#haven't used that one in a while but once again relevant

[ohnoitstbskyen]

Hi Skyen, hope you're well! I'm seeking some advice and since you used to work doing mainly art commissions I figured asking you was worth a shot.

I'm a furry artist and I'm looking into doing commission work as a side gig while I finish animation college, and hopefully acquire enough experience/clients/notoriety to turn it into a full time job once I graduate.

Do you have any advice for someone literally just starting out with fresh accounts and zero following? Especially when it comes to reaching people and getting your first clients, and anything that one should take into account when working with NSFW specifically. Also advice for pricing your work is always useful 😅

No need to answer obvs but I'd appreciate your viewpoint if you want to share!

Got 2 asks on this exact subject so I'll write up what advice I can. One big caveat: I haven't worked as a commission artist for like half a decade at this point, and this job has a tendency to change fast, do not take anything I say as gospel. This is advice from a limited perspective, be critical of what I say and trust your peers and the people you are in community with before you trust me.

building audience

Step one is getting people to notice the artwork you create. Literally nothing else can happen until you have eyeballs on your work, and the most consistent and reliable way to make that happen is fanart. Ideally you'd want to produce fanart in a fandom you are personally engaged with and passionate about and familiar with, and which also has a sizeable community whose attention can help you build recognition and a base of followers.

This isn't always possible, and there's many a working artist who creates work for fandoms not out of deep personal connection, but because the fandom is large and relevant and a good way to capture the goodwill of algorithms and content feeds.

This approach has some downsides. For one, genuine fans can usually tell when someone's engagement with Their Thing is shallow, and for another it can be deeply creatively exhausting to chase the algorithm. I don't recommend this approach, but it is a valid means of building a business.

Another important consideration, especially when you are early in your career, is that volume tends to trump quality. Every artist will eventually learn that their shitty joke-doodle they sh*t out in ten minutes on a whim will get a billion reposts, and their complex personal work that took eight weeks to finish gets 2 likes from their closest mutuals and a comment from a bot saying "wow!"

In the age of the algorithm, what machines and for you pages value is a consistent, high-volume of output that generates user engagement. You will generally get further, faster, by producing a lot of work than you will producing great work. Again, this can be rough on your mental state, and a fast way to burn the fuck out, so please be careful and mind your health before all else.

The best way to build something that will last is to build your audience in communities and around fandoms and themes and ideas you genuinely care about and enjoy exploring and interacting with. Being your authentic self and creating work from your authentic interest is generally both healthier and long-term better for your career than trend-chasing. Treat trend-chasing and volume > quality output as tools in your toolbox, as creative and business decisions you can make to achieve a specific purpose, never ever EVER let them become the center of your praxis or your philosophy. Never ever EVER allow the Numbers™ to be your source of validation and accomplishment.

building business

Ok, so you've got eyes on your work. You've got some followers. How the hell do you get them to commission you?

Well, again, by demonstrating a capacity to create kinds of art for which there is demand. In the furry community, there's brisk trade in things like ref sheets and character design, for example. For most fandoms, ship art is a product which tends to be in demand. Being able to do really good expression sheets is a marketable skill. Being able to create compelling and clear emotes for streamers and creators is a marketable skill.

Showing the capacity to work in a wide range of styles is valuable. Showing the capacity to work in a wide range of genres is valuable. If you can do both comedy and romance your appeal expands. If you can do shonen-like action and angst as well, it expands again.

Equally, being incredibly good at a specific niche is valuable as well. Focusing hard on an under-served niche of work can give you a lot of opportunities to be the Go To person for that specific kind of thing.

Perhaps the hardest part of all of this is marketing yourself. Not only showing that you have the skills, but actively informing your audience that you are available, eager and willing to practise your skill for a fee. You have to sell yourself. It sucks, but you have to do it. You have to advertise what you can do, and you have to suffer the rejection and annoyance that comes along with doing that.

You have to ask people to commission you. You have to raise your hand and demand attention. It's not fun, but it's business.

Walking the line between self-promotion and being a person is hard. I can't help you that much with it, it's a very personal balance to find. Stay in touch with your soul, but kill the part that cringes at yourself.

Ultimately, you best marketing asset is your portfolio. Every time you do work, show it off. Repost it, retweet it, spread it around. If someone is happy with what you've made for them, do your best to make sure that other people see that happiness. Ask your clients (politely) to tag you when they share your work.

Oh, and for the love of god, sign everything you create, slap watermarks on anything that's likely to get reposted, and make it impossible for someone not to find your business email on your profile.

building network

If you're a commission artist, you are in community with other commission artists. You share interests, you share experiences, you share needs.

Practise solidarity. Absolutely seek out professional peers to help your business, but equally seek out opportunities to help them with theirs. If someone comes to you for art and you don't have commission slots open, point them at a colleague who you know can do the work too. Gas up your peers and spread their work.

Be a symbiote, not a parasite. Respect the craft of your peers, and don't chase celebrities and big names in the hope of coasting on their coattails. It will fail.

smut

If you're a working artist, at some point you have to reckon with smut and r34.

These genres are excellent sources of income, and fertile ground to build a business and network of customers. BUT. Do not ever make the mistake of thinking that they are "the easy way" or a shortcut. Do not ever make the mistake of thinking you can simply offer to draw tiddies and rake in the cash.

It's work and graft same as literally any other form of labor, it's challenging on both a technical and creative level, and the audience can sense if you're looking down on them. If you approach this from a position of shame, of "eugh, I'm debasing myself by doing this for rent money," it will not work, and you will lose standing and respect in the eyes of every peer whose support you need to succeed.

Just as in all other forms of creativity, if you treat the audience as morons who will slurp up whatever slop you serve them, then you will attract clientele that agrees with you, and you will deserve the misery they will inflict upon you.

If you are going to work in smut, establish your boundaries and enforce them. Know that good clients will feel safer and more comfortable with an artist who clearly states their red lines and earnest interests than they will with someone who tries to attract more clients by pretending to be open to work that they are actually uncomfortable with.

Never, ever, EVER let a client push you to create work you are not comfortable creating. It scars your soul in both the short and long term.

Also, when working with this kind of content, know the rules of payment processors and know how to hide the nature of your business from them. PayPal should never, EVER know the details of the content you sell with their service. Frankly, neither should your bank, most likely.

Look to your peers for advice and best practises about this. And be meticulous about your bookkeeping.

money

I want to tell you to charge at least minimum wage for your time. I want to tell you to charge substantially more than that, because your labor is specialized and highly skilled.

But the economic reality of commission work is that there is a crushing downwards pressure on the labor price of art, which has only been made more devastating by the rise of generative AI, and especially when you are a young artist just starting out, you're going to find yourself in a position where charging even minimum wage for your time will turn away a huge proportion of your potential customers.

Again, your portfolio will be the greatest argument for the value of your work, but you have to build that portfolio first, and very often that means doing a f*kton of work for not remotely enough pay until the pressure of demand finally works in your favor.

I don't condone or justify this state of affairs. It is horrid and I hate it, but I don't know how to fix it either.

Making a living from content creation of any kind requires you to get lucky, on top of working obscene hours and foregoing rest and vacations. It's not a safe or sensible plan for a career or paying your bills.

My sensible advice is to get a "normal" job you can survive doing, and do your creative work on the side, and resign yourself to the possibility that the creative work may never actually pay your bills.

And that is soul-crushing, but I cannot stomach pretending that hard work and gumption will guarantee anyone a decent living if they just try hard enough.

There are people who are better at every aspect of my work than I am, and they struggle harder and work for longer, and they will never see half the success I have, because I happened to get lucky, and they happened not to. It's wretched.

I'm not telling you not to chase your dreams. I'm telling you to do it with your eyes open, and with compassion for yourself first before all else.

All of this to say: I can't tell you what to charge for your work. It depends on everything from your competition to your niche to your genre to your community to your economic situation. You have to figure it out on your own.

All I can tell you is never forget that your work is worth more than the market will let you charge, and to raise your prices as soon and as much as you can. Try to reach at least minimum wage for your time as fast as possible.

in conclusion

Again, I haven't been a commission artist full time for a long time, please do not take any of this as gospel. Listen to your peers before you listen to me.

But trust me about the solidarity. It will save you when all else fails.

[shockmastervoidstate]

The pre-void state vs the real void state — differences, how to enter the real void state and my experience yesterday

Hey, void explorers, there are a couple of things I want to talk about regarding the void state.

Pre-void state vs the real void state — key differences

When you attempt to achieve the void state or shift realities, you might experience typical symptoms which could be confused with the void state.

These include: feelings of rotating, floating, flying or falling through empty space, often while seeing stars and galaxies or other lights and often while hearing buzzing sounds, wind noises, voices, music or other sounds.

Shifters and void explorers used to falsely believe that this is the void state, but it's not. If you experience the symptoms above, you are close and "get a taste" of the void, but you aren't there yet.

There is no failure and no randomness in the void state. If you shift from the void, you are guaranteed to end up exactly in the reality you want to be in.

In the void, there is also no movement and nothing to hear or see — unless you intend(ed) to manifest these things in the void.

It's also impossible to shift back to the CR involuntarily, because when you are in the void, you achieved a complete detachment and separation from your CR and your CR body.

The same cannot be said about the pre-void state. In this state, you haven't fully detached/separated from your CR yet.

You can manifest and shift from the pre-void state, but success isn't guaranteed.

In fact, when I shift from the pre-void state, I usually end up in random realities and can only stay there for a couple of minutes to a couple of hours.

How to enter the real void state from the pre-void state

Use any of the community's methods or your own method to shift or enter the void state.

If you end up in the pre-void state, here's how to enter the real void state. This information is from successful shifters on amino, reddit and Tumblr.

When you are in the pre-void state, keep doing your method and ignore the symptoms. (If your method is no longer relevant, repeat affirmations like "I am in the void state" or or simply "I am")

Ignore the floating, the sounds, the sights, the sensations. Don't react to anything.

Instead, keep going until you are in the real void. Try not to get excited. This will be easy once you've experienced the pre-void many times.

You can try to shift to your DR from the pre-void state, but as I explained, success from shifting from the pre-void isn't guaranteed.

My experience yesterday

Enough of the lecturing, it's story time. I practiced what I preached yesterday.

Yesterday evening, before going to bed, I relaxed and repeated affirmations like "I can enter the void state", "entering the void state is easy" etc.

Did this for one and a half hour and got rewarded for my efforts the following day.

When I went to sleep, I just repeated the affirmation "I am" over and over again until I fell asleep.

I had a random dream and at a random point, I fell through the floor, became conscious of myself and experienced the pre-void state.

Had all the symptoms I talked about. I felt like flying through a black space and saw a white galaxy like the Milky Way ahead.

Kept repeating "I am".

...

Despite my best efforts, I woke up in the CR.

It was still a nice experience. I feel refreshed, because even the pre-void state is therapeutic thanks to the freedom and limitlessness it allows you to experience for a very brief moment.

I'm taking a break today and will attempt to achieve the void state tomorrow. I did a good job of ignoring very invasive distractions I encountered in the pre-void, including voices. Next time, I will do even better.

-shockmaster

[fadedncity]

mask off

wc: 2.5k

pairing: jisung x fem!reader

cw: smut, bf!jisung, non idol au, mentions of other idols, semi public sex, knife play, role play, fingering, choking, manhandling, praise and degradation kink, pet names, teasing, unprotected sex, mentions of alcohol consumption and use of marijuana, horror movie references

a/n: not really relevant but thought i’d clarify reader is dressed as tiffany valentine from bride of chucky.

You checked your phone for what seems like the fifth time in the last ten minutes. Nervously gnawing on your bottom lip, you rechecked your call log to make sure you didn't miss one from him.

You sigh, locking your phone, and look over the balcony. Scanning the crowd below you, taking over Ningning's backyard, you search for Jisung. But you knew it would be no use between there being too many people and you not knowing what he was dressed as.

It wasn't until your eyes stopped on one person.

The Ghostface mask had initially caught your attention and caused you to do a double take, as it's surprisingly the first and only you've seen tonight. But you also realize they're looking back at you. With everyone else too intoxicated to notice you even up on the balcony, they were the only one looking up at you.

The masked individual doesn't do or say anything, remaining still as the party carries on around them. You straighten up when a bit of paranoia creeps up your spine.

Just as you start retrieving back into the house, you jump at the sound of a knock on the balcony door and snap your head in its direction.

"Hey," Yunjin slides the door shut behind her, joining you outside, "you okay?" she asks.

You peer back over the balcony and no longer see this Ghostface anywhere outside.

"Yeah, I'm fine," you tell her, also telling yourself it was nothing, "Have you seen Jisung? He was supposed to be here a while ago but I haven't heard from him and his phone's probably on do not disturb again."

"No, but Alyssa said she just saw Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, and Ghostface pull up, pretty sure it was Chenle, Jisung, and Yangyang. So he's probably just around here somewhere."

"Alright," you say, heading back inside.

"We're about to smoke if you wanna join us, by the way."

"Let me head to the bathroom first."

"You need me to come with?" Yunjin asks.

"Nah, I won't be long. Just make sure Hyuck doesn't leave me with just the roach," you say.

. . .

You were humming along to the melody of the song you could hear playing outside of the bathroom as you reapplied your lipstick.

Your phone buzzed on the countertop with a text from Yunjin telling you to hurry up before you miss the cyph. You take one last look in the mirror, making sure your hair remains intact in its updo before collecting yourself and heading out.

Since you were looking down at your phone as you exited the bathroom, you didn't realize someone was standing in the corridor. 

When you do finally notice them, you almost jump out of your skin, having been unaware of your surroundings. 

"Holy fuck," you hold your hand over your rapidly beating heart. 

With the poor lighting, you can barely make out the face of the robed figure until they take a step closer, and you see the Ghostface mask.

"Jisung?" you call out to him, "First you can't text me back, then you go and scare me half to death?" you laugh.

He still didn't say anything, just silently standing there, the soulless black eyes of the mask staring back at you. His gloved hands reach into the pockets of his jeans, revealing the knife.

You were almost positive that it was Jisung, for sure, once you saw the familiar blade. 

Again, you laugh, "We're really doing this? 'Please, Mr. Ghostface, don't kill me. I wanna be in the sequel.'" you joke.

He remained quiet, your recital of Tatum's last words in the movie, seemingly falling on deaf ears.

"Is everything okay?" you ask.

Still no response. He tilted his head and took a step forward.

"Alright, babe, you're starting to scare me," you say, backing away from him while clutching your phone.

He was backing you back toward the bathroom, and you were running out of room to go.

"Jisung, seriously, you're freaking me the fuck out," you say once your back hits the door. The space between you gets smaller and smaller, with you nowhere left to go.

Is it even really Jisung? 

You're breathing so heavily, that every time you inhale, your chest hits his as his face inches closer to yours.

"Boo!"

Your anxiety dissipates once you hear the switchblade click shut, and Jisung drops his hood, pulling the mask from over his head. He's laughing, so you punch him in the shoulder.

"Ow!" Jisung rubs his arm.

"Fuck you! That wasn't funny," you say.

"Okay, okay, I'm sorry." Jisung holds your waist, "but it was almost too perfect of a chance I had to take." he says, and you cross your arms over your chest. "Come on, if I really was some serial killer you think I'd do it in a house full of witnesses."

"Have you learned nothing from the movies?" you furrow your brows.

"All I'm saying is if I really was Ghostface…" he takes out the voice modulator, holding it up to his mouth, "I'd give you a better death than just bleeding out in some dark hallway."

Heat pooled in your lower stomach, and your breathing became shallow. You're embarrassed to admit how much hearing Jisung's voice through the modifier turned you on. 

"How thoughtful," your lashes flutter, "But I'm pretty sure I'd be able to take you as Ghostface."

"You weren't putting up much of a fight five seconds ago."

"Who said anything about taking you in a fight?"

"Oh?" he raises a brow, "Is that so?"

Jisung opens the bathroom door behind you, pushing you inside the confined space. Once he locks the door shut, he connects his lips to yours. He lifts you by your waist, settling you on the countertop, and you wrap your legs around his hips.

You roughly fist Jisung's hair, the kiss quickly becoming heated. His hands are all over you, sending goosebumps all over your skin. Jisung's tongue slips into your mouth, tasting the lingering bitterness of smoke from your last hit a while ago, mixing with the drink he had before finding you still on his lips.

One of his hands find their way between your legs, swiping his fingers over your clothed pussy. You shutter, attempting to close your legs around his hand to keep him there. Even through his gloves, he can tell you're already soaked through your panties and smirks at you.

"What's got you this wet, Ms. Valentine?"

"You, Ji," you answer. 

"All me for me huh?" he asks, and your brows furrow in confusion, "You sure it wasn't Ghostface who's got you this wet?"

Oh, shit. 

"I uh-"

"After making me watch all six movies on only our second date, I didn't really think much of it," he says, and you sheepishly laugh, "But it all started to make sense when I overheard you on the phone with Chaeryeong the other day…" Jisung trails off, hoping you'd catch on.

And you do, gasping with wide eyes, "Oh my god, no you didn't."

"I kinda did."

You groan, covering your face, "I didn't say anything because I didn't want you to think I was weird."

"Hate to break it to you, but I already thought that," he says lightheartedly.

"Jisung," you whine out of embarrassment.

"There's nothing to be embarrassed about, baby. I just don't know why you didn't say anything to me before," he softly pouts.

"And how exactly did you want me to go about that? 'Hey, babe, how was your day? By the way, I have this twisted fantasy of being railed by Ghostface. Wanna grab dinner?'" you question.

"Obviously not like that," Jisung scoffs, "I'm just saying, as your boyfriend, I'm more than happy to turn this twisted fantasy into a reality for you," he smiles at you, "Do you trust me?"

"With my life," you nod.

"Then would you allow me the honor?"

"The honor's all yours."

You snake your arms around Jisung's neck as he crashes his lips into yours. He brings his lips to your neck, suckling the skin between his teeth, leaving small bruises along your throat.

"You know this is almost always exactly how it goes in horror movies," you comment and you tip your head back, giving him more access.

"Oh my god," Jisung rolls his eyes, "Look if you don't wanna-" Jisung jokingly reaches for the doorknob.

"No, no," you keep your legs locked around him, "If I'm to die tonight, right here with you is where I'd wanna be," you kiss him.

"Can't think of anywhere else I'd wanna be. Now are you gonna keep talking about death or let me fuck you?" Jisung pulls you back onto your feet, turning you around to face the mirror.

"I'm not the only eager one here, I see," you push your ass into his groin.

"As much as I'd love to stay here and play with you all night, princess, we've already been gone for too long and the search party will come looking soon," he says before pulling a glove off with his teeth.

Jisung rolls the leather of your dress up over your hips and slides his hand between your legs. He pulls your panties to the side and slips a finger into your pussy.

"God, you're fucking soaked already," Jisung says, adding a second finger, causing your eyes to flutter shut, "This shit really does turn you on," a lopsided grin takes place on his face before his fingers leave you empty.

You grumble, frustrated. "Fuck off-"

"I'd watch your tone, sweetness," he held the knife to your throat. "Wouldn't wanna lose that pretty voice of yours."

It was then, you realized he pulled the mask back down over his head. You felt the edge of the knife press against your esophagus. If you hadn't previously been in this position with your boyfriend a number of times before, one would think you'd be worried, maybe even a little scared. But no, you were now beyond the point of being turned on, your body practically boiling with arousal.  

"Please, don't," you plead, "I'll do anything," you turn your head to look at him and bat your lashes.

"Anything, huh?"

"Anything," you nod.

Jisung began tracing the knife edge along your chest, "With a pretty thing like you, I'm sure I can think of a few other things to do with you."

In one quick motion, he drops the knife to his other hand, and you hear the sound of fabric ripping as he slices your panties and pulls it from your body.

And there goes the third pair this month. 

But you could care less about your tattered underwear, now discarded on the tiled floor, once you hear the zipper of his jeans coming undone. Jisung wastes no more time and lines his cock up with your entrance. You sharply inhale, feeling his thick length open you up.

"Oh my god," your voice was barely above a whisper.

"Is that what you wanted?" he asked in your ear, "Let me use you however I want for the sake of saving your pretty little life."

You manage to open your eyes and look at your reflection. The sight of the mask behind you as his cock is buried balls deep inside of you, flooded you with more arousal, your walls fluttering around his dick.

Your response was interrupted by the moan bubbling up your throat, but Jisung saw the smile breaking out on your face.

"Y-Yes," you nod, "God—please…fuck me."

"See how easy it is to get to what you want when you just use your words," you hear the smirk on his voice, "Gonna take it all for me like a good girl, yeah?"

You nod with a gasp, your nails scratching against the marble countertop as Jisung's cock stretches you open, bottoming out. "Mhm! I'll be good. I'll be so good for you, I promise."

Jisung draws his hips back before slamming back into you, filling you to the hilt. He grabs onto your hips, pulling you back onto his cock. Your ass slaps against his pelvis each time he fills you up, picking up momentum and fucking you at a steady pace.

Loud moans and cries along with Jisung's name tumbled hazardously from your lips. Jisung's gloved hand covers your mouth, muffling your noises.

"God, you're such a whiny slut," he says, "Pathetically crying out like a bitch in heat."

You whine, seemingly struggling against his hold as you grew flustered at his words.

"No need to try and deny it, sweets. I've had my eyes on you long enough to know, this is the exact moment you've been having wet dreams of," Jisung's strong arms securely hold you against his chest, "What would that cute boyfriend of yours think if he were to see you like this? Letting me use you however I please and not being able to do anything to stop me." he darkly chuckles.

It turns you on even more knowing Jisung is just as into this as you are.

"God…you're sick," you pant.

"You're the one who's letting a dangerous killer fuck you, and I'm the sick one?"

"Fuck you," you spit.

Jisung's hand wraps around your neck, lightly squeezing down on the sides.

"Fuck me, huh. You're doing a great job at doing so already, princess," the roughness of his voice through the modulator had your head spinning or maybe it was the limited oxygen you were granted as his hand was still around your neck. Either way you could feel yourself stumbling closer to the edge.

You slip up and call out your boyfriend's name. "Ji, oh god, mhm—it's so good, oh my god!" you threw your head back.

"That's it, baby. You're doing so good for me."

"Feels so good—fuck, Sungie," Your back arched as you attempted to move your hips and began fucking yourself back on his cock.

Jisung was drunk off you—Every whimper and whine he pulled from you as he bent you over the sink, fucking you relentlessly. And the way your body writhed and squirmed against him, the intense pleasure flooding your veins as his tip kissed your sweet spot.

"Look at yourself," he grabbed your jaw, making you look into the mirror "If only everyone else could see how badly I've ruined you, precious."

Your mouth hangs open, nothing coming out except for broken moans. But there's a drunken smile on your face.

"Sungie, please," you whimper.

Jisung brings his hand back your throat, but without applying pressure this time. "You close, pretty?" Jisung asks, and you ferociously nod.

"Wanna cum for you," you whine, "Please, baby," your voice cracked with desperation.

"Cute how desperate you can get. It's almost pathetic."

"Jisung, oh my god-"

You reach behind you and grab the back of his head. Jisung feels the mask being pulled off his head, allowing you to drop it to the floor. Messy black locks flopped over his forehead as his eyes readjusted to the lighting. Fisting your hand in his hair, you bring his lips to yours, meeting in a desperate and sloppy kiss.

Jisung feels the knot inside him ready to snap but holds back as his hand returns between your thighs. He rubs sloppy circles into your clit, and you squirm in his arms, trying desperately to chase your release.

"Come on, sweetheart. I wanna hear you scream for me."

You see stars behind your eyes as a moan rips from your throat, bouncing off every surface in the small space. Your body shakes in Jisung's arms as you cum. His cock throbs, his release finally coming when your pussy chokes his dick, and he paints your walls white.

"Fuck," Jisung rasps in your ear. He grabs onto the edge of the sink, fucking his cum into you as you squirm, feeling overstimulated.

You fall back against his chest, resting your head on his shoulder, "That was fucking amazing," you heavily pant against his skin as you place a kiss below his jaw.

"Yeah?" he caresses your face.

"I don't think I've ever cum that hard in my life."

"I aim to please you, very very well," he kissed your forehead before slipping out of your heat. You mewl, feeling his fingers brush your folds, collecting his cum as it starts to drip out of you.

"I'm gonna be thinking about this for the next few months, by the way."

"Then I guess there's no need to get rid of the mask after tonight," Jisung smirks, picking the mask up from the ground.

You smile against his lips, "Definitely not."

a/n: uhh this was very self indulgent and lowkey inspired by this. thank you for reading!! feedback is appreciated <33

[meanbossart]

DU DROW LORE ASK COMPILATION: COMPANIONS, ASTARION'S READING HABITS, AND HIS LONG-INQUIRED OPINIONS ABOUT BODILY WASTE REVEALED.

I don't think "discussed" is the right word, more so mocked her for her blind faith and got into brief spats. It was precisely Shadowheart's water-off-a-duck's-back attitude towards his remarks that kind ingratiated her to him - DU drow spoke his mind, she took it in stride and remained firm in her beliefs without arguing or trying to push it on him. That, alongside the fact that they are surprisingly similar people is what brought them together as friends.

Even long after the events of the game he's still opposed to her hopping from Shar to Selune, also. Shadowheart's attachment to religion is simply something they agree to disagree about.

Can I answer your question with one of my own?

Am I the only idiot that killed her in their first run LOL

BUT YES, he killed Lae'zel when she tried to murder suicide the camp and I went through the whole game without her. I didn't go to the creche either!

I have since had other runs and she's actually one of my favorite characters, I just haven't had the chance to draw her yet.

ACTUALLY - scratch that. I've drawn her once-

Somewhat! But not really. He genuinely just likes jewelry, and rings are the only kind that suit his life-style (necklaces and earrings are a hazard during fighting) this is a reference to his bhaalist days when he used to be completely covered in the stuff day and night.

Hence why he finds them comforting to have on in some way or another. They change around because he gets bored of/misplaces runs out of fingers to wear the new rings that he loots constantly.

The great link in question

I don't know if it's been made clear enough, but DU drow's love for Astarion is borderline pathological, LOL. He's got a good humor about things and Astarion is definitely no stranger to having little quips and jokes made at his expense (a few references to him being Pointy And Long here and there, for sure), but the guy overwhelmingly adores him and thinks he's always the prettiest girl at the ball, even when he gets in his face and his nose looks huge.

I'll be honest, Astarion strikes me as the kind of guy that has like, 3 really weird books he really enjoys and reads them again and again very slowly over the course of years. Otherwise, not really a reader, but I digress -

DU drow was probably never a big reader himself, I would say he got started on a couple of books back in the day but likely never finished any. He's fairly intelligent, but most of his downtime was spent managing the cult and parsing through relevant documentation.

I definitely don't think he'd have the attention-span for fiction (which I picture as being said books that Astarion enjoys) but he does like to snuggle up with his beau to watch him read - every once in a while he catches a particularly scandalous line or description and they bicker about it. He makes a remark, Astarion feels obligated to explain the context, it devolves into some playful kind of argument that ends with Astarion telling him to go dig a hole and die in it while playing with his hair - The usual LOL.

Oh man I have a few more in-dept descriptions of how that went, both lore-wise and just for me as the player - but in summary, DU drow was pretty mean to everyone earlier on in the game and he did catch onto Astarion's very obvious and obnoxious seduction attempts very clearly. He doesn't like being so desperately pursued and they actually got off on the extremely wrong foot because of it, LOL.

After being unpromptedly rejected at the tiefling party he was a little more enticed by him, basically the "no" was his "go". I like to think of it like Astarion catching onto the fact that his initial strategy wasn't working and that this man in particular needed him to play hard to get - from that point on, DU drow started playing along. DU knew this was still a game, but now they were playing it on even ground so he was fine with it.

First of all - he inexplicably got butt-ass naked for the event.

All in all he liked it a whole lot and it was his re-introduction to the concept of pain being dished out as a form of love and his deep enjoyment of it.

Thank you so much, glad to hear you get some joy out of my work!

Dang it I had a pretty good write-up about his thoughts on Wyll from a long time ago, but I can't find it 😭

In summary, Wyll was a frustrating person for him to be around because of what he viewed to be a deeply ingrained naivete about the world. He shockingly didn't hate him (Wyll is kind of difficult to hate) but he never really saw him as an equal either, and definitely not as a friend. Du drow just desperately wanted him to express something that he would perceive as a genuine emotion; some kind of outburst or show of anger or frustration, but all he ever saw was someone trying to put on an act of performative heroism that he didn't buy at all.

At the same time, Wyll was far too young for him to be too mad. He might have held his father more accountable for making the guy into what he was than Wyll himself, really.

Can a man be scared of being scared? Because if so, it's that.

He also doesn't like shit a normal amount. (piss is fine depending on whose it is.)

[undertale-yellow]

Experimental Patch 1.1.0

First, we would like to thank everyone for the incredible reception we've got for UTY 💛 it's been surreal in the best way

We do hear your feedback though, and have worked to address what we can in a new patch for Undertale Yellow. Please be warned, we haven't been able to test everything with this patch, but we're confident it should work in a normal playthrough

Thank you once again for playing and giving feedback! We realize these are not all the issues that have been brought up, but we will continue to work toward improving the game!

You can download Undertale Yellow version 1.1.0 on Gamejolt!

**This new build will recognize any ongoing save, so just make a new folder for the zip contents or replace the old ones and you're good to go

Changelog under the cut ↓

Major Changes

Added two new accessibility options: - Easy mode: When enabled, the Hats now provide DEF values for an easier experience (can be changed mid playthrough) - Auto Rhythm: When enabled, automatically hits the notes in the rhythm fight without having to press a button, if you are in the correct lane

Reworked the final pacifist boss fight attacks to be less chaotic and unpredictable

During a chase sequence, a character was supposed to slow down every time they catch you in the chase, it now works as intended

Added an Act heal to the final No Mercy route boss (Also fixed a crash caused by this Act option being partially implemented but not working)

Crashes and Softlocks

Fixed a crash caused by using the “shoo” command twice during the dunebud duo fight

Fixed a crash caused by interacting with an object while completing the minecart puzzle

Fixed being able to backtrack on the second steam puzzle, which could lead to a crash and your save being ruined

Fixed a crash caused by pressing Z on frame 1 of the attack targetting cursor

Fixed a crash caused by a demo saved game being present on your system

Fixed a softlock caused by blocking Mo’s path as he’s leaving

Fixed a softlock caused by interacting with the crystal tree in Snowdin from the left

Fixed a softlock in the final pacifist boss fight where the selection soul would disappear from the menu

Fixed a softlock caused by sending one of the mine carts off track

Fixed an issue that caused one of Cactony’s attacks to never end

Fixed a softlock caused by mashing through the text fast in the raft room in Snowdin

Fixed a softlock caused by turning around immediately upon entering one of the rooms in the lategame

Fixed a very specific bug that caused you to get stuck on a bridge upon retrying a fight under it

Fixed a crash during the Guardener fight that could happen on her last line of dialogue

Fixed an unrelated softlock in the Guardener fight

Fixed a crash on the final No Mercy boss caused by getting hit on the same frame as you defeat the boss

Other

Fixed the tutorial buttons being swapped in the arcade minigame, also added additional information to the tutorial screen

Changed the Delta Rune Patch gold requirement from 150 to 100

Increased the item stock in the final shop of the No Mercy route (Applies on save reset)

Fixed mistakes in the credits

Fixed several line breaks, typos and mistakes in the text

Altered one of Sir Slither’s act dialogues to make the sparing condition more apparent

Added an autosave post the final pacifist boss as a temporary help with reported performance issues in this cutscene

Added the Auto-Fire toggles to the death screen of relevant fights so you don’t need to restart the game and fights in order to change it

Fixed a mood ruining issue in the final act caused by an unintended random event

Other minor fixes

[tiredandoptimistic]

thisisnotawebsitedotcom.com complete "riddle" questions and answers

When I first started looking through lists of keywords for thisisnotawebsitedotcom.com, I was confused by a bunch of them which, when entered, produced questions which seem completely unrelated to their trigger phrases. I realized that all the prompts are answers to other questions, meaning it's possible to put them in order and create a complete test. I doubt I'm the first to figure this out, but I still think it's super cool, so here's all the questions and how to find their answers!

(Apologies in advance for the photo quality, they're all described in alt text).

First, you enter the code "RIDDLE" to get "WOULD YOU LIKE TO PLAY A GAME?" which to me is proof that Bill at least has decent taste in movies.

Next, you can either type "NO" or "YES," to get either "YOUR LOSS..." or "WHAT"S MCGUCKET'S FAVORITE SODA"

The answer to this question is "MOUNTAIN DON'T," and while I swear I remember reading this someplace, I can't find the actual source.

Once you enter it, you get the question "WHAT'S A MEDIEVAL HOMONYM?"

Which can be found in the Dark Ages pages of The Book of Bill, in the border of the illuminated manuscript:

"LYRE LIAR"

"Anti-Cipher Tonic" appears near the end of the "Anti Cipher Society" pages, complete with an ingredients list:

The twentieth of which is "Harold's Ramblings"

When you enter it you get another question to which I cannot find the source of the answer, but going off the list of phrases that've been found, I'm guessing it's "UNION MADE"

Bill's government file can be found on the page about the 1940s, and is labeled with:

A number which gets you:

Okay and I swear this is the last one I can't show my work on, but wherever you find it the answer is "Grebley Hemberdreck"

A reference to the picture of Bill celebrating the bubonic plague on the Dark Ages page.

And that funky little rodent gives you:

A reference to Thurburt Mudget Waxstaff III of the Anti-Cipher Society and his eventual fate of being institutionalized:

Once you enter his number, you get a question about tracks in the snow:

Which is answered on Ford's missing journal pages about winter in Gravity Falls:

The tinsel snake gets you "THE 6TH OPTION ON BILL'S EDITING SOFTWARE?"

Which can be found on the page where Bill designs a cover for his book:

The sixth option, "Torture Mentally," leads to:

Which is yet another reference to the Dark Ages, and Bill's adventures with the wizard Xgqrthx the Unpronounceable.

Whose name produces:

An address which is provided on the 1990s Tri Angels page, in the mail order form:

Said address takes you to:

To answer this question, you need to do a little more digging around the website. When you enter the code "NAITSUAF," you get a letter from Bill attempting to recruit you into his MLM soul-selling scheme, complete with this note from his lawyer:

And once you enter the name "MULTILEVEL MARK," you get the final question:

(For some reason I haven't figured out, "CAESAR ATBASH VIGENERE" produces the same result as "MULTILEVEL MARK," so that's one way to skip to the end I guess).

Silas Birchtree is referenced in The Book of Bill on the Cults page:

But his full story isn't revealed until you enter "STOD EHT TCENNOC" on the website.

The whole document is definitely a worthwhile read, but there's really only one aspect that's relevant to our purpose:

It was Emmaline Butternubbins who killed Silas Birchtree (again) in 1952! And when you enter her name into the computer, it tells you that you've finally earned a treat. Huzzah!

(Interestingly to me a least, "EMMALINE BUTTERNUBBINS" and "BUTTERNUBBINS" both work as codes, but "EMMALINE" does not. I guess Bill's not on a first name basis with her).

Anyways, once you enter "DISPENSE MY TREAT," a folder is downloaded onto your device which is full of text-free versions of art from The Book of Bill, which you can use for desktop wallpapers or any other nefarious purposes your mind can conceive of.

I hope you've enjoyed going on this journey with me, because I've sure spent an amount of time on it.

[time-is-restored]

What Happened At The Church On Ruby Road?

AKA: Why does RTD want us to watch Ruby's first episode with a ruler and protractor?

Alright, so since I read this article excerpt yesterday night I haven't been able to stop thinking about what trick could be hidden in the sequence between the cloaked woman, the doctor, and baby ruby. While I'm not at all claiming to know the answer, I have a few details to point out that might help with further analysis.

First of all: A Continuity Error (On Purpose?)

At the very beginning of TCORR, when the doctor's giving his 'once upon a time,' speech, we see the TARDIS materialise + the doctor appear, looking in the direction of the cloaked woman, looking distraught. Disney+ is evil so I can't get an accurate screenshot, so take this scuffed photo instead, taken from 1:03. You can see a tear rolling down his cheek (little white dot on the left of his face, in line w this nose).

Later in the episode, when the doctor materialises in the scene for the first time, there is no tear. It's a marginally different shot in several ways, but that's the most noticable to me - screenshot taken from 42:59.

By itself, this is totally negligible. But I think when taken with the opening monologue (which heavily implies that the doctor finds out the cloaked woman's identity - "As for the mother, she was never seen again. No one ever knew her name, until that night a time traveller came to call. A traveller known as the Doctor."), there is possible evidence here that the doctor came to this moment twice. Once in the sequence of events as we see them, rescuing Ruby from the goblins, and once where... something else happened.

Second: The Layout of The Church

We get a few aerial shots of the church when the camera is showing the ascent of the ship, and a lovely wide shot as the doctor decides to not follow the cloaked woman (taken from 46:28 and 44:07).

The most important thing I want to point out is the way the hedge path curves to the right in the direction the doctor and the cloaked lady are facing. You can only really see it in that one shot (so I hope it's not a lens effect!). The aerial shot helps clarify that nothing is obstructing either of the character's view of the church.

We can also see that in this iteration of their encounter, the cloaked woman is standing a little bit to the right of the doctor (thanks to the curved path).

Third: The Timing

The only real indication of how much real time is passing in each scene is the clock striking midnight. So, when does that happen?

In the opening sequence, the clock strikes midnight after the man from the church has found Ruby and picked her up. We then see the woman relatively far down the road that we can see in that above screenshot, and THEN we see the TARDIS apparate and the Doctor appear.

In the goblin sequence, the woman is already far down the road well before it hits midnight, as the doctor sees her walking away before he runs to save baby ruby. Obviously time moves slower than usual in TV actions scenes, but that's not all - we see the clock strike midnight before the man from the church picks Ruby up.

Furthermore, the woman has... barely moved at all in those few minutes. Screenshots from 43:00 and then 46:45.

Okay, that should be all the relevant information from TCORR. Now to get to that point!

Fourth: The Point

This is where things go off the fucking rails. Here's our orienting shots for the Point.

Just to compare the positions of the doctor's shot here, here's the last shot we have of him looking at the lady in TCORR:

While this could just be a fancy camera angle, I think the Doctor is standing more to (his) left of the TARDIS than in this above shot. AKA: he's standing more to the left than she is. That emphasises that, if the woman was to be pointing at him when she turns around, she should be pointing to her right.

But I don't think she is -- especially in that wide shot, her arm looks like it's going wide. It's going more to the left than it should be. If RTD hadn't explicitly said the 'who's pointing at who' was significant, I would be fine with accepting that she's pointing at the doctor -- especially since that's how the doctor reads it.

And if we go back to the layout of the church, the things she could be pointing at are, in order of exactly how far to the left she'd have to point:

something just behind the doctor (would explain how close the point is to him)

the path up to the church

the clock tower

ruby/the baby

Regardless of where she's pointing, I think the implication is that there's someone else at the scene, doing something that the doctor didn't notice (perhaps due to his own bias with mother figures).

Wild Speculation:

Now, what do I think this means? Honestly, no idea LOL. It's still all just vague enough it could go in fifty different directions. But we know for sure that the moment where Ruby Sunday was left at the church is a moment in flux, thanks to the the Doctor's memory changing + the song in the background being different in Devil's Chord.

Part of me wonders if there's something (someone?) hiding inside that memory/moment in time? Like how Thirteen hid her companions inside their own time stream to try and buy time away from the swarm guys? It would explain the Maestro's reaction -- 'he couldn't have been there[...] on the night of her birth' -- in the devil's chord, the young boy is a harbinger. Maybe ruby is the harbinger of something too? That could also explain why it started snowing in the TARDIS after 15 scanned her -- the same thing happened when Maestro started trying to pull out her song.

Then if you go with the changeling angle, it's entirely possible we're about to get a shell game with babies 2: electric boogaloo (thanks russel for saying we should rewatch a good man goes to war, i'll never sleep again 👍). Maybe while the doctor's too busy watching the cloaked woman, someone else is intervening, switching her baby for ruby? Or doing something To her baby that explains why ruby is so... wrong, for lack of a better word?

Also, looking between the opening sequence vs the goblin sequence timing, we have several minutes where the cloaked woman is totally unaccounted for in the latter, as well as an entire interaction between her and the doctor that... didn't happen? Or did happen, but was forgotten? Unwritten? Rewritten? Etc.?

If I had to make a bet (and let's be honest, what else are we doing while theorising LOL), I'd say that something about that night has been memory-holed out of existence. Possibly a doomed timeline that righted itself, ala 73 yards, but left just enough trace that the people involved know something happened (ruby knows she's been to wales three times before, the doctor knows he was pointed at).

I think it was triggered when the lady and the doctor got too close to each other (did she hear that the goblin ship was taking her baby? did she turn around and see something she otherwise would have missed?), and realised something about each other (or ruby?) that needed to stay dormant. the cold opening implies the doctor learns her name, and since there don't appear to be any time of the angels sneaky outfit change moments, i can only assume it happened here, somewhere in this memory.

And hell, in for a penny in for a pound, maybe it all got undone (retconned, in universe, in real time), because the Doctor shouldn't learn about the cloaked woman until the finale? Spoilers? In TV meta, did the director tell all the other actors (the church man + the cloaked lady) to hold in place until the doctor was back in position?

[Final note, regarding the continuity error I noted first up, in TV shows with ad breaks factored in -- brief fades to black at dramatic moments, then the last ten seconds play again to remind the audience what's happening -- sometimes directors would use different takes for before and after the ad break. Maybe that's the explanation for the tear -- in universe, that cold open stopped in its tracks the moment the opening was cued to play. It then started again with a doctor who had last cried several minutes ago, and the scene played out as intended.]

Anyway fellow 'the mistakes are in there on purpose' believers how are we FEELING!!!!!

[blood-and-pizza]

... OH MY GOD. I HAD A EUREKA MOMENT ABOUT THE BOOK "THE WEEK BEFORE"

Okay hear me out: there's a part where Ralph is reminiscing about how Foxy was once on the same stage as Freddy, Bonnie, and Chica, but was "banished" to Pirate's Cove. (Ralph even put the out of order sign at Pirate's Cove there himself, though I'm not sure if that's relevant at all.)

Now... you know how Michael Afton is Foxy Bully? What if the book is actually telling us that Michael USED to be friends with the other bullies, but after what happened to his little brother Dave, Michael was banished from the friend group? Like... none of them wanted to speak to Michael ever again, because he killed his brother?

And mind you, these kids couldn't have been more than 12 or 13 at the time, so I can't exactly blame Michael's ex-friends for ditching him.

What do you guys think? Am I reading into it too much? I know Scott loves leaving breadcrumbs in his books...

One more thought: if Freddy, Chica, and Bonnie remained on the same stage... then MAYBE Freddy Bully, Chica Bully, and Bonnie Bully remained friends after ditching Mike. Meaning...

Oswald's dad, Cassie's dad, and some third kid's parent were all friends while they were all still alive.

Cassie's dad appears to be dead, his soul possessing Mask Bot. It's not unreasonable to assume that Oswald's dad is still alive, assuming the ending to the original story is the canon one. However, we don't know how long that will last. And then there's Chica Bully... whom we haven't met yet as of this time. We know nothing about them, but it's safe to assume they might be a parent like their remaining two buddies. But that's still only a guess.

Does Oswald's dad know at least one of his friends is dead??? Does he know Mike is dead???

[crepes-suzette-373]

Possibility of Germa augmentations made with the lineage factor of fruit users, not extracts of the devil fruits themselves?

Just to quickly reiterate. My main theory about the weird powers the Vinsmoke siblings has is still based on the lineage factor/bloodline elements of special tribes/races, whose powers happens to be similar to devil fruit abilities. I'll explain more in depth later below, but I'm also considering the possibility of Judge also having used the lineage factor of fruit users.

(official localisation sems to use "bloodline element" as a term, but I'm used to saying "lineage factor")

If he wants to have the powers/abilities, it's not unthinkable that he'd just go after any avenue that he could.

When Yonji talked about the clones, he talked about how Judge and the Germa team developed lineage factor research. This to me implies that he's not working with devil fruits like Caesar or Vegapunk.

But devil fruit powers affects its users' lineage factor to the point that Vegapunk can use that linage factor to recreate the abilities, one in Momo's fruit and the other in Seraphim's green blood.

On top of that, Vegapunk said the seraphim are "the strongest humans". That had been what Judge wanted, strong "supersoldiers". We don't know how far ahead had Vegapunk developed this research, and how much of it Judge later developed on his own in Germa, but this kind of seemed relevant:

My theory about the Germa mods being based on special races lineage factor is because Niji's powers are very oddly similar to the minks. However, since this is the only one that is relatively "obvious", maybe I was wrong and their powers actually come from something else.

Yonji's full extent of power is unclear, since he only ever used "strength", and there are many generically "strong" beings in the world of One Piece.

Ichiji and Reiju's power are also even more confusing because we have no direct examples of natural light-using or poison-using tribes/races.

Either we will see them later, or these two's abilities are actually taken from the lineage factor of fruit users rather than natural abilities. Of the siblings, only Yonji was ever seen going in seawater and not being affected. It's not fully certain yet that Reiju and Ichiji would be fine if they go in water.

It's just that, even ignoring the fact that fruit users can transform into the elements and none of the Vinsmokes can, there are still some differences. Magellan in Impel Down can produce poison and is immune to poison thanks to his fruit, but his fruit doesn't fully protect him from poison, and he gets diarrhoea if he eats poison:

Meanwhile Reiju is just perfectly fine when she does the same:

If Reiju's power is from devil fruit users' lineage factor, does this imply that Judge was able to improve a little on the abilities? Of course, this would be completely irrelevant if the abilities are actually taken from something else.

Ichiji's Sparking Valkyrie is identical to the light beams that Kizaru was able to produce from his eyes:

What did Judge do???? Not even Vegapunk can recreate Logia powers, and the Light fruit is a Logia.

We never clearly see Ichiji produce light aside from Valkyrie, and Sparking "Figure" looks more like something exploding, so it's very debatable what the full extant of his abilities are. Still, if this was really tapped from a Light fruit somehow, then even if imperfect, Judge has surpassed Vegapunk?

However, with Ichiji I have mentioned before that I suspected that possibly, the ability was just in the suit. As we've seen with Queen, the lasers can be recreated by "machine". Besides, Kizaru using his eyes while completely immobilised by Luffy also once again brings to question why Ichiji didn't do anything when trapped at the wedding?

Even Reiju as well, sensei has said that possibly part of her abilities are from the suit.

As such, I still haven't shut the possibility of there still being actual natural light user and poison user that we just haven't seen yet.

Also, if it turns out that the Germa mods were made with Devil Fruits somehow, and yet Yonji is fine even when he goes into the sea, wouldn't that mean that Germa's tech is on par or better than that of the Gorousei? Saturn only semi-succeeded with Bonney 10 years ago. The quadruplets' mods were made much earlier than that.

Back to Niji again.

The minks were very prevalent during Whole Cake, when Germa was there, and it felt like purposeful parallel was being drawn. I've already made a rather detailed comparison in a previous post (apologies it's mixed with a bunch of other theories in the same post), but to quickly summarise Niji's electric abilities really mirror the mink tribe's Electro. They can produce it from their body (Henry Needle), and they can channel the electricity through weapons (Henry Blazer). Niji in the flashback was clearly shown already having the electricity since he was an infant, and the minks said they have Electro since birth

What's specifically noteworthy to me was how the lore about sunglasses and other eye coverings can block Sulong transformation was re-emphasised by Pekoms in the very chapter that Germa reappeared to help.

Niji always wearing goggles is something very unusual that was also highlighted in the Vivre Card. If Niji's powers are really taken from the minks, was his permanent goggles meant to prevent Sulong transformation? As they had no way to teach him how to control it?

But again, because this is very unclear, it's entirely possible there's other explanation for this.

[luciddreamingstuff]

No One Jumps For The Beef

Minecraft Parkour Civilization, why the fuck does this have a grip on me? The kind of hyperfixsation rotting that is all consuming but no idea what to do with. Well my answer to that, and putting the degree I have been slaving over to use (Creative Writing) on why I have been absorbed. Now disclaimer, obviously there are a few issues here and there, I am fully aware, perfection is arbitrary and made up. But why is it so enjoyable for me? I'm going to talk about why it works. For me, every film these days tries to be something new. Breaking and twisting old rules, tropes and what have you and it ends up being a weak story. And ends up being a lame carbon copy of something that had done it right. The main thing? In Parkour Civilization, it's all about Parkour. Everything is Parkour. And once that rule was established on how the world worked, it stuck to it. Even if it bend and twisted it to see where that rule could be used, it never broke. Which honestly can make for interesting story telling. It shouldn't have worked, and it hasn't in the past. It's been a few years or so since I've seen something like this that is actually fun and enjoyable to watch. I've been in the Minecraft Fandom for 12 years, I've seen it all. But what made this work? is it had fun, it took itself seriously while being funny. I actually laughed at a lot of the jokes and sometimes absurdity of it all. Even in the second movie, with the Parkour God, the Parkour races, it was always about Parkour. If you are having fun with something, even a simple story that we have seen time and time again can be exciting. That is a story of Classism and Anti Capitalism. For Classism, think The Great Gastby, Hunger Games, To Kill A Mocking Bird, Crazy Rich Asians and so on so forth. It's not an old trope, but we love seeing the under dog climb up that ladder, fighting for who they are and what they believe in. And PKC, we see it. But it took that foundation and built something fun out of it. Adding a world where it can thrive and we watch our hero rise to the top with all the skills he has built upon. A classic tale that we can watch over and over again and find something new that doesn't try to break the trope into a million pieces. Being straight forward with a trope is not evil. It's when you don't do anything with it or try and turn it into something unrecognizable, that it becomes boring. The door is in fact blue for a reason. Or when I tell people "Why is the door blue?" it is in fact deeper than you would think. Or if you are paying attention to literally devices, you find things to be far more enjoyable. The implications of how this society actually works and the effects it has on people. Or watching the character use my favorite literally device Chekhov's Gun "a narrative principle where an element introduced into a story first seems unimportant but will later take on great significance. The principle postulates that any seemingly unimportant element introduced into a story—an object, a character trait, a backstory, an allergy—should later have relevance." Pay attention to the first movie if you haven't seen it yet, and then go watch the second one. Those are my basic thoughts for now. Might add more later if I feel like it.

[moxie-girl]

DRDT EP 13/14 ANALYSIS/THEORIES

I said I'd do this once I collected my thoughts! haha Warning! This is super long…

To start, I'm going to pick apart all the stuff I predicted for ep. 13 (I'll try not to make it too long…)

Levi's Secret

Well. Levi sure did admit to. All that! I think this eliminates any last doubts I personally had about him being the killer… (your honor just because I'm a serial killer doesn't mean I killed that specific person /ref) I really like that he isn't shown as a bad person just because he lacks empathy, and he's actually actively trying to be a good person… the fact that he just admitted his secret because he thought it was the right thing to do is so funny though, there go all my theories lol! (I'm still a little worried about rule 14 though…)

Ace's (Almost) Murder

Yeah!! This is probably what we're gonna spend episode 14 talking about, with murder method and alibis, etc. I still don't think it was Nico though! (I want to say I called that it'd be relevant, but it felt a little obvious…)

The Murder Method

I think we can say this has been all figured out, with the method being exactly what several people much smarter than me all figured out.

The Possible Culprits

Rose was still acting a little odd, but I think Whit on the other hand, despite whatever all that was, is off the hook for now, so my number 1 suspect is still Hu! I'm like 90% sure she was the one who tried to kill Ace, at least, and that's become very important now!

Secrets

Well, we got all the secrets figured out! (Hu :( ) The fandom interpretation was pretty much correct, except for Teruko's (we'll get to that later…) I do hope that after this trial, some of the secrets that are not relevant/haven't really been discussed do get adressed, because I could even see them becoming motives for murder again. But also, I just want the characters to talk about them! (gimme that juicy juicy angst…)

Ace

He didn't re-open his injury or really freak out like I expected, but we got some vulnerability (and a new sprite!) from Ace, and considering next episode is probably gonna focus a ton on him, I'm still expecting at least one of the two to happen…

Teruko

Luckily for Teruko, we didn't have anything unlucky happen to her this episode! But she sure did get her time in the protag spotlight anyway, I'm glad she didn't let the mistake from last episode get her down!

☆ ☆ ☆

Also, my bingo card! I got a bingo!! (ft. my messy tiny notes if you want to read them)

A few of my other bingo predictions I'm still going to hold on to for the next (few) episodes, but now, onto some new stuff!

Final Arei Flashback

Whoooah boy was that scene a doozy. I'm starting to think David's murderous rage towards the blackened at the start of the trial was genuine, because me too, man. I'm really glad Arei got at least a little bit of closure before she died, though! She also had an interesting take on the "good person" role, something that has been very important to this trial thus far and will likely continue to be. (I'm thinking that the killer may have had a "good person"-related motivation for killing, which is why it's the chapter's overarching theme?)

Also, to adress the elephant in the room… EDEN??? Well, no wonder Xander "didn't expect her to attack [him] like that" - and from her expression I wonder if she expected it either - I'm really looking forward to learning more about what, exactly, happened before the killing game that involved them! I didn't really believe in Mastermind!Eden before this, but it's starting to look pretty plausible... (Also Xander is the king of haunting the narrative oh my god lol)

Teruko's Secret

Many of us, myself included, were hoping/guessing/assuming that when all the secrets were figured out, David would reveal that he actually had Teruko's, not Xander's. While that didn't happen, the way he reacted after she claimed "her" secret essentially confirms it, as does a lot of other evidence:

That secret being hers would complete a secret circle of Teruko -> Rose -> Whit -> David -> Teruko and a secret pair of Xander <--> Min, which makes sense considering all other secret swaps are either circles of four or in pairs.

Xander and Min would have each other's secrets logically since neither of them can receive secrets, so theirs would probably be separated from the rest.

MonoTV's line about not knowing whether they're all correct feels like a reminder/a hint that some of the secrets are incorrect, and those two feel like the most likely options.

Teruko apparently has no idea which secret is actually hers, so may have just guessed the one that sounded more like her, except we know she never knew her parents and only had one sibling (as does Charles… I wonder if he'll notice)

EDIT: I cant believe I almost forgot, but I feel like David’s attitude towards Xander (and Teruko) makes more sense with these secrets, because why would he idolize Xander if the killing game was his fault, but he would idolize him if he thought Xander was trying to end the killing game by killing Teruko, the person David now thinks/knows is at fault.

However, since David didn't claim out loud that Teruko was lying, it's likely that this piece of information will become relevant much later in the series, and he'll be keeping it to himself for now.

Veronika and Hu

When did Veronika and Hu make their pact? And how did Hu, presumably the one who wanted to make the pact, know that Veronika had her secret? Also, what on earth do you mean, Veronika, that your secret isn't the worst thing you've done???? This little section with the two of them could just be entirely innocent and a way for the dev to get the rest of the secrets on the board, and let Veronika be a little unhinged as she tends to be, but I get the feeling at least some of this is relevant. (I'm betting on either Accomplice!Veronika or Veronika's actual "worst thing" being important to a later trial…)

David

Ohhhhh, David. I feel like Veronika with how much I want to psychoalanize this guy. He is on the verge of a breakdown, and I can feel it! The question being, of course, whether Arei's death was enough to make it happen this chapter, or whether this is something that's gonna last another chapter or two before coming to a head. My money's on the second option, because I think this trial is about to be about Ace and his impending breakdown :)

I do hope after this trial we do get to see a little more of what David's actually like beyond his facades/the roles he's been playing! Also, as much as I'd like to see David survive and have to deal with the consequences of revealing his "true" personality on live television, I think it's more likely he'll go the way of DR antags trying to end the killing game via self-sacrifice.

(We also better keep a close eye on anyone who tries to befriend or help David in Ch3, because they're gonna die next! /j)

J's Morality

This is a short one, but I just wanted to comment on another analysis I saw point out that J has been one of the most vocal people anytime murder has been brought up. I think that behind her rougher personality, J is a more empathetic person, and/or has very strong morals, making her a narrative foil to Levi now, so I do hope the two of them interact in Ch3!

Whit??

Whit. Whit why do you know so much about hanging??? Being serious though, I saw someone else bring up that his mother might have died by hanging and he researched it afterwards as a coping mechanism or something? That's the saddest possible explanation, but it does make the most sense by far… I honestly don't think that Whit is the killer, because then why would he be being so helpful in figuring out the murder method, but he's still so weird and suspicious sometimes.

Nico!

Even though I still don't think it was Nico (crime scene makes more sense if seen as Nico trying to help Ace, they may have just admitted to it because it was the less confrontational option, next ep is def not the last one and I think it'll be about proving who it was other than Nico, and if you look at Nico's secret quote…) I still do hope they get the chance to get mad! Get mad at Ace! Get mad at David! Get mad at whoever the (attempted) killer was for putting the blame on them! Idk I just want them to have their moment.

☆ ☆ ☆

And finally, here are my new bingo cards for the next episode:

(I can't believe ep14 is gonna be 40 mins + there's a "non-spoiler" thumbnail rn oooooh I'm so nervous)

[venus-is-thinking]

DRDT Chapter 2 Episode 13: Initial Thoughts

We're back again! I'm probably just gonna do one of these for every new episode this chapter at least, just because there's so much to talk about in all of them!

Basically, I'm going to run through my not-live-but-sort-of-live-thoughts of the episode, then at the end I'll give my thoughts on any more overarching theories/conversations that are relevant.

SPOILER WARNING FOR DRDT CH 2 PART 2!

T/W: Murder, suicide, hanging

The Reactions

Knowing where Levi's explanation is going now that I'm rewatching, it makes sense that this is the first thing he'd think of in regards to the secret. It's not about the lives lost or his status of being a "murderer," it's the real, concrete consequences of his actions-- AKA, the law.

Just, like, 'cause, or...?

Honestly, this adds a really interesting flavor to when Levi does threaten Ace. He's like, "do you think I don't have limits to my patience?" The fact that there was any amount of patience in the first place is honestly pretty cool for Ace.

Also, I don't really have a good place to screenshot this, so I'll just mention it: the clock motif in the backing track is really cool!! Has that been there before and I haven't noticed, or is it new? I also definitely find it personally suspicious that we're getting clock sound effects while Levi is talking about murder (Eden killer/Levi accomplice moment??) but that's probably just my confirmation bias talking. It could also definitely be something about wasting time in the Trial, which a point is definitely made out of. It takes them a long time to start talking about the method, and Levi even mentions that he's sidetracking before he starts on this monologue.

Extremely funny reaction from Eden if they ARE in on this together btw. "Wait... you've killed, like, more people?? This isn't soul-crushingly deviating from the norm for you?????"

I get that this is the point, but lmao, Levi's really just saying these things like they're normal. Forget the murder charges, did you get in legal trouble for any of this stuff???

Oh Hope's Peak, always the shadiest people with absolutely terrible priorities. I feel like you could tell me Hope's Peak did, like, literally anything morally dubious in a fangan and I'd be like, "yeah, checks."

Shoutout to this anon for slam dunking it! The phrasing Levi used in the other scene makes more sense to me now that we know how Levi feels about all of this. The dialogue didn't imply any different feelings to Levi's father than the other members of his family because the fact that Levi killed him means, like, nothing to him.

Still, I wonder what actually prompted Levi killing his dad. Like, I feel like he must've been provoked, at least. Hopefully we'll learn why someday.

This episode had more of J being more vocally anti-murder than most. I still don't know if that's just because she's one of few characters who's both loud and has morals, or if it ties into some specific aspect of her character.

"I can't forget about the fact that Felicity died because of me under any circumstances ever!"

I hope Arturo and Levi talk more about their secrets in depth at some point. Totally get why they're opposites on the narrative foils thing.

"I mean, we all know why I tried to kill Ace."

Unlike Arei lmao /j /lh

(To be honest, though, I think David at minimum is upset about Arei dying though. More on that later. Eden too, possibly even if she did kill her.)

This is such an interesting thing to learn as a Levi accomplice theory truther. 'Cause like, on the one hand, it makes it more believable that Levi would do some thing that wild; if the other people don't really matter, it's easier to justify killing all of them. But, at the same time, if he doesn't care about Eden, either, why the hell is he helping her?

I'm gonna need to rewatch this episode once I know who this Trial's culprit is, because I am incapable of reading the Levi/Eden interactions as anything BUT horribly suspicious.

(Also, god, the good person jumpscare counter this episode was wilding.)

Nice to get a confirmation that Levi is still trying to be a good person, even if he doesn't understand what that means.

Wow. Didn't realize Ace was gonna throw some emotional vulnerability (???) into his fuck you Levi speech. Or that he actually genuinely believed they had more of a connection than he let on! Like I said to Accirax, he's such a tsundere that I didn't even realize he was a tsundere.

me believing you

*squints in Ace is canonically gay*

I hope we'll get to learn more about this guy at some point. I'd expect we will, if nothing else in the bonus episode that correlates with Ace's death (or in the main story, if he lives long enough to be a survivor). "His memory" definitely makes it sound like he's dead, though. Sad.

Shoutout to the AceVi shippers, though. This episode must've been a WILD ride for you.

Thanks for clarifying, Veronika! It's nice to have a character who likes to psychoanalyze the cast so that the writer can basically use her to clarify what other people are thinking. Useful writing tip.

This does provide some interesting context to that early scene where Arei manipulates and kinda makes fun of Levi, though. He really could've just decked her ass if he wanted to.

Oh my god. Has no one actually said that David isn't behaving like a good person anymore? Is Levi still following David's example???

If so, it's a really good example of how little Levi understands about other people. Like, damn. You can't even tell with David??

To be fair, maybe all the stuff about ending the killing game confused him. Teruko and David are arguing about whether or not Xander was a good person. If everyone else can't even decide, how is Levi supposed to know?

Ban her? I'm not a forum moderator, dude. Also, I hardly even know her.

(Idk if that was meant to be a reference or not but. Whit brainrot go brrrrr)

Thanks for the confirmation, queen!

okay I'm Running Out of Images so from here on out I'm including stuff as indented text and only doing pictures when I think the picture itself is relevant

Veronika: After all, my own so-called secret isn't even the worst thing I've done. Isn't that so utterly disappointing of the motive?

What have you done. Tell me.

I do wonder if this is somehow character commentary on Veronika. Like, let's say Veronika has also murdered somebody or something. Would this imply that this is something she'd be more concerned with others knowing, possibly because it's more personal?

I'm not really sure. It could just be that Veronika doesn't really have any secret she fears at all, so they were at kind of a loss.

David: Achoo! Ah-- Bless me!

what is he so funny for

David: Teruko. Own up to your goddamn secret already. You are the last person to do so.

I so think David knows Teruko's real secret. Like, there's no way.

Interestingly, though, I read Teruko's hesitation towards answering David as her trying to figure out which secret belongs to Min. It's easier for everyone involved if Teruko and Xander's are backwards rather than it being a triangle scenario.

Yay!!! Even if I still think it's partially wrong!

Eden: W... wait! Before we move on! I have to know. David... What happened between you and Arei?

I'm still inclined to read this as Eden having not believed Arei back when she declared she wanted to be friends. Eden is still trying to get at the truth of the matter, because she can't just have killed Arei without knowing how badly she fucked up.

There's definitely still an innocent reading out there, too, though.

Arei: If even a perfect inspirational speaker like you turns out to be an asshole, then there's no such thing as a "good person."

This was a really interesting direction to take this conversation, for both Arei and David's characters. It's true that they both lie about their personality often to get their way; Arei's lie is just WAY easier to see through. It makes sense that it's something they could bond over.

However, the INSANE thing is that this means that David probably actually cares about Arei. Like, to a meaningful extent. Maybe it's just the Kazui vibes, but I feel like if anyone actually understands David enough to see through him, that would be really impactful to him.

Also, the vibes on this scene were wild. The Arvid (????????) shippers sure could have a field day with this one.

But, of course, we can't forget:

...WHAT????

Okay, so first of all, I have no idea if David actually knows/remembers this or if it's just meant for the audience. But, either way, this thing is crazy.

The first thing I noticed was definitely the fork; is that the same fork that we see in the opening sequence?? The one commonly thought to be of when Xander lost his eye?

I know there's some LGI stuff with the fork too, but I'm not going to dive into that right now. I think Accirax is touching on this more strongly in hers.

The other thing is, I have NO idea what this says about Eden culprit theory. I definitely still think it's possible that this is a level of lore that's gonna follow Eden to her death and give her a reason to haunt the narrative, but this could also be something that we're going to explore later.

The main reason why I think this could lead into her death is because as far as we know, Eden doesn't remember anything included in this flashback. If Eden doesn't know about the lore, it's sort of weird if we, the audience, have this vague piece of knowledge about her that she doesn't. It's not a death sentence or anything, but I think it could still be in line.

I'll leave the speculation as to what exactly this means for another post/another theorist. Right now, my guess is that there might've been some kind of other killing game with this class before, or something. But, I'm DEFINITELY both alarmed and intrigued.

Arei: Even she must've made a mistake she couldn't take back.

The inclusion of "mistake" in this section is really interesting to me. Is that referring to whatever we see here? Was it a mistake she later came to regret?

Or, I also think this could actually be a reference to Arei. Not the image itself, but the mistake. If Eden genuinely believed Arei wouldn't change and killed her, only to realize Arei was being sincere, that's a mistake she couldn't take back.

I wonder if this is going to be Arei's last voice line (in the main series, I'd expect she'll talk in the bonus episodes).

If so, I think it's a nice way to end her character arc. Not only is she trying to be friends with Eden to be better, she's also able to reach out to someone like her and help them, too.

David: ...Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I didn't say anything to her, and she didn't have much to say to me either.

This was CRAZY. I was expecting we were all gonna have to play the "to what extent is David lying" game again, but instead, it seems like it all MUST'VE been real, because it came straight from his mind because he didn't even say it!!

It's funny to me that he says he didn't say anything to her, because from what we saw, that was... accurate, maybe?? Was David really just standing there bluescreening that entire time? Like, man loves his elipses, but goddamn, don't leave her hanging! /j /ref

It's also interesting that David is keeping this from the class, and more specifically, from Eden, who Arei clearly liked. Is it because the moment is personal, and he doesn't want to share it? Or, does he have suspicions about who her killer might be or how to catch him that would interfere with him sharing?

Anyways. Wild.

David: One hundred and one percent, I promise. Ace overheard everything, and what he told you all was the entire truth. Does that satisfy you?

I wonder if Ace stopped listening for real, or if there's a chance he heard all of this. If so, I wonder why he's not calling David out. Is he still coping too hard over the Levi thing?

Whit: Dang, we really got hung up on those secrets, didn't we? I thought you all would be on those for years. MonoTV: Years indeed. Some people had to wait one year and five months for you to get this far.

I KNEW MonoTV and/or Whit would make a joke about the time gap! Hope that one doesn't get lost in translation for the people who join the fandom after the hiatus, lol.

Teruko: They filled those jugs up with water and used them to increase Arei's weight.

Oh hell yeah.

Veronika: I'm not an expert, of course, but my intuition tells me that jumping off the top of the swing set isn't enough to break Arei's neck.

Whit: The way hanging normally works is that the victim is put in a noose with enough slack in the rope that they're unharmed. It's only when the victim falls from a high location to a low location that the rope becomes tight, and the noose strangles them.

Very interesting to have Veronika call attention to the fact that she's not an expert shortly before Whit goes into a long explanation of the mechanics of hanging, including with bolded words for emphasis/added ethos. I definitely think we're supposed to notice that he knows this for... some reason.

I know Accirax's theory is that Whit's mom might have hung herself, which is... dark, if true. Like, that means that after the fact, Whit probably hyper-researched how hanging works. Yikes.

Also, I honestly didn't get why people were saying Whit was so sus before the hiatus, but I feel like it's been cranked up afterwards??? Whit are you the mastermind I thought you were chill??????

Whit: It's not like you can grab the rope when she's falling to stop it at the right time. If she's moving at a speed fast enough to snap her neck, I'm sure trying to stop it would shred your hands.

Caught between "yeah that's why they used the stopper rope" and "IS THE USING THE GLOVE TO STOP THE THING STILL REAL???"

YEAHHHHH

Tape truthers rise up!

Teruko joins the murder diagram contingent!!!

Incredibly real though. You simply can't figure out what the hell happens in this thing and how it works without being able to See It.

Teruko: Now that we've actually discussed the mechanism of murder, I realize that I've seen this murder method before. Eden: You have? Teruko: That's right. And so have you.

Funny you remind us of that, Teruko.

YES! GYM MURDER METHOD ANSWERS! PLEASE TELL US WHAT HAPPENED THERE!

Wow. What an episode. We truly learned so much.

Theory Update/Analysis

Okay, so I already yapped about most of the character stuff for a while in here. Similarly, I don't think all too much changed for my murder theory.

I'm still tentatively on Levi accomplice, but firmly on Eden culprit. The way I see this going is towards a Nico bait that goes nowhere because they have an alibi, then eventually causing the class to realize the culprit has to be one of the people who saw Nico's original murder method (who doesn't have an alibi)-- Eden, Ace or Teruko.

From there, they can discuss the Arei murder method more thoroughly, eventually circling back to the fish. That confuses the time of death more than anything.

Eventually, the tape can be the damning evidence. Or that could happen before the fish, not sure.

In summary, I liked this episode a lot! It's exciting that we're finally starting to get answers to the murder method that we all went so insane over.

This was. A short theory update section. If you have any questions please feel free to send in an ask! I like talking to people :)

[moldybonessmell]

// TUA season 4 SPOILERS

This season was absolutely horrendous, not gonna lie.

My scientific diagram regarding something that used to be my favorite show:

There's absolutely nothing I like about new season.

Now, more specifically, things I hate:

Klaus being traumatized for no reason and having no character development for 2 seasons straight (see rant).

Ben preaching eternal love and hooking up with a girl he met like a day ago while people around puke venom cum😃.

Right away, adding the "comedic gore" which is a sin for so many recent shows and TUA went the same annoying and overplayed route. Bloody scenes were cool when it was Five killing people with an iconic background music and stuff, but not the gore for the gore's sake.

By the way, music game is so weak this season, they literally took out the best part of the show that has become its trademark, what are creators doing???

Storyline with Diego thinking Lila is cheating and them being drowned in family life would have worked if it was in a different show, but it's TUA and it's boring as hell, sorry. (Maybe dont get like 3 kids if it's so difficult??? idk man)

Luther is stripper? Seriously? Completely unprovoked. Made for comedic sake once again, and I don't respect that. They didn't know what to do with his character and made him into comic relief, how unexpected /sarcasm.

Tension between Lila and Five, really? You took the best platonic dinamic, them actually being sibling-coded, and made it into romance? I have zero respect left. I do not care it was 6 years for them, I truly don't give a fuck. I cringed so hard. I just wanted to turn it off completely. Episode 5 is VILE, especially RIGHT AFTER Diego recognising family is more important than work. These scenes being one after other is diabolical. Also, Five hiding "the way home" for 5 months?? OOC as hell, if you ask me. You know what even more OOC and dumb? Five fighting Diego over Lila when The Cleanse is the bigger problem at the moment. (How did Five even end up on the floor, he's like the best killer in timeline??)

" - Why did I wait to take the shot.. - Maybe because you're a good man after all." No the fuck he's not. Reginald Hargreaves is not a good man. In neither timelines. The way the show tries to make him a gray character and make us like him is cringe as hell, just stop.

When I found out last season is only 6 episodes long I was upset, but at the time I finished episode 4 I just couldn't wait till the season is over.

(I had to finish it tho, for a slight possibility it's gonna get better and my rant posts to be relevant you know).

Honestly, I'm just glad it's over. The less seasons the less possibilities for the show to get even worse.

"I think we're alone now" as a closing song was a good choice tho.

Edit: I haven't checked the tags before posting and can't believe like 20 people have already used the horse meme before me guess we all thought the same bruh

[meowmeowriley]

Anybody else see that art on Twitter of Soap as an Animal Crossing villager, and then the other art of that Soap sitting on Doom Guy Ghost's shoulder? Anybody else feeling so incredibly normal about it? Anyway. Have this.

***

"C'mon uncle John, would it kill you to smile? Pretend you wanna be here?" Soap was doing his best, he really was. He loved his nephew, and when his sister Isla said he couldn't go to the convention because it was too far away and he didn't have an adult, well what are uncles for?! But he hadn't taken into account that 1) he's never been to a cosplay convention and 2) he's seriously out of his depth when it comes to the colorful characters around them. If anyone asked he'd be mortified to admit that he'd spent the better part of his leave following his nephew around, taking pictures of him with characters from various video games and anime. No, he'd be keeping this experience to himself.

"I'm not not enjoying myself." Andrew rolled his eyes. "I just don't know any of the characters. I haven't played a video game in ages, and I've never watched anime." Plenty of other soldiers did watch anime, and there was nothing wrong with that, he'd just never joined in.

Andy snorted. "What was the last game you played, old man?" Soap resented that. He wasn't even thirty yet.

"I dunno, Halo maybe?"

"The original?!"

"Think so." Soap said with a shrug.

"So the year I was born. Got it." Yikes.

Suddenly Andy was excitedly pointing at a large man in green and gray armor, in the middle of a crown. "Oh you have to recognize that guy!" And did he ever. How could anyone not recognize Doom Guy? And he was holding the BFG.

"Ohhhohohoho yeah. I know Doom Guy." John had nearly forgotten how much he'd loved the Doom games as a kid. "And before you say it, those games are old, even for me."

"They redid the games in 2016 and 2020. It's relevant again." Oh. And with that Soap was once again being dragged toward some random person in a costume.

Something this guy was getting right was that he wasn't speaking. He'd nod, wave, aim his gun, but he didn't utter a word. Soap couldn't see a thing through the helmet visor. I wonder if he can even see outta that?

The guy caught sight of them, evidently he could see, and tilted his head while looking down at Soap. "That things pure dead brilliant." He found himself marveling at the BFG in the man's armored hands.

It looked like it was actually made of metal. And it actually glowed! How the man had gotten the green lights to work, he was dying to know. Trying to configure it in his head, he nearly missed when the man held it out slightly for him. "Can I?" He asked, just making sure. Oh he'd kill for something like this in the field. Pure devastation. Doom Guy nodded and John took the gun. Holding it, it was a hell of a lot lighter than he'd imagined. The fuck is this thing made of?

Andy popped up beside him. "Can we get a picture with you mate?" To that, Doom Guy nodded. Maybe Soap would tell people he'd been here, he wanted a picture of him holding this gun hung up at his desk.

Andy backed up, people kindly stayed out of the way as the picture was taken. Doom Guy posed, crossing his arms over his massive chest. Soap held the gun as best he could like he would a rifle. Not aimed at anyone, but ready. "We're good." Andy called. Doom Guy  held up his hand to stop him, then stuck out one finger and swirled his hand around. "Huh?" Andy thought for a moment. "Another?" Doom Guy nodded and gave a thumbs up. Really taking his character seriously. Who were they to deny him, this was cool as fuck. Soap readied himself to take the next picture, giving the camera a feral grin, just like the first, when Doom Guy placed a hand on his shoulder and leaned down.

"Enjoying the convention Johnny?" Startled at the use of his name that he knew he hadn't given the man, he whipped around, instinctively pointing the gun in his hands at the chest of the other man.

Then it dawned on him. "Ghost?!" He asked incredulously. There's no fucking way.

The man in question began laughing. He reached up and removed his helmet. Shaking his head, Ghost's messy, dark blonde hair flew in every direction.

Unlike Las Almas, he wasn't drenched in sweat, there was no grease paint, and light brown hair was longer and curled slightly. Shit he had freckles. Shit he was cute. Dangerous thoughts, John.

"I didn't think this was your kinda thing, Johnny." Ghost said with a crooked grin that perfectly framed his crooked teeth.

John was no saint. He'd been flirting with Ghost since they met. Secretly really wanted to have sex with him, but he'd only seen the man's face that one time, and now his mind was going a million kilometers an hour trying to take in every inch on display. Thoughts both pure and impure ran through his head, and the only thing that managed to make its way to his mouth was "Where'd you get this thing?" Normally he was a better flirt, but normally he was flirting with the visage of death. Not a pretty man with freckles. Well he was, but not really.

"I made it." Ghost shrugged, armor clacking as his shoulders rose and fell. "Same as the suit. It's all EVA foam and 3D printing."

"You made this?!"

"Yeah? I made my masks too. What, you think I bought those?" Ghost smirked.

Andy had jogged back over. "I took a video, so we could take screenshots." He handed the phone over to Ghost.

"I'm absolutely keeping this, Johnny." He said as he typed in his number and sent the video to himself. Damn, Andy got Ghost's number before he did.

"Johnny?"

"Shut it, Andy." He warned. "We work together. Never in a million years thought I'd see him out here though."

"I go to any convention I can make. It's fun. I have other suits. Isaac Clark from Deadspace, Master Chief from Halo. I like to wear them and make people smile. I don't get to do that often." He seemed lost in thought for a second, face darkening. Just as quickly as it had happened, the expression was gone. "You go to conventions often?"

"First one. But I could be persuaded to go to more." John smiled his best flirty smile. Andy snickered, and earned himself an elbow to the ribs.

***

Now I desperately wanna see Soap at a con dressed like Isabelle while holding the super shotgun.

[forevermore-quoth-the-kitten]

MC has ADHD (Part 1)

MC has ADHD, and medicated or not, there's no adderal in the Devildom, so they have to deal with it on their own. Sometimes that doesn't go over too well since the denizens of the Devildom have no clue how to handle you sometimes.

Lucifer

Lucifer understands that sometimes you put things off and procrastinate, he can deal with your habit when it's not nearly as bad as some of his brothers.

but today you just will not do anything. you have chores and homework and school and you haven't done any of them today! he can't understand it and is trying to lecture you but you just groan and tell him you can't do anything even if you tried. you did try, but he has a hard time believing it.

Lucifer freezes when you drop a phrase he doesn't know though. he stops and asks you what 'executive dysfunction' is and he sits and listens as you explain.

why do you not always have it, he wonders. and you do, but some days it's worse than others. today you can't do anything other than really mindless things and it's why you can't seem to get anything done.

is this condition tied to something else? . . . ok now you have to explain ADHD to him because he's heard of it but hasn't bothered learning about it since it's not something relevant to him.

after you explain everything he wants to know, Lucifer has a sneaking suspicion that it might be more relevant to his life than he thought, you described a certain brother of his and some of his behaviors too well.

he's curious and wonders if there's anything in the devildom will help. you said it's a physical thing, so there must be a medication that helps, right?

Adderal? he'll look into that. Lucifer leaves you be after that and within two days you're doing your work properly again. he does his best but there doesn't seem to be any human safe alternative to adderal in the devildom. he'll get you some from the human realm (somehow)

Mammon

don't get him wrong, Mammon loves it when you guys go shopping! but what's the occasion, you tend to try to avoid going shopping with him!

impulse buying-wait weren't you lecturing him about that just a few days ago?! hypocrite!! Mammon's all pouty and defensive but you're just rolling your eyes.

there's a difference between constantly buying things just because and a random but uncommon impulse buy, and you only wanted to go to one store.

Mammon doesn't get it, you see something you want and you buy it, that's exactly what you're doing right now! Control nothing you owe him for lecturing him! buy him something!

no?! why are you laughing?!

you appease him by stopping at a cafe and getting him something while you sit down and explain why you suddenly had the strong rudge to stop at that store and buy something. you like that store and just really needed something you saw from it online, but you prefer shopping in person.

Mammon's confused when you get into something you have and he panics when you drop some weird name. like do you have a disease?! are you dying?!

no? so what is it? geez, don't scare him like that human! Mammon settles back and does his best to remember everything you say, and he gets really confused when he starts asking questions about ADHD and you start telling him about things he does.

Mammon asks you about it, mad that you're just making fun of him, but you just laugh and say that you were pretty sure he had ADHD too, and that he can ask you about anything he wants to know about it. it might be different since he's a demon, but you'll do your best.

you make him listen though, you threaten to use your pact to make him remember what you say, and he promises he won't forget (he wont, he always remembers things you say). once he does that, you make it very clear that knowing about his ADHD and stuff is NOT an excuse to use to get away with things.

It's mental, yes, and it's a real physical issue you have and he might have, but it's not a tool to just have at your disposal. you use it to explain things sometimes but he can't use ADHD as a scapegoat to get away with things. if he does you will rat him out to Lucifer for things he hides from his brother and that's a very scary threat. he won't be using it as an excuse any time soon, not just because of that but because you told him and he finally understands a lot more about parts of himself.

the first time he uses that knowledge and apologizes for not being able to do his homework to Lucifer, it catches his brother off guard, but it actually works. You end up explaining to Lucifer, who says he'll try to find something to help Mammon! he's really happy and shows it with lots of happy cuddles and little gifts for you that you helped him out like that.

Leviathan

Leviathan is angry- no furious! at you! how dare you!

you promised to be in his room right after school to play the new game he bought for you both! and he waited and waited because maybe you were running late or grabbing snacks or- or maybe you got abducted and you were hurting-

but no! it was none of that! 2 hours after school ended he finds out that you were having out with Mammon!!

Levi paces as he snaps and rages, demon form out, trying not to cry and very upset! you broke his trust, you blew him off and you didn't even care enough to tell him-!

he shuts up when you cover his mouth with your hand

and Levi's pissed! he's angry! he wants to stay angry dammit! so stop looking at him so upset-

you're so sorry you forgot, you tell him, you didn't mean to. you were so excited and even Diavolo can tell you that you were so excited but then as you were leaving school Lucifer needed you to run an errand.

And a big issue you struggle with is out of sight out of mind. Once you got that errand, it took the forefront of your mind and you ended up forgetting about your guys' play date gaming session.

Levi doesn't understand, how can you forget things that important that easily?! It makes no sense

Levi, bro, honey, you sweet demon, you need to remember that you've gotten the following important things: Lucifer's birthday, going out with Asmo, a study date with Satan

You literally hadn't showered in three days when Mammon reminded you 10 MINUTES BEFORE YOU HAD TO LEAVE FOR A PHOTO SHOOT NO ONE REMINDED YOU ABOUT. Not to mention the many OTHER examples of shit you've forgotten of varying importance.

Levi was laughing by the time you were done.

He still didn't get it, but he got enough that you can't really help it and will try to be accmodating- wait! So you just need reminded!

Yup, pretty much.

Levi is proud of himself for figuring out a solution! You just laugh, bit he loves your laugh and you guys get right to gaming once he pulls you into his room. He'll just make sure in the future you won't be able to forget!

Satan

Normally Satan loves reading with you, even if its just him reading and you're doing something else, its still the same to him and he tends to love it. but now annoyance is building and he really doesn't want to but fuck!

stop tapping your foot!

his snap makes you jolt and his annoyance dies quickly. Satan apologizes and you do too, saying you'll stop.

and its ok for a few minutes

then the aggravation comes back full force as you bounce your leg

why are you fucking fidgety?!

you jump at his snarl, power leaking from him

it visibly pisses you off and Satan almost regrets it, but its so damn annoying and distracting! why can't you sit still

you can't fucking helping it, ok?! you'd stop if you could but you're not aware of it! you're just trying to focus on your stupid homework so if you're that much of an annoyance you'll just leave!

Satan immediately regrets it, he can sense your anger and frustration and stops you from grabbing your things, forcing himself to be calm.

what's wrong? he's sorry snapping and bursting like that, but can you explain why your so fidgety if he promises to be better?

you sigh but nod, sitting down and explain that figeting is something you can't help. you had ADHD, its a lot of things, but its got 'attention' and 'hyperactive' in its name on purpose.

there are different types, of course, its not all or nothing, but fidgeting comes from the hyperactive part. a bit of fidgeting helps you focus and right now you're really struggling with this Devildom history exam you're trying to study for.

Satan feels guilty and mentally promises to research more into ADHD for you, but sits down and helps you study, setting his book aside and finds that your tapping and leg bouncing isn't as annoying now that he know why you do it.

Asmodeus

Asmodeus was beyond confused as he watched you grumble and mutter about being bored but did nothing to solve that. you just laid there on the couch doing nothing.

he went over to asked if you wanted to go shopping with him, thinking that it would be perfect since you loved to go shopping with him!

nope

how about you have a spa day?

mmmmnnnnoooooo?

ooookkk- so how about you watch deviltube?

you could, but you don't want to watch anything so it would just be for him.

with every suggestion and idea, you shut Asmo down and he's just getting more and more frustrated.

well are you just going to sit here staying bored or are you going to do something about it?! because he doesn't know what you want, do you want to be bored or something?!

you sigh and sit up, looking as frustrated as he feels.

you tell him to sit down and ask if he knows what ADHD is.

Asmo had a few lovers who had it but he really doesn't know anything about it other than a few things in passing.

he listens raptly as you explain that your mind works fast on the best of days and that theres a reason its common knowledge that its hard to get someone with ADHD to pay attention.

their brains move from one thing to another trying to find serotonin, so when you don't get it from something or it stops giving you that serotonin, you want to move on to something else.

but sometimes you just can't focus on anything and everything does the opposite of what you want. thus the seemingly incurable boredom.

Asmo cant even imagine what that's like, the idea of not being entertained by what he loves (such as makeup and shopping and partying) is unfathomable! yet here you are telling him that even your favorite things can be boring sometimes!

he's nearly in tears at the fact that this is just something you're used to! he swears to find something that you enjoy right then, and despite it taking actual ages, he figures it out and is incredibly happy and proud when he figures out how to solve your boredom!

Beelzebub

Beel's been watching you all day with increasing concern, even though hes also impressed?

its the weekend so you don't have RAD, but it started because you were late to breakfast because you'd been cleaning up your room and lost track of time.

then after breakfast when he got back from the gym and was going to shower after his post workout meal, he found you cleaning the common room of stuff that had been last there the night before from the group study session.

then he heard from his brothers that Lucifer was asleep because you kicked him out of his office so you could clean in there and reorganize his desk.

then Satan came to lunch to tell them you weren't hungry and you were in his room cleaning up his books and helping making room for all of them on his shelves.

that was when Beel got worried, because you had to be hungry after all that cleaning, right? Lucifer told him not to worry, not everyone was him, after all, so he tried not to. but in the next four hours he started to watch you more.

you made Levi take a walk and got all the trash out of his room, dusted and cleaned up his booked, manga, and figurines and stuff.

you and Mammon hung out in his room, which Beel thought was fine since Mammon takes good care of you, until he found out from their group chat that you'd enlisted his help to clean his room. including all of the trash (even from his cars), dirty clothes, his bed, all the things!

then it was getting close to dinner and he waited for you to show up. you didn't, so as soon as he finished he went to find you. you were in Asmo's room talking to him as you two were in his closet talking about purging stuff and making room by reorganizing?

Beel decided he'd come back later when you were done talking to ask if you were ok, but when he did Asmo was bagging things up and said you'd left for the kitchen.

Beel was thirlled, you had to have gone to eat! he was going to ask you what you wanted but froze outside and then in the door, watching you wash the dishes since Belphie had forgotten to.

hey, uh,-

he tries not to scare you, and you turn to him asking if he needs anything.

yeah, have you eaten anything today and just not eaten with them?

the question makes you pause, and you cringe a bit.

no, sorry, i was just so focused on cleaning suddenly that you forgot.

how-how do you forget to eat?

Beels horrified at the prospect.

you laugh, but its a bit guilt. you tell him to sit down and stop doing to dishes, saying you'll explain. you get a water bottle first and he can feel it as it hits your body because your entire body reacts. you hadn't had any water either?!

Beel watches as you down that water bottle and then a second without stopping before suddenly stopping and turning to the fridge, hunger radiating off of you.

that hunger wasn't there before! what happened?!

as you dig through the fridge you tell him that you have something called ADHD, you tell Beel about it and how its not quite a deficit of attention but bad regulation of it. what you'd been doing all day was proof of that, its called hyperfocus.

Beel can't understand how you can get so focused on anything that you forget to eat or drink or even sleep (he shivers knowing how Belphie would react to finding out that you hadn't slept last night either because you'd been cleaning your room and the attic), but apparently if happens to you all the time.

hes glad that you stopped to eat as soon as you got reminded to, and he promised to watch you and make sure it doesn't happen again because you did kind of scare him (that's not good for humans, he knows that much).

you can't promise that it wont happen again, and you appreciate it, it helps a lot to have someone remind you to do stuff like that.

in other news, how much food are you making because that's a him sized snack.

you just gave him a look. you havent eaten since dinner yesterday and its nearly midnight! also, THIS IS A BIG MEAL AND ITS A YOU SNACK! YOU DON'T GET TO JUDGE!

Beel just laughs happily and tries to get his own snack.

key word being tries, you're still under orders from Lucifer to stop him and he pouts about it, but you share your food so he's ok with that.

Belphegor

Ok, Belphie knew that when he was awake could be stupid, but he was sloth and when he got enough sleep and was wide awake, it was random as hell.

But you are just ridiculous

Fucking idiotic even

He knows damn well humans need more sleep than you're getting

So why don't you tell him why you're up at 1 am after telling Lucifer you were going to go to bed early.

You freeze at Belphie in the doorway to the common room, looking thoroughly unimpressed at you gaming later than even Levi's usually up before an in person school day.

Uuhhh, you can explain?

You better, Belphie snorts. He's the master of dreams, so he knows you haven't been having nightmares. So don't even try that excuse

No, you weren't going you, you promise. You just couldn't sleep.

He doesn't believe you

Then he gets this look on his face like shock that rapidly changes to disgust

Don't tell him you have ADHD

Now you blanch. How did he guess that?!

Belphie grumbles and plops down next to you. Demons of all kinds suffer from a lot of thensame shit humans do, so even if he hated humans, he knew a stupid amount of shit from them for his own demons. ADHD sleep cycles are bullshit and he hates them, but he knows how to handle them because there are sloth demons with ADHD that he's helped

So he takds a guess to prove it sinc enow you were the skeptical one. You were sleepy and tired but as soon as you got ready for bed or got into bed, you suddenly had a random burst of energy and could sleep. (He also mentions that you don't have insomnia, he knows how that feels all too well, so it can't be the 'can't sleep' thing in that sense.)

Does it piss him off?

Yes

Is he mad to realize you have it too?

Absolutely

Are you shocked when you two end up as each other pillows anyways five minutes later, your energy suddenly slipping away from under your skin.

Is he getting rid of your energy?

Sort of, Belphie answers. He's getting rid of the excess by eating the extra. It'll keeping him awake longer, but you'll make it up to him by letting him sleep with you that night.

And if you need the sleep bad but this happens again, he makes you promise to come to him before the sleep takes over you.

Part 2

[raayllum]

I’m sorry how is arc 2 not about aaravos? Everything about the show leads back to aaravos. The whole lore of the show is centered around aaravos. And it is absolutely titled the mystery of aaravos because it does plan on dealing with the mystery of aaravos in every possible way, and that has infact been confirmed by the showrunners on multiple instances. Aaravos is just as, if not more of a main character than rayllum in the ways that count because everything going on revolves around him. 

And since he’s an EXTREMELY important character, how is it not justified for fans of him to want more screen time of him? 

I’m sorry but not everything about the show revolves around rayllum and you shouldn’t call people out just for wanting to see more of their favorite character.

God forbid something about aaravos is actually about aaravos and not rayllum for once 💀💀

Actually I can and do call people out for wanting to see more of their favourite character when it causes them to be entitled / unfair to the broader story they want to tell. If you haven't been doing those things, then that post wasn't about you, but given the way you put your best foot forward here, I might go out on a limb and guess this might be behaviour you display sometimes, and it may be worth reconsidering.

As a bit of background:

My favourite character in a TV show was once a side character who was in 1/4 seasons, and one episode in the final season, and then he never showed up again. which was Okay, because he was a Side Character and it would've been pretty silly for the show to bend over backwards to include him more. Granted, there were opportunities (him and another character were travelling together, then she showed up at a Plot Relevant location without him and it was never addressed) but the show wasn't bad or wrong for not including more. I wasn't owed more screen time just because he was my favourite character, and while any character can Technically be Levelled Up for more screen time and plot relevance, sometimes characters are just there to serve more minor specific purposes, and that's Okay. It's all about adjusting your own expectations and not being an asshole.

Furthermore, given that I posted my personal opinion on my personal blog and only used my personal tags for it, you had two options for finding this post:

It got sent to you, presumably meaning you had someone else to be salty with in a private manner that would've been far more appropriate

You follow(ed) me, in which case you are more than encouraged to unfollow or block me if I have a post/opinion you find annoying or uncouth. Please do so rather than doing whatever This Is in my inbox in the future, it'll likely save you not only time but also embarrassment

The fact you thought going into the inbox of a Virtual Stranger and getting upset about me not thinking your favourite character is the Most Important Character in TDP Ever — because he isn't — in one (1) post is truly baffling to me in terms of 1) curating your internet experience and 2) interacting appropriately with strangers directly online. I've seen a lot of shit opinions in my day, and I vent in private to my fandom friends about it 99.9% of the time, thank you very much, or post about it in my personal tags on my own blog rather than making it someone else's problem.

In the nature of analysis / debate, though, let me clear what I meant considering 4+ people got their trousers in a twist about the idea that Aaravos isn't a main character.

That said, a few quick disclaimers: Aaravos is a very interesting character to me, and I like him a lot. I've written a fair bit about him in regards to how he's a thematic opposite to Harrow, his view of children, what I think happened to his chest piece, speculation on his banishment, his parallels to Finnegrin, his mythic connections to aspects of the Fae + Egyptian and Greek mythology, his foil relationship to Rayla, his characterization and motifs/symbols. So it's not as though I don't enjoy him or don't think he's important to the story. He is, he's just not a main character nor the most important. Moving on:

Secondly: it seems maybe my meaning of macguffin is getting misconstrued. A story Macguffin is a plot device that drives the story forward. Sometimes it's a character (R2D2 in star wars has to be transported from one dangerous location to safety because he has blue print plans), sometimes it's an object (the one ring, fetch quests, etc). Either way, the story is centralized around 1) characters competing for ownership or safe guarding of said person/thing and 2) through that competition or competing needs, the characterization of the main cast is revealed.

In Arc 1, Zym is the plot Macguffin. He overall has very little personality even once hatched beyond being sweet, occasionally helpful, and scared. He is the titular character, and his existence matters, but mostly because he serves as a motivational point for the characters. Claudia, Soren, and Viren want to stop Zym from getting back to Xadia; Rayla, Callum, and Ezran, want to help him get back.

Zym himself does not drive episodes forward. He rarely makes decisions that impact the main group. His existence or fears cause them to make decisions (they go looking for help because they dropped his egg; Rayla and Callum have to go after Nyx because she stole him) but he is not likewise making decisions for the group. S4 definitely levelled Zym up into him making 1) more independent decisions and 2) having more of his own interior feelings, particularly about his father, but Callum is the one who decides to send him up into the trees; Ezran is the one calling the meeting for Zym to come to Katolis. A couple of exceptions (he has a mini arc about his mom for 2 eps, he has an arc in s2 with Ezran) do not suddenly make Zym a "I'm making decisions that heavily push the plot forward every episode" kind of character.

You'll also note, if you actually read said post you're referencing, that I specified "'the mystery of aaravos' (esp these past two seasons)" and that I never mentioned lore, either, even if I have likewise written about lore extensively (one of my more recent metas on it was about 4.8k words on lore alone, for example).

Aaravos' plot impact was a lot heavier in S2 and particularly S3 than it is in S4 or S5, as he influenced Viren's decisions more heavily and eventually came into more direct conflict with the core protagonists. This is likewise reflected in Aaravos in S2 and S3 being in multiple episodes (half the season in s2, and almost every episode at least a little in s3).

Meanwhile in Arc 2, Aaravos could effectively, unknown to his pawns drop dead after giving Claudia her final instructions pre-S4, and nothing would be affected plot wise, because Arc 2 thus far has mostly been characters fearing his impending release (the main cast) or dealing with the fallout of his actions from S3 (the Sunfire elf plot line). The only thing we'd lose on that level from a "Claudia believes Aaravos is alive and is trying to free him, but he's not actually" is Callum and Rayla's possession plot line, ironically enough given your apparent dislike of them, until the very very end of 5x09 in which he tries to goad Viren into killing SS.

I'm excited for and expecting that to change in S6 and S7, but that doesn't change what S4 and S5 currently are, either. Same thing for Amaya and Janai more so being main characters, Janai in particular, in S4 and S5, but they were not main characters in the first three seasons. That doesn't mean they're not good, meaningful, and important characters for the story, but I'd be a very poor meta writer / have very poor media literacy if I tried to claim that Janai is a main character in arc 1 over say, Callum.

For another example: everything in Avatar: The Last Airbender revolves around Team Avatar wanting to stop Ozai, but Ozai is not a main character in the show. He's there to be a minor character, an endgame big bad, and to affect his children / embody the conflict the characters are up against. The fact that TDP has so many antagonists that are also Main Characters throughout the whole show (Viren, Claudia) is actually pretty rare in media, particularly for children.

The Legend of Zelda games usually revolve around Link wanting to save or free Zelda, and while certain games flesh her out and make her more developed into a main character, the central character of the narrative is Link, because he's the character we follow the most.

Additionally, the Importance of a character in a narrative has no bearing on whether they're your favourite, or even necessarily whether they're a 'good' / 'well written' character. Rayla, for example, is my personal #1 favourite character in TDP. She is a main character; she is not The main character. That's not an insult to Rayla; she's there to be a foil, one hell of a narrative lancer, and our main elven character. But I can't (nor do I want to) magically change her role in the story to claim that it's something it isn't.

The central main character of TDP is Callum. It always has been, it always will be.

He is the character who shows up in every single episode, he's our central mage character in a show all about magic, he has the most developed relationships out of everyone, he is the POV character we follow the most. That doesn't mean he's your favourite, that doesn't mean he has to be your preference, you don't even have to like him. But he is The Main Character. The majority of the story revolves around him and the people in his life. No amount of liking another character more is going to change that, whether you're clamouring for Rayla, Aaravos, Sol Regem or anyone else.

While there are shows where I think the side lining of characters feels off (Gus and Willow in The Owl House come to mind) that's mostly because 1) that sort of side lining usually happens to characters of colour, as it did there and 2) there's no real reason for the story to sideline them considering everyone lives in close proximity and there's a s1 emphasis that the main character has never had friends before and that she desperately wants some. Therefore, she should be thrilled to have best friends for the first time, but we barely see them. See the disconnect?

Aaravos is a minor character and big bad who is well utilized in the overall minimal screentime he has, especially thus far in S4 and S5. That doesn't mean he's not important to the story, and that doesn't mean he can't or shouldn't be your favourite, but your assertion doesn't miraculously make him our main core protagonist of the entire show, because 1) he's not our central pov character and 2) that's about the only requirement a main protagonist has to have, and 3) that's just not how stories work.

I also have no clue why you brought up Rayllum as a ship, given that I didn't mention them in my OG post at all, but given that you seem to think "this character isn't a main character" is a moral or value statement, I'll assume you said it to ruffle my feathers — that doesn't really work, given that I agree with you that not everything in the show is about Callum or Rayla individually or as a relationship, because it Isn't. Even if I hated them as characters or as a dynamic, however, that wouldn't change the fact that they're two of the core 3 characters (alongside Ezran) and that their relationship has the most screentime out of anyone in the show.

And if the show decided to tone down their screen time to give other characters more time, I'd be okay with that — because I don't need my Personal Favourite to be the most important character in the source material / screen time ever in order to feel secure in liking them, thanks.