analyse things with you too<3 constantly interacting or not, you're an amazing moot to me, and OF COURSE I WILL INTRODUCE YOU TO ORV‼️‼️ link click to orv pipeline or vice-versa is a canon event considering both of them are masterpieces of their own + have similar fandoms in general (aka geeks/j); and it's fine if you can't respond to all the things I tag you in!! I get you dwdw<33 AND I ALSO HOPE YOU'RE EXAMS GO WELL and that the weather doesn't make your health it's enemy (heatwave is legitimately cooking me istg)

okay soo:

as far as I can think, Lu Guang dying could very well be possible considering the borderline obsessive mindset he has towards living a life where Cxs is alive. That said, the story would take a whole new turn and the main source of interest would be Cxs. What will Cxs do, or how far will he go to save Lg.

But the thing is that it'll feel dragged out if he does anything other than leave Lg be. Choosing to go on the same path as Lg will just reverse the whole game and the said butterfly effect will just cross over itself, idk how else to describe that scenario as anything other than "complicated".

IF he leaves Lg to die, the ending will be dissatisfactory (imo) and underwhelming cus wdym Cxs didn't even put quarter of the efforts Lg had put in.

IF he goes down the same rabbit hole as Lg, the show would ALSO end at that, or else it'll be "dragged out" and that's no fun. I mean it could be interesting, but the writers will experience hell trying to keep track of what to add and what to avoid. Back in feb a big chunk of our fandom had agreed that if Cxs was also diving, it'll just make things extremely complex and the "entertainment" factor will be thrown out the window.

That's not to say it's "impossible" for this to happen, but I think it's unlikely considering he's sandwiched b/w Lg's rules and his mother's rules.

Regardless, I DON'T WANT HIM DIE WTF KWBWJEBEJRBJEBEBE

ALL THAT HARDWORK TO "LIVE" WITH CXS AND HE ENDS UP FAILING ANYWAY????? THAT'S SHITTY TO EVEN THINK ABOUT NOOOOOOOOOOO

And Cxs????? To see the partner who he had cried, laughed and basically lived all his life with die? honestly I'd be so mad if Lg dies. It's just sad.

now then, you really could just hmu with anything and I'll respond lmaoo<3 but I get you, even Idk how to initiate a convo :'D but we can talk about anything you want (^._.^)ﾉ♡

[thewebcomicsreview]

Woah, it's a hamsteak! Bit early this month, maybe they're splitting it into two parts (Edit: Apparently yes, per a newspost). They've been teasing a big [S] page for a while, probably where the game starts in Meat and The Point is revealed in Candy, and these updates seem like they're getting everyone in position for that. We're now done with the Ship and with DIrk, and we won't see either until the [S] comes, but we still need to pick up the kids and see what Karkat is up to, so I'm expecting this is a setup-heavy update for an [S] page...next month, on 6/12? Let's see.

KARKAT: KEPT YOU WAITING, HUH?

Candy Karkat is blatantly Solid Snake and I'm a bit surprised the old team never had him riff a Snake catchphrase. New team popping that cherry right off. Also, wow, Karkles got swole.

MEENAH: took you long enough bossman KARKAT: I THOUGHT I ASKED YOU TO STOP CALLING ME THAT WHEN WE'RE ALONE. MEENAH: big bossman KARKAT: NOT BETTER. MEENAH: sweetie-pirate KARKAT: BOSSMAN IT IS.

We're just going all-in on the Metal Gear references, but Meenah loses fishpoints for not calling him Big Bass. It's right there, Meenah.

KARKAT: AS YOU MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE NOTICED THERE'S AN ESCALATING, LARGE-SCALE MILITARY CONFLICT UNDERWAY;

Is there? I hadn't noticed, because the war is entirely fucking offscreen in HS2, to the point where I'm really unclear on if it's huge open battles (as in the epilogues) or a terrorist insurgency (as implied by Jane's focus on PR, the lack of any on-screen fighting, and even here Karket saying he was blowing up "Crockercorp" supply depots instead of "human" supply depots). "Escalating" is an interesting word, though. I have a theory that Jane and Rose both don't consider any of Earth C's population "Real", and in Jane's mind she's basically just been larping as a bad guy up until her dad died and she got serious, and this is why Jane was seemingly cool with helping Jade raise Yiffy, even though Jade is a commander in the anti-Jane rebel army. Jane's going to just stop being evil on a dime and everyone but Rose and Jane are going to be baffled.

There was a writer commentary where they kept making jokes about doing this, but I guess it's real. Why is the Carapacian naked?

These guys, who are not guaranteed to survive to the end of the update, are already fucking great.

KARKAT: ALRIGHT, COMPANIES 1 THROUGH 3 ARE IN PLACE. KARKAT: 4 THROUGH 6 ARE EN ROUTE.

Is this the first 413 in HS2? I'm surprised they're not using 612, the troll number.

KARKAT: ALSO THIS COVERT-OPS SUIT IS TIGHT AS ALL FUCK. MEENAH: well if its any consolation that may be rough for you but its a pretty great time to be your rear admire-all 38) KARKAT: MUCH OBLIGED.

The ship no one expected!

KARKAT: NOT LIKE DAVE. MEENAH: how you feelin about that

I know Karkat hasn't had a lot of screen time in HS2, and I know they've justified why this is coming up now, but as far as Karkat knows Candy Dave A. Married Jade, and then B. Died fifteen years ago. Has this really not come up in fifteen years?

SOLLUX: there's like a bazillion m0oks swarming ar0und my crib and none 0f the grubereats dudes are accepting orders right n0w. SOLLUX: probably 0n account 0f your inc0nvenient ass war. SOLLUX: could y0u pick me something up? SOLLUX: i'm assuming you're 0n your way.

Is this...the first on-screen interaction between Karkat and Sollux since Cascade in 2011? It was worth the wait.

KARKAT: MAYBE YOU'D GIVE MORE OF A FUCK ABOUT THE REPRODUCTIVE FUTURE OF OUR SPECIES IF ARADIA WAS EVER ACTUALLY THERE LONG ENOUGH FOR YOU TO GET SOME. MEENAH: ohhh snapper KARKAT: ANYWAY YEAH I CAN PROBABLY SWING THAT.

This is maybe the most Karkat interaction ever. He's furious for extremely good reasons, he's constantly insulting his friends, of course he'll swing his A-team war truck by McDonalds on the way to the war zone to get Sollux something. Doesn't even occur to him not to.

KARKAT: AND WE NEVER LET IT GO. LOB 4: Well said, sir! KARKAT: WHAT THE FUCK. KARKAT: HOW LONG HAVE YOU ALL BEEN LISTENING? TER 2: Pretty much since the beginning, sir!

It's cool and thematic that these guys talk in Dave's colors but I'm unbelievably sad they don't have names.

KARKAT: COMMANDERS HARLEY, MARYAM, AND LALONDE ARE INBOUND, AND NOT LONG AFTER THEY GET HERE THINGS ARE GOING TO GET BATSHIT STUPID!

Last time we saw Vrissy, she was seeing Yiffy for the first time. I was expecting an update following up on that before the big everything coming together, but maybe they won't get a chance to talk yet

Because this sure feels like the last page before an [S]

Edit: But it isn't, the news post said another update this month.

[dykexenomorph]

thank u @whodoesnataliehave for the tag!!!!!

YJ TAG GAME

1. Are you team Rational or Supernatural? I swap back and forth rapidly LMAO. When I started the show I was very much in the supernatural camp, then i swapped to rational for s2, and now for s3 i have no clue what i think. its both. its neither. idk man.

2. Who is your favorite teen timeline character? TRAVIS!! and lottie, but less so this season than before bc shes been reduced to insane trip sitter LMAO

3. Favorite adult timeline character? lottie please please come home the kids miss you </3

4. What is your favorite needledrop? SOMETHING IN THE WAY NIRVANA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i love nirvana very much and was happy tht it was one of the (slightly) less obvious picks for them. (also rlly enjoyed miss world by hole. I LOVE HOLE!!!!) (also also zombie by the cranberries.) also not the point of this question but if they dont put a pixies song in this show soon someone is going to suffer...... 5. What is your favorite ship lottienat you are so so real. TO ME..... 6. What is your favorite episode? its been a minute since ive seen most of s1 and s2, but i remember liking burial (s2e7) a lot!! seeing all of the adults interact w each other was rlly interesting to me (and i love lottie so ofc i was happy to get so much lottie content) 7. Who do you want the antler queen to be? is it insane to say that i dont really care? i feel like there is a lot of more interesting things we cld be theorizing about. i dont really know that i care that much about whoever their final "leader" is. 8. What is your favorite scene in the entire series? man this is hard bc its been SO LONG since ive seen most of them? im a lottienat so ofc "good game, you fucking loser" comes to mind. i also like the ending of burial where all of the adults dancing is juxtaposed w shauna beating lottie up, its a rlly interesting scene to me 9. A theory or prediction you have about Season 3. aside from the bingo card my sibling and i (hello theeb.) made, i havent really had any crazy theories this season? at least not any that havent been instantly debunked once a new ep is dropped LMAO 10. Which character do you relate to the most, and why? i am van they are me........."and why" what even do u want from me pal. we're just the same person ok. i literally am a dyke who collects physical media..........what do u even expect me to say....... 11. What is the craziest thing you've done in the name of Yellowjackets? i dont know how to answer this. nothing i am. Normal. 12. Whats your most controversial Yellowjackets take? people are finally being normal about travis (and they're becoming normal) about lottie, so i dont know that I have many contriversial takes?? the only thing i can think of is the fact tht i am very quickly becoming the #1 taivan hater, but thats just bc i love simone and sammy a lot and the way the writers are treating their charas is pissing me off. (still love tai and van tho obviously, they're in my top 3 w lottie <3). TAGGING: @hex-rex @autism-swagger @dykelottienat @autistictransbiankumatora anddd @t-valentines

[deerkibble]

thoughts on deltarune so far now that i’ve beaten it (only minor spoilers but spoilers nonetheless)

first of all do you guys know how much i care about the main characters in deltarune. because i care about them SO GODDAMN MUCH

ever since chapter 2 i’ve been distinctly very worried about kris and the fact that i can’t tell at times which actions are theirs and which actions are mine (the player’s). the group poses, as an example. actually one of my biggest fears with the narrative is that kris doesn’t actually like susie and ralsei and is just being forced to go with them (though i feel like that’s a lot less likely now, or at least kris is gradually going to like them more if they don’t already).

the scene where kris regains control for a while and one of the first things they do is play the piano fucking broke me

i am a lot more on board with susie and noelle as a couple now LMAO—i guess noelle’s crush on her was meant to foreshadow some of her backstory, but seeing them interact in a casual setting made them feel less forced as the “designated couple” and more compatible

also, i don’t think “the girl” in the murals is susie. i think the bad stuff that ralsei is worried about has already happened/is happening, but that theory is only based on the fact that “the girl” had a sword and susie does not

one last thing:

that scene at the very end of chapter 4 PISSED ME OFF (IN THE BEST WAY POSSIBLE?)

so. pretty much since chapter 2 released i’ve maintained that i like deltarune better than undertale. and don’t get me wrong, i loved undertale a TON. but to me, it’s been more impactful to play as a kid and their core friend group, trying to navigate their problems together, than it was for me to play as a kid while watching the dysfunctional adults around me try to solve their communication issues while i focus on saving myself

and i still love those dysfunctional adults, but in hindsight, it just doesn’t hit me the same way deltarune has been, you know?

SO COMING HOME AFTER BEING WORRIED ABOUT THESE KIDS AND SEEING THE ADULTS BEING IRRESPONSIBLE MADE ME SO!!!! AAAAAAAA

toby is a phenomenal writer for how perfectly jarring that scene was. also, there was something nice about seeing a character who’s normally grounded and well-intended “screw up”, for lack of a better way of putting it—especially when it’s bad for her kid AND someone who’s always looked up to her

(also as someone who liked sans and toriel as a couple, i was yelling at my game for sans to fuck off the entire time)

anyways. i need for kris to be happy by the end (or at least in a better place than they are now) or i will Scream

[thedreadblog]

You are absolutely not alone in it. My bestie and I were watching the gameplay reveal at the same time and I remember us wondering if Solas would show up in the reveal. Then during the combat I screamed "THERE HE IS, I SEE HIM IN THE BACKGROUND" and then we see him, hear him, watch that interaction and I'm just gone. It's like all those years of emotion I've felt over his story and his development and complexity, the research I've done on this man, the essays I've written, it all came flooding back.

I swear, dragon age has consumed me before and it continues to do so, i have cried over this elf so much, and i feel like we will be doing so even more in just a few months. (The table setting detail fucking broke me inside. Like go ahead, please, anyone, call him evil again I dare you, i will fight, right after i stop crying 😭)

Argh I didn’t know how to reply to this; the past week (holy shit it’s been a week??) has been weirdly emotional. For years, whenever I wondered about what the next game might be like, I just feared for Solas. I felt hope bc of allllll the theories out there (especially @corseque who’s always theorized through many storytelling mechanisms that he had a bigger role to play still) and there’s also the Weekes tweet that the romance route with Solas also might lead to a hopeful future.

But then we just don’t know what a whole team of writers will do or think of (and that’s a compliment tbh, writers tend to be excellent problem solvers) in terms of the next story and that had me anxious that Solas might be an end boss or that we would barely see him.

And then we get this. After years of worrying we get so much, and we actually get to know Solas a bit better, we might get to know his and Elvhenan’s past and aaaah. And Solas actually lives and interacts with us! It’s so much more than I hoped for, and after years of worrying…yeah I’m sure I’m not alone in having a little cry. I’ve had several since then too.

But it’s nice to know we’re all crying and excited together!

Also thanks @foxeareddevil for your kind message in the post itself 😊 the next few months leading up to the release of Veilguard are going to be amazing!

[davekat-sucks]

This is was supposed to be a simple ask but it ended up getting long because of there being too many question and discussions but barely any answers so sorry about that.

On the topic of WhatPumpkin sometimes we all have to wonder what the fuck is going on behind the scenes, the latest news we got werent that much and it felt more of a like "Hey guys we are still alive dont forget about us" situation and it doesnt help that we cant really get any info because of how the only guy that Im atleast aware that works on it and is online is James and although I have no source because it was months ago, when beyond canon came back I remember him getting asked about Hiveswap and i dont remember if he answered it on the blog or on a reddit qna but he had said he cant really do much about it because hes just the music guy on that department and not an director or writer and he probably cannot say whats going on if hes aware of even the minimum because of NDAs and you know the situation is weird when not even the new director for post canon can do nothing about it or doesnt know what the fuck is going on over there either (i believe its more of the former).

On the same topic Hussie jumping the ship in my opinion feels like such an awful move in a moral and community sense, he hires fucked up people and ends up going through development hell and instead of trying to fix it he just runs away and gives someone else the work. He becasically invited destruction to that place by not doing background checks and shit and now everyone else but him has to suffer for it. I wonder if WhatPumpkin will close business after they finish Hiveswap (if they even manage to finish it) or if their writting quality wont be bad if they try to do Hauntswitch now.

I also sometimes wonder if Hauntswitch was made first maybe things could have been better. Think about it:

It happens on the Human World and you play as a cool kid looking troll and that could open the doors for a lot of potential to explore more about the Earth on the Homestuck universe and its conspiracy theories and also give us more video game parody mechanics.

The whole conspiracy theory Jude had that iirc had even the USA presidents connect to may be right considering the easter egg that shows some sort of cultists standing outside the mansion we see on the background and watching the events unfold.

We would get more answers for whatever the fuck those creatures that attacked the manor where.

another good dog best friend to fill the bec shaped hole in our soul <:

Exploration of what SkaiaLabs exactly does.

Overall sounding like an awesome story itself, a alien coming to earth and fighting a cult related to the presidents with a human companion. Especially considering how Dammek sounds like hes an asshole and also because of how trolls are usually violent could lead to interesting interactions.

I might be wrong and biased though but I feel like that concept could attract more outsiders than Hiveswap could ever wish to do. And hopefully thats it and that I wont waste almost an hour of my life rambling about this stuff (for my own sake because i feel like i could have spent my time better but i also need to post this somewhere and i dont use social media most of the time and when i do its usually to see fanart, memes and overall discussion of my fav franchises) but I probably will in the future.

It's cool with this ask. You brought up many good points here.

Yes, the question about Hiveswap was asked in a Q&A back in October 30th, 2023 from James Roach here (Archive ver for backup). The news about development should be something more like how Toby does with the Deltarune newsletter. Monthly, maybe do a special event ARG thing that gives insight of what's coming up, or anything like that. Though even with that, it might be probably too little too late since we are at 11 years since the Kickstarter had funded. Probably doesn't help since 2 million dollars was wasted, it's a mystery how the game is still being worked on if the original Kickstarter money that was given to them, had been used up. What is WhatPumpkin's new source of income then? Do they have a second job they aren't telling us about? Are they using part of that Patreon money from Beyond Canon since technically there are some that work within Hiveswap too like James? Then there's the fact Hussie not only wasted the money, but basically left the Kickstarter project he started in the first place. He may own it and be credited as the creator, but he won't be involved in the future Acts and Hauntswitch. I'm surprised nobody is pissed at him for scamming them out of 2 million dollars. Do people not care if the original person who hosted it left? Especially with the truth come to light thanks to Gio's research on this. I wouldn't be surprised if WhatPumpkin does shut down because they couldn't gain the sales needed after releasing Hiveswap Act 3. People will probably wonder if even buying stuff from Topatoco would help or not with HS merch like the prints slowly resurfacing. Drawing in the crowds from old and new to play the game will be tough. I wouldn't be surprised if Hauntswitch was first made in mind before Hiveswap. Dammek even had a 3D model ready too.

Likely back when it was still a 3D game, we would control briefly but then after the cutscene of them being transported to the other planet, we would then have to take control of Dammek, have him meet Jude to possibly have him find a way to help him back home, and the pair would adventure on Earth itself for the rest of the game to find out about the monsters and the cult. Dammek's paranoid nature would play off Jude's conspiracy theory pretty well as it has the two involved looking deep into the mystery. I wouldn't be surprised if something about the cult would eventually tie in to his home planet and the rebellion as a final grand twist. An idea like that sounds more interesting than some girl getting lost on an alien planet and was roped into some rebellion that she has no reason to be part of besides being concerned for a friend.

[two-nines-left-spleen]

Thoughts and rambling about HSR 2.2 (Part 1)

MASSIVE SPOILERS WARNING!!!

If you like discussing characters, lore, theories, headcanons, please share! I LOVE talking about this game so much.

I liked this update (too much actually. I should work on my Thesis and I just spent the WHOLE day playing, I am SO fucked), and I'm still fresh off it, which means I don't have any critical distance yet.

I just make a list of things I noticed/ liked/ put a mental pin in. I go through one Trailblaze mission per post.

Thoughts on Trailblaze Mission:

The Great Train Robbery

Sparkle gave everyone her 'Fun Buttons'. They haven't been used yet - curious to see where this goes, if anywhere. But I trust HSR writers now that they will callback to those details.

Boothill and Dan Heng were hilarious together, and I have many thoughts on Boothills initial character. (I come back to him later)

Blade having a drivers licence implies that he had to take the drivers exam at one point in his life and I doubt it was on the Luofu. I am LAUGHING internally just thinking about the poor soul that had to handle assessing a marastruck maniac on the steering wheel. Also, Blade in a suit is peak and his VA is peak too.

2.0 didn't do that much for Firefly for me, 2.2 changed that for the better. I liked her exchange with Blade, her rebuttal to Sunday, I liked that she was portrayed as quick-witted and smart and as someone who drove the plot and the cast forward while still being bound by the inevitability that is Elios script.

Additionally: I also enjoy seeing the Stellaron Hunters interact together. Even if they seem to bound by destiny, I feel like there is at least mutual respect and acknowledgement for each others paths, which I enjoy very much. While I like the Fanon of them being portrayed as "Family" (and I know Hoyo has played into that as well), I still can't shake the feeling that in the end their ties are in some way being revealed as... transactional, in some sense.

The Clockie Statue in the Dreamscape Reef is terrifying. Its eyes move and together with the rather eery music in the background I thought they would go further with the Thriller vibe they had going on in 2.1.

And that's the first mission!

[gorillastraylight]

Alignment sucks for plenty of moral and ideological reasons. However, from a purely game-design perspective it mostly sucks because it’s either totally extraneous or a yawning chasm waiting to swallow the unwary whole, entirely based on how mechanically relevant it is.

I think you can kind of track alignment’s mechanical relevance downwards, with it growing less and less integral to actual systems within the game across editions (though I’d argue there’s a bump up from 4e to 5e). In the TSR days of the basic set, there were whole ass languages derived from alignments - if you were lawful, you got to speak the Lawful “alignment tongue”, a language known by all other lawful creatures in existence. This is on top of things like spell restrictions that are also found in AD&D - hence the need for the frankly abhorrent outlining of the alignment of actions by Gygax.

Further on, you get 3.5 where, as discussed above, alignment is relevant mostly for spells and combat effects (plus paladins have to be lawful good, a truly stupid element). Even if the most ridiculous stuff (alignment tongues) are done away with, 3.5/3e’s principle of laying out a comprehensive, modern and clear ruleset and clearing out the ambiguity of its predecessors necessitated it to have an explicit understanding of alignment - what alignments entailed what behaviours or beliefs, and especially when it could be considered that a character’s alignment had changed. This is the yawning chasm I described above - even absent the wack ass nastiness of Gygax, WotC’s writers were sucked into the quagmire of having to quantify morality by virtue of alignment having mechanical relevance. If I were a designer and found myself typing out the Paladin avalanche thing I would probably smash my head into the wall until I got a little scab. It’s the clearest, most ridiculous example of laying out explicit mechanics for something that should be malleable between tables and fully determined by individual game narratives.

But. You can’t ever fucking acknowledge that, because if you do then 400 angry grognards will burn your house down and call you mean names on Giant in the Playground. Alignment in 4e is a ribbon, plain and simple. In theory it interacts with your choice of deity and what Channel Divinity feats you can take, but that’s truly it (and even that is very…flaccid). Paladins don’t need to be Lawful Good, alignment has basically no interaction with class or spells or other player-facing mechanics. As a result 4e altered the alignment chart to better reflect its de-emphasis of the game element, with the new set of five (Lawful Good, Good, Unaligned, Evil, Chaotic Evil) being much broader and more open to interpretation. This is, short of abolishing alignment all together, the best way to go about it in my opinion. 4e does not have paragraphs describing how outlandish situations might alter a PC’s total of cosmic brownie points because that isn’t relevant at all to 4e’s mechanics. Sadly, however, alignment chart memes are beloved by internet users everywhere and the average Gygaxian already despised 4e for having a fun combat system, so this became another idiotic hill to capture in the edition war. No surprise that WotC walked it back for 5e then.

I don’t even have the energy to go over alignment’s presence in 5e - like the rest of that system, it’s undercooked and unfocused, a weird attempt to make progress on the game while keeping it broadly marketable and appeasing oldheads. They should have just done away with it, frankly, because the whole thing just sucks - it’s either pointless baggage (4e), a blatant gap in an otherwise (allegedly) crunchy and unambiguous ruleset (5e), or a trap that forces rules writers to do weirdo trolly problem write ups (3e). And it always carries that whiff of Gary “The Misogymancer” Gygax with it.

3e: Alignment Is Invisible

The entire alignment system is sick from the top to the bottom and racist too.

Content Warning: I’m going to talk smack about not just Dungeons & Dragons‘ morality system in 3rd edition, but also, in the process, talk some smack about Christians, and more specifically the Jehovah’s Witnesses. If you’re not here for that, you should find yourself a door.

Few elements of Dungeons & Dragons that lay bare its deeply incoherent roots have endured quite so long as the alignment system. Whenever discussing the alignment system, and by extension, the conception of morality presented in this game, it’s always worth remembering that the framework was devised by, and speaks to the values of, a deeply racist and misogynistic man who in addition to those larger, more structurally common biases, was also a Jehovah’s Witness and heavily informed by the way that that specific sect of American Christianity works.

I’ll spare you a detailed rundown of what I mean by American Christianity (for now, because this is about Dungeons & Dragons), but instead in the broadest strokes indicate that the alignment system that Gygax conceived of was something cosmically tracked and enforced. It was a truly objective morality system; your intention or your attitude did not matter, because there was an absolute right and an absolute wrong to each action, and characters could choose to comply with that right or not, by degrees.

This is why I say racist: It’s a hard fact in the first editions of D&D under Gygax’s most direct control that killing orc children who hadn’t done anything was a moral good; those creatures were evil creatures, and regardless of consequences killing them was good. Gygax quoted the ‘lice make nits’ line from the colonialism of the Americas to reinforce this position, but he was also quite clear that it was the act itself that had its moral valence, not the results or the intention.

This quite frankly deeply evil and immoral ethical framework was the horse to which Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition had to nonetheless hitch its wagon, and the resultant discord show a host of cracks in the way it’s supposed to work. Politicians who starve millions are in no ways doing anything wrong because they’re doing their jobs and there’s nothing evil in signing a piece of paper, but the people who enforce that law and keep orphans away from the food are also not doing anything wrong because they’re just upholding order. The core rulebook of 3rd edition had to try and address this framework without making it too obvious that elements of it were being thrown out the window, especially as the purpose of alignment shifted subtly in the more programmatic, more, let’s say, intentionally designed world of 3rd edition.

See, in 3rd edition, the purpose of alignment was first and foremost to let you target things. Oh sure, it was flavour, it helped to inform some monster behaviours or styles, but mostly, you were never going to scan the alignment of things you fought (not worth the effort) which meant that what alignment did was let you make reasonable guesstimates for smart-targeting of spells and effects. If you threw a spell that protected you from evil creatures into the mix it meant that you had some control over the kinds of threats you’d deal with and then prioritise them. In the purest sense, this was a reference point for magical spells.

Secondarily to that, it informed the moral valence of what you were doing and it was with the rulebooks The Book of Vile Darkness and its prettier but equally vacuous cousin The Book of Exalted Deeds that 3rd edition attempted to really roll up its sleeves and discuss morality in a way that could square the circle of previous editions’ heinous moral landscape and 3rd edition’s attempt to improve it by just rearranging some of the words.

The problem, such as it was, is that alignment was fundamentally invisible. You could have no control over what you did and how it affected you morally, because it was a matter of checking a list of subjects and determining what you did not what you thought or tried to do. If you killed a child and it turns out that child was a shapeshifted demon in disguise, the rules would say that you were in no way morally impacted by your desire to do it. If on the othe hand, you refused to kill the child that was a demon in disguise, because that’s a pretty messed up thing to want to do, then you’d failed to do a good act.

Now, the way the Book of Exalted Deeds tried to grapple with this was by presenting virtues that stood apart from the listed examples of explicitly evil acts. Doing mercy was shown as part of the tension with punishing evil and that’s a pretty good rules patch for the absolutist nature of things. It at least lets the player present something that’s within their control (why they did something) rather than one of those invisible wires around them.

One of the examples the book presented in 3rd edition was that if you climbed a cliff face, and in the process a rock fell and started an avalanche, then that avalanche killed people, then you were morally liable. In fact, a Paladin who did that kind of thing would lose access to their powers, while trying to redeem themselves for the sin of… climbing something.

The added problem with all of this is that no element of opposition or ambition cannot be framed with different moral outlooks that change nothing about how it expresses. A ruthless pursuit of justice and a sadistic love of control over criminals would both be expressed roughly similarly in a Javert-style inspector. A characte’rs own alignment, what they determine their alignment to be is something that can always be rationalised in terms of a framework of moral choices, and those intentions are going to be what informs the actual result of the test. If you’re doing everything right for an asshole reason, the world does not see you as doing evil acts, but your alignment can still be evil because there’s nothing in the world forcing you to change from your mindset of being a total prick.

The 4th edition system did try and push back against this with some interesting ideas of its own, but based on watching people talking about 5th edition games? Boy howdy they did not learn from that and instead decided to RETVRN to the worst version of the system so far.

Check it out on PRESS.exe to see it with images and links!

[benefits1986]

Unspoken Word: Reliving Proof

When words cut, they cut so deeply... especially when you chose to silence the inner child's loudest shrieks.

TGIF! For some weird reason, I was greeted by "V is back on Viber" notif very early in the morning. Fucking telco must have rehashed his churned SIM, because consumerism is getting more and more hardcore these days and nights, too.

I've revisited the crazy lanes leading back to spoken word which started in 201X. It was during the time when Saguijo or B Side is full and when it's too tasking to drive to Cubao X. It was when I was downing rum coke during lunch time because it's the sedative I need to keep me up past midnight in the name of deadlines. Honestly, the roads lead back in 200X when I wanted to go to Sanctum's gigs in Intra but of course, mother dragon policed me. Kulang na lang i-bartolina niya ako. LOL. I told her that spoken word is a derivative of public speaking stints she forced down my unwilling throat, so, now, let me do it my way. Syempre, ako na lang daw maging nanay. Probably the reason why she axed my PLM acceptance letter even when I got accepted in Psych. Speaking of psych, apart from being a teacher, I really wanted to dabble with human interactions as a perpetual people watcher. LOL. It's kind of effortless and rewarding. Mom said, baliw-baliw ka na. Baka matuluyan ka pa. Writer? Teacher? Psych? Lawyer? Anak, mag-nurse ka. :D Me: Ayoko nga kasi.

But, I guess, my current location and my destination is a Venn Diagram of all the things I've been dreaming about; thanks to digital x start up, and now with a hefty dose of corporate un-gaming. LOL.

Before starting Friday, I actually came across LIVING PROOF after a series of really cute-in-your-ass pakawala ni Rudy Francisco. Happy vibes pa ako nung unang part ng PL then, ayun na ngaaaa. Living Proof played. Must be the algo gods and goddesses. Must be the three fates watching over me in real time, all the time.

While I was going about my usual grind which starts kinda early, I actually teared up. The tears didn't roll down my chubby cheeks. They wetted my eye. HUY. Ang hirap kasi talaga umiyak. Mas pipiliin ko pang magpa-tat or mapaso ng mainit na kawali or worse, mapaso 'yung tat ko na may lead content ng steam ng kakaluto lang na kanin, which happened in real life by the way. Mom got super angry, dragon x beast x cyborg mode kasi nga raw, walang mapapala sa tats. LOL. Sabi ko, 'di naman masakit. She laughed and said, lumubo na balat mo, nagde-deny ka pa rin? Tao ka noh. Tao ka. Hahahahaha. Me: Mas masakit ka pa rin manakit, ma. So, this is not hitting the benchmark. This time around, the cry I cried is not too intrusive. Actually, when I think about it now, it's an interesting cry. OPAK. Hindi siya emo lang. It touches my ego, too. HAHAHAHAHAHA. Ego over heartbreak no more na nga ba tayo this 2024? Pasavogue. Let's not go there yet kasi... ang lala ng overthinking ko na naman. I KENNAT, MHIE. HUY. Hahahahaha.

'Di ko pa rin syempre perfect 'yung pag-tune in sa emotional state ko pero losing V in 2023 is life-changing. I remember saying out loud while typing my usual pabilin at pakisuyo sa office na: V, bakit kasi wala ka na? Pero, thank you. As in. You may be wondering why the fuck TGIF turned into a cry sesh so early in the morning? Eto na. 'Di ko sure if kaya kong easy-han. But, let's go dahil dami pang trabahong bahay and small projects piling up for Japan 2024 kabogstra edition. I fucking mean it. Baon na lang talaga ako at baka bike pa-BGC. Hahahaha. Pero shemay naman kasi 'yung optimal na daan. It's giving man in the moon na walang lunar rover. :p As a claustrophobic, hassle neto, in theory pa nga lang. LOL. Sana magkaroon na ng friggin' biking lanes at sana manalo Fighting Maroons bukas na para 'di ko na siya isipin next week. Pamaskong handog na lang. Parang awa niyo na. Season '86, please be mine. :p

Soooo, V... V is my constant OG sa work ko ngayon ages ago. SHEMAY. HUY. He started kinda young and legit ang data x insights niya as a troll online and offline. LELS. He walked me through the valleys, the plains, the plateau, the hills, the mountains.

Alam mo 'yung siya pinaka OK kausap kahit dami niyang baon na slapstick 80s and 90s dad jokes at his young age. UGH. Lambing ni V, aya kape and yosi. Tahimik lang siya pero sa umpisa lang 'yun. When I was trying out for my current post back in Summer 2023, sabi ko talaga: V, paano na 'yan? Wala ka na? Wala na akong cheat sheet. Wala na akong lifeline. Hayup ka talaga. HAHAHAHA. If V was still here today, malamang boogsh ako doon. V taught me to trust the process in a world that I just saw in Jobstreet. V showed me how to remain calm even when the world is burning inside out. Daanin mo lang sa rifts and good vibes and more dad jokes na NSFW at times. V's guitar breaks in our office allows me to check on his headspace, too. There's something in his eye that tells me that there's something bad happening in him and that he is asking for help. HUY. He's not the one to cry often, but when he does, HUY, I KENNAT. Bakit ko naaalala now mga bits and pieces ng mala-bunso kong kapatid rn? Siguro, it's time na nga.

V never fails to swing the bat and hit home run kahit andaming strike out naman kasi talaga ng mundo forda bills namin. When under attack, nakatitig lang siya sa isang spot. Fave niya si Jet Li and 'pag Tekken naman si Law. He's a multihypenate with a real humble pero humble brag head over his sturdy yet seemingly shaking shoulders. Petite guy siya kahit 'yung appetite niya, wagas. LOL.

Bigwas ang lambing ko sa kanya. Later, nung natuto na sa mga batas ng mundo ng digital, V allowed me to be in my element. HUY. Bakit naiiyak na naman ako so early in the morning? V is also my confidante during times na top tier turned trash ako because I am unfiltered talaga. He told me that he knows what I am and what I am not, and he's got me; kaya lang vox populi e. Hahahahaha. And that, he knows that things will be better, and I will come through. Those happened. Top tier-trasher ang naging branding ko. Bargas na wagas pero may moral compass. Sabi pa niya noon, 'di raw kasi lahat gusto marinig ang hard truth and that only a very few step up and own up. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Iyak-tawa ako e. V never showed me atrocity, to be honest even when I was burnt severely and nailed to the cross. Sabi nga niya, phoenix burns and rise again, ate. Hahahahaha. Kahit ilang beses pa 'yang burn na 'yan. Ikaw pa ba? Ikaw pa? LOL.

V is gentle and firm. LUH. And as I am penning yet another thought and feel fart, let this be a reminder as to how far I've gone and that while V is not is not in this universe anymore, his presence, his lessons, his mistakes, his flaws, his wins, his loses are with me. As a recovering suicidal na may paganaps na namang dark thoughts in 2023, hahahahahaha... okay, fine. Hintayin ko na lang 'yung right time to see that very bright light again sa tamang panahon. Siguro rin, kaya taas energy ko nung Friday is because of that tiny cry feast. I guess this is me, atoning for my scarlet sins the right way. I see V in my juniors, equals and bosses, to be honest. LOL. Parang naghe-hello si V several times of the day. I guess, I am indeed training my feel muscles and memory, too. HUY. Shemay. Can I go there na ba talaga? Bakit may piercing pain as I am keying these in? Bakittt? Siguro, road to a me, only better na nga talaga tayo. HAHAHAHAHA.

Baka naman, girl. Baka naman. Or baka naman ginugusto ko 'to kasi women have 80% of autoimmune disease because they suppress emotions, ika ni Gabor Mate. DAMNNN. Mother dragon is not just another statistic. She is a stern warning. Maybe, she's a gentle and firm reminder, too. Sabi nga niya: Don't commit the mistakes I made, anak. Learn from them. LUH. O baka naman, overthinking na naman ako and ayaw ko lang magpa-check up sa immunologist, allergologist atbp kasi mhie, I've been there, fucked that hard na talaga. HAHAHAHAHA. Okay. Labas na ako ng basura, bayad bills atbp. Laters ulit. Busy reliving! OPAK. :P 'Di ko kinaya pero baka naman makaya na, for realzzz. CHZ.

[secretmason]

Just to fully word out what I think - I think The Coronation Era will be about the cyclical nature of Blaseball- we’re going to repeat it’s most original history, as detailed in the Root section of the Library.

Look at The First Day, Zeroth Edition, Section 1 of Root. Seem familliar?

Sure, we haven’t seen any Strange Attractors Evolving, but the Umpires are imploring us to Read the Rules. On it’s own, this wouldn’t be enough though, except that Root Section 2 is named An Ascension.

“A Raise”, “An Ascension”, early in blaseball’s history, centering around some kind of wager. This was so early in blaseball’s history that I’d imagine this Ascension was to determine the seat of power, but I’d need proof. Let’s see what this Era’s main plot thread seems to be right now:

A Tournament of Champions, to allow one victor to be named the “Ace” and “claim the Mound”. Wait, where have I heard about the Mound before?

The Reader, telling us to charge it, in this case so we could hit the Coin.

So the Mound refers to the seat of power upon which Blaseball rests. Previously held by Coin, and The Shelled One before that. In the event the seat is unclaimed, the best team in the league is invited to become the Ace, and claim it for themselves. But to what end? Reader held off on that detail.

But I think we’re about to find out. And given we see nothing written about Blaseball after that in Root, instead leaving it empty until The First Day, 1st Edition, I suspect it’s nothing good.

[sapphire-weapon]

I just wanted to say that as a person in their early 20s who only just got into resident evil after re8, it was so fun finding your blog and scrolling through all the little blurbs you’ve got. fandom elders always have the best resources and lore and make spaces a million times better, so thank u for mentioning all the little game details and fandom notes that would’ve been forgotten or missed otherwise to newcomers!!

on another note, i wanted to ask if you had any amusing/chaotic tidbits relating to the re fandom in its earlier days, whether it be speculations of scenes or character directions or interactions that people were so sure were going to happen in later re games that absolutely did not happen, fics that were really influential, insane fanwar stories, memes that used to be rlly prolific and now don’t really come up, etc. it’s something i love to discover about fandoms because it rlly is a “you had to be there,” type of information that people don’t document the way they would with canon developments that you can easily find on wikipages

Anon... I'm gonna fucking cry. 😭 This is exactly what I wanted this blog to become once I realized I was falling back into RE hell. Anything that I can do to make this canon more accessible to new people, I want to do it. I think I've said this before, but I literally cannot imagine what it must be like getting into this series this late in the game, because RE is terrifyingly huge and abstract and very old by video game standards.

As for the second part of your ask... Man, I have so many stories. I won't tell all of them, because if I try to, it'll be weeks before I can post this LMAO so let me just break this up into sections and I'll tell whatever the first stories that pop into my head are.

FAN THEORIES

So, historically, RE fandom was never big on fan theories. Fan theories and meta were something that Silent Hill people did, not so much RE people.

BUT there is one that refuses to die, and I have seen people scream about it as recently as Revelations 2.

People are convinced that Steve Burnside is going to come back. This drum has been getting banged ever since the original Code Veronica released in 2000, and even though it has literally never been hinted at at any point in the 23 years since then that Capcom even remembers that that was a possible thing that was set up, the fandom is still waiting for it to happen.

And it's all because Wesker stole his body and fucked off with it and was a complete asshole about it when he did it. That's it, that's the whole reason.

But then that also ties into the fact that there are still people who are convinced that Wesker didn't actually die in RE5 and that he's gonna come back any day now, guys, really -- and that's just a whole level of death denial I've never seen before. Dude got hit with two rocket launchers in the middle of an active volcano. YOU LITERALLY DO NOT GET MORE DEAD THAN THAT.

INFLUENTIAL FICS

Surprisingly, none. RE didn't have an "I Know What's Beneath the Snow Fields" or a "Walk This World." There were influential authors, though. I won't name them because I have no idea where they are now or if they're still around, but. I will say that there was one very influential fic writer in Cleon fandom who utilized literally so many headcanons in her fics that her characters were utterly unrecognizable. Some of the headcanons blatantly contradicted canon, even. But her writing style and her prose were so, so, so fucking good that it didn't matter. For a while, Cleon fandom almost became like a cult around her fics -- and, as someone who only dabbled in Cleon because my friends shipped it, but I had no personal stake in the ship myself -- it was really, really weird to watch this go down.

INSANE FAN WAR STORIES

I was going to go off on a huge thing about the Aeon vs Cleon wars, but seeing as how they're still fucking happening for some god forsaken dumbass reason, I decided not to.

So, we'll forget that. And while this isn't a war story, exactly, I do need to give a special shoutout to the Wesker wives of old.

If you are at all familiar with the stories of old school Final Fantasy VII fandom of girls who convinced themselves that they married Sephiroth on the astral plane -- guess what. RE fandom had those girls, too, and we called them Wesker wives.

There was one really prominent one on LiveJournal back in the day who used to get art commissioned of her and Wesker together, and she would post pictures of herself "in uniform" for him, and like. Would legitimately write as though she was actually married to the fictional character Albert Wesker. She'd answer questions from people and shit.

And she was really, really pretty, so everyone was just kind of stunned by this, because this girl very clearly took care of herself and worked out and knew how to do her hair and makeup -- she always looked really good -- and it was just like... how did someone like you fall so far off the reality wagon?

And then it slowly started to come out that she maybe had some nazi ideology behind her and kept referring to Wesker has her Aryan king or someshit, and that was about the point where my Jewish ass backed away from that whole trainwreck and stopped paying attention to it, so I don't actually know how this story ends.

MEMES

So, uh. If you've been on the fandom side of the internet long enough, you'll at least have heard of the "it's over 9000" meme, even if you're not into Dragon Ball or ever seen an episode of it in your life.

Well, the same guy who started that meme also left his mark on RE fandom, too. The whole "Jill sandwich" thing was always a meme in its own right, but "Hope this is not Chris's blood" was added onto it thanks to this video. So, "Hope this is not Chris's blood" was a big, big meme in the late aughts that I really don't see around anymore. It was used as a sort of... shitpost response to a shitpost, if that makes sense? Like, your friend sends you some obviously stupid bullcrap or a dumb meme and you just respond back "hope this is not chris's blood."

This cap from Code Veronica was a huge meme for a long time, too, and I DO NOT FUCKING KNOW WHY

And then.

There was this masterpiece. Do not watch this with other people in the room unless your willingness to let others bear witness to your own cringe is very high. It's also NSFW. And, actually, this video might be the single oldest meme in RE fandom history. The YT link I provided here is not the original source of it. It was some stupid fan edit that was making its rounds on Kazaa, and I'm not joking. I want to say this edit is no younger than OG RE2 (so 1998).

And I would negligent in my duties as a fandom historian if I did not introduce you to the glory that is Resident Evil 4 Days of Our Lives. I STILL QUOTE THIS SHIT, TO THIS DAY.

Like, this is me on plurk referencing this stupid fucking shit as I'm liveplurking my very first playthrough of RE4R:

There was a part of me that was honestly kind of upset when the two cops at the beginning of RE4make didn't actually say to Leon, "I hear no one listens to you. Is that true, Captain Cubscout?" because that is unironically the single greatest line of dialogue that was ever written to be said by any character to Leon Kennedy, and it was written by some fuckin college kids back in the mid aughts.

And that's all I can think of for right now.

Thank u for indulging my old person desire to ramble on about "BACK IN MY DAY........." I appreciate u.

ETA: ok like i know i said i was only gonna mention shit that i could think of at the time that i responded to the ask but there is one more meme that i would be remiss to not mention