#i don't even just want to interact i just want to be able to see others interact and not feel gutted

[stardust-ask-blog]

Hello everyone! I am Elliott the Creator of this ask blog, feel free to ask me or Stardust any questions, and interact with them, whether it is yourself or OC's! In the meantime, here is them and their lore

Stardust formed without a world of his own, he was created fully formed and was floating in the fourth wall with no clothes, not able to talk, and with no name. When he woke up he was surrounded by hundreds of "screens" showing different au's, different timelines, he stared, alone and confused. But he watched and he listened. He slowly learned how to talk from them all, and soon figured out how to control the screens in the fourth wall. At some point he learned how to create doors, as portals to walk into any universe he wants after seeing ink and error move around to different worlds themselves.

Due to being naked he decided to get some clothes from outertale, he loves how space looks, and since his body has some star-like patterns to it he thought it would be nice to have space themed clothes.

Stardust is always curious of everything and everyone he comes across, and he stays within the fourth wall, it's where he was made, and it's his home, he feels comfort there. He even did what error does and took furniture and stuff into his home from different universes.

Stardust is happy with his current situation but he does get lonely, he wants to make friends but he is worried he will mess up timelines or make other versions of him uncomfortable, so he keeps to himself. Although he is wondering if he should introduce himself to some of the rouge sans's of the multiverse.. the ones who don't stay in their world, or even visit Geno, from aftertale, he seems just as lonely and he cannot leave

But for now he is happy

[datvtranscripts]

The Crossroad Ambients

Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain

The Crossroads Masterpost

Rook: Wait. The lyrium dagger's… vibrating. Like a song in a wine glass.

Rook passes the tree again.

Rook: Are those voices?

Rook interacts with the tree in the Crossroads.

Elgar'nan: Striking the Crossroads without forethought would be folly. The rebellion controlled it for far too long. Its defenses will be artfully hidden.

Ghilan'nain: You will not press? Our forces are cunning and sharpened.

Elgar'nan: Fen'harel's spite is endless and his trickery not easily overcome. He will have traps in wait. A Crossroads in ruin is no good to us.

Rook: That was Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain. Were we… eavesdropping on the past?

Isle of the Gods complete: Rook: We must have been. Ghilan'nain's gone.

Bellara: Here in the Crossroads, the dagger must be able to… overhear them. Just a little.

Davrin: It makes sense for Solas—his dagger, his enemies, his way of spying on them.

Emmrich: The dagger must catch and amplify their influence here. Ingenious, really.

Harding: The dagger… of course Solas found a way to spy on the other gods.

Lucanis: It's Solas's dagger. He must have had a way to spy on his rival gods.

Neve: The dagger must amplify these… echoes. Letting Solas spy on his rivals.

Taash: Handy dagger. Stabs and eavesdrops. No wonder everyone wants it.

Rook: Let's hope it doesn't work both ways.

—

Rook passes by the tree again.

Rook: Shhh. We can eavesdrop again.

Rook: The voices again.

Rook: The dagger's resonating again.

Rook: Listen.

—

Ghilan'nain: Untold years asleep, only to see our sanctums defiled. Even Arlathan is trampled by cast-offs and mortals. We must secure the eluvians.

Elgar'nan: We shall. The Antaam are uneasy in the Crossroads, but they know their duty.

Ghilan'nain: If they fail, give the best-preserved to me for improvement.

Have not fought Antaam in the Crossroads Rook: The Antaam. So they're somewhere in the Crossroads, too.

Have found Antaam in the Crossroads. Rook: Dead Antaam? We're already on it.

—

Elgar'nan: Delays. So much more could be accomplished from the Vhen'Theneras. Solas raised that beacon in mockery of my own tower of learning. The disrespect…

Ghilan'nain: Do not dwell upon it, Elgar'nan. The Lighthouse is but one wonder we shall reclaim.

Elgar'nan: It will be remade. And all traces of Fen'harel erased from its walls.

Isle of the Gods complete: Rook: Ghilan'nain. We really are listening to the past.

—

Isle of the Gods complete: Elgar'nan: It is not enough to slay the artist. They must see your works destroyed as well. Petty, small-minded… blind to the wonder and beauty of your creations. Dearest sister, I then offer this to your memory: If your genius does not survive, neither will those who disdained you.

Isle of the Gods not complete: Elgar'nan: But surely the knowledge you gained…

Ghilan'nain: My champions offered themselves willingly. More works of precision laid low before finding their full potential!

Elgar'nan: You will have new subjects, in recompense. Whatever you wish.

Bellara romanced Ghilan'nain: Rook's foolish tinkerer toys with our old works. Let her be flesh-bonded into a Sentinel's armor. Bellara: Rook. She means…

Davrin romanced: Ghilan'nain: Rook's dearest Warden. He is half blighted already. I would see if I could make him crave griffon flesh. Davrin: Let her try.

Emmrich romanced: Ghilan'nain: Rook's necromancer. An excellent subject to test how long one could go back and forth between life and death. Emmrich: Don't listen to her, dearest. It won't come to that.

Harding romanced: Ghilan'nain: Rook's Titan pretender? There are many things I could do with one so tied to the stone. Harding: She's not saying what I think she's saying, is she? She probably is.

Lucanis romanced: Ghilan'nain: Rook's assassin. His flesh could be given true wings. And a face that better suits one who carries a demon. Lucanis: She is welcome to try.

Neve romanced: Ghilan'nain: Rook's delver of the truth. A mage who would provide me with both blood and ice from her veins. Neve: Rook. She means…

Taash romanced: Ghilan'nain: Rook's fire-breather. I would see if there is enough dragon blood in their veins to begin a new Archdemon. Taash: She can try.

No romance: Ghilan'nain: Rook's companions seek to fight as one. Combining their traits into a single form would be edifying.

Elgar'nan: Inspired. Consider it done.

In romance: Rook: If they touch you, death will be the least of their problems.

Not in romance: Rook: Ignore them. We're taking these bastards down before they ever get the chance.

—

Ghilan'nain: What of your dreams?

Elgar'nan: A discordant refrain. And shadows. Nothing more.

Ghilan'nain: In our prison, there was more. I dreamed the songs of the living abyss.

Ghilan'nain: And now, masked eyes across the sea. A storm that drinks the sky…

Elgar'nan: The future is intangible. Only the past and the present matter.

[fishyaudio]

Why is godmode your favourite rw ship? Curious :>

Also do you know/play Hollow Knight

Thanks for the ask right away!!

First off, I know Hollow Knight but have yet to play it when I'll have more free time. I know I'll like it and my body cannot handle more fixations than the massive one I have on Rain World at once /hj

Godmode storytime;

The funniest thing about getting obsessed with this ship for me is that I started out as someone who didn't really engage in fandoms and had the mindset of "why would I ship something that's not canon? Those characters didn't even meet, that makes zero sense!" before Rain World. And look at me now, neck deep into a ship of two slugcats that ony had a non-canon interaction in a joke dating sim.

At first I got more into barbecue (Arti x Gourmand), because how I saw them personalitywise really made them click for me and I wouldn't have even considered godmode if not for this one animatic:

It changed my brain chemistry a bit. While personally I don't see Inv and Saint as both gods of the world they reside in, I love the idea of them having opposite midsets and goals and kinda balancing each other out.

I've always seen Saint's goals and doings as really ambiguous. To me, they aren't a god, aren't an evil creature, but a being with a mission that could be debated upon in terms of its necessity. Is their time loop really a destined routine for them to ensure others will get their ending? Or does Saint just feel that way about their futile goal and despite their struggles and determination, the Cycle never truthly ends?

We get a lot of hints that the world isn't really fully dying, it's transforming. The way the Undergrowth blooms, how Moon mentions a new Cycle unfolding, one that the Iterators needn't be a part of. I feel like the overall idea to just shut the lights off for everyone and everything, while in line with the Ancients' worldview and with a lot of good intentions, isn't really a 100% right one to execute. From Saint's pov especially with how it affects them, making her go through literal hell (rubicon) and back to continue her mission. Almost as if the world itself was pushing them back from gifting this finality upon everyone with its circular nature. And despite all of that, they push on. Always so stubborn in their narrow worldview, with one goal only. An Echo tied to the Cycle they want to end so bad.

And then there's Enot. A flirty, unserious joke character. A character that also went through absolute hell in her campagin. Constantly gets all of the most terrible things thrown at her. A total mystery of a being that's more of a cryptid and a glitch in the system than an actual, playable character with her own story and goals like the other campagins. And with all of that, I like to imagine that he still manages to have a good laugh at it. Is always able to find something funny in the situation he's in. Learn to enjoy the chaos around him and take advantage of it. Love the world as is because that's the only one he has. And I personally find this reading of Enot really damn comforting + a tad more complex one rather than just a hopeless romantic and/or violent sinner and/or a gamer freak. A sinning hopeless romantic gamer with depth! And emotional baggage!

When I think of these two together, I always see it in the context of Inv being somehow thrown into Saint's campagin and not leaving their new friend's side. I feel like both of them wouldn't pass an opportunity for a companion after they both were alone for so long. I love how their worldviews would clash and force them to think more about the lives they had led before. Imagine the shock that Saint would feel when hearing Enot say that Saint's world, the one they have considered cruel and dying, is all sunshine and rainbows in comparison to what insane and absurd things she experienced in her home. Moreover, the home she managed to call her own and appreciate a bit in the end. And not because she lost her mind or something, no. Enot is still very clever and empathetic.

I even made a whole comic about this particular interaction idea when it comes to their different ideas about the supposed finality of the Cycle.

Also: I just think they're neat and should hold hands and kiss

freaks of nature

[radicalcrashout]

thinking about the weight of gabriel on natalie's life

about how she so rarely textually acknowledges him and even says she does not have a brother when henry says he didn't know she had one which is true but definitely complicated by how, as much as she herself has never known him, gabriel has always been so intertwined with her existence

natalie is of course far more than her dead brother's replacement but simultaneously that is in many ways what she was made for. it is the reality of why dan and diana had her; diana barely manages to cut herself off when she says ''we had natalie to re- and i know she knows''. how devastating must it be, to know that you were born not just because your parents wanted a child but because they wanted a child to distract from the one they lost. and it's not even that they outwardly state that they see your brother in you but that someone you have never known is so deeply embedded in your value to your parents.

and not to mention how gabe lives within the musical and often interacts with her—''morning sunshine''—and she sort of feels it because he is the personification of the ghost of memories passed down to her. he's not there, and yet he always will be.

and part of the crux of her relationship to diana is when her mother is finally able to tell her the circumstances around her brother's death. it is the thing that breaks through to her, for her mother to finally acknowledge that yes, gabriel has been here in our family and has haunted us to the point where we've warped his memory so severely in our minds and in yours. i don't really have anything to say about that other than how fucking devastating it is that so much of your relationship to your family is about someone who's long dead, someone you never got to know in any way besides the grief he left hanging over your parents and your whole life.

i wonder a lot about the life natalie had growing up. about the weight of all that pain on a young child.

[ghouljams]

Hey, as someone quitting chat bots I'm struggling a lot with my attachment to the characters of the bots I chat with. A lot are OC's with full lore and everything but obviously these creators aren't making fics or anything like that. I've mainly turned to chat bots due to severe depression so the heavy attachment to these characters is in part because of that. Sorry if you're getting tons of asks like this, you're just very kind with advice about this stuff.

I mean my advice is genuinely to reach out to the creator and see if they have any writing to share.

I have another ask about OCs in chatbots and I am going to just be brutally honest here but you are not attached to the actual character, you're attached to the bot. I would bet that the chats you have with this OC are far removed from what the author actually visualized as their story, even if you've read the lore. If you love the character, reach out to the author. Maybe they have writing they've been scared to share, maybe they do post it somewhere and you just haven't been able to find it, maybe you make a friend in the process and can continue talking about the character.

You are not helping your depression by depriving yourself of human connection. I'm not even going to say "meaningful" human connection because when you're depressed all connection is meaningful. Go for a walk and smile at people. Ask if you can pet a stranger's dog. Reach out to a friend you haven't talked to in a while. Go to a cafe, get a drink, and just people watch. Truly, the chatbots might feel like they're a connection but our brains genuinely don't process text conversations the same way they process actually physically talking and listening to someone. We have data to back this up, you are not helping your depression by talking to a chatbot because your brain does not view it as a conversation.

I know every time anyone tells you "you should do x to help your depression" it sounds like they're blowing smoke out of their ass, but I am coming to you as someone who was severely suicidally depressed for a big chunk of my life, roleplaying with a human person online, and that role play did not help me out of my depression, talking to people in person did. Now human-human roleplaying is more satisfying than a chatbot, but I really strongly recommend you try to get out and interact with people face to face.

I promise you, the real world is so much better than any chatbot you might have an attachment to.

Also be the change you want to see in the world. You love the character, ok, have you drawn any fanart? Written any fanfiction? Made any move to show your love to the character? Or do you just use the chatbot and then malign that there's no other way to interact with them? Join the ranks of veteran fans who had no choice but to become extremely delusional and obsessed with the character and make something of your obsession like an adult.

[cacodaemonia]

This is mostly a question for folks I know or have interacted with, so I'm hoping it doesn't break containment and get me screamed at by randos, but I see posts like this one sometimes and just... really hope people aren't downloading and making copies of my fics and art without permission??

I know it's a tricky subject and I'm very much in favor of AO3, Open Doors, and other fanworks archives. Fandom is a part of culture. It's important to study, and it's also great for people to be able to reread (and re-look at/listen to) their favorite fanworks.

I also realize that once you've put something on the internet, you no longer have any control over it.

However, this recent push to download and makes copies of others' fanworks edges a little too close to art theft for my liking.

As someone who's been making fanart since the 90s, I've had my images stolen more times than I can count. And while it's worse when other people use it to make money, it also REALLY REALLY sucks when they pass it around with little or no credit given, talking amongst themselves and never saying anything nice to me about it. I've had people do this in Discord servers, on Tumblr, AO3, Instagram, tiktok, Twitter, Pinterest, and doubtless other social media. In my opinion, all of that is art theft.

Fan creators have the right to delete their works—hell, I deleted all of my art from Tumblr years ago and have also deleted lots of older images from AO3. Yes, I could orphan them, but then I would lose all control over them, which is the opposite of what I want (I know that deleting them from Tumblr only removes them from my account, but that was the best I could do). If I delete something from AO3, I think it goes without saying that I don't want other people distributing copies they might have made of it. And I don't think that's unreasonable?? But I've seen numerous cases where fan creators have deleted something, and then other people start passing around files of the works, which just seems deeply wrong to me?

Another reason I personally don't like it when people copy my works without permission is because I edit my published fics and art sometimes. So if someone downloads them rather than going to my AO3—where they might be more likely to let me know they actually liked the thing—they'll never see any improvements or changes I might have made. Honestly, I wish it was possible to entirely turn off the 'download' button on all of my works just to make it a little harder to copy them (yes, I realize this would make it so Calibre doesn't work, but I think AO3's efforts to block spam and ai scrapers means that Calibre doesn't work anyway, so 🤷).

I do think fanbinding is a bit different, because the person using your work is making another fanwork out of it. It's transformative. They're not just printing it on shitty paper and stuffing it in a binder without asking your permission first—that's not transformative.

Anyway, idk, it's a tricky and nuanced subject. But I think the bare minimum that people can do before they copy someone's fanworks is to ask them for permission?? Isn't that what permissions statements are for? Even blanket permission is generally only meant to let others makes transformative works based on your works. I've never seen anyone say "yeah feel free to copy my stuff word-for-word or pixel-by-pixel and do whatever you want with it for all time." And that's basically what posts like the one I linked to above are suggesting.

So idk, what do y'all think?

[sarnai4]

Sorry it took me so long to get to this! (Low-key, my drafts are where things go to die because I want to post them, but it becomes an out of sight, out of mind thing). Still, thanks for the tag! This was an exciting prompt.

Your favorite fic to write: I think Your True Tribe for HTTYD. It was just a really fun combination of action, cutesy brotherhood bonding, heartbreaking scenes, and overcoming traumas/hardships. Whenever I started one of those chapters, I was able to write a lot very quickly too. I'm actually planning to write a sequel fic and I don't think I've ever made one of those yet.

A fic you thought readers would love: Gladiator (Take) Two. But in fairness, even I don't know any Gladiator fics. I just thought that it would be a lot of fun to see Marcus and Macrinus have an L and Light relationship under the twins' noses. (I'm also writing the next chapter today, so I'm still writing this even if nobody reads it. I need the closure)

The fic they actually loved: Siblings of War. Although it's 2nd for kudos, this story has by far the most interactions. I loved getting to read the comments each week (and my moots even made art! More than once too for this!) No story I've ever written has had such a warm reception from readers, so that was so touching.

The fic you love the concept but hate writing: Oof. Tough question. Uh, (searches through the list) Nothing I guess. Sorry. I'm a writer to my core. I just love all of it.

The hardest fic you've written: The Scale of Strike from ATLA. Not because it's hard, but it's the only one I've done with a beta reader. I am NOT used to that, so it was a big adjustment to not just go, "Okay, I'm done. Posting now" and instead giving it to somebody else to check over. [Probably why it was meant for me to be an indie publisher instead of going the trad route]

A fic you want to write but never do: What Rots a Brain from HTTYD. I seriously don't think I have any other story that's been planned for this long and I still haven't gotten to it. I've started and ended other stories in between it. Why? Because it's going to be long and is super dark, but it's at least on the same level of Siblings of War, so I really don't have a good excuse. Sighs.

@mer-acle @emberphoenixisgoingtolive And open tags because I'm not sure who else writes fics.

I thought this could be a fun tag for us:

Your favorite fic to write:

A fic you thought readers would love:

The fic they actually loved:

The fic you love the concept but hate writing:

The hardest fic you've written:

A fic you want to write but never do:

[what-am-i-doing-in-this-fandom]

STOP I'm thinking about the part in Gravity Falls where Stan shows up with freshly bought (stolen) light bulbs only to see Ford screwing a new one in surrounded by family.

And OH my GOD. AGH.

Stan gets a little (ir)rationally upset about this because... It's.. Guys,,,

Stan perceives it as Ford once again easily receiving the praise and love of their family when he had to fight tooth and nail to receive even half of it.... I'm not well ✋😔

[residentialsinyomakai]

YO-TOBER DAY 10....A DAY LATE: PISTACHIONYAN

....Plus a little message!

(The Rongo Swirll was an idea from a friend aidjoekf)

But anyways, just gonna say that as much as I wanna, I'm not gonna have time to do it every day as I'm sure you've noticed (* ´ ▽ ` *)ﾉ thank you for your understanding!!

Under cut there'll be the usual alt as well as a small doodle dump!! ^u^

Alt + sketches for my favorite day of yo-tober so far 💔 I love the Tough Tribe!!!

Heres this little shading practice I'm kinda proud of! I had fun drawing the eye :)

A LOT of squid stuff.....and I still have more. I'll post them on SpaceHey tho!! (@squ1dcurry btw -u-) one of those is a goofy different outfit inspired by the puni puni event fit + his original!

And timidevil!!! He's a cutie pie ^u^

anyways, I'll be off for now!

[sawyerexe]

I feel like this rn with you holy shit

SO glad you get me! I wish more folks explored humanizing Harley in a way that didn't take away said traits more often, and maybe also dug into the pasts and lives of the orphans in a way that wasn't as 1 dimensional. And you're right! It IS whiplash to have that kind of juxtaposition, because it goes against their character. Then it feels awkward, or clunky, or like it's making light of the situation even if the intention is to be genuine. Being able to humanize characters like Harley, Leith, even Elliot, without stripping them of their "undesirables" traits would just be a nice breath of fresh air HAHA.

My thoughts are all running together now, but you put into words what I was struggling to say- it ends up lending itself to an ableist narrative even if that isn't the intention. I completely agree. Which is a shame, because you could end up doing so much there from a story perspective, and like you said, we DONT get much on the orphans and that's something I really am bummed out by on a story level and also with the structure of the story their telling and the themes they're using on purpose. I feel like at times Mobs want to make a Horror Franchise that ended up being also a Children's Franchise kind of shot them in the foot - they kept these really nuanced and deep and dark themes but still made this version of things that's palatable to young ages, and to me, that's kind of a mistake. I. E the actual toy line issues we both mentioned. I understand it's mostly paved by the way of FNAF, but it still is a shame to me because it feels it effects exactly that; the gravity of what has been done to the orphans post experimentation. It feels sanitized, even if the actual lore content isn't.

Oh man. Im about to air a lot of my laundry out, haha. Doey is one of the main reasons I have a very hard time interacting with that kind of...I suppose section? Of the fandom? Because, I ironically enough do have DID.

Now, I'm not one to say the folks at Mob made Doey to be any kind of parallel to the DID experience, because I just don't know that, and the concept of multiple consciousness so to speak in one body has been fascinating people since the start of time it seems. But you've hit it RIGHT on the nail. It makes me very uncomfortable when the fandom doesn't take it at face value and attempts to separate him into the three counterparts, or sons, or whatever vessel of separation might be popular. Not only does it feel minimizing, but it also kind of adds to the feeling of "You're only to be taken as a healthy and functional individual if you're one fused person" which let me tell you, has been a huge contention in my life going through the mental stigma of my disorder. So it sucks to see that ableist rhetoric unintentionally echoed in a fandom, especially when I feel Doey could be/have been good DID rep in an abstract way, even if it wasn't anyone's intention. Which I realize isn't any kind of moral downfall of anyone doing those things! It just, like you said, creates this feeling of being rubbed the wrong way.

When folks separate him into the three orphans, not only does it feel like the kids themselves are minimized to being emotion traits, (which retroactively sucks from a DID perspective ) but he's also minimized as a whole, like you said. These kids have been fused into one mind for years. Minds are adaptable, people learn all different ways to cope. I definitely know that first hand! As someone with the disorder, parts have aged with me. Some parts have grown from their life experiences. So why are does it feel it's so common to suspend our belief that these characters cant grow and development in their environment? And like you said, considering the environment it is, not all coping mechanisms and adaptions are going to be a picture of healthiness, or maturity, but that doesn't mean things don't progress after surgery. They're developing however they can to survive the situation. Humans, experimented on or not, are social creatures who crave companionship, I don't think it's unreasonable that experiments who have been there for years might be craving companionship.

It's maddening that it's completely minimized and I feel like with that also takes away aspects of the psychological horror LOL. And you are SO right! People with things like brain damage, TBIs, communication issues, Nonverbal disorder, DID, Motor issues, ect deserve respect and humanization, and companionship. It's kind of uncanny to see the exact opposite of tha opinion subconsciously come out of the mainstream fandom.

It's been great talking to you on this stuff I love rotating things like this in my mind !

I wonder if people would still like Dr Sawyer or make fanworks of Yarnaby being his pet the same way if the Poppy Playtime monsters weren’t designed to resemble cute kids toys? If the monsters’ appearance was more apparent that they were children twisted and disfigured into inhuman shapes by a mad scientist who found joy in their suffering

Like,this is literally what Sawyer did to Yarnaby and several other children of his own free will

[sabraeal]

Hey! I’m a reader who really loves one of your works! Man of Progress but that isn’t relevant, what is is I want to make you feel good with your readership and make you (and others) rare pair writing much more rewarding! Please advise on your favorite types of comments and other things we as nonreaders can do to make the writer/reader relationship more reciprocal!

Thank you for asking! Honestly, most comments are completely okay so long as they are not like a one line, "when is this going to update" or like "is this abandoned." I think the dream is people who really get into their comments and give you quotes and essays and all that, but most of us are just happy to know people are enjoying it.

Other things you can do is reblog (or retweet, share, etc)! Each social media platform has their own way of feeding their algorithm, so reblogging is a big deal on tumblr and likes & retweets are equally important on twitter, etc. It's helpful in getting our fics in front of more people who would be interested in them, and it's not something people do often anymore, since fics often don't fit the aesthetic of blogs, or people get very in their own head about showing what fics they like. I always like to scream in the tags of my reblogs because it's fun, but that's also entirely optional.

[the-dye-stained-socialite]

:(

[just-honey-dewd]

Oh I've been speculating everything in s1 except for episode 5.5 is post-Yingdu atp, I covered it in this post

Yeah no these inconsistencies can't really be explained, especially since it seems to me S1 and Yingdu arc are meant to flow into each other. I hope the show covers the discrepancy on the Emma case specifically, that April is September theory feels like it's onto something with the way everything else in s1 takes place in the later half of the year.

I think what bothers me about the 2018/2019 thing is that in the Dou Dou case's depiction of events, Qiao Ling seems far too... calm? She's hanging out with Xu Shanshan even though Cheng Xiaoshi is overseas in the one place she was so adamant he shouldn't go to. That's not enough to judge her behaviour, but then they see Cheng Xiaoshi (from the future) and Qiao Ling doesn't give chase. It feels like the most retroactive retcon that the aforementioned trip Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang were involved in was the Yingdu trip. Doesn't help either that there was barely any breathing room to show Lu Guang ever interacting with Xu Shanshan and Dong Yi to justify being in contact with the former.

S1 makes it seem like Cheng Xiaoshi and Lu Guang knew each other at least a few months longer (enough to be in the same friend group) before they made that trip together. But Yingdu arc basically shows that they were functionally new friends and roommates. I considered the possibility that Vivian's case and the roommates situation happened sooner than usual (but then Cheng Xiaoshi asking Lu Guang to investigate Cheng Weimin's photo requires that Vivian's case happened as it did, and Cheng Xiaoshi finds the letter because he's finding clothes for Lu Guang to lend).

Up until Lu Guang passed out from his fever, he was operating with the goal of keeping events going as they were meant to. So... straight up, either Shao Yuanyuan could've done a lot more to the timeline rather than Lu Guang, and-or some of the inconsistences are not by design.

Never considered Li Tianchen and Cheng Xiaoshi's powers working that way... I figured that certain abilities are incompatible with each other since for these specific abilities, Li Tianchen needs to maintain his grip on the person to possess them, while Cheng Xiaoshi's powers rely on being able to move without physical restraint. I figured the kidnapping plan would naturally lead to Li Tianchen strongarming Cheng Xiaoshi to use his abilities to change his and Xixi's fates (or take his abilities through a fatal power transfer). Lu Guang would be more susceptible to Li Tianchen's powers because activating his abilities wouldn't require the displacement of his physical body.

Cheng Xiaoshi's abilities with Li Tianxi/Qiao Ling's seem compatible enough since the former dives into the person who took the photo, while the latter can possess the memories/spectate the subject featured in the photo. I'd assume one way to try a combined ability use would be to clap while both look at the photo? Cheng Xiaoshi would navigate in the body of the photographer, while Qiao Ling could have greater access to the feelings of whoever was featured in the photo (which may or may not include the photographer but Cheng Xiaoshi would cover that blindspot) -- and this shared empathy can be shared between the duo?

I already have a rough idea that Cheng Xiaoshi and Qiao Ling would basically only attempt this because they want to understand Lu Guang and his memories, so they basically use their powers in this specific manner to possess his feelings to learn the truth? But otherwise, the utility of this combo is pretty limited to short-ranged accessibility of understanding someone inside out-- which is kind of invasive and wouldn't be used so fragrantly? I don't see it being very resourceful to incorporate into their time agent business, but it'd be a cool concept to explore to figure out mysterious power users specifically.

Ngl, in Cheng Xiaoshi's shoes I'd just accept that Lu Guang's powers might as well be divination and he just knows the right words to coax a response out of people XD

Fr tho, Lu Guang's sick at that point, so it could've passed off as delirium and good intuition. That message wasn't even that helpful since going through the scenes again, the owner brings it up naturally.

I think among the revelations Cheng Xiaoshi experiences within the span of a summer, I wouldn't blame him for just not questioning the only person willing to help him make sense of the situation.

https://www.tumblr.com/psychopomp-namine/770464414021337088/i-am-sooo-excited-for-yingdu-arc-specifically?source=share

sorry if it seems like i'm ghosting but I've been seeking for discussion on this specific scene from s1. i've never fully delved into it, but i kind of just left it as a "CXS was having a panic attack" moment until I could personally reconsider it again.

yingdu did not explain anything about this to me. i am still befuddled, perhaps even more so. cuz these s1 basketball flashbacks seem more irreversibly connected to LG's version of events to me??? CXS still remembers they met and bonded fast at a basketball court -- but also this CXS is meant to be the same one in yingdu, and his meeting with LG was not like s1e5's flashbacks. what if LG and CXS being connected during dives allows the slightest bit of connective memory merging? considering that the first flashback to their basketball meeting was triggered by "what does basketball mean to you" and we transition from that flashback to LG's pov afterwards. [i think it's appropriate theming in that scene to assume that both CXS and LG had thought about their first meeting instead of just LG]

what if CXS indirectly shares LG's version of history when they're both indulging in the same memories during dives? and since CXS was in an especially nostalgic state during the basketball game, the moment he felt that he directly endangered an important node -- he felt a visualised sixth sense that LG perhaps feels every time he knowingly diverges from a node.

LG already diverged from the basketball meeting, so that flashback he and CXS might've shared led to a distortion in CXS's brain while he's panicking over changing events. The LG distortion image might be CXS feeling the effects of a memory that never was, in relation to panicking that he's rewritten the timeline.

Cuz that memory is a rewritten node, incompatible with CXS's actual memory.

link for reference. and the mentioned distorted image:

also, no worries, nobody cares about people going through old posts on tumblr lol

I agree that the distorted image is definitely a reference to lu guang changing the timelines by going back to the basketball game in yingdu. he is, himself, the changed element

sidenote: I think I will politely disagree with your statement though that S1 cheng xiaoshi is meant to be the same one from yingdu. what yingdu established is that some events of S1 happened at least twice, but it's not made clear (afaik) if all S1 episodes specifically are post-yingdu or pre-yingdu. my personal interpretation is that it's a mix of both, just because there are some inconsistencies, the biggest one being that cheng xiaoshi in S1 was not aware of what would happen if he clapped by himself (without lu guang) into a picture, which is something he should've known already from the start given that's how he discovered his ability in yingdu. S1E9 is supposedly his first time trying it, and we even get a flashback of cheng xiaoshi asking lu guang what would happen if he ever clapped by himself. which, again, he should've already known. it's like the one thing about photo diving that he should know firsthand without asking lu guang. there's a lot of little flashbacks in S1 that puts into question of whether or not the scene we're watching is from the yingdu timeline. but we do know though that S2 events occurred after yingdu, so the last few episodes of S1 that lead to S2 should also be post-yingdu.

the S1 basketball scene flashback might be closer to their pre-yingdu meeting than the yingdu one. in my opinion, yingdu!lg would not say, so nonchalantly, "it's just a game; why take it so seriously?" (paraphrasing), even if he was trying to go for the "unaffected, cool kid" look. he could be "sticking to the script" but given his intense reaction after diving, idk,,, he seems too shaken up at that point. I think the distorted image is more for the audience and less about cheng xiaoshi actually experiencing a glitch in his flashback

but time and by consequence memory does seem to be already fucked up in link click, so it would be cool and I wouldn't be surprised if lu guang's memories of past timelines can bleed into cheng xiaoshi's somehow. that would be fun. I would love to see this happen more in canon

bonus: glad that the distorted image from the basketball scene makes more sense now. still don't know what the weird glitch sound was from the S2 finale though. it could be nothing, but I sure hope it's something lol (if you're region blocked from the video, the sound happens around just before 6 minutes into the S2 finale)

[hsslilly-blog]

sebastian failing a class because he's terrified of hunt is a good bit and this time it's not even that man's fault

[fridayyy-13th]

wow. not even a week into college and i'm already behind on work. fucking lovely.

[inkykeiji]

Hello can i go straight to calebs route or do i have to speedrun through others route. I hope it's not the latter, I'm too lazy for that. Forbidden love is exciting

well as far as i’m aware there aren’t really ‘routes’ in love and deepspace; there is a singular main story you play through that involves every single love interest, and then there are individual cards for each love interest that you can pull for on their banners. the four star and five star cards basically unlock ‘dates’: the four star cards are audio only (v cute tho) and the five star cards are visual scenarios.

i’d assume that you can pull for caleb’s cards on his upcoming banner, but i’m not sure you’d be able to access them until you hit a certain point in the story—going off of what i experienced with sylus when recently returning to the game, i couldn’t access anything about him until i met him in game. i hope this makes sense!!