#hopefully it is coherent enough

[samrut]

"For You"

Hetalia

Reader x HWS Lithuania [Tolys]

Canon Divergence

[A fic determined by polls. I wrote this just for you guys - hence the title. It's not that great, but I hope someone out there likes it. lol]

Poll Results: HERE

While heading home from the grocery store, you find you have lost your way. It has begun to rain, but luckily, you remembered your umbrella. Unfortunately, smartphones do not exist at the moment, and you have not seen a living soul since you initially left the store. 

Just as you are ready to accept your fate of being lost forever, you spot a man sitting on a nearby bench. He stares off vacantly, wet from the rain, droplets of water drip from his dark auburn hair. Though he lacks all rizz, he is just your type. You summon up the courage to approach him, anxiously clutching your eco-friendly shopping bag.

You politely say, "Excuse me." There is an unexpected crack in your voice, leaving you puzzled. Surely, this sopping wet man could not possibly be the reason.

His once-lifeless emerald eyes light up with a sudden burst of energy, and he gives you a timid smile, looking pathetic as all hell. You can't help but stare. Something about him makes it seem as if time has halted, and you nearly forget your reason for greeting him.

You regain your composure and ask, "Do you know how to get to Main Street from here?"

"Yes, but it is a bit complicated," he replies, standing. "I can escort you."

"I do not want to trouble you."

"It is no trouble." 

He gestures for you to follow. Despite his average stature and pitiful appearance, the man has a commanding presence. You trail behind him, your stomach fluttering, as you watch his short ponytail gently sway back and forth, knotted at the nape. 

The brown tweed suit he wears looks dated. He appears much too young to be wearing such an old-fashioned style. It is only natural for you to assume he must have acquired it secondhand.

"Do you work around here?" You ask, trying to make small talk.

His gaze is drawn back to you. That weathered smile reappears, and he says, "the office building back there."

You look at him, perplexed. You had missed the building, if there was one. The wind picks up, and you tighten the grip on your umbrella. Suddenly, you are reminded of the rain and hurry along side the man to shelter him from it. 

He thanks you, waving back a strand of hair with a gracious smile.

You nod, your face flushing. "Do you mind if I ask your name?"

He lets out a short, melancholic laugh and answers, "My name is Tolys Laurinaitis."

When you respond with your name, he takes the umbrella to formally shake your hand. After the exchange, he insists on holding it for you. Hesitantly, you accept.

Following an awkward silence, you ask, "Why were you sitting in the rain?" 

"I guess that is a bit strange, isn't it?" He speaks quietly, keeping his eyes fixed forward.

"Yeah," you agree, expecting him to give an explanation, but he falls silent again.

He abruptly stops, and it dawns on you that you have arrived at your apartment. You do not recall sharing the address with him, but perhaps you did. The peculiar man offers the umbrella back, but you decline.

"Keep it," you tell him, "you shouldn't be out in the rain without one."

You say your farewells, and he leaves in the direction you had come. After stepping into your home, you turn around and discover, to your amazement, that no one is there. It was as if he had vanished, but you conclude that he must have slipped down an alleyway.

Later that day, you decide to search online for his unusual name. A strange wiki website appears as the top result. You scroll through a list of names, stumbling upon a brief biography containing several candid images of the man you had met.

You skim through the article, but there is a rerun of your favourite show on television that distracts you from pursuing it further. In the days that follow, you forget the encounter you had entirely, as if it had never happened. Life carries on for you as usual.

Cupboards bare, you grab your shopping bag and leave for the grocery store. The forecast calls for rain. Despite your best efforts, you could not locate your umbrella and ultimately decided to go without it.

After shopping, you lose your way walking home. It begins to rain. You are alone, wishing you had your umbrella. 

Just as you are about to accept your fate of being lost forever, you catch sight of a man sitting on a bench. He gazes into the distance, holding an umbrella much like the one you had misplaced. Though he lacks all rizz, you find him extremely attractive. Summoning up your courage, you approach this sad, pathetic-looking creature and are hit with a sudden wave of déjà vu. The reason eludes you.

You have never seen this strange man before, but oddly, he glances at you with emerald eyes that gain life at the sight of you. He smiles bleakly, and you cannot help but to stare. There is something about him that makes time seem to stand still.

He guides you home, sheltering you with his umbrella from the falling rain. Neither of you say much, but he does share with you his name. It is unusual, and out of mild curiosity, you look it up online later that evening.

His name automatically pops up in the search bar, as though you have already searched for it many times before, making you feel uneasy. A strange wiki website appears as the top result. Scrolling through a list of names titled "World Stars," you stumble upon a brief biography containing several candid images of the man you had met.

You skim through the article, but there is a rerun of your favourite show on television that distracts you from pursuing it further. In the days that follow, you forget the encounter you had entirely, as if it had never happened.

Life carries on for you as usual.

[a-scary-lack-of-common-sense]

I love your au by the way but while I was looking through I haven't seen any grunkle Stan yet

Does he live at the mystery shack too? Maybe Bill convinced Ford to try to repair their relationship?

Or and I hope I'm wrong about this

Stan is in the portal and that's why Ford did the cool little mine deal

------

Oh, don't worry! Stan's there alright. He's just a little busy being digested at the moment. Hunger is greedy, after all.

[vectorisheree]

Virus!Eclipse design for my fic 'And So It Goes'

Design notes under the cut ^^

Eclipse is mainly based on Baloon World Eclipse as well as the Puppet and MXES. It is primarily red to contrast with MXES since it's a virus and MXES is some sort of protection code

Eclipse is red instead of purple to differentiate between when animatronics are possessed by the vanny virus vs when their possessed by Eclipse itself

I like to imagine all dca variants have paws. The idea of them having human feet scares me

I've always associated this kind of long tailcoat with a corset (or corset like clothing) with bunnies for some reason. No idea where that idea's from, maybe becuse they kind of look like rabbit ears

Eclipse has bells attached to his ribbons but you can't really see them from that angle

Eclipse has faint hypnosis swirls in his lure state so that people can't really tell what's happening and assume he just has white eyes like Sun. It also likes to swing its 'tentacles' around to desorient prey

Eclipse's tenticles/wires are not a part of his body, there can be as many or as few as you'd like. They can also form from objects or the ground

As Eclipse is a digital entity, it is able to alter it's body on a whim. His standard form is shown above, it always has four arms

The average person reaches Eclipse's hips, most Animatronics reach his middle-lower torso. However, Eclipse is able to alter its size which is usually based on trust, it'll make itself bigger if it feels threatened and smaller if it feels safe

[gwendolynnderolo]

just imagining buck and tommy having sex for the first time and buck is doing his normal macho seducer routine cause he’s so used to having to be in charge and tommy just very gently tells buck to let him take the reins and for the first time in his life buck actually gets to give up control during sex and feel taken care of and not like anything is expected of him

just. buck getting to discover everything that comes with being into guys and getting to fully experience that with someone who knows what he’s doing and will both take care of and ~take care of~ him

[calliecat93]

The Enemy Within is a really good episode when it comes to Kirk and the Triumvirate's dynamic.

In it, we have Kirk split in half. The good half, which has all of Kirk's positive traits but is also indecisive, uncertain, and even a little meek in comparison to normal. The bad Kirk is... well, an unpleasant maniac. Aggressive, impulsive, lack of empathy, all traits that most of us fear. And yet without it, without these negative aspects, Kirk isn't Kirk. A Kirk without any of his bad traits is just as incomplete as a Kirk without the good ones. He needs that decisiveness and aggression to push himself as a captain. To act. To command. We saw it in The Corbomite Manuver and this only helps reinforce it.

On the one hand, Kirk's struggling to function. On the other hand, he's still the captain. He can't allow himself to slip. He can't allow himself to show any weakness. Spock outright reinforces that to him, which in this case imo was the absolute worst move but it's absolutely in character for Spock and for this analysis as we'll see in a moment. Kirk is unwilling to relinquish command, so he tries to force himself to continue. But as time goes, his will continues to falter.

Things really get interesting, however, once they've finally captured the bad Kirk. If you go by production order, this is probably the first time we've had Kirk, Spock, and McCoy in a scene that lasts longer than a few seconds. On the one hand, we have Spock. He delves into how Kirk, without the bad half, is losing his ability to command. He's utterly blunt about it too, which isn't a surprise since this is Spock. The same guy who outright told Kirk not to divulge to the crew the exact details of the situation because it would damage Kirk's captain image and thus provoke a loss of faith by the crew. McCoy practically acts like he's offended on Kirk's behalf. The fact that to him, it sounds like Spock would dare even question Jim and his command ability speaks a LOT. Of course it's Spock's job and Kirk outright told him to do so if he saw him slipping, but McCoy doesn't know that nor would he really care in this instance. He tries to tell Jim that he can still command like he is, but it's clear that they all know that that's not true.

So we have Spock pointing out the facts as they are and telling Kirk that he won't be able to captain soon, his logic utterly sound. Then we have McCoy getitng mad and denying it at first but ultimately admitting to Jim that Spock was right while also assuring him that having these negative traits is not bad. Kirk has his mind telling him one thing, but can't get over his feelings about it after what he's seen. He can't ignore the reality as much as he wants to. He has to accept that as repulsed as he is by seeing his raw darkness, he needs it. He has to accept it to be whole. To be Captain James T. Kirk. Otherwise, he is only half of what he is, and he can't live like that.

But what happens when you have the mind and the heart talking, but the soul is unable to balance it?

After we find out that the merging may kill Kirk from the shock, we have Spock and McCoy arguing again over what to do. All while Kirk sits there, listening to both sides and considering every option, but being unable to decide. The screencap above outright has Kirk in the middle, Spock and McCoy to the side like they were his shoulder angel and devil. They couldn't have symbolized it better if they tried.

On the one hand, we have Spock. It's clear to him that it was shock that killed the unicorn dog, unable to comprehend what all had happened to it when split and forcibly merged back. But Kirk IS able to comprehend it and thus will be able to avoid the same fate. Spock himself struggles with his two sides regularly and is able to manage it... well, he thinks he can anyways, but that's not the point. From his experience, he believes that Kirk can survive and regardless, the landing party will die unless they take the risk of merging Kirk and thus confirming that the transporters are safe once more. As is the duty of the captain.

On the other hand, we have McCoy. With no autopsy completed, he can't be for sure what caused the death and as a doctor he's not going to make a conclusion without it. He's utterly against using the teleporters until the autopsy is complete, at least. He's unwilling to risk Kirk's life without the proof. Plus, if they do it and Kirk dies, then they won't be able to beam up the landing party, and thus they'd die from the cold anyway. He needs absolute certainty before he's willing to allow anything. He's a doctor, so of course he's not going to recklessley allow anyone to risk themselves unless it's himself but shush, but he's especially not risking Jim.

That leaves us with Kirk. He can listen to the two sides. He can weigh the options of the two sides. If he doesn't go through the transporter, his stays split and his men die. But if he does, he has no way of being certain that he'll live. But the key to the Triumvirate is that Spock has his side, McCoy has his side, and Kirk either concedes to one or finds a third option. But he can't. Not at this moment. He has no ability to decide. That essential element is gone. He's still unwilling to relinquish command, and thus neither Spock nor McCoy can make the decision. It has to be Kirk.

Ultimately, the good Kirk chooses to go through the transporter, his men's lives coming before his own. The bad Kirk refuses, trying to abandon his men to save himself. The good Kirk isn't afraid of the risk while the bad Kirk fears for his life. The logical half and the emotional half at odds. In the end, the good Kirk convinces his terrified dark side that it has to be done. Thus, they are brought back together and become whole once more. James T Kirk becomes whole once more.

I have no idea where I'm going with this, and I'm probably reading into this WAAAAY too hard. But in short, just as Kirk needs his two own halves to function, Kirk needs Spock and McCoy as well. He needs Spock to be able to rationalize him and keep him and his head in check. He needs McCoy to be able to process his emotions and to embrace what he otherwise would be unwilling to. He needs both to be able to find that middle ground and make the decision, whether it be right or wrong but a decision nonetheless. Without him as a balance, the two halves are separate. Nothing to balance them out and at war with each other, unable to reconcile. Unable to be function. Unable to be whole.

[rosemirmir]

Time for that unhinged Geryon essay I promised:

I've posted about it before, but now with the finale out and with the final confrontation between Hotaro and Geryon, I'm just thinking again about the thematic aspects of Geryon once again. And how he and his obsession with turning the world into gold is meant to symbolize wanting things to stay the same.

While Hotaro and the others wish to move things forward and change the future.

And that is one of the main themes of this show: To push forwards, reach your dreams, and change the future. And how you can only do both of those things by moving forward.

Geryon talks about turning worthless things into gold "is the true goal of alchemy". While with Hotaro, Rinne, and others being an alchemist is about using alchemy to bring happiness into the world. Which is a vastly different goal than the original historic reason behind the origin of alchemy.

To Geryon, Hotaro's dream, and the concept of having dreams itself is a pointless endeavor. As well as a sign of weakness. What really matters to him is to create something with what he thinks has real "worth", by using what is one of the original purposes of alchemy and probably the most well known: turning base metals into gold.

Also gold is classified as a noble metal. Which is interesting to think about the name of that classification when you see Geryon seeing gold and turning the whole world into gold is something that actually has "worth", compared to bringing happiness into the world. Or to create a world where humans and chemies can coexist.

With that: it also can be read that Geryon is an alchemist purist too. Rejecting the notion the of idea Alchemy should be used to bring happiness to others, which is a much newer ideal compared to turning base metals into gold.

This is not "the true goal of alchemy" or "what alchemy is for" after all, two things he says throughout the course of the show.

Another theme in this show is the next generation being the hope to bring change for the future.

But Geryon being part of the adults of the cast fully rejects what Hotaro and the others are standing for. Compared to Minato, Kyoka, and Fuga who are behind guiding the next generation to help them bring the change they strive to achieve. The three of them say as much in various points of the show.

Which is just something I find really interesting to think about.

Lastly: this entire speech from Hotaro during the final battle also really stuck out to me when watching it the first time. And is a perfect display of the themes present in the show:

Gold is eternal, Geryon says as much in Episode 49. To create a world of gold is to keep things exactly the same as they were. Nothing can change, time is at a standstill.

But that is not what is needed for the betterment of the world. What is needed is to keep pushing onwards, and to try and grasp our dreams, and change the future.

His motivation and end goal is extremely simple, but it just works so well thematically for this show and the messages it wants to tell. He is a perfect foil to Hotaro and is an excellent villain to me because of how his motivation completely contrasts Hotaro's. It's a really good use of the original purpose of alchemy!

The best way I can describe Geryon as a villain is "simple but effective".

Sometimes you don't need a super complex motivation to have an effective antagonist for your story. It all depends on what you want to tell. And just from a thematic standpoint, Geryon just works as a villain for the story and messages of Gotchard.

[squuote]

sits on the floor a casual space away from you. so I have this fun interpretation. it's called "the narrator made the bucket to matter to stanley in a parallel of what stanley actually means to him, and when he talks about how stanley talks to the bucket, it is him trying to emote to stanley how he feels--and, when he interprets the bucket telling stanley things, he is once again projecting his interpretation of stanley's actions." and i havent thought about it in a minute and I won't claim there's text to support it and I know people LOVE to say the Bucket is what the narrator projects onto but I've just loved the joke "Stanley is the Narrator's Emotional Reassurance Bucket" for a long time also the bit in the freedom ending "both of them wanted to start watching a film, then stop halfway through, go to the end and watch it backwards" > "wait, no, let's stay in the memory zone, let's go backwards, see how that feels!!!" like. that feels intentional to me. that link DOES feel on purpose.

VERY LATE TO ANSWERING THIS SORRYY been off the rails for the past few days but YES YES you put it to words so well!! the bucket definitely at least feels like its meant to reflect how the narrator feels to a large extent rather than just simply projecting onto it. the idea of him projecting onto the bucket is fun but I def think this fits better narratively and also with how some of the dialogue goes. the whole thing feels so much more like a reflection of his dynamic with stanley than the latter, it’s hard to imagine it as anything other than a reflection of their dynamic. it also makes me think of the bit from the Figley ending

which I feel like does add a lot to this too. more so concerning what stanley means to him. so yess very much agree with the sentiment of "stanley is the narrator's emotional reassurance bucket" in many ways. or at the very least as a companion as he describes, which the bucket is for stanley as well. as if in a way, stanley was made with that intent. or it at least feels like it more often than not when comparing dialogue

think its also worth noting that despite being a reassurance bucket, not all of the bucket's endings are fun or silly or even reassuring as intended (the elevator ending and the pit ending specifically comes to mind) which feels like it parallels the more bad endings between stanley and the narrator. not just a parallel to their good times but also an introspective on their bad times. or maybe im just reaching with that dfkkgfg either way, felt worthy of mentioning in terms of parallels.

AND YEAH THAT LINE DOES FEEL VERY INTENTIONAL like there’s no way it’s not purposeful. I love that so much of the dialogue in the game in general feels so purposeful or connected it’s so great

[doodlingbot]

Something about turning off certain visual modes for better range/focus.

[analogboii]

PLEASEEE 💀💀 ATEEZ'S ANTI FAMILY NAGGING MENU 💀💀💀 mingi saying if our family nags at us they gotta pay up, seonghwa saying they gotta build ten lego sets in a row without stopping, jongho saying they have to buy us 100 apples (while ripping one in half with his bare hands i will never grow tired of that trick), and then san giving them a list of exercises to do if our family/friends body shame us. i know there was 100 plates of noodles in there somewhere. 10000/10 loved that shit 💀 keep threatening my family pls and thank you

[bunnieswithknives]

TWO OF US AU MASTERPOST

Finally got around to making a masterpost! I tried to keep it to the relevant stuff because I’ve posted a lot for this AU, but If you still want to see everything then you can search the whole tag here.

Also feel free to join the Discord: https://discord.gg/hkCKGQrDtK

Plot relevant stuff roughly chronological in order:

Two of us AU (Video) [bonus]

You don’t remember what she looks like? (Video)

David tries to convince Red murder is OK, [pt2]

Hey, that’s not how stairs work!

Low power, what's with your eyes?

Interview

Argument (Video)

New Invention (Video), stupid stupid

Memory problems

Clayhill Killer

David feels bad for murder

Full of electricity

Kills you to death

Worms (Video) [Bonus]

Post Cannon:

Long long time ago (Video)

Puppet David,  Headache, little guy

Home sweet home, New clothes, Roller-skating 

Ratburger?, Sons a worm

Puppet Antics:

IDEAS (Cannon episode)

Hug me (Video) [Bonus]

He died but he’s OK, [2], [3], [4], [5]

Family road trip!

Bonding

Brain friends, Prank , Siblings

uncreative Brendon

Workplace relations,

call that human trafficking 

History lesson, cobbles and rhymes!

Beach day

Yum!

Warren fucking dies, Shrignold gives a pep talk

Homophobic butterfly, terrible advice

swear words,  Duck rambles

Lesley BITES, Toothbrushes

puppet crossover

Upstairs

Some things never change

Pre-Cannon:

Ventriloquism

car accident, oh no!, Trauma 

Punk David

Socializing

Family

They’ve been gone a long time

References, Worldbuilding, and Misc:

Magic system, Reanimation, Consequences for my actions!???

Roy and Lesley, Alive Roy and Lesley

David ref, Red ref, Duck [Color ref], More duck

Teachers, alive teachers

Big boys and bigger boys, Brain friends, pallet swapped,  Recolors

Perfect Case In Point (Video)

Reanimator poster

Red’s family

Hostage AU, Dress up, Home is where the heart is

Red but he’s an angry ghost AU

Spider David AU, Spider lore, monster, Mother of puppets, mind control , Puppet Rowan, Ochyro

[a-compass-without-a-needle]

Gotta love when you can tell that a character has absolutely been through/witnessed a form of The Horrors when the metaphorical light leaves their eyes.

[eemcintyre]

I know this is a bit of a controversial theory and I understand why some people don't like it, but I'd honestly be okay with it if the endgame of Terry Silver's character is that he's dying.

As much as anyone who knows me knows I adore him, I love a lot of the other characters too and I don't want to see a series where the bad guys win. Plus, that would never be allowed to happen in a thousand years, what kind of parting message would that be, and if Terry doesn't win but remains alive, what other possible outcome is there for him?

No way he'd just go back to the vapid life by the beach where we were initially reintroduced to him, and I doubt he'd go to prison, or at least stay there for any significant amount of time, bc as many have accurately said, rich people don't go to prison, silly!! But Terry is so determined and proud and plain feral at this point and he has so much at stake even if he's not dying; man's not just going to go peacefully into the sunset or, God forbid, surrender or turn good- I genuinely think that the only thing to stop him at this point that would be remotely realistic and fitting would be death.

And really, it would be so incredibly and beautifully tragic and befitting the messages of the show (whatever is left of those at this point; just think of the first couple seasons ig) if, after a life of doing whatever needs to be done to get to the top and maintain control over everything and everyone, despite having what seems to be all the power and money in the world, if you wield it with evil intentions, you ultimately end up with nothing that really matters. One of the main themes of the show used to be that violence just begets more violence; it's an ouroboros that just ends up eating itself; it is self-destructive.

Terry seems to want legacy more than anything else; deep down, I think he fears being insignificant/forgotten and losing control more than anything. However, he's gone about it all wrong, to put it mildly, and all it seems he will leave behind that will last is pain and fear- which, if that's what he wants, then there you go, but somehow I don't think it is. I believe he really wants people to, sure, have enough concern to make them think twice about crossing him, but to marvel at his great, lasting accomplishments and also admire, and perhaps even love him. But in his quest for absolute control and with his belief that he's above pretty much everyone, plus, oh idk perhaps the malice and violence, that will not be a thing that happens. Anyway, that's a bit of a separate conversation.

Back to what I was saying about what he fears more than anything; perhaps these are the only things he fears- being insignificant/forgotten and losing control. As for the latter, it would be such poetic tragedy if, after a life of trying to be and probably believing that he is so much greater and better than everyone else, and seeking constant control, he is ultimately met with the one thing he can't control and which equalizes him to everyone else. Terry is convinced that nothing but a grand death on the battlefield becomes him, yet he ends up comparatively quietly passing away on a hospital bed like most everyone else.

Listen, I know it would be so profoundly tragic and I get sad just thinking about it, but I sincerely believe it would be the most interesting, realistic and meaningful ending, and I would be satisfied with it.

[enobariasdistrict2]

no but i honestly barely cared about/liked gale and didn't really think he served a great purpose plot-wise but i'd just like to get this out there anyways: he's not some inhuman heartless jerk, and the situation's more complicated than him being "worse" than peeta morally.

for instance, when coin was torturing katniss's prep team: yes, for humanitarian purposes it's a moral obligation to object to the torture of anyone, but gale didn't have the luxury of knowing these people the way katniss did. from his point of view, these are people who literally beautified katniss to be sent to the slaughterhouse, and represent the capitol's priority of entertainment and beauty over human life. katniss had the opportunity to actually get to know them and is a naturally kinder/empathetic person by nature, and she interacted with them personally which is why she formed an attachment to them. gale on the other hand stayed home, watched his friend get all made up to be sent to a child-butchering fest, and to him these (the prep team) are the people who were complicit in that happening, so gale's way of thinking about it is pretty justified imo.

and gale's worldview, while problematic, isn't just a personality flaw that he can fix easily with growth, it's a reflection of his trauma - he watched the capitol bomb his district, he watched his family starve, he watched his dad work as the capitol's slave only to die so that he could bear the burden of taking care of his family alone. of course he sees all of them as the enemy, and while this made him somewhat callous and vicious he really had no reason not to believe that the way he viewed things was correct. it doesn't matter that a lot of his actions were wrong, or that the way he reacted to things wasn't the way katniss or peeta might have reacted. although it made him into a person katniss didn't want to be around, it makes perfect sense why he'd be this way.

[sheltershock]

I just unlocked Eight’s palette yesterday and the additional challenge placed on this run specifically is really interesting from a story perspective with what was set up earlier in the DLC. So I ended up typing up this little essay on the intersection of gameplay and themes in Side Order. Slight spoilers under the cut!

Eight so far hasn’t gotten much attention at all in Side Order. Which makes sense for a silent protagonist, but I couldn’t help but see the narrative parallels with the gameplay associated with Eight’s run. Side Order is about confronting the fear of change and the fantasy of living in a bland, but safely controlled world of order. Marina gets a lot of guilt from the Memverse getting all messed up with her constant apologies, but maybe her desires and the ones of engineers aren’t the only key players in the development of Order and its takeover. 

It’s revealed in the Dev Diaries that Eight was always intended to be the first subject in the Memverse project. Which inherently makes her special since the tower’s creation at some point took her specifically in consideration. But then when everything goes wrong, Eight is trapped there. Even when you beat the DLC and can leave the Memverse, it’s always your player character that transitions between spaces, not Eight. And sure, (a piece of) her soul is trapped in the program, but so are Deep Cut’s, and all of them are able to give the pre- and post-run news report about the situation in Inkopolis. So why is Eight unable to leave the space? 

What I was surprised to find was that Eight’s palette wasn’t actually inside locker 36 like the game implied, but it was revealed that her palette was the lockers themselves. Like, all 36 of them. And even Marina calls out that it's “kinda weird.” Afterwards, the extra challenge of the final run reveals itself, a run with minimal hacks. The more hacks you have enabled, the less chip slots you are afforded. In order to have access to all thirty-six chip slots in Eight’s palette, you need to have zero hacks enabled, which resets you back to where you were in the beginning of the DLC after the tutorial run. 

The thing that got me thinking about how interesting this was from a narrative perspective is that this challenge is really hard. It’s very difficult, in fact, at time of writing I have not beaten it and I’ve played for multi-hour sessions. But this difficulty switch actually reflects the themes of the DLC, and possibly how Eight feels and what she’s experiencing. 

At the beginning of the game, the tower is chaotic and scary. You don’t know about the floors or their properties and the chips you can get are random. You don’t know what awaits you on that next floor and that could make you entirely start again from the beginning. And that’s exactly the fear that Octolings have about going to the surface. They are completely starting over at a game that they don’t know the rules of, or if there are any rules at all. 

But then there’s the introduction of the hacks. The hacks are a valuable and life changing modification to the challenges and randomness ahead. You want more lives? Sure! Take less damage? Go for it! More upgrades for the drone? The more the merrier! Are the prices at the vending machine more expensive? Here, have a discount! Oh, you don’t like challenges or the chips available for this floor? Just hand over some coins and we’ll spin the roulette again! You can even reveal the bosses ahead of time and reroll what you get if you don’t want a certain one. Runs get easier, and more forgiving. And as you get further, the tower gets safer, more secure. More controllable. If you know what you’re doing, you can even manipulate the entire program to get solely what you want. 

Except your memories. 

As a player, you have to fully clear the tower eleven times before even unlocking Eight’s palette. Which matters because once you’ve cleared it eleven times with different loadouts, you become pretty familiar with the mechanics and might even have reliable plans for specific floors. And that’s without the hacks. The tower becomes routine at that point, and with all the hacks, it’s likely you plan trips to specific vending machines on certain floors. I remember having specific membux amounts I wanted to reach and trying to save up to spend on floor fifteen. You watch your in-game timer on levels start to decrease and feel a bit of pride when the happy clear music plays and you see the little “updated!” next to your time. You know your way around the tower now. 

And Eight gets that experience too. Eight also experiences the repetition of each successful and unsuccessful run. The tower becomes familiar to her too, and maybe, comfortable. Eight gets to climb the tower, again and again, with her friends in an environment that she understands and can reasonably control. Pearl even has a line sometimes when you start a floor that echoes this sentiment, “let's hurry this up so we can go hang out with Marina and Acht some more!” And isn’t that the perfect fantasy for a freed Octoling? An environment of freedom, with a little spontaneity for spice? To be able to hang out with people you like, and aid each other in battle where the greatest punishment is that you get to enjoy this all again? Nobody controls you or tells you what to do. You call the shots. You pick the floors. You snap your fingers and decide how hard you want this to be. 

And that’s exactly what Order stands for, an unchanging, safe world. Born from the wishes of the Memverse’s engineers, ironically standing in the way of the point of the program. At least, that’s what Smollusk said. But this is a world that Marina designed, with Eight as an intended subject. Not the only, but an intended subject. The person who was supposed to be saved first, ended up to be the last you find to save. Interesting. But maybe Order came to life specifically from Eight’s desire.

Eight is special. When you reach the top of the tower and face Smollusk with Eight’s palette, it recognizes it. “At wast[last]!,” it says, “you finawwy bwought me THAT Palette!” And it even calls Eight out by name. Smollusk doesn’t have dialogue calling out or even recognizing specific palettes you’re using, but it recognizes Eight’s. And the thing separating the palettes from the player is the lockers, a piece of Eight’s soul itself, may represent Eight’s desire to stay. The reason to keep playing is because everyone’s palettes are locked in a piece of Eight’s soul, tucked away. Because if the lockers weren’t there, then it would be significantly easier to reconfigure everyone’s palette. And easier means faster. 

All of this would make the necessity of minimal hacks symbolic. Eight’s palette is resistant to Marina’s hacking, which serves two purposes for the narrative. One, it makes the game harder, which makes it harder to walk away from. If it takes one hundred attempts to clear that tower with minimal hacks, then that’s one hundred more repetitions experienced before it all has to eventually end. It’s another form of the lockers, extending the time of the evitable. 

Its second symbolic purpose is that Eight has to let go of her grasp of control and embrace chaos to reach the top and reconfigure her palette. And it’s hard. Both mechanically like previously mentioned, but it also makes you feel Eight’s frustration with embracing chaos. Disabling my extra shields and damaged swim speed and extra lives, going back to the hardest, least controlled phase of the game feels bad. Embracing that chaos is difficult. Just like how it would be for Eight. 

But it is possible, it’s just a slow climb up. Floor by floor. Facing nearly impossible challenge after nearly impossible challenge. And while you have the option to skip, it’ll cost you. But prices are much higher, the hits you can take are much more expensive, and you move much slower. But you still have your friends. Even if they can’t help you hack your way to the top, or drop five consecutive bombs, they’re still there for you. Keeping the elevator warm, and helping you resist gravity. Maybe they can’t exactly be much of help going up, but Eight’s friends can help her from falling back down. A team of four. How fitting. 

Now, I haven’t cleared Eight’s palette yet, I’ve already mentioned this. And the 2/3 secret Dev Diaries I got doesn’t spark confidence about learning more about Eight, unfortunately. And I’ve accidentally been slightly spoiled that she doesn’t get her memories back which is disappointing. I wish there was more specific emphasis placed on the characters in the DLC, to be honest. But as I was playing I noticed this little ludonarrative happening with Eight’s run that I thought was super interesting and probably the closest I’m going to get for Eight development for the DLC. I haven’t played the first or second game(I didn’t have the hardware at the time), I just watched them and I heard that the memcakes in Octo Expansion actually reveal Eight’s personality so I’m going to have to read those, because I haven’t. But I like Eight, and I liked this neat little unspoken story going on in Side Order, like the agent herself. 

[celestialulu]

art summary of 2023 <3

This year has been up and down art wise but overall at least I did art for each month and for those who don’t know mashima saw my nalu day art in July and showed it on stream so I would say this year was pretty good for me!!

More nalu art for 2024 and I hope to improve and get a consistent art style lmao

(Making this is kinda embarrassing I hate seeing old art and also sorry for the low quality I had to rush this as I won’t be home for New Years)

made some friends this year which I appreciate and yeah you know who u are im too shy to @ anyone ..

May nalu have many moments in 2024 🫶

[mxwhore]

can anybody send me the twitter ss of the thread of someone with a yoshi pfp saying (placeholder) save me?