#god i dont want to get into spoiler territory

[llondonfog]

tbh it doesn’t even look that bad…maybe i’m just incapable of drawing ugly outfits fdskdjk

and also random headcanon!!! since lilia is nocturnal he usually sleeps in. but silver will sometimes wake up at the crack of dawn (haha…dawn…get it,,,) and will do some chores around the cottage…maybe feed some birds…

and then later when lilia wakes up he’ll see silver asleep, face planted into a bucket of soapy water mid-cleaning.

ref this post!

[kygerbearr]

can i get some information?

in hokkaido japan there's these rockets that hang from poles to show you where the road is when it snows over (due to the high elevation there)

also in arizona its illegal for a business to deny any person water because of how hot it is there. they also opted out of daylight savings time and all of america could also do that if they wanted, its just that every other state votes to keep it for some reason.

canada having bagged milk is actually only for the eastern side of canada. the western side of it not as much. also the backs of signs in british columbia are painted green

on google maps coverage of curacao, if you look down at the car there's a sticker on some of the roof rack on the car. this is consistent across curacao's google map coverage

buzz lightyear and woody are actually in the files in the original ps2 version of kingdom hearts 2 and a model for the world on the gummi ship menu is in some screenshots of early kh1 gameplay suggesting they intended on including toy story as a playable world from the very start i stole this image from reddit

polar bears are to my knowledge the only ursidae that actively hunt humans and are also the only carnivorous bears. at least i think. dont fact check it just trust me on this one

in gex 3 deep cover gecko for ps1 and n64, in the 3rd level Tut TV there's a sign on the wall that says "ankh if you're corny" but there's also an unused texture that says horny instead of corny this is the only image i have of it sorry that its small

thomas edison in fate grand order is a furry lion man who is every single president of the united states of america (past, present and future) built into one person. also his super move is proving God doesn't exist and he looks like this

this photo of the sun photoshopped into the background of a place is in the philippines and you can tell because of the color of the sattellite dish as well as the ads for cigarettes

thyis is a grizzly bear you can tell because hes brown. also they only really exist in alaska/canada/montana/wyoming-ish

oh yeah also tsela and yiska from the smoke room vn are names that are words in navajo. not exactly directly translateable as Diné Bizaad, the language of the navajo, essentially operates in "pictures". describing things and such. tsela can be translated to the best of my ability as "like stone"

while yiska essentially carries the message of "the night has passed" (used in both the word for Tomorrow and Saturday)

cynthia's last name, tsosie, essentially means "slender". I cannot provide an excerpt from my navajo-english dictionary since it's not in there, but it's also from 1958 and so its probably a little bit incomplete. the fact that she uses the name cynthia, a non-navajo name, reflects her decision to leave the reservation.

the name Begay is also a real life navajo surname that is an anglicization of biye', which means his/her son. i wish i could speak more on the accuracies within TSR's clifford route regarding navajo culture and history but that would be spoilers. all i will say is that the soap thing was a very real thing that was commonplace

speaking of clifford, his last name Tibbits could be a reference to Howard Clinton Tibbitts, a photographer who was well known for his photographs along the sites of the southern pacific railway which encompassed Arizona and into Apache and Puebloan territories. and yes, even Utah. rather telling

anyways that is an amount of information

[fictionfixations]

im BACk at the wuthering waving

ngl i really want to join scar he seems very interesting (unfortunately we dont have that choice. no but IMAGINE a game like this but choices we make matter. like like yknow uhh. i mean the only one i can think of rn is like. detroit become human, which has a bunch of branching paths. so like imagine a choice can lead to a wildly different outcome. and so like. we can choose to trust scar or something. IMAGINE. i mean that'd probably go into spoiler-y territory considering idk one side might say something, the other might say something contradictory. or like something that players on a different path dont learn so its complicated. and also probably very hard to actually do. but i just. really adore games like that ngl)

yes i havent even made it to 1.1 yet LMFAO

anyway i dont know what they did but oh my god its so much less laggier (the only thing of note is that im stuck in the loading screens for longer. but i mean honestly i have other things i can do in the meantime while waiting so its not a big deal)

like. i can. actually go through cutscenes and its not just slideshow bullshit that i have to go watch someone else go through it for the cutscene (you know the cutscene where we see general jiyan(?) fighting while we're like nowhere near him? there was so much delay cause it was struggling to shift to jiyan cause it was showing the other stuff with i think the tacet discords? instead so the voices were playing and im just sat here like wtf is going on i dont even see yall what are you doing)

and and i can actually fight and know that my failings are not that its lagging me so i cant dodge. its just that im bad at dodging LOL

also i cant remember but im pretty sure you cant dodge by jumping i think youre meant to dash from it but uhm

i briefly played the solo leveling game so i keep pressing space to either start sprinting or to dodge an attack. which. its kinda funny cause i find myself pressing space playing hsr which is a game you cannot jump in. man, the confusion of playing games with different buttons for actions so when you switch to another you press the wrong button. funniest shit ever ngl (i remember i played genshin and like this one roblox game. decaying winter. and. so they had different buttons for picking up stuff, cant remember which one was e or f. but so. i press the pick up for genshin button out of habit. and then it causes me to place down a bomb LMFAO. i cant pick it up. and if i press f again [its more if i hold it but still] it explodes so i have to pray i didnt spam it, or pray that i didnt accidentally stick it on me because that can happen haha. ..or even that i didnt stick it on a teammate on accident cause friendly fire is a thing)

i feel spoiled though cause hsr and solo leveling have auto so i can just chime in occasionally while something else fights for me. but its like. games like wuwa and genshin (and solo leveling because even with auto i control me. i just have it on because i tend to forget to use like the skills) you have to spam attack. so my hand hates me LMFAO (me typing all this out doesnt help either but uhm i dont know the meaning of giving my hands a break)

anyway pulling plans: Jinhsi, Scar (hopefully), and Camellya..? i think? the the the flower person who called us a seed LMFAO (i keep wanting to think of her as phantylia because for whatever reason the name 'camellya' is hard to remember so uh if i ever misspell..)

also another thing of note. it kinda keeps tripping me up when the dialogue advances without auto. i mean it makes sense cause its going through it along with the character's movement so its not like they can just stop them from moving waiting for you to go to the next dialogue box

but sometimes im doing other stuff and listening to the dialogue but im going to go back to read it because a mix of voiced dialogue and reading the dialogue myself helps me remember best

but uh i get distracted. very easily. so sometimes i need to reread it multiple times to get it to stick, so i kind of wished wuwa had like a log that you could check to go back through peoples dialogue during the actual convo.

genuinely cant remember if its been like that in 1.0 but to be fair theres only so much room (and its still readable anyway)

i wanted to try speedrunning to act 7 (tbh i dont think im even at a high enough like union level(? i think thats what its called) to go through most of the story) but ive underestimated how tired id be

its probably so pixel-y im sorry its cause i dont play full screen so its all smaller-ized (and probably because im playing on the lowest graphics)

but like im sorry jinhsi its just. scar. is. so. cool. AGHHHh

off topic but it always bothers me how in slowed down scenes like this or where characters are in a sort of stasis where they're doing an action but its slowed down for whichever reason (you can see it in anime a bunch) and the character talks a shit ton and im just sat here like how are you speaking that much in this time frame what ???

like the card cant be moving THAT slow can it?? or if so couldnt someone just strike it down before it hits or something?? maybe i shouldnt be trying to apply logic to this. or maybe it is possible and im just very tired so i cant think straight idk

now this is in no way a complaint (i do like this scene) im just nitpicky and have never had the opportunity to express my thoughts about things like this ngl

anyway uh. upside to wuwa in case this turned out to be a very negative post (in which oops)

its never . i. cant recall the terminology. you know when too much is running and your laptop just turns everything off abruptly?

its never done that solo leveling has (and now i never play it without a fan) hsr has but only when ive put it at high graphics cause i wanted to experience it if genshin has, i genuinely cant remember

i cant read roman numerals except 123 idk what act this is but wooo im stopping here now

[louissatturi]

Im seeing some people being kinda mean about foolish rp and acting like he wont be able to do "good rp" because he is too "silly"

While i cant say much about his rp, i dont watch him, he can do more dramatic and intense rp just look at the tazercraft prank and forever hitting leo and while i did't watched DSMP from what i heard of his lore on that im sure he did Oscar worthy perfomaces

ORDEM PARANORMAL IS SILLY

Sure its on the horro-gore-mistery-thriller genre it is SILLY and GOOFY and the character are most of the time IDIOTS

Ordem paranormal has FELPS and BEAMON on its rooster of cast menbers for god's sake

The cast of o segredo na ilha prioor the start of the last episode they ware chanting TPK TPK (total party kill) and then the chanting chaged because of bea to PEPEKA PEPEKA (a slang term for PUSSY)

Now its now SPOILER territory from now own since i will speak in rp stuff

- Fist season Thiago Fritz has a expirence where he has to flirt with a married woman to get information

- The whole sematary episode from o segredo na floresta where we have joui jouki gave a sleeper hold in a poor old woman, liz doing a exorcism and César drinking gasoline

- Thiago Fritz gets "NAKED" in O segredo na floresta

- Desconjuração where the players spend 1/2 hours trying to resolve a library puzzle and when joui tried to kick the door to free them luba, his player said "eu continuo chupando" insted of chutando (sucking instead of kicking) and rankin, dante's player said "wait there wait there, we have to block the fanart tag for one day!"

- ANFITRIÃO (the host) EXISTS FOR GOD'S SAKE

- o segredo na ilha where amelie, beamons character entered in a fight with Pedrinho she just said keeped calling him POOR

- Sinais do outro lado LITERALLY has a FUCKING room full of paranormal cratures that is a fucking THE OFFICE REFERENCE

- sinais do outro lado characters SMOKE WEED CANONICLY and canonicly they fucking HIDED WEED FROM THE POLICE

- this same cast spended 10/20 minutes discussing what to do with the body of a dead COW

- lírio getting sad that his "friend" chico was hanging out with another guy said with this words that i will translate to you "seeing chiquinho hanging out with somebody taller and bigger then me makes me sad"

- cellbit made agatha nickname the MAIN ANTAGONIST OF ORDEM PARANORMAL, broxa aka ERECTAL DISFUCTION GUY

Any way what i want to say is foolish will be a great fit for ordem because besides him being really into the project he is silly and ordem is silly and if cellbit wants him to scar him to live he will

Come down and enjoy the show that will be SATURDAY 18/6PM BRAZILIAN TIME!

[syrips]

thinking about the poll/post (omg i found it!!) asking about if strahd would be a vampire ascendant and i decided to ramble about it along with other random things because dont mind if i do indulge!! hehe

shoutout to @/thecatslug for inspiring me to colorcode my rambles because oh my god i love colors. also sorry the color code might not make sense its just syrips color coded my brain likes it gfdgdfg

ravenloft / bg3 spoilers below:

so, im not sure if the question meant 'would strahd be considered a vampire ascendant' or if it meant 'could strahd become a vampire ascendant', so i decided ill try to answer this: would strahd be considered a vampire ascendant? sorry if this wasnt the original question i just wanted to ramble honestly

before we get into the fancy nitty gritty stuff, let's take a look at the details of four main things apparently i cant count heh, get it, count? anyways im not fixing that four sorry numbers are hard

Vellioth the Martinet

Baldur's Gate's Master Vampire List

The Black Mass Scroll As A Whole

Cazador and Jander (what?)

Strahd

-----

Vellioth the Martinet

so, random fun theory that no one asked but i just wanna ramble it. did you know that 'vellus' means fleece or wool?

just gonna leave this here. unrelated to anything else btw i just wanna ramble it.

random wiki stuff:

"vellus / villus / veillier = fleece, shaggy tuft hair, wool villi = in france, to watch over martinet = wikipedia: 'in English, the term martinet usually refers not to the whip but to those who might use it: those who demand strict adherence to set rules and mete out punishment for failing to follow them.' vellus hair = 'peach fuzz'"

🩸✨💛 random theory no one asked for 💛✨🩸

vellioth has hair with:

color range: peach (fuzz) to wheat blonde

length: medium to long

type/shape/texture: curly to kinky; 'shaggy/woolly sheep' texture

anyways back to the actual stuff.

... hi.

so! the narrator/cazador describe Vellioth as 'ancient', or at least they call his skull ancient? which is very strange to me for two main reasons. Vellioth isn't old. and i know, 'but syrips, you say everyone isn't old because strahd's a big old dusty super elder!.' and yea. hehe youre right. but for now, just remember this - Vellioth was Baldur Gate's Master Vampire from 1204 DR to 1276 DR. this will be important in a moment, not even because of the age, but because what ill describe below.

-----

Baldur's Gate's Master Vampire List

so. one thing that i see thrown around a bit, is that people may assume that the vampire list left by Lady Incognita is based on birth and death or other stuff, but! i will clarify it a bit:

the title of Master Vampire does not mean the previous one's destruction or death. it only means their defeat upon someone else taking the throne. sure, they may occur at the same time, but one can take over without killing the former.

the master vampire list is a self-proclaiming title, and one that others can attempt to contest

each city/point of interest has their own master vampires fighting in their own little territories. we only see those of baldur's gate. not of waterdeep. not of other towns or cities or locations. if you're feeling the vtm clan vibes/drama, then youre absolutely right! cazador penpalling another master vampire to brag about his master vampire status in baldur's gate is both him bragging and him potentially preparing to claim other places once he ascends

the master vampire title gives no actual vampiric, magical, or physical power. it's an entirely a social construct, in the most literal way possible. it provides social influence, social intimidation, etc. but, it's just like putting on a mundane tiara. grats, i guess.. its shiny at least-

anyways, this stuff is mostly put down just to say - nothing about this "Master Vampire" status is about ascension, power, and/or 'special abilities'. it's a moot point/status. which leads to why the master vampires need other ways to gain power.. which is why.. woah! cool transition to-

-----

The Black Mass Scroll As A Whole

if you got this far then thanks for reading. sit up and hydrate because it's time to talk about the black mass and why you need to be in tip top shape for reading this part. ahem:

the black mass scroll is not just one ritual, it is a collection of Vellioth's schooling, a list of rites/rituals, details of soul, divine (good, neutral, and evil) magic, and the methods of manipulation of the soul, divinity, and magic.

tl;dr - the black mass scroll is a list of lists. a collection of collections. the black mass scroll is.. an archive!

one could say it is massive. heh. anyways yea, the mass is a double meaning - a mass in the ritual sense, but also the meaning of 'a bunch of somethings.'

why is this important though? well. because this black mass has 'all the ways death can be turned to one's advantage or made more interesting', such as 'The Rite of Perfect Slaughter' and the 'Rite of Profane Ascension.'

so, let's talk about the Rite of Perfect Slaughter, which is actually fairly easy - Cazador killed Vellioth in the Rite of Perfect Slaughter. yet, Vellioth, who should be 'dead,' is recalling this. we should note, both of these people are undead. and undead death doesnt always work in the same way as complete removal/destruction. literally look at the other undead/'dead' in bg3 itself. look at those who 'died' in ravenloft. yet, some return, despite being 'killed' in the human perceived way.

either way, all we can confirm, based on this Rite of Perfect Slaughter, is that it removed Vellioth's authority/status as a Master Vampire. that is literally all the information we have right now. anything else is speculation, theory, or even deception by an undead or someone affiliated. which makes me wonder, who came up and formed that name, the "Rite of Perfect Slaughter"? cazador and vellioth both have a distorted view of what 'perfection' means, and we've seen cazador lie/hide information that will work against him. and also, Vellioth was laughing as cazador did the Rite on Vellioth. why didnt cazador and astarion laugh together when astarion performed the Rite of Ascension? because cazador didnt want the rite used on him. i guess the point of all of this is, who originally discovered or created the Rite of Perfect Slaughter? because, we dont know! for all we know, Vellioth couldve wanted to be 'killed' to give his soul to someone else, to preserve his vampirism/unlife or something. afterall, the black mass has 'all the ways death can be turned to one's advantage.' it doesnt say by who benefits from it. but anyways. the origin isnt really relevant for this, i just wanted to point out that these Rites are all a various and mixed collection of times, rituals, affiliations, and intentions - most that we dont even know fully, if at all of who benefits from it. and, considering we dont even know what some mean, or who made them, the original people who discovered them may not even be Cazador or Vellioth.

why? or how?

because, the line Astarion says when he picks up the Black Mass Scroll: "[Cazador] stole everything, even [Vellioth's] precious rules."

it doesnt matter who made the rites, rituals, weird strange description/stuff. all that matters is that Cazador has the entire bundle of stuff that is from previous vampires and creatures. and, the symbolism that Astarion picks it up and takes it, means the collection of potential power - of The Black Mass Scroll - Astarion is the current inheritor of potential power.

-----

Cazador and Jander (what?)

now, reader. you might be like. 'syrips, what does this have to do with if Strahd is considered a vampire ascendant? why is jander being brought in here?? im so confused, just answer the question about strahd!' well, too bad! you gotta wait! into the sealed tomb with leo dilisnya you go!

anyways! what we learned so far (as well as random rambling cuz why not):

cazador literally takes things that aren't his

cazador learned this from 'ancient' vellioth

Vellioth become a master vampire at 1204 DR of baldur's gate

Cazador became one at 1276 DR of baldur's gate

but! let's take a quick look and compare this to our beloved Jander Sunstar's lore:

they are incredibly weak when compared to an already existing Jander and strahd, as Anna has existed on the sword coast beginning around 970 DR

not only does time work differently in barovia, but in Toril / DR time, strahd already exists at this point as The Vampire. he is already the ruler of barovia, as well as the center of attention in the domains of dread

time isnt really important here, but its worth noting this because of Jander. not only did he kill his vampire master (which can be considered a 'vampiric ascension,' as you break the chains and limits of your master and are now free to grow in vampiric abilities), but he literally wielded an ancient and holy relic that vellioth and cazador could not even imagine to do.

and, not only did Jander do that, but he challenged the cause of vampirism and was brought by the mists into barovia. he was a candidate to challenge the master, founder, and origin of vampirism - strahd. Jander had the potential to ascend. to break free from the true master and curse, of The Vampire.

anyways, jander (and astarion) is a great reference character for vampire ability when comparing vellioth and cazador to jander/strahd.

but yea. tl;dr - jander makes vellioth and cazador look really pathetic. like baby levels pathetic. vampire ascension is about going 'backwards/upwards' on the vampiric bloodline tree, gaining your agency back so that you can climb up the ranks to more 'potent/ancient' generations. basically, it's about being free to go as far/deep as you can attempt. ascension is not about 'the removal of weaknesses', it's about 'the reduction of vampiric inferiority'. and, being unable to be in the sun is not of inferiority. they can go in the sun, but it will hurt. what one cannot do without suffering, teamwork, pacts, and/or luck, however, is breaking their seal on the master they're forced to be inferior to. even in the cazador fight, the only thing that saved astarion was literally the tadpole helping to reduce his inferiority with cazador. on a side note, vellioth laughing at cazador during the rite of perfect slaughter makes me believe that vellioth benefitted and only caused cazador to descend deeper, instead of ascend.

anyways. back to cazador. the only way that he can reduce the vampiric inferiority (as well as ascend himself) is for him to confront more and more ancient vampires, you know. like what jander attempted. but, cazador doesnt want to do that. instead, he works with an archdevil to attempt a cheap temporary bandaid/loophole around the wrong problem. instead of focusing on his own inferiority complex heh pun intended, he focuses on how to get a tan and how to be less thirsty..? like. what? either he has no idea what hes doing, or he believes removing all weaknesses and flaws will make him a more perfect vampire. what a silly head.

anyways. the rite of 'ascension.'

yea, let's go into that!

what is the Rite of Ascension??

here you go, reader!

---

🎇🩸🏹 The Rite of Profane Ascension 🏹🩸🎇

Oh, piteous dead! Oh, ravenous dead!

syrips translator: oh pathetic hungry un/dead people!

Immortality is your gift, but darkness is your prison and hunger its gaoler.

syrips translator: you can't be out in the (sun)light, and your hunger imprisons you because youre in denial of how to manage your vampirism.

The Rite of Profane Ascension will release you. Walk in the sun. Suffer not from hunger. Grow your power beyond anything you imagined.

syrips translator: with just 7 payments of 999.99 souls, you too can remove the ailments of sun allergies and midnight cravings! call now to receive your 'ascension' kit!

A pact has been made with the Lord of Hellfire. Deliver unto him seven thousand souls, each bearing an Infernal mark, and you shall be free of your chains. You shall know true power.

syrips translator: -fast disclaimer speak- your sun and anti-hunger status is not actually included or garaunteed. you are agreeing to the terms and conditions that you are only receiving the kit to build and perform the sun and anti-hunger ritual. 'free of your chains' is only used to describe the 'chains of darkness and hunger' and nothing else. purchase not necessary to be 'ascended.' call now and begin your journey!!

Deliver the souls.

syrips translator: i really dont care who gives me the souls. just gimmy. thanks

Speak the words.

syrips translator: okay the actual pact is below. everything else was just to hype you up and was just the advertisement, hehe! anyways. anyone who says the ritual below with the right components is all i care about. because the stuff below is the actual trade. and no, you didnt get scammed. this isn't a vampire ascension, it's just an advertisement targetted towards a vampiric audience. you read the terms and conditions correctly, right? silly guy.

Ecce dominus,

syrips translator: "(google translate) Behold, the Lord" / 'uhh hi -opens trade window-'

Has animas offero in sacrificio,

syrips translator: "(google translate) I offer these souls in sacrifice," / -puts 7k stack of souls in trade window- 'here's the actual trade that you wanted -presses confirm trade-'

Nunc volo potestatem quam pollicitus es mihi.

syrips translator: "(google translate) Now I want the power you promised me." / -presses accept- so this trade goes against the ToS but.. youll give me the power i asked for, right?... oh thank god i was so afraid. illegal ingame-to-irl-currency trades are so scary.. thank god, or thank meph in this case haha get it- oh okay im leaving.. s-sorry.. thanks..-

-----

Strahd

wooo hooo! we made it back to the original question!! we did it!!

now, lettuce answer this question that we we've been waiting on for so long. i dont want to leaf you hanging.

would strahd be considered a vampire ascendant?

big drum roll! bhrrrbhrbrhbhrr!!

-cough-

..

no.

...

-leaves-

-returns-

okay so. why isnt strahd considered a vampy ascendant?

well, before we talk about that. let's consider what a 'vampire ascendant' is considered, by Vellioth, Cazador, and the Rite of Profane Ascension's terms:

an 'ascended vampire' is just one who has the ailments of sunlight and hunger removed by the process of this specific ritual. remember that line i said of a Master Vampire being a moot point? well.. to burst the blood bubble, the "Ascended Vampire" line isnt a literal 'vampire ascension'. it's also a moot point, in its own way. but not as mooty, it's more of like a half-truth. like something an archdevil would do to tempt someone into doing something for a small dose of infernal - not raw vampiric - power in return. take note that nowhere in the actual ritual lines does it talk about ascension, let alone vampiric ascension. all it talks about is to say the words 'you made a promise.. i hope you keep it..pls gimmy Infernal powers..'

you know how raphael is making a deal with you and how off it feels? that's because youre not ascending when he mutes your tadpole. he's just using his abilities to manipulate/mold something in you with his powers. that's how this ritual also is. it's just a half-truth, unempathetic advertisement, masked as a pact so that the one who does it feels satisfied, despite the archdevil just receiving much more power than the one who sacrificed all the souls.

but, let's say this ritual is legitimate, and one does 'ascend' by the archdevil's abilities to remove the ailments. so, they are technically 'rising,' in a way. they are becoming a 'stronger infernal-gifted vampire' because of less weaknesses. but, what are they trying to ascend to? what is the purpose of removing all of these weaknesses? why go through all of this?

because. they hunger. they want power. they want true immortality. they want to remove all weaknesses in mortal life and immortal unlife to have free agency, without inferiority to anything. they want to be able to transcend time, space, and death, to be on a level of the highest peak of vampirism.

and, of course. who would that be? who would be the most ancient, powerful vampire, cursed and imprisoned by their own success in achieving what other vampires can only dream of?

who was imprisoned not from failure, but from succeeding too well that something else had to intervene?

anyways, as much as i love stroking strahd's ego LOl i keep going tho, his novel-canon potential is severely higher than the CoS potential. but, through all the modules, novels, and other media, it's still heavily implied that strahd's major weakness is tatyana. if he had tatyana, or felt he was losing the chance to pursue her, if he lost this weakness, he would unironically be scarily unstoppable. the only thing stopping strahd from being a huge dictator or even more power-hungry tyrant is literally because of his obsession/'curse' with wanting to have a bae. which i find very hilarious but focus syrips that part isnt the point-

anyways. tl;dr - strahd has nothing to ascend to. he has no vampire that he's inferior to. if anything, he wants to descend. he wants to be 'less' of what he is now, to be with tatyana. or, to ascend tatyana to his vampiric level. it's his entire curse. and, because of this, he also cannot descend. if he does, he will either lose himself, or he will lose tatyana. and he will not dare to risk that.

he also has nothing that he has or can ascend from. he is the 'original'. at most, he just ascended from 'himself.' but, that's not really an ascension more than just a transition. (and, moving from the material plane to the domains of dread kind of shows that he's not really ascending/rising, more than he's just moving into a warped/slanted plane that operates differently in time and space.) and, unlike in the Rite of Profane Ascension, strahd used himself (and everything affiliated to him) as both the component and result, because no other method existed. he is the origin and reason that rites/methods to 'becoming a more powerful vampire' even exist. he's the reason that vampires exist. when strahd says he's the ancient and land, he's not just saying it for the cool monologue phrase even though we all know he totally enjoys saying it everytime. he's also bluntly saying, 'i am the ancient because i, with barovia, transcend time. i am the land because i, with barovia, connect with the domains of dread. and, the domains of dread, connects with all planes. i am beyond 'a vampire.' i, strahd, am the concept and definition of the vampire.'

everything that all vampires do, by definition, are mock versions, mock attempts, and mock methods that strahd has already mastered, influenced others to do, or that he has knowledge/creation of. everything all vampires do, is attempting to do what their masters had done. with every new spawn, they start at the bottom, trying to climb to their master's level. and even more rarely, attempting to climb to their master's master's level. but strahd is at the top of the MLM vampire pyramid. he has no master to climb up the ranks to. he's already the CEO, founder, etc. (idk how business works), he can't out-climb himself. -strahd pompous voice- 'ouhhh.. it's so lonely being at the top, ouhhh..' but anyways, he can ascend or assist others, since he's a patron. but most power-hungry vampires wouldnt want to do that, especially because they're probably trying to climb up just to compete or be on strahd's vampiric level. and yet, asking strahd for ascension is incredibly easy - all it would mean is making an eternal pact to always be subservient and inferior to strahd.. he'd gladly ascend you, you'd have the potential to be superior to all other vampires.. the only one above you would be personally him. and.. suddenly, a deal with an archdevil who doesnt care about the pettiness of vampire superiority, kind of sounds safer in comparison now..-

or idk. i could be wrong. just a ramble i had fun doing. hehe ty for reading

references/sauces:

bg3

bg3 wiki

wikipedia

wiktionary

google translate

ravenloft novels/modules/games/media/editions from like everywhere

[cubedmango]

hi!! i just wanted to let you know that i started reading cherry magic in july last year after seeing the anime announced on toyota-sensei's twitter! i couldn't even rlly translate the announcement myself without the help of google translate LMAO but her illustration of them looked so sweet i had to snoop around. more than half a year later. i am no longer normal and my brain is fully rotted over and i think of those two nearly every waking moment!! your art, along with so many others feeds me and your translations are So Appreciated thank you for doing gods work. i usually don't get super involved in fandom or w/e other than consuming fanart or fics so the fact i find myself actually drawing them is so new to me...idk cherry magic really is so refreshing and it's just nice as an adult to see a mature relationship between two working adults. there are callbacks to childhood or childlike behaviors or interests sprinkled throughout the manga's dialogue and i always appreciated how they weren't seen as embarrassing or immature to embrace or learn from as an adult, but encouraged or seen as a valuable part of balancing work, life, and love. idk it's def one of the more subtle and less expanded upon parts of it but i love how adachi's and kurosawa's love of manga, though seen as a children's activity (from how kurosawa thought people saw it) was actually one of their first mutual hobbies. it's also interesting to see how many things about kurosawa's psyche are remnants of ideas probably for a lack of better wording, were taught to him from an early age. his self-image, how he tries to uphold certain societal standards, etc etc. im glad he found refuge in adachi that way. im sorry for rambling for so long but i've just been thinking about these two so much ldks

anon pls u never have to apologize for rambling abt my fav guys of all time, u should actually talk w me about them more i want to hear ur thoughts !! the eng speaking fandom isnt that big (or at least i dont get to interact w a lot of ppl personally) but its fun making art and doing the translations for my blorbos so im happy other ppl enjoy it too 🥺

and yess everything u said abt the childlike/immature stuff krdc enjoy like the fact that their interest in manga and stuff is never made fun of or anything (which would be ironic anyway since theyre In a manga themselves fdkjskf) but actually one of the things that gets them closer is So good augh?? (also spoilers for the radio drama if u havent seen it yet, but to me one of the best changes they made was changing the port scenes setting to an anime con instead like Yeah!! theyre little nerd guys of course theyd attend a con!!!! that plus how they both like watching animated movies and playing games too like its a very specific thing to Me but that relatability w stuff i do myself makes them both feel a lot more human? if that makes sense)

also w kurosawas whole deal its Definitely a longterm thing hes had for a while, and in canon its mostly been his friendships/relationships that affected him (probs the most clear in ch45 my beloved) but from the way the meeting w his parents went theres for sure a lot of parental/family pressure involved too?? this is going into hc territory but i have like a whole Thing brewing in my head about kurosawas and maris relations w their parents and how that affected their self image and all growing up too and i rlly wanna make stuff for it someday (idk if anyone would be interested but id probably do it regardless so fkdjksjfk)

[plasterhound]

TELL ME ABOUT UR SOLEA GUYS!!!! I DONT KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THEM PLEASEEEE 🥺

(THIS BITCH KILLED MY BLOG!! I WAS WRITING THIS WHEN THEY KILLED ME and also my OTHER blog when i posted her gif. what the hell)

HI LYNXXX twirls hair hehe

Prepare yourself. Wall of text be upon ye

soooo sol is an oc from sky children of the light!! idk if youve heard of it and its kinda hard to explain without spoiling too much, but most of her lore is shit i made up so whatever. In sky cotl you play as a child made by god? A god? you're thrown into an vast but empty world, tasked to help the spirits of the people who used to live there to move on. Entering Spoiler territory, solaria is a skykid born at the wrong time. Her need for attention is a bottomless pit and she had to be born after the whole kingdom fucking died!! And to make matters worse she was born during a time with very few skykids so she was very miserable. She lives in the valley of triumph and protects it with tooth and nail, she gets drunk on the screams of glory that still echoes in the snowy racetracks even though their owners are long gone, and when she's at the coliseum for a moment she can pretend she has an audience and that the valley of triumph's elders have finally acknowledged her. That's all she wants. Obviously she wants to be the best at her job (cleaning the mess left by an entire civilization), but deep down she just wants to be told she's doing a good job, that she's not making things worse while thinking she's doing the right thing. Is hard as fuck you know. The kingdom is empty, god just dropped her there with vague instructions. There's a real tangible Threat still around. She's just a little lost... Just a little. Shes also constantly craving adrenaline, both because it's fun af and because she likes the look on lua's face when she barely escapes something dangerous. That's the attention she wanted. She'd never admit that though.

Speaking of lua she's @dollfunerall's skykid and theyre girlfriends ☀️🌒 wives :) lualeil's one of the veery few skykids who actually came BEFORE the catastrophe which wiped off the entire sky kingdom. She's old af. She's a disciple of teth, the elder of the hidden forest, and sol in turn is lua's disciple. Lua drives sol insane i miss my wiiiiife she left for work i miss her so much. But she's also really envious of lua. Lua was around when the kingdom wasn't just ruins, she lived among people, living people, and teth looked at her. Teth acknowledged her. That's everything she wanted!! And she hates herself for it. Because skykids are hope, are light, they're kind and friendly and envy is not something they should feel. She feels even worse because she's ridiculously envious of the life lua lost, since she survived the catastrophe while watching everyone die. Kinda fucked up, she thinks.

Anyways, I like to slap her in Situations. She's really silly. I care her. Below, an assortment of solarias:

[klonoadreams]

From what I remember mako has already met many important characters including 2 future strawhats and a powerful straw hat ally.

Assuming that not too much changes by the time the main story starts. How would these Chracters see mako as meeting her again. Like say meeting a grown up sanji and Law along with th baroque work robin? For me I would at least think sanji and law would be like big brothers to her.

Also any spoilers on who her dad is? Or who mako would be shipped with?

Not much is really different, just that Mako has been alive and in existence for like one more year, making her a year older than what she was originally, but it's also a bit of a mess since like, idk how to tell you, but Shanks is like barely 21 when he has Mako instead of 22, so oop, some things might end up changing, but also god dang, Yassop, you barely knew your own son and now you're just taking care of this rando Shark girl with the others ahahha.

No but seriously, this just means the Red Hair Pirates have Mako longer and that means further disaster because Yassop Daddy experience only goes for like a few months and Mako is half fishman, SO WHOOPS NEW TERRITORY.

So yeah, Robin and Sanji would be ecstatic to see her again, especially since the two of them went their separate ways to pursue their dreams, since Sanji won't get good experience as a cook with Shanks, and Robin, while absolutely delighted to know she is loved and considered important, knows that she has to leave the nest because she can't do what she wants with them and try as they may, they can't help coddling her a bit because Robin mcfucking did not have a good childhood, cmere, you get a hug.

Meanwhile Law would just be happy to see his friend again after so long, to the one person that taught him, alongside Robin, that even monsters deserve to live.

Seeing her thriving and also throwing a wrench in the world government's agenda by just casual exposing cover-ups in order to let the truth shine through....yeah, he’s happy to see her. Genuinely, no joke or nothing. Especially Robin and Sanji, though how the turn tables. He would've thought Mako would've been her own captain to a crew, but nah, she's content letting Luffy do it while being the resident lifeguard cuz she can swim. And also fish. :V

Her dad isn't actually anyone we know but an OC, like a rando mako shark fishman who effectively got picked out of the bunch to pair up with a Kuja Pirate who wasn't exactly considered a good wife for a Celestial Dragon (aka, dude was sterile, or at the very least got poor kid making skills), so curiosity plus pettiness and a bet equals Mako into the mix. Which is very bad.

That said, Mako's bio dad is related to some existing characters. And I will say this, Arlong won't exactly take to well to ever seeing her, because she serves as a constant reminder in a cog to a tragedy.

(Hint: it involves Koala going home - you can figure it out there, but yeah, Mako's uncle is pretty famous :V)

(He also had a hand in how Mako's mother was able to escape and while Mama was hoping to go back to Amazon Lily, she at least was in a safe place amongst Shanks crew when she gave birth to Mako)

Originally, i didn't have romance in mind, but honestly, I'm at a whatever happens, happens, because Mako's circumstances are so unique and complicated, that her situation allows her complexity, given how 17 seems to be the age at which people are considered adults or at least allowed to drink, and being a pirate just adds to it, mixed in with being someone who has a bounty.

Romance isn't off the table for her, so keep an eye out for it. Dont expect anytjing until after the time skip tho, she’s a little like Luffy in that it's the last thing on her mind lmao.

But also she's got a storm coming her way come Whole Cake Island because Big Mom wants Shanks's daughter for connections so...

Lucky son Katakuri got picked by my friends, so that's gonna be a "bruh wtf"

Aka, we got two weddings to crash. Except Mako isn't getting killed, but she still wants out of it, nope nope nope

Anyways wedding dress mako kicking ass. :V

[trainingdummyrabbit]

Hehe hi Pik :0 I'll give you three questions for your ask game and you can pick out whatever you want to answer <:]

What are your thoughts on Kaigaku? I know he's a bit of spoiler territory but I'm curious .. or maybe what are your thoughts on Muichiro? You decide!

A question just for me, though ,, do YOU have a favorite bird? .., !!

oh abolutely HYSTERICAL to give a pick scenario and then lay down topics that will instantly get me to talk for hours on end at the drop of a hat KSJNGFKDJNGKD

so!! the easy one!! my favorite bird, ithink, is between the mourning dove and the house sparrow! they are not terribly glamorous but i love them so so dearly and will instantly cheer up when i think about them :')

as for the character questions. thank you for enabling me HJBSJFBJD

i could very very easily write an entire goddamn essay about Either of them, but for the sake of saving whatever brevity i can manage to keep, ill save talking abt mui for when That Episode(tm) drops whenever it does, because inevitebly, i will be Absolutely Inconsolable and it Will happen anyway KJNDKGDF

instead, for now, under a cut because this preamble is already paragraphs long... kaigaku.

i fucking hate this man. i cannot stand him, hes the worst, he is so fucking stupid, i think about him fucking constantly, and he is one of my favorites. he is so fucking insufferable, and i love him!

ok so. getting into kny, i was like. immediately a zenitsu liker. like i saw him and went "god. fuck. shit. its gonna be this nerd i dont even know about yet and i can feel it already." (i was right.) which is Crucial to knowing the angle here. and when i got to his part in th manga, i . genuinely dont remember if i even thought too hard about him. i dont even remember when i Did, i just know that he Wasnt there, and then he Was, and he Never Fucking Left KSJNKDJGN

which is very very fucking funny, considering... how much of a character he straight up Isnt.

like yeah! he sure does show up in a flashback and then fights zen and dies about it! it takes like, a two chapters max! and the entire time, his only character trait is "bitch for no reason." like... that sure isn't a lot to go off of. so like... why? i guess thats kind of the answer in and of itself.

why is he like this? why is he like this?? what made him this way? we know he grew up orphaned, but why? we knew he turned on gyomei's group and ran, but why? we know he trained to be a demon slayer with zen and kuwajima, but why? why, why, why? we just don't know.

we know he's a survivalist. we know that he's willing to go to any lengths, stoop to any lows, just to make it another day. because another day is another chance you get to get them back, to prove them wrong, to rise above it and laugh in their faces and say "see? see what im capable of? bet you feel sorry now."

shame doesnt exist to him. he will make Anything of himself just to make it by. do anything, drop anyone. no connections, impermanence. its clear in flashbacks that, honestly... nobody liked him very much. and like, well, yeah. obviously. he sucks, and he isnt afraid to show it. but isnt that just so strange? broken box of happiness, disatisfaction. he refuses to forge connections, claiming the only people he tolerates are those who respect him, who see his worth.

and that's... the weird thing about him. see, because, the thing is that... i don't fucking believe him for a second. he talks big game, he can back it up, sure, especially as a demon, but... the entire time he talks, every word he says during his confrontation with zen just felt like a bluff. like he's trying to sound threatening, to sound powerful, making a threat display like an animal. every technique he chooses to execute is some new, big, flashy display of his Power, talking, taunting, still taunting.

its a lot of reading between lines, but... this man is a fucking liar. that fight felt different, it felt quick, and well... maybe because it wasn't a fight. this was some guy taking out his anger on someone in a desperate attempt to prove he's worth something.

i just think that this man is a deeply jealous bastard intent on making himself seem larger than he really is, convincing himself that he's the one that's right and it's everyone else that's wrong simply because he can't process just how awful he is.

growing up barely scraping by on his own, of course he'd become painfully self-reliant. of course he would take advantage of anything he could, anyone he could. you'd have to be that self-centered to survive. talk big, act big, nobody will mess with you. nobody can take advantage of you if you take advantage of them first.

and when he gets shown that kindness, being taken in for the first time... of course he'd take advantage of them too. he's hard-wired with instability in mind, so obviously the clear answer is to take what you can and go before something else happens and they get to you first (even if that was never really a threat.) and if they throw you out for it? it's just proof you were right. you were always right, clearly it isn't your fault. and if you happen to throw them under the bus for it... well, obviously they deserved it. there's no reason to think about it anymore.

being with kuwajima was fine. we don't know anything about the earlier days (which im so sad about) but from the looks of it, he was doing fine. about as fine as he could be, at least. he clearly respected him at first, enjoyed being treated as something special, having his work and talents appreciated-- which he did have! he was a staggeringly impressive slayer, but that's an aside-- and even berated zenitsu for supposedly "disrespecting him" by referring to him as jiichan. which. sighs.

so, zenitsu. dynamics Of Ever. honestly, even without the whole Contention there, kai would've just kinda disliked him because he's... motions with hand. look at him. but its the fact that they were considered together that pissed kaigaku off so much. because that implied that they were on the same level when, to him, they so very clearly were not.

zenitsu was annoying. he was weak, whined too much, cried too much, never put in any effot, he was so, so annoying. which made it that much more insulting that jiichan would continue to try to train him. just leave him behind already! he keeps trying to run away, let him! obviously he just isn't good enough. he's not special like he was. and yet, kuwajima kept trying.

and the fact that he did... probably completely went against everything kaigaku saw in the way the world worked. for lack of a better term, he was very "survival of the fittest" minded in that, if you weren't good, you just weren't good. you'd try and struggle and inevitably die off. the world isn't kind, and will take any chance it has to kick you down. that's why you take what you can, when you can.

if you're weak, nobody helps you. if nobody helps you, you either help yourself or die silently. that was what separated the weak and the strong. and you always, always were either one or the other. again, that's his survivalism talking. so, seeing this person he at the very least Respected waste time on some nobody instead of him, expecting something to come of it... well, it was insulting!

and to think that they were even anywhere close enough to put together? to share the title of successor? with this guy? either it meant that kuwajima thought zenitsu was as good as kai was (to him, a laughable idea,) or that kai wasn't any better than some kid who could barely swing a sword. and that was what irritated him the most.

that was the point of their final confrontation. it was kaigaku proving, once and for all, finally, that he was better than zenitsu. was it purely out of hatred for this kid who looked up to him like a brother? was it out of jealousy of someone who got so many kindnesses granted to him despite, to him, not really deserving it? was it just to prove that he was a powerful demon to those who now had their eyes on him, too? whatever it was, at its core... it was laughing in the faces of those who, honestly, genuinely cared about him (and in his eyes, never truly did.)

he could've ended that fight whenever he wanted to-- its even stated in canon that zen wouldve just lost if he was given more time to grow-- but... he just kept showing off. kept talking. it didnt feel like he was using techniques to fit the combat-- it felt like he was showing off what he could do now. he was proving a point. the only thing that stopped him was what he never acknowledged back when they were training together-- that zenitsu did have worth. that he was growing, too. and using what kaigaku refused to acknowledge in him, zenitsu cut him down-- with a symbol of the respect and comraderie that he hoped to have together. a "sorry, aniki."

kaigaku's appearance in canon is less of the role of a character, but as a statement. hes a walking tragedy. he pushes away everything that makes life What It Is in favor of this image of Strength, which is exactly why he becomes-- at first glance-- a caricature. he stops being a person and starts being a Thing. zen tries to keep him in mind as a Person (despite it all) but when he ultimately gives up hope is when the encounter ends. and when kai's role ends as well.

the only thing i still wonder is... does he regret it? in the very depths of his mind, behind all that mess he puts up, after throwing everything away... did he regret it? twice, he was shown care and kindness, and twice he betrayed them. does he know? does he regret it? does he have the capacity to? or has he simply committed so hard to the role he was given-- to the role he put himself in-- that he simply cannot fathom a world in which he was the problem? could it have been different?

put simply... what the fuck is wrong with him?

. anyway, heres a bunch of posts that remind me of him.

[acescorazon]

Hiii! Just like the last person, i also started with the live action and then found your fanfics and ah! Im the one that commented on almost all your work djdj and told you i read it on my lunch break and the train! Thank god i speak spanish so people wouldn't read what was on my phone sbdbbd and yeah, thank god i was also wearing a mask on the train so no one would see me giggling like and idiot. But i wanted to tell you that omgg i love your stories how the hell your brain is so sexy but also funny i love how the smut its very silly also because we get to read buggy's thoughts. I didn't even like buggy on the live action till i saw the fanarts and i was suddenly like "you know what? He actually has pretty eyes..." and then here i am with a massive crush on a clown. I also started to ship buggy with mihawk because i have a thing for rare pairs and i was like you know what they would be hot but i was only imagining them like the live action BUT THEN YOUR FANFICS and now im on episode 7 of the anime cause i just want to understand better, like i love your crocodile but i dont even know how he is so yep, im on the anime nfnfnf and im here to tell you that you are amazing, seriously, i read your stories at night, at morning, when i finish my work bfnfj like i became obsessed with the ot3

Hi i remember you lolllll i replied to your comments this morning :) honestly it blows my mind that you'd read them in public, i could never have that bravery LMAOOOO. BUT STOPPPPP I'M LITERALLY AN IDIOT LMAOOOOOOOOOOOO. i think i said this at the end of my most recent fic but like i'm really out here just writing the most unrealistic ass smut sometimes. sometimes its just plain STUPIIIDDD lmao. but i do fancy me a good laugh but i never verge off into Crack territory lol. The actor does have really nice eyes, doesn't he???? i'm a clown f*cker tho so i was always going to simp for h- ANYWAYSSSSSS. @here i am with a massive crush on a clown. LMAOOOOO? First time???? LOOK L I S T E N. Honestly. i'm a Cross Guild girlie at heart so for me this is a buy one get two free deal but i swear to god Mihawk/Buggy IDKKKKKK. IDKKKK BABESSSSS. idk those two have the potential to have the messiest relationship yet and plus they're hot like you said LMAOOOOOO. LISTENNNNN LISTENNNN I'M THE BUGGY SIMPPPPP (jk there's probably someone who loves him more) AND WHEN I TELL YOU THERE'S JUST SOMETHING ABOUT THAT MANNNNN. JUST HES. *CHEF KISS* he's delicious, tasty, and PATHETIC. HES SO FUNNY AND DUMB AND I LOVE HIM SOOO MUCH. His debut episodes/ Episode 46 which is like 'Little Buggy's big adventure' is honestly the funniest shit to me and like they're my comfort episodes. Also like i said in the prev ask Alabasta is just my comfort arc for so many reasons lolololol Mainly bc my fave character appears and so does Croco and i love baroque works with a passion. (nobody asked.) it may not be everyone's slice of pie, but it's mine :))))

ANYWAYS LMAOOOOOOOO. Trust me bestie the way i write Crocodile isn't a headcanon LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. You'll see when you get there aljsldjasldjasldkajsdasd. If anything i typically go light on my depiction of him bc he's hngngnngngngngngn. Yeah, he's Crocodile alright LMAO. Not much of a spoiler but i'm here to tell you that Oda is starving us in terms of Cross Guild content, but have no fear jlkjsljdlkasjdaks i'll take one for the team. ANYWAYSSSSSSSS.Thank you again for the really nice message dear, i really appreciate it and i hope you end up actually liking the show a lot and don't have to watch 9845840850948509485098450840548094850948 episodes to think it's got any sort of appeal LMAO. THANK YOU AGAIN X30000 But know this: the moment Cross Guild debuted i knew...I KNEW i had to write for them. I knew i had to write Buggy in every scenario possible, and i'm working on it.

[motherforthefamicom]

imtrying 2 engage in ur interests tell me more abt the critters and creatures in kolona door to phantomile pls

OH COOL well immm not too sure how to explain things without spoiling too many things abt the games story but ill try my best <=] (oh god this got really long im so sorry. i dont know how to explain things without making them massive paragraphs <//3)

so first off obviosuly youve got klonoa, main/titular chaarcter the guy you play as. hes just a little guy (literally hes like canonically nine yrs old or smthn in door to phantomile) and here for a good time! the game kickstarts with him finding this ring in a forest near his house, which contains this wind spirit named huepow ! huepow basically just works as the backbone of the gameplay mechanics (lets you grab n throw enemies) + is klonoas buddy throught the game . klonoa is this like. weird rabbit cat creature Thing its kinda purposely left ambiguous and like every other character is the game is some funny looking made up species

in phantomile (the world that game takes place in) theres four large groups all themed after a different elemment (so klonoa is from wind village, the second area you go trough is forlock forest(nature/plant life), then jugpot falls(water) and the sun kingdom which is in the sky .

in the first level where youre running theough wind village to inspect this weird thing klonoa heard crashing into the hill at the center of the village, you meet this guy named balue who basically gives an exposition dump explaining hes building a tower in an attempt to get to the ‘moon kingdom’, which is basically this in universe myth/legend and klonoa kinda thinks hes just saying some crazy bullshit but balues motivation to go there is cuz he wants to meet this diva popstar type girl named lephise (except shes actually like incredibly fucking important to the state of the world they live in like. as a whole. balue kinda glosses over this himself but its made pretty clear not too long afterwards)

anyways so klonoa and huepow make it to the hill and there they meet the main villains, joka (this funny jester orb guy whos like the second in command. hes a horrid little creature and i want him dead /silly) and ghadius (its kinda unclear what this guy even… is at first. but hes basically the big boss in charge of all the shit that goes Wrong throughout thw game, and wants to turn the world into an ‘eternal nightmare’) uh the two of them are badically just talking to this fucking. unconsious girl(who you find out is lephise) and basically theyre just plotting n schemeing, trying to find this special mcguffin blah blah blah.

funny thing abt the enemies in thsi game is that theyre fucking adorable?? like the main grunts youll find are these little guys called moos and theres a buncha variants of them and rheyre just the cutest little things in the world.. whats funny is theyre supposed to be made of ‘pure nightmares’ or whatever lmao

oh yeah the game has this whole dream motif throughout the whole thing.. theres more to it than what ive mentioned but that gets into real heavy spoiler territory hehe

uh i dont know where to end this theres so much more i could say.. like uhh everyone in the game is voice acted but they all speak in funny little animal crossing esque noises. but everyone has their own unique kinds of noises they made if that makes sense?? like characters from the same region or of the same species will have simlar sounds but their individual voices also sound different. i dont knkw how to explain it well but it makes sense when listening to the voicelines hsgshgs

[majorproblems77]

11, 7, 17, 20 on Unraveling

Spoilers for Unravelling :)

11. Was There a scene that you'd hadn't originally planned to include? Why did you decide to fit it in?

Hmm, this one's a hard one. But Sky's death. I didn't want to do MCD in unravelling to begin with and hadn't planned on doing so in my original outline of the story. I even had most of that section written where he just collapsed from exhaustion instead. (It's why in most of the chapters it's not mentioned too much until the chain chapter later. Even though you go through 4 chapters with Weave. Between it occurring and getting back to them.)

I tried so many things to keep it out of MCD territory. But it just didn't have that gut-punch impact I wanted. I love it when a writer's words grab my heart and tear it out of my chest. And to be honest I wanted Unravelling to have that same impact.

It's a very important story to me. I'm very happy with the result.

7. What inspired the idea for the plot?

The starter inspo begain with @/Kikker-oma's work Sunshine, which has Sky looking over a cliff face and his expression is what triggered something in me. Cause I've felt like that. The exact face, the half-lidded expression. The way that you just. Think.

After posting a gift of silence and struggles in the aftermath, I went back and looked at the piece again. And thought. What if i took those feelings and projected them onto the character that at the time. I really only kinda knew still.

Didn't know where to start, so I begain writing the outlines for something which would have been my first Curse reveal story. (Fun fact this turned into Fall of the Chosen) Then realised that, wait. What if I did a guilt story instaid. What if I put my own spin on it.

17. What was the hardest scene to write?

Weaver fighting demise. The way I've got those battles split. I tried to write out full fight scenes for his fight with demise while defending Sky. But each time i did it just turned into throw ball win game. Which is obviously not what i wanted.

I wanted him to do some sort of yarn ball battle technique where he rapidly throws them and uses the strings to tie up his foes etc. But in the end i had to dial back the scenes here mainly because i just couldn't get the exact fight i had in mind out of my head and onto the page.

20. What is something you wish more people noticed about this fic?

Apart from just more people noticing it? jkjk, but that would be nice.

The significance of putting the three sets of three groups together like I have. Why I've split them up like I have. etc. Splitting up the chain into the pieces of the Triforce.

There are some very good ideas and some people hit it on the nose but not many people spotted it, which is a shame cause I'm continuing with that story in the next book, and I hope I dont need to do too much building with it beforehand. As the results are much more important.

god I love talking about this book I could do it all day I'm so proud of it. Thanks for all the questions, i will happily take more :D

Ask me questions using this! :)

[akiriith]

Okay so this is a really, really sweet idea, but Clive and Jill being betrothed is not actually backed up by canon. I usually don't comment on posts but I REALLY want to add something to this one because I think what the game ACTUALLY does with it is even sweeter and, on top of it, matches the theme of the story SO perfectly, so I hope that's okay!!

Putting it under a read more in case OP (and any friends of mine that may stumble upon this, looking at you Skerr) hasn't finished the game. Spoilers through to the endgame!

(oh my god did I actually learn how to use a read more)

OKAY. SO.

The thing with this idea is that it simply doesn't match the dialogue in Priceless. In there, Jill discusses her future, since as OP put it, it was highly unlikely she would be given as a ward to Rosaria if not for the purpose of being a bride.

In fact, she reveals to Clive that before joining him and Joshua on a trip over the Rosarian territory with Elwin, she overheard Anabella discuss her marriage prospects with the other ladies of the court. Specifically, Anabella was pondering whether it would be better to marry her off to one of the royal families, or to "save her for the ducal line".

So it was gonna be one of the Noble Houses... or the "ducal line". Which, of course, MIGHT mean Clive... but more likely than not it refers to Joshua. Joshua is the future Archduke, the "ducal line" will run through him, not his brother. Jill is also only 2 years older than him, it wouldn't be an outlandish match-up.

(Not to mention I dont think Anabella considers Clive part of the ducal line based on her comments in the prologue lmao)

So the chances of her being Clive's bride are actually rather slim. More importantly, the news leave Jill EXTREMELY distressed. She spends the whole trip with Elwin and the boys miserable and crying.

And its THIS sadness is what catches Clive's eye, what makes him sneak her out of camp to see the snow daisies. The trip that doesnt get completed bc it starts raining, but that still makes Jill SO happy because Clive simply chose to be kind to a crying girl. The "breaking of rules" (quite the baby outlaw that he was) that inspired Jill to climb the tor the following morning and see a "sea of petals, all reaching towards the sun".

The very sight that made her realize that just like the sun, Clive would always return to her when the dawn came.

Like do you SEE the thematic significance of it?? Baby Clive wanting to protect others from the start, Baby Clive breaking all the rules to be kind to someone just as he does as Cid the Outlaw (except as Cid he's interested in making the whole world feel better, not just a single person). The ACTUAL rulebreaking leading Jill to fall for him!! Jill was SHACKLED to a fate as a bride to be, to marry someone she didn't choose. Clive breaking the rules to be kind to her made her yearn for HER OWN fate, in HER OWN terms! A fate with HIM, not with a husband chosen for her.

I'm not even gonna touch on the whole sun-returning-with-the-dawn thing.

Point is: it's the exact opposite, OP. The game is all about breaking free of fate. Jill HAD a fate, and it wasn't comforting. It was a prison, and she was its slave. And THIS was Clive's first step towards breaking someone free of it. SHE was the VERY FIRST person he helped. And then JILL breaks HIM free of his own prison - of thinking he is just a monster who is beyond salvation. She inspires hope in him just as he did in her all those years ago, when she finally convinces him to want to save himself.

And then they work together to free the entire freaking world just as they did each other.

It seems like I am fated to crawl back to Tumblr every time I play a new Final Fantasy game to wax poetic about my OTPs. This time it's Final Fantasy XVI and Warfield.

To me, there's an important unstated implication I haven't seen many people talk about in the fandom discourse: in medieval/Renaissance Europe (which was the cultural basis for Valisthea), the only reason a girl would be sent as a ward to a man she's not related to with no daughters would be if the intention was for her to eventually marry one of his sons, probably one a little older than she. Clive would have known this. Jill would have known this. Everyone would have known this. Anabella may not have liked it, but she would have known this. Clive and Jill's friendship would have formed with the underlying assumption that they were supposed to be husband and wife one day. While we as modern people tend to revolt at the idea of child betrothal as a matter of principle, we have to remember that, in a world where arranged (or at the very least approved/facilitated) marriage is likely the only option for most people, Clive and Jill would have probably thought they were pretty lucky that they knew and liked the person who they were going to spend the rest of their life with.

So now rewatch the cutscenes when they reunite after thirteen years apart; it's not just "my friend, who I thought was dead for thirteen years, is alive." It's "the only person I have ever thought of as a life partner, who I thought was dead for thirteen years, is alive." It makes complete sense why Jill's immediate response is "I'm going with you; we're facing this together" and why Clive doesn't argue. The fact that they're going to do things together is a foregone conclusion. They never have a "what exactly are we" talk because they don't have to.

This is the way it was supposed to be.

[ninjasmudge]

so welcome the Bone King au! (thank you lupin for the name) im disregarding s3 completely for this since i came up with the idea way before it aired, i might come back and retcon the lore a little after the dub airs but for now its spoiler-free! an listen. i know most of my stuff is humour but i love horror so much and its my au i get to choose the nightmares-

in this au swk goes to fight lbd on his own, reasoning it will get the least people hurt, but when he tries, both he and lbd miscalculate each others power. lbd attempts to possess him, but he is the monkey king and he fights her hold more than she anticipated. she is determined to get in his head though, and she does, but not in the way she thought. instead of lbd possessing swks body, what happens is these two ultra powerful beings mash together into one absolutely spine-chilling, unpredictable and mist-shrouded being who calls themselves The Bone King. more under a cut so i dont take up everyones dash

so far, mk and the crew have NO idea this has happened, the only ones who know so far are the mayor and macaque, who were both there at the time.

the Bone King is tall and terrifying in a cold and unpredictable way, and also a huge mess of contradictions. they dont know what they want, their original goal includes erasing themselves from existence, theyre ANGRY, and they change emotional state like snapping your fingers, laughing one second, cold anger the next and then back to a blank watchful look. theyre not very emotive in general, and a very intense slightly bored look is kinda their default, i think the sound vibe that accompanies them would be a distressing silence and a slight whine of power. an also, their voice sounds like swks voice with lbd’s whispering distorting the words slightly.

they trust the mayor but they dont like or respect him, and the mayor serves them as loyally as he did lbd but theres an edge to it bc hes aware this is only Sort of lbd and this isnt the plan they agreed on. they absolutely fucking HATE macaque but the part that was swk doesnt want him dead, and the part that was lbd thinks he could still be useful. macaque is (rightfully) terrified of the bone king since this is two of the most powerful demons in existence and both of them have personal reason to hate him. he tried to slip away when they first combined (the ‘found you’ pics) but the bone king’s first actual agreed on thought was that, while they didnt know if they wanted to kill maq or not, he wasnt allowed to leave. it was also the first time they actually used all the new combined power and they destroyed the temple and most of a mountain just speeding over to where macaque was; they snapped his arm picking him up out of the shadows, dumped him down by the mayor and told him to ‘STAY.’. he did.

i think it would be really interesting to see them interact with mk and the crew, bc swk and lbd are at such odds about what they think of them, but to be honest this is the part that im still unsure of and would have to foray into spoilers territory to figure out so im leaving it for now, but if anyone has any ideas id love to hear them :) i do imagine when they turn up to mk and the crew, that its more like. they see them somewhere in the mists for a second and then theyre gone, making whoever saw them unable to trust their own eyes. a feeling of being followed, lights going out, eyes in the dark. but theyre just. watching. for now

also because im a wimp and not a fan of completely hopeless situations, i think it would be reversible, eventually, and with a lot of difficulty. (lbd and swk remember and oh god the trauma)

[charliesinfern0]

Homestuck=‘Citrus’ EOA1 Q&A Masterpost

So, I just wanted to start this off by saying thank you to everyone who sent in questions! This is my first Q&A so it makes me really happy that people are interested in my work :) Also, if anybody has any follow-up questions or comments, please tell me! I’d love to hear them ^_^

Now lets answer some questions! (under the cut!)

@kaywavy​ asked:

Hehe ty! I had to add a brass section to the beta kids band :]

@jupitermarz01​ asked:

We will see Wyllin sometime in Act 5, and many of the other characters will interact with my OCs. In Act 2, we will see the introductions of John, Rose, and Dave and how their paths interact with Page’s in getting Rose into the Medium :)

@fernsehgerat​ asked:

Yes! We will be seeing the Alpha Kids AND the Cherubs show up in Citrus :) I had the idea that we could maybe explore their session a little more than what we got in Act 6 Act 4.

@asterism343​ asked:

No, she is actually a Mage! :)

@oceanboundfishdude​ asked:

Ok, I saved this one for last because I knew it would have the longest answer lol. I had the initial idea around December of last year/January of this year when I was almost done with my first read-through of Homestuck. I had the thought, “What if my OCs were in Homestuck?” That’s what I always think when I get into something, but I also thought about how that would change the story, and how things could’ve gone differently. The idea turned into what it is now, a retelling/redraw of Homestuck with my OCs in it. Having the original story but with my own art, and inserting segments with my own OCs and their stories.

I had come up with Page, her classpect, her classical element, her associated item, her planet, and things just kind of fell into place. Her element and class, lightning and mage, were reminiscent of Sollux and his psionics, and her Denizen, Marsyas, had connections to both Gamzee, being a satyr and also with her being a Rage player, and Rose, with the story of Marsyas being that he challenged Apollo, the god of Light, to a music duel, but he ended up losing and dying because of it. Her associated item, gold, is represented with the letters Au on the periodic table (thats just some fun trivia lol). For Wyllin, I have a couple ideas about how their story could go, but nothing super concrete. She’s a Thief of Blood, so there are some connections to Karkat (with his aspect) and Vriska (with her class) and how that affects her relationships with others. Rennoa is a Sylph of Blood, but a failed one, so it impacts her relationships her own group of friends, especially with how the Alternian version of her (The Composer, Wyllin’s ancestor) had an impact on the movement that the Signless made. And with Paul....... I would be getting into major spoiler territory >_O

But I also wanted to explore other things, like maybe expanding on the troll’s sgrub session, spending more time with John, Jade, Page, Davesprite, and Nannasprite on the Prospit Ship while they travel through the fourth wall, just the dancestors in general, and a lot more sburb lore with the denizens and planets.

And, I also want to make an epilogue to explore Earth C and the aftermath of everything. Just giving some closure and showing the characters healing and growing from everything that happened. Obviously I dont really have any concrete ideas since I’m only on act 2, but the idea is there! And im very excited to get to it, im excited to tell this story :)

And thats it! Thanks again to everyone who sent in questions :) I’m probably going to do a End of Act 2 Q&A, and Q&As for all the acts since I have so much fun answering your guys’ questions <3

[scammysmileroksuu]

—includes spoilers for part 2, beware!!—

I don't think Ron knew his identity was changed imo, because who would actually think of transmigration when someone close to them suddenly has a change of attitude? It's too absurd, one would just guess that something made them change them.

But I do think that he knew og Cale was acting as trash. And there was an instance where Ron heard Cale say "I can't stay as trash forever", I think he believed that statement for a while and thought that Cale was starting to act like a proper person again.

But then, there are some things that probably made Ron have his doubts. Like the message from the GoD that Cale refused to tell anyone its actual content, the sg test, the appearance of sui (we didn't get much reaction from Ron on this one though), and more scenes that i dont remember now,,,, and finally the current murim arc, where Cale in his young krs form claimed that cjs was his best friend.

I mean. Ron had been with you for your entire life, when did you even befriend that choi han looking guy.

As for the lemonade theory, I don't really have an answer to whether it was a test or it was just Ron annoying the scared Cale or whatever, but i can add that there were only two times (iirc) that Ron had served Cale a drink that's not lemonade or a sour drink: the first time was right before the Henituse territory vs paerun arc (which, Cale didn't get to drink because an attack came right after), and the second time was in murim where Ron served Kim hae-il sweet tea.

It went back to the normal sour tea after that one time, and Ron had said that he just hadn't found something similar to lemonade in central plains at that time, but would that really hinder our almighty butler from finding whatever sour drink to serve Cale? I don't think so. Considering it was right after an important moment of soos reunion and possible identity reveal of KimCale, I think it wasn't just a coincidence.

There is actually a chance that Ron might be thinking that Cale regained hos past life's memories or something, which is, to be honest, more likely than thinking about transmigration...but well.

Anyhow, while it would sound quite sad, I don't think Ron would be too shocked to know Cale is not og Cale anymore. Kimcale was being too sus that it'd be weird if Rom didn't doubt things before.

Additionaly, it was mentioned that Ron didn't care much about og Cale. He went on his path for revenge rather than helping out the injured og Cale after ch beat him up, and honestly no one can really blame Ron for doing so. Because in the end, they were a master and a servant, not a grandfather and their child. And his own child, vicross, wanted to follow ch, so what's stopping him?

I would like to think that at least he would feel sad later that he couldn't really help og Cale with anything while he was there. Ron is basically the person who brought og Cale up

But honestly, the novel have been really dismissing many things about og Cale and how his relationship with Ron formed/changed over the years, and we didn't really get much of his reaction either whenever Cale was acting sus about his identity. They said they'd talk after they go back to Rowoon, so.... we just have yo wait to find out, ig :')

Thanks for typing out your ramble, it was fun to read. I love them too.

I need your opinion, do you think Ron knew that Cale was no longer the same person?

I was stalking the fandom (as usual) and I saw a comment, by who I assume to be a new reader, wondering how Ron would react finding out Cale was actually KRS, that the child he watched grow wasn't actually the man he believes and it made me think a bit.

When I read tcf the first time, one of the things I was most curious about was all the odd looks Cale got in the first few chapters, and my biggest question was, surely a very sharp and experienced assassin who knew the know-hows of blending into different crowds would have immediately noticed that "Young master" was no longer the same person.

I'm sure you caught this too when reading, but there were many moments when Ron's expression turned odd after Cale did or said something.

Ron the whole first chapter:

It starts by something he dismisses, such as Cale waking up immediately after Ron calls out to him, on the very first attempt. But as the chapter progresses, Ron gets more and more intrigued.

He notices how Cale says thanks after he receives water and when servants dress him. Along with his other odd actions, asking the date, repeating his own name, asking to go to the study, not breaking things etc.

And then finally, Ron gives him the ultimate test, the lemon tea. I think this was his way of confirming that Cale had changed. It proved to me Ron was definitely onto something.

Now this is where I need your opinion. From my interpretation of Ron's character, yes he "loved" ogCale or held at least a bit of affection for him. Let me pull up some receipts:

^(sorry for light mode)

Although Ron treated him like his grandson he did not think Cale had a soft spot for him nor that he treated him like a person and never really took much interest in him aside from his duties.

And while I was doing a deep-dive I went on the wiki and saw this.

So Ron saw ogCale, his situation and therefore pitied him, yet he thought of him as a helpless impertinent puppy, which is why he did not have much issue with following Beacrox who wished to leave with Choi Han in BOAH. But only after Cale changed is when he begin to be interested.

Now the question is, was the lemon tea experiment he did, just to test whether Cale had become aware of Ron's true identity, or was it to confirm Cale was a changed person entirely???

Personally I think it was both, and that Ron was aware from the very beginning. However this is where I am conflicted, because the idea of Ron watching that small boy become so big and smart is so satisfying to me, because the author wanted to paint this as a "cale finally stopped pretending to be a dumb oblivious trash and started to take matters into his hand" like it was all a plan cale had to hide his powers and get stronger in secret while acting unsuspecting. This is what the public believes and it sounds very cool but... hmm I wish we got a chapter focusing more on Ron's feelings.

Like I am aware he loves Cale very much and especially after getting the new arm he started to feel a sense of loyalty for Cale he didn't have before but the fact that he was one of the few people og Cale was very close with since he was very young, the fact that a whole new person was in the body is kind of not addressed in its full concept, this transition from no interest to loyalty was also a transition from og cale to krs cale so I wish we got more on it.

Thanks for reading my ramble. I love them.