#i don't find it funny when it's a game where you play as a defined character like in such cases it's normal and plausible

[featherymainffins]

On one hand I do understand why Dragon Age fans are angry. On the other I literally cannot relate and I think Bioware should double down. No no hear me out. Hear me out listen to me.

Unfortunately they cannot pull the funniest move they could if they hadn't been idiots but they can pull a slightly less funny move.

They cannot pull a classical "this is your government assigned ex" situation because they themselves locked themselves out of that house.

But they CAN still pull a government assigned ex situation with extra steps that nobody would like and that'd make no sense but that would nonetheless be really fucking funny.

They shouldn't but they could and they should in a "it'd be funny" way just double down. Remove the option to customise your past Inquisitor. Make the Inquisitor a female elf with no Vallaslin and nothing you can do about it. Gaslight you about it. Make the default world state solavellan. Make that unchangeable. Refuse to elaborate. Leave.

Nobody would like that and it would have no upsides at all.

But it'd be really really funny.

[twisted-gremlin]

Yuu leaves and so do the third years

Trey

- he misses everyone.

- during his course, whenever he bakes, he bakes for an unburthfay party or small treats for Yuu... then he remembers, and shares with his Co workers

- he does good to pretend that he is fine, but he does miss the family he has made for himself, and the one at home

Cater

- he overblots.

- he really does, he can't figure out who he is, he has been isolated from people he cares about. He just can't take it

- so, while doubbleing mote and more, trying to get something done, it happens.

Leona

- Leona, dosent show affection traditionally, he shows it like a cat would and just say, we are doing this or you're doing this.

- he kinda misses haveing yuu as a pellow

- but he made sure to he detached, after all, this day was going to come eventually, why get attached to people when they are going to leave or betray you?

Vil

- he shows how much school has taught him by doing differnt things and takeing differnt roles

- he maybe even write a movie about the great seven and how some other worldly stranger took time to care and help them, giveing a fresh new perspective

- maybe not, it's a script in the works afterall

Rook

- he gravely does miss you and being able to see whatever little habits you have. He can allways go to find Vil or Neige, but... you're not in this world, and it is going to take alot to travel back and forth

- I think he would help Idia and Ortho to be able to travel and pinpoint where exactly you are. Afterall, he does have some things of yours for you

Idia

- he is most definately makeing a way to be able to game with you again. Haveibg someone irl besides ortho is nice

- he is glad that he can play games with Mucle Red who did find a internet Cafe witch he goes to to play games with Idia

Malleus

- he is honestly, the most lonely he has ever felt

- after everything he has done to try to stop from it happening... he is alone...

- everyone fears him and will leave him... right... none else would be like that kind human that just spoke to him

- but, there are humans that don't treat him any differnt than others, and show him some kindness, he just needs to be willing to find them

Lilia

- Lilia visits an internet Cafe to play with Gloomurai, witch he learned was actually Idia, what a funny coincidence

- he makes sure to send things of his travels back to the palace to share with Malleus, Sebek, and Silver, so that they don't miss him too much, he dosent want to worry them or anything

- he is ready for his days of peace and magiclessness, the time he spent with yuu, however much it may be, was good to help him learn how to do things on his own, to not burden or be burdend by anyone

[amageish]

So, Felicia Hardy mentions having a girlfriend in Marvel's Spider-Man 2 and this has resulted in a lot of discussion... I wanna talk about it!

One thing I find really interesting about the conversation is that so many articles discussing it credit Felicia's bisexuality to this moment from 2021, where she and Odessa Drake have an on-panel kiss followed by an off-panel one-night-stand.

While this is pretty friggin' gay and good for them, I feel like reducing the story to "Black Cat kissed a girl in 2021 and that's why she has a girlfriend in the video game" is missing a lot of the larger context... so let's discuss some of the history of Felicia Hardy, AKA the chaotic crime bisexual Black Cat.

Felicia Hardy debuted in 1979. Tamara Blake, her "oldest friend" and female lover, first appeared in 1984, only 5 years later, debuting in the Peter Parker, The Spectacular Spider-Man Annual "Cat and Mouse."

Dropping by for a night of "harmless frolic," Tamara robs Felicia, aiming to play a game of cat-and-mouse with her friend. While their relationship is not explicitly romantic in this story, Tamara is portrayed as very close to her ex-partner-in-crime and very familiar with her relationship habits. She is surprised by the reveal that Black Cat is trying to settle down with Spider-Man - and to be skeptical about if Felicia will be able to tie herself down to one man... almost as if she knows Felicia has a pattern of behaviour when it comes to monogamy.

I don't know if this story was intentionally gay or not, but it would be used as a foundation for later queer storytelling about Felicia, so it seems worth mentioning it here!

What is pretty explicit, however, is Felicia's relationship with her partner Diana in the 2002 Spider-Girl series. They are just called partners, not lovers, but the framing and discussion of it is obvious enough that, in my opinion, if you know that gay people exist and can accept the possibility of them being gay, then you probably will read this and go "Oh, yeah, they are gay."

This story does not take place in Earth-616 and is primarily focused on Mayday Parker as Spider-Girl and Felicity Hardy as Scarlet Spider, but Felicity does have two moms - and we love that for her!

Jumping ahead a bit, Tamara returned via flashback in Black Cat #10, released in 2020, and this fleshed out their backstory together. It revealed how they trained together under Black Fox as their mentor and clearly shows them using slight-of-hand to hold hands and canoodle without Fox noticing what they're up to.

This is just a super-cute panel to me. That's such a clever use of slight-of-hand; I love it so much...

The next year, in Black Cat Vol 2 #3, there's a vision of Black Cat surrounded by a harem of her lovers, which includes Tamara and Odessa alongside several of her more famous male affairs.

Shortly thereafter, she kissed Odessa on the lips, as discussed earlier. In case the earlier evidence was not enough for you, Felicia Hardy is now formally unquestionably a girl-kisser. We even later get to see her and Drake's one-night-stand via flashback, in case there was any lingering doubts about what happened.

However, it also doesn't end there. It's not like Felicia just kissed a women, Marvel patted themselves on the back, and now she's been back to dating Peter Parker exclusively. There are plenty of comic characters who have had one defining "queer moment" and mum's been the word on their queerness since then... Felicia, meanwhile, is very loudly bisexual.

Immediately, she got a Pride variant cover in 2021 and has been on at least one cover every year since. My favourite is probably this one from 2022, which is both very poly and also features Peter Parker... I'm sure if you'd ask Marvel corporate they'd say he is just there as an ally, but it's still funny to me.

In 2021, she was the character used for the grand return of Jessie Drake (Felicia really has a thing for women with last names that end with -ake, apparently). Jessie was Marvel's first explicitly transgender character, debuting all the way back in 1992. After getting off to a rocky start, Felicia blows up a building with Jessie's help and they go out for dinner.

(This story was not followed up on as the book it was supposed to lead into got cancelled. Drake has not so much as cameoed since. F in the chat for Jessie Drake).

In 2022, there was an 5-issue mini-series all about Tony Stark and Felicia bonding over their mutual problem of supervillain ex-girlfriends trying to murder them. Of the two halves of the pair, Felicia gets the better deal - Tamara not only teams up with Felicia and Tony to fight Tony's ex, but they do so much flirting that Tony forgets that are not currently dating.

And, finally, in 2023, there was another Felicia story in a Pride issue wherein she hooked up with a pseudo-diety and also worked with Gambit to fuck with some transphobes in the process. Good for them!

This is not by any means a definitive list of everything gay Felicia has done - she famously flirts with MJ and Cindy a lot, for instance - but I hope it provides some larger context to Felicia's sexuality in the game.

Moreover, I hope it shows that queer storytelling isn't always about writing a single gay kiss that generates headlines. A lot of Marvel and DC queer storytelling that goes viral isn't the actual multi-issue multi-comic-run queer stuff; it's the one big kiss or something subtextual that happens to feature MCU heroes with better SEO then people like Felicia have... and I think it's the more under-the-radar stuff that's often more valuable.

[sonkitty]

The Sideburns Scheme Post #51

(For reference: The Sideburns Scheme)

Crowley, Good Omens 2, Episode 3, I Know Where I'm Going, threshold

This post was last edited 06/18/2024.

...

Sideburns Check

The sideburns are still long.

However, I think they are no longer longest-length though it is rather difficult to be sure.

Crowley has crossed the bookshop threshold. There are plenty of humans around but another known supernatural presence with Shax being another demon, besides Crowley himself.

The idea behind the forming connection in my theory is that Crowley's sideburns stay longer due to an expanding border around the bookshop. He'll have to go for a drive to shorten the sideburns further when Aziraphale returns.

...

Brighter Red Streak Check

The more saturated red streak of hair can be found, but it possibly disappears or is a lot harder to find when Crowley's moving more and showing stronger emotions. Sometimes it even looks duplicated or shifted to the right front part of his hair.

...

Hairstyle Changes

The hairstyle changes during the scene because tendrils form and spread when Crowley's more frantic with Shax moving around using different bodies.

Then it smooths over. The front hair swoops in and out in the center when Crowley's telling Shax to get out of the way. Once inside the bookshop but still holding the door open, the hair looks darker. The front starts to tilt to Crowley's right, something that tends to happen when Crowley is closer to Gabriel. By that point, Gabriel is on screen in the background for some cuts. The hair looks even darker once Crowley's closer to Shax and preparing to close the door.

When thinking and comparing all of this movement with the preceding scene, the front hair is not as defined in being centered at the front.

...

Earthly Objects

(For reference: Earthly Objects)

Crowley starts with two questions, "Shax? Where are you?" Conceivably, he earns a touch with a raised platform in front of the door to the bookshop since he goes through the trouble of making sure his left foot is partly over the edge of such a thing.

After that, the earthly objects touched by both demons are actually the humans, and in Shax's case, maybe whatever that human is touching or holding. Otherwise, dialogue points are mostly names and questions.

When Crowley has the door open, Gabriel has a "Hello" with "Hello, customer!" Shax follows that up with a question to Crowley that includes the number "two".

Gabriel has background touches with books since he keeps dropping them to test gravity.

...

For paying attention to the pockets...

The Tied Hands probably retie. Because this game loves to mess with an audience player, the touch with a clasp to a lapel edge happens as Crowley says, "I'm not playing these games."

Liar! He's lying! He's lying, Your Honor.

Admittedly, it is funny.

For this retying, these are the shots where it feels like Crowley's actual hands are up to something and meant to be noticed:

Crowley's left hand touches his jacket when he says the word, "happy" for instance. I don't know if that's just for the retying this time around or something more than that.

Both Shax and Crowley make repeated pockets with their arms.

Various human pocket users are around in the background.

While Gabriel ends up playing shoulder-angel to Crowley, Gabriel does also end up visually pocketed between the demons on screen.

...

Story Commentary

The camera starts viewing from a top angle and down, much like it did in episode 1, so maybe Saraqael or someone in Heaven is watching.

From memory and checking some transcripts, the word "threshold" is only verbally stated once in this story, and it is here.

That's our Clue with a capital "C" that thresholds are important in this story.

While that significance is understood with the demon invasion of episodes 5 and 6, the word use is still yet another clue regarding Crowley's sideburns and the 6 Threshold Tricks.

For whatever is happening with the expanding sideburns border, Crowley is implied, but not confirmed, to have at least one foot on the road and one on the sidewalk, maybe even the edge of the sidewalk. There's a human far behind him with such a position, presumably to be a clue for such a thing.

When Crowley has the door open and talks to Shax, the camera never confirms his actual touches to that door. There is a point where it looks like the lapel of his jacket might be touching it, but then following cuts show that there is a gap, as if to say it's an illusion or discredit and that the jacket is not actually touching the door. Crowley could be up to more than I know since he's such an expert with this type of thing in Earthly Objects.

Crowley's line about Shax maybe spotting an archangel is another clue that he himself might have been an archangel before his fall.

In the cut where Crowley says he's technically not capable of allowing Shax into the bookshop, I think she is reflected in his sunglasses. I've actually never noticed until drafting this post. The previous two similar reflections had a character holding an earthly object and showing it to Crowley. This one does not. I take that to mean the holding and showing an earthly object is not an actual requirement for Crowley to be able to see that character. He has selective sight. These reflections are clues about The Window Trick.

I bet Crowley could have invited Shax into the bookshop. Aziraphale will be able to do it with Crowley's car in the next episode.

...

That's it for this post. Sometimes I edit my posts, FYI.

...

Main post:

The Sideburns Scheme

[conceptmobius]

Staff Recruitment

Greetings! This is a post regarding staff recruitment for Concept: “Mobius”, as you probably surmised. Vertekins and I always looking to add to the ranks and make the site as detailed, informative, and cool as it can be. If you’re interested in joining, great! Let’s find you a spot! Incidentally, you may be able to fill multiple roles, but first things first. You need to run before you can Spin Attack, after all.

Concept: “Mobius” is a Sonic the Hedgehog site dedicated to information about the games within the franchise and the worlds, characters, and events within. While there are multiple wikis and whatnot that serve this purpose, we’re trying to do things differently. We want to enrich the world of the Blue Blur and hopefully make it more cohesive, less muddled, and more fun. Obviously, this is too big a job for a few people, hence the slow trickle of updates over the years.

So, we need a team to tackle this endeavor, and we have many branches for all skill sets. You'll also be asked to help out here, as well, but more on that at another time.

Writers

Arguably one of the most important roles. Writers will be contributing the bulk of the site’s content, from articles and reviews to think pieces and news blurbs. You’ll be expected to be able to spell, know your grammar, and write coherently. If the most writing you’ve done is on Twitter, you may find yourself at a loss here, especially since you’ll probably have to be your own editor, unless you ask your teammates for help (which you can, to be clear).

Artists

Another absolutely crucial role. You’ll be responsible for how the site looks: graphics, character art, zone landscapes, etc. It’ll be a big task, but you’ll always be credited for your work, with links going to whatever platform you choose.

Programmers/Modders

Your job will be to modify the games. Why? Two reasons.

We’ll be using various games for clips and showcases, and we need them to be accurate as possible. Many of them are either missing content, have various inaccuracies between one another, or just don’t look/sound/play right for our purposes. We can’t very well show Sonic’s world if it’s lackluster, can we?

We want to show what even the worst of the franchise could look/sound/play like if given the TLC they deserve.

I know this doesn’t sound necessary or worthwhile, but I assure you, it will make sense in the future.

Theorists

You’ll be helping with various theories and doing your best to plug up various plotholes in the Sonic universe. Unlike certain other game theorists, however, you’ll be expected to show restraint when speculating and not go off on tangents or grasping at whatever straws you see.

Cartographers

Your job is a doozy: making a single, DEFINITIVE map of Sonic’s Earth. You see, there have been many in the games, and they’ve been different every time, depending on the game or the area it's based in. And each one has been inconsistent. Heck, people don't even know where Green Hill Zone definitively is, despite its number of uses.

THIS.

WILL.

NOT.

DO.

If anyone is going to take Sonic lore seriously (and few people do), we need one map that can be used for every game. That way, there is more consistency in the narrative and people have a more defined view of the world.

Modelers

Your role will be to make various character renders to be used for the cast in the Character Database. You’ll be working with the artists to make the most “true to life” representations of Sonic and the others as you can. You might also find yourself recreating certain areas or scenes from the games, demonstrating various abilities, or just letting the cast style on each other.

News Reporters

You’ll be reporting on everything Sonic-related that is newsworthy, whether it be a game announcement or a funny pic from Sega. Just try not to post any memes.

That'll do for now, although, we're welcoming anyone with a notable skill set. If you think you have something to contribute to Concept: "Mobius" that is or isn't listed here, let us know. Just be aware that we can't afford to pay anyone for their work.

Thank you very much in advance!

~Ryan

[danganronpadedication]

DAY 8: DANGANTOBER

Day 8: Favorite Survivor

Alright guys, my favorite survivor is Hajime Hina-

Fine, I'll talk about someone else. A survivor that really grew on me as the franchise went on, someone who went from a character that I really hated, to one that I think is amazingly developed. Today, we will be discussing Toko Fukawa/Genocide Jack.

When I played through THH, I did NOT like her at all. She was on the defensive from the first time we meet her, and assumed that everyone didn't like her for whatever reason. Basically, she initially came off as very insecure and combative. It's also expressly stated that she doesn't take very good care of herself, with Byakuya constantly commenting on how she smells, and how she's in need of a shower. At the time, I knew someone who was just like Toko IRL, and they were the most unpleasant person to be around.

Well, Mod Tsumugi, if you don't like Toko so much, how come you're talking about her for today's prompt? Well, I'm one of the few people to actually play and find some kind of enjoyment from Ultra Despair Girls, and that game did wonders for making me like Toko. Now, is it cheating to use a later game to justify this pick? Yes. But, I raise you the point that Toko survived UDG.

Starting with the things that I liked about Toko in THH, I really love her more subdued ultimate. As the series goes on, the character's ultimates really start to become big, defining character traits for them, and that's really fun. But in the beginning, it's just another thing used to characterize them. Being the Ultimate Writing Prodigy is such an interesting ultimate, I really want to read all the books she's written, and the ones she says she'll write about her experience in the Hope's Peak killing game, and with Komaru in Towa City.

While I think her infatuation with Byakuya is definitely very obsessive and creepy, especially considering the implications regarding Genocide Jack, it's the source of a lot of good laughs, and is the place where her want to improve actually stems from. In UDG, we learn that the Future Foundation prevented Toko from becoming a full-fledged member until she could get Genocide Jack under control. Not wanting to disappoint Byakuya, she works out her tazer system that gets utilized throughout the game. Speaking of Jack, her reveal made it much more interesting when Toko appeared onscreen. Jack is much more animated, and out of pocket, providing a lot of funny moments. Towards the end of the game, Jack also proves to have useful knowledge of what the outside world is like. In UDG, we see Jack warming up to Komaru, going so far as to hold back from hurting her in their one on one fight, and even rescuing Komaru when she's captured by Kotoko (a scene I will not elaborate on).

That scene gave me my favorite quote from UDG, which is "I'm not ugly, I'm just way below average!"

Overall, UDG works wonders for Toko's character. From the start, we expect the game to be a long and grueling journey, but Toko immediately seems to have matured since THH. She still seems to have a one-track mission, which is find and stay close to Byakuya. Byakuya gets captured by the Warriors of Hope, so Toko reluctantly decides to stick with Komaru to get him back. The entire time, Toko is teasing Komaru, calling her 'Omaru', which means toilet, judging her for reading manga, and saying she has a "big brother complex". But as they go on together, Komaru is open to the idea of being friends with Toko, and Toko doesn't seems to be so opposed to the idea.

She finally gets to a make a friend, and that's just swell. Unknown to Komaru is that Toko made a deal with Servant, to exchange Komaru for Byakuya's safety, but even with Byakuya on the line, Toko starts to try and steer Komaru away from the deal, wanting Komaru to be safe too. They have a fight, and despite getting the upper hand, Genocide Jack instead injures Servant, wanting to protect Komaru.

This friendship is further solidified at the end of the game. Komaru is faced with a very difficult choice, one that has serious ramifications for Towa City and the world as a whole no matter what she picks. She is steered towards a certain option, but Toko is the one who steps in, and tells her that there's a better choice. Toko is the one who saved Komaru from making a very bad choice, and through the power of girl friendship, they survive, and rescue Byakuya.

Toko is even given the chance to go back to the Foundation with Byakuya, but she instead chooses to stay with Komaru. They even get their own little episode in the anime, where we see them still working together and being very good friends (history will say they were friends, at least)

Toko doesn't get the same top billing as a lot of the other THH survivors do, but she definitely made the most progress from where she started. Taking UDG into account, Toko skyrockets from an annoying character, to one that is so lovable and quotable for everyone in the fanbase. She definitely grew on me <3

[strawberrysweater]

something i've thought about for a million billion hours even though it's probably not even this deep i just like danganronpa ok

i love how kaede shuichi and kiibo are all protagonists of v3 in their own ways: shuichi is the protagonist to the player, kiibo is the in-universe protagonist, and kaede is sort of... a protagonist only to herself. she tells us when we meet her and she wavers between being an in-universe protagonist and also just a plot twist device to the player. dr does this thing where every game has Character Archetypes and i like that "protagonist" is a role so strong that it has a defining physical trait (the ahoge) to the point that like. toko gains an ahoge in udg because she steps into that role. kaede shuichi and kiibo all have one. shuichi's is hidden under his hat only for him to reveal it after kaede dies and passes the role onto him. kiibo's is literally an antenna that i assume lets him receive wireless communication from audience surveys or whatever so it LITERALLY makes him a protagonist, it physically lets him fill that role. it's funny

AND i like the way they all deal with their protagonist roles - kaede and kiibo both do something that pushes them out of the role and breaks their narrative constraints, and it gets them killed and it falls to shuichi both times, someone who was never meant to have it in the first place. and THAT'S why he was able to end danganronpa for good because he's not tied down by the battle between hope and despair that every protagonist has had to go through (this is literally spelled out in the sixth trial you guys already know). i just love that theme of breaking everything and refusing to play a part, making your own meaning out of it, the importance of fiction and also of autonomy, etc. as soon as shuichi becomes the protagonist, the breaking down of the narrative is set in motion, and it culminates in the fourth wall being literally shattered. v3 is all about the reality inside the tv show, and i feel like anyone who steps out of their predestined role is able to see it, to feel it, even just a little...

like we have these two characters who are obviously protagonists who both act in their roles perfectly (kaede leading the group and wanting everyone to be friends and escape together without killing, kiibo listening to the audience and showing them the game and following hope) UNTIL they do something they weren't meant to do. a protagonist has never orchestrated a killing before. as soon as kaede started planning it, even if she ultimately failed at killing the mastermind or killing anyone at all, she was no longer a protagonist, because danganronpa protagonists don't kill

and because of kaito's execution, led up to from his and kokichi's last big fuck you to the narrative and the mastermind, kiibo is totally disconnected from his purpose and can do what he was never meant to do either. a protagonist is supposed to play along and win in the name of hope over despair (like how he acts as soon as he gets his connection to the audience back), not just indiscriminately destroy everything to bring the killing game down. he becomes a total wild card who breaks the fictional world apart, pulls aside the curtain, lets shuichi find out the flashback lights were fake, destroys the physical fourth wall for good, etc. and speaking of breaking the fictional world, when kaede "passes on her role" she literally causes the neon-lit-up trial UI to shut off and shuichi turns it back on again. a fantastic visual that has not left my brain. we love a kaede kiibo breaking the fiction parallel

tldr in both of these instances, kaede and kiibo stop being protagonists (in danganronpa's very distinct specific terms) and the role falls to shuichi, someone who was never meant to have it. and because of that, this danganronpa collapses in on itself. i think that's sick as hell

[hopetorun]

🎤 maggie with the cup final in play, i have ogwacs on the brain. who are your guys who haven't won that you would most love to see get one before all is said and done? we won't define an ogwac as strictly as most, so i'd say like. if we feel like they've been around forever and they're like 30 at least we can call them an ogwac for this exercise!

oh gosh!!!! there's such an assortment of guys that i've been fond of over the years for various and sundry reasons so in no particular order of fondness but starting with oh let's say the strongest contender on the list

pomo!! you didn't say i could include non-players but i am anyway, i think he's earned the title. two scfs more than twenty years apart gets you on my list

jeff skinner revenge tour. i don't think this requires explaining. i can't believe i have to root for the sabres but christ. if there's anyone in the league who deserves it. my only comfort here is that the previous record holder for most gp without any playoff games got traded to a contender as a deadline rental and promptly won the cup that year. only good thing the p*ns have ever done for me.

taylor hall. he's one of my longest-tenured favorite guys and like. man what a rough go of it he's had since 2018. also before 2018. but i had such a blast watching him when i was first getting into hockey and i think he deserves nice things.

jordan eberle. he was never quite the same level of special guy for me but i would truly be so stoked. kr*ken stop being cowards and make him captain.

justin faulk. one of my guys!! not on the blues though. i would bust out my old extremely stained faulk jersey in his honor!

someone on twitter pointed out that if the cats win, oel will be the person player to win the cup while on the canucks payroll which i do unfortunately think is very funny. anyway i love a comeback story AND that man did his time in the wars (coyotes org) so i think that would be a lovely cap on a rough few years

honestly most of the core players from the sharks mid-teens teams. some exceptions apply. that team was so bananas good for so long and not only did they never win, i don't think any of them have even gone on to successfully cup chase anywhere else? rough. i think pavs' likely retirement leaves burns as the only guy who was really there for all of it, assuming @moregraceful told me correctly that couture is probably a perpetual LTIR guy now, and burns took a step back this season in a way that has me wondering if father time is finally coming for him. anyway it's a bummer. and on that note

erik karlsson. god i can't root for the p*ns for it but i've been fond of him for so long! yet another man who has been in the wars. one of us, etc

claude giroux. because i've had to see that goddamn quote about how he thought he'd have plenty more chances at the cup back in 2010 and he's literally never even made it back to the final. good god man

john hock. i've enjoyed his work for years (he's actually the reason the flames ended up as one of my higher ranked sure i'll put that game on teams)

dylan larkin is only 27 but like. spiritually.

i would love for sam gagner to cap his baffling, delightful resume with a cup. but not this year.

roman josi. i was hardcore pulling for the preds the season they made the final 😭

yes i did go through every roster for this. yes i did find several old guys without cups where i was like, no i want him to stay that way.

[selh0ve]

Hello!

I finally decided to write my thoughts about the game down! So here is my own "little" review, which is in fact quite long, and segmented in three parts, beginning with a general review, then my personal opinions on the LIs, and finally some more specific likes and dislikes.

Thanks in advance for reading 😘️

General Opinion

First off, the interface is refreshing, and I appreciate all the efforts put into it, although I admit it can be quite heavy, and therefore buggy (even without anything else running, on a good laptop). For this reason I'd like being able to disable some features (the animation of the transition between pages, for example, gives me a lot of troubles).

I like that Candy can have a more defined personality, and I also like how we can better understand the intention behind the answers now. No more "what? but that was not what I meant by choosing this"! For the new AP and gems system… I am still wary of it for now, and will see later if it is really as manageable as it seems. I also like sending hearts to other players, so even if they don't end up useful I'm still happy to have them I personally like the idle mini-games, and am quite curious about how the other game will be. I also think the calendar is a nice touch. And lastly, the jokers seem nice and promising, though I would have preferred having a stock-limit instead of them being temporary.

Story-wise, I like that things are going rather quickly for the beginning, and I trust they'll know when to slow things down later. I saw a few reviews saying these two first episodes felt punitive, and let me tell you… Yes. Amanda disliking me right of the bat on my first play was unexpected. So was Roy. And Devon. But I think it is kind of the point of starting a new game, we don't know their personalities yet, so it's quite normal to screw up when not using guides. But yeah, it was frustrating and Devenmentiel broke my heart.

The Love Interests

Jason is my favorite so far. Why you may ask? … I find him funny. The man is just having fun being an annoying bitch, and I absolutely love that for him! He also was one I had a quite good Lo'M with at my first play without even trying (rip Roy and Devon who did not appreciate), and it felt quite nice since things did not go so well with most of the other characters. And of course being the antagonist has its own ring, and in my taste the white streaks of hair too.

Amanda comes in the second place with Thomas. Even though my first play did not go well with her, I managed better on my second, and I quite like the relaxed Amanda.

For Thomas, he is the one I had the easiest time with on my first play, everything went smoothly and I found him pretty nice and relatable, though I do not plan on following his route.

Devon is the one I am the most neutral about I think, I don't particularly like or dislike him yet, though his route does intrigue me in a "Ah shit, here we go again" kind of way.

… Now, listen. I do not dislike Roy. He honestly seems like a great dolphin-loving guy who likes to be half-naked a lot and decided to dislike me when I was trying hard for him not to! He is just not my type. This is nothing personal, I swear! Joke aside, Roy is the one I like the least for now. And honestly, it is a shame, because I totally see why other people appreciate him. But the warningless half-nakedness happening twice summed to his for now unexplained short-patience with Jason really did not woo me, quite the opposite in fact.

Other things I like:

I find Candy's customization quite good! Whether it is for the illustrations, where you can choose between different skin colors, or for our profiles. Candy can also have disability aids (though no mobility aids yet) and a panel of skin features for really cheap, and you can not know how happy it makes me! There also are so much outfits from the beginning, and though many of them have to be paid with real money, Beemoov needs to be profitable, so I think it's rather fair (and hopefully, we'll be able to get those outfits through mini-games).

The music and the animation. I said it before and I'll say it again, I absolutely adored the theme switch when Jason appeared, and I also liked the creativity in the animation very much too. I can not wait for other such things to happen again.

Things I find too bad:

So far there has only been one character that is not thin (two if you count Danica who will show up later), and I regret that all of the men Love Interests are so fit. I can not tell you how down bad I would have been for a fat Devon or Roy (I get that Roy is the athletic type here, but you can be incredibly strong and not be skinny).

Amanda being rich was really emphasized, too much for my taste, on my first play it made me feel like being rich was her main personality trait, which made me uncomfortable. I would have preferred a more subtle way to express it (show don't tell amiright?).

I would have loved to see more not-conventionally-thought-as-attractive features in the LIs, like visible disabilities for example, or different noses, or scars, the kind of things that make the characters feel more real.

What I hope for later:

For the characters of color to be written like ones, with at least their cultures included in some aspects of the game. I understand Beemoov's wish to keep the game lighthearted, so I'd personally understand if they choose not to show racism in the game, but I would also hate that to be an excuse for ignoring the characters' cultures when addressing them would actually be relevant. Here is a better post about the matter.

More non-skinny characters.

Hopefully some in-game disability representation.

[space-spring]

I reblogged that post the other day about never finishing video games and it made me stop and think hard about my life and the fact that. oh my god....... I really DO never finish video games........... So I have changed my ways by finishing up Chapter 4 and the ending of Chaos route for Tactics Ogre! Tons of endgame spoilers ahead but here are my bullet-pointed highlights:

My guy Azelstan the pirate! I love him. His whole arc with losing his daughter reminded me a little of Svarog and Hossabara from Triangle Strategy (albeit with substantially more nihilism!), and finding him at the port and then going through the story with the girl he takes under his wing made me die a little inside.

I do really appreciate the fact that even once he joins you he's still a little bit of a mess! I feel like a lot of the characters join Denam out of anger or honor or something else equally passionate, and meanwhile Azelstan's out here going "I've lost everything I love and this is just a decent way to try and make sure it doesn't happen to anyone else." He's simply a very sad old man and I love him a lot

This is not a highlight per se but it IS funny: I had to play the whole pirate cove dungeon where you recruit him like three or four times because I kept thinking I had the recruitment conditions fulfilled and then. did not in fact have the recruitment conditions fulfilled. I killed SO many ghosts. I got to the point where I just bought like 30 exorcism arcanas before going in so I could just have anyone regardless of cleric status blast the stilled undead whenever I needed to

AUGHKDHJSHDGHJJS. I am. SO unwell about the Sherri recruitment scene. I cannot express just how much I am unwell about the Sherri recruitment scene. All the Phoraena sisters really are so cool and good and I spontaneously combust whenever they come on screen but this scene is just AUUUUUGH........ It kills me thinking about how long Sherri's been hiding out because she doesn't think anyone will welcome her back and meanwhile her sisters just!!! love her so much!!!!!!!!!! and SHE loves THEM so much!!!!!! it just makes me go woaugh..........

I also just replayed some of the earlier chapters with Cerya and Cistina to test out the endgame rewind feature, and I take back my little chart I made of them a while back where they're arguing over clothes and things. All of the sisters are defined first and foremost by Being Willing To Sacrifice Everything For Each Other and I love them so much about it

And in addition to all the Phoraena sister dynamics, looking at this scene through the perspective of Denam ALSO having a sister who's keeping herself apart because she feels unloved is so. wowowowow

And on that note Denam and Catiua are rotating around in my head 24/7!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm really so in love with how far the writers went with their argument and fallout and also insane about the bad ending in this scenario because AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?!?!?!?!?! and also I'm just a sucker for guilt arcs and having to live with mistakes even when it'd be easier not to. Catiua's absolutely insane (affectionate) and I think it's so fun how she changes things around and really comes into her own after this.

Also I really really love that the two of them got to have such a narratively clear conversation about everything that went down!!!!! This is a complete tangent but I sometimes kind of go insane over the fact that in Triangle Strategy we really don't get to see a ton of Roland and Cordelia after they reunite and Whiteholm is retaken. They have. so many things to talk about, and Cordelia has more than a few valid reasons to feel resentment toward Roland for the way he handled retaking Whiteholm. The closest they come to really talking about how they feel is that scene where they're standing in the garden and Roland's trying to explain why he killed Avlora and Cordelia just kinda quietly goes, "I know. I get it. I can't blame you." And while that scene is fun in its own "this bad boy can fit SO many emotionally traumatized Cordelia headcanons in it" sort of way, it's also so so so nice to see Denam and Catiua do the opposite and actually sit down and hash it out for a bit. They get to talk about why they're angry!!! They both get to explain themselves and then reassure each other that they're still loved!!!! They get to be genuinely close again and work as a team!!!!! and I love that for them :)

Also with comparisons to Cordelia, Catiua very distinctly doesn't get sidelined after Denam rescues her!!!! She's an active participant in the war and really takes charge over Denam, which is very neat imo, and I love getting to see her coronation and speech at the end

THIS ATTACK SPECIFICALLY. The whole final boss was so cool but I actually gasped and sat back when I saw this, it was just so so different than any of the other graphics in the game and it made me go nuts

AAAAOAUGH GHAGHG

The credits are really pretty :)

RHCKCHHGLGLRLRLAHHJG I am once again foaming at the mouth about the way the game blends game mechanics and story this is SUCH a fun explanation for how the whole world tarot system works and also I am absolutely gutted by the idea of Denam doing this canonically because he can't stand the regret of the choices he's had to make. I feel like Denam's guilt over the entire conflict isn't explicitly mentioned a ton (he actively makes a lot of comments to the effect of "I'm doing what my honor dictates and I have nothing to be ashamed of") and then every once in a while the game comes back and slaps you with stuff like this. Like hey. hey. yasumi matsuno. can we talk? I jst wantto talkk

Also all the endgame content is SO GOOD. I'm starting to move over to Reborn because I want to experience all the voice acting and stuff over on that version, but it's also so hard to leave my team and all the cool stuff I've unlocked. I need to read up on it more but I'm 90% sure you can recruit Lancelot and Warren if you do the Palace of the Dead stuff which I avoided in Chapter 4, so I'm tempted to go back and do that on there sometime. Or mayhaps I'll just play it through on Reborn once I get through Lawful and Neutral!

But yeah!!! Overall, such a fun route and a fun game and a fun ending :) I do feel like I want to come back to Chaos route once I've finished the other two, because I miss Vyce and the role-playing part of my RPG-obsessed brain really wants him to survive the canon-ish ending because I think there's a ton of things from the beginning of the route that I'll think differently on now that I've finished (like all of the stuff building up to Vyce going nuts and Catiua leaving).

[skaruresonic]

Do you have any opinion about this post? It proposes that a key element of Shadow's characterization is loyalty, and the reason portrayals like SA2, '06, TMOSTH and Prime are beloved is because Shadow is loyal to something (I would add Forces as well), while others like Boom and IDW fall flat because he's only in for himself.

(some of the tags, of course, are all "sega take notes, everyone gets it but you", which is funny for multiple reasons)

I want to agree with it more than I do. The way it's worded makes it difficult for me to be fully persuaded, because it seems to be missing something.

I feel like the post is a bit over reductive. It's already an exercise in futility to try to boil Shadow down to one or two traits because he contains multitudes, nuances, and subtleties; it'd be like distilling Eggman down to "evil scientist" and then ignoring all the ways in which his manchild behavior molds his character archetype.

The others have limits on their loyalty. Sonic will help you out, but he’s not gonna kill a man for you. Shadow will. He doesn’t have that limit. If you are Shadow’s friend and you need him to kill for you, he will do it. Period.

Idk maybe it's just me but something about this style of analysis rubs me the wrong way. When people make declarative, emotionally-loaded statements about the characters that Sound Good on paper but don't hold up to close scrutiny. If you're going to assert something this lofty, you need to provide concrete examples. When did Shadow kill for a friend in the games? When did he express the willingness? Can you give me an example?

also lmao "Sonic's not gonna kill a man for you," Sonic will absolutely kill a man if he fucks around and finds out While I agree with the overarching idea that loyalty can be an important part of his character, if we're talking post-ARK raid Shadow... You kind of have to be honest about the brand of loyalty he possesses, because his loyalty looks very different from Amy's or Tails'. It's a specific, hardwon type of loyalty. It's begrudging. It's that "Pssh, what? I don't care. Feelings are for wussies" kind of loyalty, if anything. Like, it took Rouge dragging his unconscious ass home, a three-day-long fever dream, and her twisting his arm just to get her to begrudgingly call her "ally." You know what I mean?

On the other hand, I disagree with the notion that an overt lack of loyalty inherently makes him unrecognizable, since self-determination is an arguably equally prominent part of his character. In ShTH, you're just as free to ignore the wishes of your partner characters and go your own way. Cue the Fleetwood Mac.

Framing it as though loyalty is the linchpin on which his character rests risks defining Shadow solely through his relationships with others. Note that I'm not necessarily saying his relationships aren't important, just that they're not the most important. Agency and the right to determine his own destiny are vital parts of his character as well. He didn't just tell Rouge "And I will fulfill my promise to Maria; that's the only thing that matters to me now" in SA2. He first told her "Even if my memories aren't real, it's still me, Shadow."

...I'm not sure why OP decided to include Archie and X in their analysis, considering Archie and X are dead and have no bearing on Game!Shadow's character. Not sure what's meant by Shadow being "loyal" to Amy in MoSTH, either; I don't really have context for that since I didn't play it. If I had to guess, however, methinks OP may be mistaking Shadow doing something kind for Amy for friendship or loyalty towards Amy. You can do kind things for others without necessarily being "ride or die" for them.

This is where the post really loses me. Shadow's backstory doesn't need to be expanded upon at this point in the series; they've already dedicated at least three games and a handful of adaptations to his tragic backstory. We don't need to keep returning to the same well again and again. Surely we can do better than to navel-gaze. And the reasons why "he's like this" ought to be clear to anyone who's played the games, since they're fairly self-evident.

"But what about pre-raid Shadow?" I hear someone inevitably ask. Well, yes, Shadow displays obvious loyalty toward Maria, Gerald, and the ARK as a whole, but certain ShTH endings notwithstanding, it's not a blind sacrificial devotion. Regardless of his loyalty, he exercises the agency not to act like a mindless weapon in the hands of his creator. He possesses reason and more importantly, uses it. He still has enough presence of mind to seek to undo "all the evil the Professor has created" in SA2.

Even before the trauma of the raid and Gerald's programming went and deeply mucked up his sense of self, he was preoccupied with notions of self and identity, for understandable reasons. He wasn't purely a lapdog for Maria or the researchers. I feel like swinging the pendulum in the polar opposite direction and saying "Shadow is defined chiefly via his dedication to others" because it swung too far into "Shadow is a hyper-macho jerk" territory isn't a balanced stance to take.

Like this post is arguing from a Watsonian perspective, as though IDW!Shadow's jerkassness indicates some sort of internal selfishness, when the Doylist "Shadow was just written like shit in the book" will suffice. Shadow has a character outside of his relationships to others, just as Sonic and Eggman do. He's quiet, introspective, and in all honesty, he comes out with some hard-hitting lines sometimes. "This is the final voice of the last war machine," anyone?

Sorry if this reply is all over the place, I'm just writing down thoughts as they occur to me lol. Feel free to add your two cents.

[centrally-unplanned]

I played silly 90's eroge game VR-DATE Simulator May-Club, which some lunatics made a browser port of, as I saw people mentioning it on the dash. First off, these old eroges occasionally get remasters, and I just don't understand why they toss out the aesthetic of these things when they do:

You got rid of all the bold pixelation highlights! My dithering! You got rid of the framing box UI!? Look at how they massacred my boy -_-

Seriously those UIs are one of the greatest legacies of the PC-98 era, I am curious as to why they were so common (probably due to limitations on resolution flexibility, so they wanted to keep the main screen defined in scale, but I am just guessing). All ports should preserve them, but I do think there is a development limitations there; modern VN engines aren't quite built for it.

I found the game charming because it is a very comedic game - the main dude wants to bone before starting his corporate wagecuck conglomerate job, and finds a VR world where people date anonymously. So hijinks ensue and you spend tickets to go spin some plates, but half the time you meet up with girls you talk about gender discrimination in the corporate workplace? The difficulties of work-life balance? Handy tips on how to double-tap your company expense accounts for some light financial fraud at hostess bars? And those things are also played for laughs, it just isn't what I expected to find given the tone.

Early dating sim games are often funny this way because they were incredibly expensive - I don't have a price source for this one specifically, but they could approach ~$100 USD and that is in 1990's dollars. Which meant that their market was mainly just working adults, this wasn't primarily teens slipping lunch money over the counter. So the work is full otaku, but a niche of otaku such that you get a certain kind of blend of silly tropes and more adult jabs.

By the way, the game was actually localized to the US, in the 90's? I don't have a rock-solid source but apparently the explicit scenes for two of the routes were removed due to the designs of the characters in question. Which uh:

Yeah, not shocked at that choice.

I found it weird that this "VR world" just looks like the regular world?

Explicitly so, our main dude comments on it. Which you would think, okay, its a budget thing right? This way you get to portray the real world and the VR world with the same assets as you walk through both. But you pretty-much never do that; 99% of the game is in the VR world. So why have that plot detail at all? It made me notice it, and now I am questioning why they went with something so un-VR-like for the setting.

It really doesn't do much with the VR setting alas, though I didn't do all the routes. I love 90's era "the future will be virtual" stuff, but this one didn't deliver on much of any vision for what that would be.

I also can't check out all the routes quickly as I could not find any cohesive Let's Plays of the game. Normally that is how you experience all of these games these days, given their propensity for padding and difficulties in emulating. Maybe I should solve that problem myself lol. Since I did have to play it, shoutouts to Ben Woodhouse from 2003 for your GameFAQs guide and beautiful ASCII calendar of appearance times for helping me get through it

Anyway Akiho is best girl fuck your sexist bosses and get 👏that 👏bread👏; she absolutely has the best collection of facial expressions and her ending has a real touch of heart to it, respect.

[darkmagyk]

Ask game: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21

choose violence ask game (send me more pls!)

the character everyone gets wrong

Annabeth, Annabeth, Annabeth. In SO MANY ways. Right down to her name, where people decide randomly that Annabeth is a nickname for Anna Elizabeth.

But mostly it's the school thing. Annabeth is always going to be the smartest person in the room, but she would (literally) rather die then demean herself to prove it. She also has ADHD, Dyslexia, and missed grades 2-6. I don't know how you can read about her being unwilling to play the Sphinxes game and then think that she'd be a good sport about school? I don't necessarily think she'd do badly. She is 100% in the "smart enough to coast" category. But she's not going to study, she's not going to apply herself. And I suspect when she finds herself disagreeing, she's not going to be open to listening to most teachers. She'll talk back, she'll argue, she'll get detention. She reads books in greek, she probably doesn't have special affection for her school libraries full of books she can't read. Free yourself from the Hermione Industrial Complex and embrace smart girl characters who's only life goal isn't getting As on tests.

Other things, Annabeth did live in Virginia some as a child. But given that it was in Richmond, her father is from Boston, and they moved at least a little (in TLT her family lives in New York State), the idea that her upbringing would be particularly southern, or that she'd have a southern accent is silly.

Also, she thinks Percy is funny. She enjoys his company. They have a lot of similarities. And she knows he's not as smart at she is (no one is) but she doesn't think he's the dumbest person alive. She doesn't hate him. About 80% of all PJO Incorrect quotes can be summed up as Percy: says something dumb, Annabeth: You're an idiot, and I hate you. And that's just...not what's going on with them.

2. a compelling argument for why your fave would never top or bottom

It's a sexual position they don't enjoy? Let us not confuse sexual positions with gender or rolls in power dynamics.

Now, if you want to discuss power dynamics, Annabeth is a sub and Percy is a dom. Because Annabeth has a long history of feeling unloved, unwanted, and abandoned and wants to feel desired. And Percy has been dismissed and untrusted and wants to feel competent and trustworthy.

3. screenshot or description of the worst take you've seen on tumblr

Recently saw a post that said Frederick had fucked Athena. You know, Athena, the famously virgin goddess.

(The funniest part was that it was part of a very anti-Frederick post, and yet...by saying Athena, the goddess of wisdom, broke her millennia long, life defining desire to not sleep with men, to sleep with Frederick Chase, they were saying he was a giant Chad and extra extra special. And that Athena saw so much in him, loved him so much, she developed sexual feelings for him and was willing to throw away one of her defining characteristics for him. And that...that was kind of hilarious)

5. worst discord server and why

Um, the Taylor Swift one I joined to trade tips for my show is really pretty bad. Everyone is so mean and bitchy and, I say this as someone who is weird about how much I love Taylor Swift, Swifties are the worst.

Otherwise, I can't keep up with servers, or really any chat with more then like 3 people them. So I can't really tell if they are good or bad.

8. common fandom opinion that everyone is wrong about

See previous comments about Annabeth. But, also, Jesus Christ Frederick Chase. Who is super interesting, and also dealt a bad hand he then played badly. Dude is a Norse Legacy who fell in love with a Hellenic Goddess. He went out of town and his wife ran off his daughter while he was gone. He can see through the mist. He dive bombed a Titan to save said daughter. He's a Red Sox fan and has a daughter who's a Yankees fan. He managed to enchant Athena. Favorite minor character.

Also, everyone is wrong about Poseidon. He's an ass, he's a bad dad (Hades is the best big three dad. And possibly the best godly parents. And that's being graded on the scale that calculates that time he told Nico he wished he'd died and bianca hadn't. That's how bad everyone else is.) And Sally has moved on to bigger and better things.

Combining those two things: Fredthena > PoSally. Fredthena is more interesting, and during the canon of the stories, it's actually still interesting instead of Poseidon just being Sally's loser ex.

Other things: in fic, Luke is Annabeth's looser older brother, not abusive ex. Annabeth is the punk and Percy is the good boy, Jercy wants what Frankercy has.

13. worst blorboficiation

Connor Stoll. He's literally just half a character. And that's fine.

Also Octavian. Who is allowed to just be power mad.

Also...I love Nico a lot, but the way fandom acts about him is...so much.

21. part of canon you think is overhyped

Nico. I love Nico, I think he's an awesome character and have written multiple fics about him. But people are so weird about him. And there is an extent to which I get it. He's one of the first incidentally queer characters in middle grade literature (as opposed to a character who is gay in a book all about being gay). He's got the emo vibes we love. And he definitely went through it.

But everyone is kind of going through it. And yet, people will unironically make posts about how Percy promised to protect Bianca and then let her die when...When Bianca set off a monster and Percy literally was like "I have a plan to get rid of it" and then Bianca said "I'll do it" and Percy was like "No, I will" and then Bianca just did it anyway. That isn't on Percy. Similarly "Percy choked Nico, its inexcusable." You know, that time that Nico helped his father trap Percy in a room in the underworld with no ways out or windows or anything. Nico didn't know, and he felt bad and tried to make it right, but it wasn't unreasonable for Percy to be pissed and attack the dude who behaved like an enemy.

[evecolourshock]

For the Impression ask game (your choice, any/all of):

Ed

Flynn

Eos and/or Clarke (If you'll do OCs)

Mercury

Sark

Character of your choice from any media that is not Tron (not sure what other media you're into)

Oooo, many choices!!!

Hmm

I'll do Ed (both canon and your version), Flynn (Canon only), Sark... and Jake Kesey (from The Wraith - bonus non-Tron character). I haven't interacted with Mercury, your version of Flynn, or Eos and Clarke, enough to form opinions of them.

Now, I saw Legacy first, and then the original film, so my initial thoughts on the Tron characters are biased that way.

First impressions:

Ed (canon) : Sassy smug kid. Why's he there.

Ed (yours) : All The Therapy for this one. Someone hug him.

Flynn : Old man with good intentions in his past that have come back to bite him. Interesting but where's the substance?

Sark : I don't know if you're an actual threat, or comedic relief.

Jake : Huh. (Literally just huh. Was more focused on the cool car and ignored the people).

Impression now:

Ed (canon) : so many missed opportunities. Also wouldn't it be neat if there was a symmetry in him helping Sam, with his father not defining him, to save the Grid and Encom instead of... we had less than a minute of a throwaway Dillinger, and two hours of Sam making himself a damsel in distress by trying to be the hero and failing.

Ed (yours) : ...I will fistfight the universe if that's what it takes for him to experience happiness without a spectre hanging over him.

Flynn : WHAT DID THEY DO TO YOU going from the wildcard in the original film to... that. In Legacy. There's age and stupid decisions, and then there's somehow becoming the most oblivious bastard known to man and Program. I hate the Legacy version SO MUCH.

Sark : oh buddy you're in far too much over your head here. Still not an actual threat.

Jake : ....yesss gettem you funky undead gremlin.

Favourite moment:

Ed (canon) : the miniscule bit of screentime we're given, because that's all we have.

Ed (yours) : him and Sam doodling flowers on Eve and each other. So cute.

Flynn : "that's a really big door" (goofy dork). Also the part where he philosophises at Tron when Tron's figured out he's a User.

Sark : his "oh shit" face during one of the chats he has with the MCP. Blink and you'll miss it, but so funny.

Jake : blowing holes in cars with a supernaturally-powered shotgun while in a really cool full-body-leather suit and blank helmet (hey that's familiar...). I could not make this up if I tried.

Idea for a story:

Ed (canon) : what does he get up to outside of work. Literally anything.

Ed (yours) : Ed Finds Happiness And Nothing Goes Wrong. I don't care how this happens.

Flynn : exploration of why he ends up Like That in Legacy - as far as I know and remember, Uprising didn't give us any of this and neither did Betrayal, as they both focus more on the Program characters than the human ones.

Sark : what was he like when he was new? What would he be like without the MCP commanding him? (Wanting to explore both of these in Serendipity, but haven't got there yet.)

Jake : no story ideas as such, just wanting him to go to other places in the States and... dealing with... their gang problems because he died because of one psychopath ringleader and he's not about to let others suffer the same fate.

Unpopular Opinions:

Ed (canon) : none, mostly because we don't see enough of him to form an opinion.

Ed (yours) : I don't... know if I can have an unpopular opinion about him? I love him too much. Maybe... idk, he needs a "guard dog friend" who's stuck by him for incomprehensible reasons to all (including him). I know he has everyone in our RPs (and others in other RPs!) but... yeah. That's the only thing I can think of.

Flynn : I've seen it around a lot, so it's probably not an unpopular opinion, but his character in Legacy is a disservice to the one he played in the original. I have no idea how he got from point A to point B, and it annoys me.

Sark : probably the whole comedic relief thing. He's just... kind of a non-issue, typical evil-character's mostly incompetent SIC character.

Jake : Why, of all people, did Charlie Sheen have to be the actor for this guy. Also the whole romance subplot was very 80's, and unnecessary.

Favourite relationship:

Ed (canon) : we never see one. However, I like imagining he's head over heels for a tiny barista who looked a would-be mugger dead in the eye when he threatened her with a switchblade and pulled out a Bowie knife in retaliation.

Ed (yours) : all the sibling relationships he's accumulated. Buddy you have a family now.

Flynn : whatever he has with Alan. Also the bit we see of him and Ram.

Sark : he has none we can see aside from the whatever with the MCP. I like imagining he has an "admire from afar" kind of relationship with Yori, because she scares him.

Jake : he has a brother, and goes out of his way even as a vengeful undead to spend time with said brother. Very cute sibling bond.

Favourite headcanon:

Ed (canon) : see the relationships point above.

Ed (yours) : ooh, so many... probably the crochet. I like thinking of him making things.

Flynn : can't keep a shirt for 5 minutes without damaging it or spilling something on it. Ranges from "spilled my water" to "how the fuck is this thing rags now, I bought it yesterday and have worn it for ten minutes". Only affects shirts he's bought himself.

Sark : those horn-things double as handles, and it's possible to pick him up by them and carry him around like a disgruntled kitten.

Jake : can't sing. Loves to sing. The spooky car he was gifted when he came back for revenge has thrown him out more than once because it can't take any more of his yowling.

[crimson-calligraphyx]

7: Said & Done

I found myself sinking into a beanbag chair while I typed away on my phone in Noah's room. The ambiance was perfect for focusing on preparing a new route for work with the lights dimmed and the soft glow of a salt lamp on his bedside table. Work was still stressful with the constant slack I had to pick up, so I'm really hoping that these new routes I'm working on help out with that.

"Oh, fuck!" Noah suddenly shouts. I jumped out of my skin, my phone tumbling to the ground. I looked up at Noah, annoyed with the sudden outburst—that quickly vanished when I saw what was going on. I find myself giggling as he sunk in his gaming chair, out of frame of the live stream he was on. He was playing some sort of horror game and, to my best guess, got spooked when something jumped out on screen. "Get me out of here! Did you see it?" he exclaims, "did you see it?" He kept repeating the question to whoever he was playing the game with, and I couldn't help but to laugh.

He peeks over his shoulder at me, a cross between a scowl and pout displayed on his face. "Rude. Don't laugh at me," he defends himself, letting out a chuckle. "I'm sorry, Noah," I say in between giggles, "it's just too funny watching you scream like a little girl." "Why don't you play this then, huh?" I put my hands up in surrender, and chuckled. "Alright, that's fair." "That's what I thought," he teases and turns back to his game.

The more time I spent with Noah, the more I realized my feelings towards him. Not only was he generous, but he had this goofy demeanor, and I found myself wanting to be around him more to witness it. He lifted my spirits without even having to try, and that's what I admired about him; his smile was contagious and I found myself truly smiling.

Not only that, but the vibrancy of his tattoos heightened, drawing my attention to his ink as it stood out from the rest of the room. The artwork on his left arm was phenomenal; traditional Japanese waves melting perfectly into intricate designs of what appeared to be koi fish and other things not easily definable from the angle I was sitting at. Everything else was still grey...unless that's the only color in the world?

"Olivia," I hear my name, breaking me from the trance I was in. I shook my head, looking up at Noah. "Yeah?" His eyes were still glued to the screen, but he continued to speak to me. "I think your phone is going off." I glance down at my buzzing phone that sat in front of me on the floor. I could see that it was Vic who was calling, so I answered it right away. "Hey, Liv! Where have you been lately?" Victoria's voice sounds in my ear. "I'm at Noah's. Just working on shit for work while he plays games...and screams like a little girl," I mutter the tail end of my sentence with a snicker. "Hey, I heard that!" he shouts. I find myself laughing again as Vic continues to question my absence. "You haven't been down at the bar in a while, have you been spending all your time at his place?"

I feel my cheeks flush, embarrassed that she had even noticed. "No," I answer quickly. "I just decided to pop by today to get out of the house after work." "Uh huh," she muses. "Sooo, why haven't you decided to 'pop by' the bar?" My heart stutters in my chest with anxiety as she calls me out. "Listen, it's a long story. Come by my place when you get out and I'll explain." "Alright," she sighs. "I'll be over at like 7:30. Had an early shift today." "See you then," I say, ending the conversation.

"Everything okay?" Noah questions, spinning in his chair to face me. "Oh, yeah," I say, exhaling deeply. "Vic just wants to hang out tonight." He gives me a pointed look, knowing how things usually turn out when I'm with her, perking up a brow. "You gonna be okay?" I felt the guilt radiate through my body as he questions my ability to lay off the booze. "I'm not going to the bar, I promise." "It's okay if you do, just be careful, that's all." "Thanks, Noah," I grin at his concern. "Don't worry. We're just going back to my place." He gives me a soft, approving smile and turns back to his game.

-

"Alright, spill it," Vic demands as she plops down onto my couch. I take a seat next to her, flipping on the TV for some background noise. "There's not much to 'spill'," I say, trying to avoid my shame for as long as I could. "Bullshit! I know when my girl isn't being herself," she retorts, cracking open a beer. "Actually, I feel more like myself as of late," I shrug. It wasn't a lie, either—Noah really had been pulling out the true me that had been concealed in darkness for so long. I watch her roll her eyes, "Anyway, you said it was a long story, did you not?" I sigh, "You're right." She gestures for me to continue, rolling her hand in the air.

There was no easy way to tell anyone, especially my best friend who's a bartender, that I've been struggling with alcohol lately. I know that she would most likely be supportive of my newfound sobriety, but there's always that chance that she might judge me a little, considering my dad's condition.

"Okay...dad's condition isn't getting any better, and he needs a full liver transplant," I start off. She immediately gasps and sits up to face me, "Liv, I'm so sorry, why didn't you tell me?" Shaking my head, I shrugged. "I don't know. I guess it's just...hard for me to talk about. Anyway, with that in the back of my mind and work being extremely stressful as of late, I started to drink. Heavily." I watched her eyes gloss up as she takes my hands in hers, squeezing them with reassurance. I felt my throat start to burn as I was holding back my own tears, which was becoming progressively more difficult as I watched her become emotional. "Why didn't you come to me about this, Liv? This is serious!" I blinked, the tears streaming as I looked down in shame. "Because I didn't want to admit it." She takes one hand away from mine and brushed the tears away. "Please don't cry. I'm here," she whispers into my hair when she pulls me into a hug. I bury my face into her shoulder and wrap my arms around her. I've forgotten how much I loved my best friend's hugs.

I clear my throat and pull away from her to continue my story. "So, one day while I was sitting in my work truck, Noah trots on by and comes over to say 'hi' to me. He could tell I was having a bad day, inviting me over for pizza and drinks. He didn't know I had already been drinking that day until I showed up at his place." "Jesus, Olivia," she whispers, shaking her head in disbelief. "I was beyond shitfaced when I left his place, and he texted me later that night to go out to breakfast the next morning. I had no idea why he wanted to, but I had the shakes real bad and he called me out on my bullshit," I sniffle, chuckling at my stupidity. "He basically told me to cut the shit and stop drinking, and after that I decided that it was said and done." "Oh, Liv," she cries with sympathy, pulling me into another bearhug. "I'm so, so proud of you." I started sobbing at this point, overwhelmed with her compassion. "And tell Noah that he is an incredible soul for caring so much about you."

Yeah, tell me about it.

Noah

"Would you rather not brush your teeth, or not change your clothes for a week?" I read outloud the stupid Would You Rather card in my hand after spinning the MadWish bottle. "Not change my clothes for a week. Easy." "Gross," Victoria announces. "You'd rather your teeth feel fuzzy and your breath reek?" I retort, taking a swig of my beer. She shrugs, "With the amount you guys sweat, you'd probably be pretty smelly either way." "There's cologne for a reason." She grimaces, causing a few of us to laugh.

We had a decent sized group of friends and not-so-familiar-faces in our place, and we collectively decided to play MadWish. It's a fun drinking game to play, having your fate in the hands of the bottle in the middle of the board game. It's very close to Truth or Dare, with the added twist of Would You Rather, Snitch, Go, and Shot. Whoever doesn't perform the task quickly enough, or at all, has to take the shot.

Next was Folio's turn to spin the bottle, also having it land on Would You Rather. He picks it up and shakes his head at what was displayed on it. "Would you rather give or receive an orgasm? Receive, duh." "Well isn't that just selfish," Jolly teases him, shoving him on the shoulder. "What? You mean you wouldn't do the same?" Jolly stays silent for a moment, staring directly into Folio's soul. "No, I'm not selfish." I shake my head, snorting at the scene unfold in front of me. "Point Out the girl most likely to become a webcam girl," Ruffilo reads his card and immediately points at me. "Noah, for sure. Fuckin' e-girl Noah over there." I chuckle, "Yep, all this streaming has turned me into an e-girl."

I turned my attention to Liv, whose turn was next. She had the most genuine smile spread across her face, and I couldn't help the smile that swept across mine seeing it. There was something about her when she was being her true, joyous self—it was as if she was glowing, almost radiating her energy on the people around us. "What is the most embarrassing thing you've done while drunk?" she reads her card, her grin faltering a tad.

She glances over at me briefly and I could see the panic in her eyes. I wasn't sure the exact reason for her apprehension—maybe she didn't want to tell a story, or maybe she was afraid that if she didn't tell a story, she'd have to take a shot. I held her gaze, giving her a reassuring nod, telepathically telling her she's okay. She takes a deep breath, plastering that smile across her face again, "One time, I was with Vic and we decided it would be a good idea to go live on Instagram. We stupidly said that we would take a shot whenever someone told us to...needless to say, I passed out for a bit on the couch. I woke up and I ran off screen into the bathroom and puked my brains out and Vic had to cut the live short to take care of me." She shakes her head, laughing at herself. Victoria continued the story briefly, finishing off with how she had to practically drag her to bed with a bucket tucked under her chin.

Next was a woman, whose name I didn't remember, who picked the first Dare card of the night. "Straddle and kiss the person you find most attractive in the room," she reads, a cocky smile on her mouth. She scans the room, looking each of the men up and down as she pondered who she would strike. Her eyes landed on me, and in a second she was on my lap, her legs on either side of me. My eyes grew wide from pure shock at how she just climbed on me with no hesitation whatsoever.

She looks down at me with hunger in her eyes, grabbing my hands and planting them on her sides. My hands were trembling with uneasiness while she leans in closer to my face. She takes hold of my cheeks, crashing her lips down onto mine with an unnecessary amount of passion. One hand moves to the back of my head, fingers digging into my scalp while she forces her tongue into my mouth. I let out an involuntary groan—that's when I panicked and pushed her off of me gently by her shoulders.

When she clambers off me, I awkwardly glanced around the room. Almost everyone had the same expression of bewilderment as they watched what had just happened between me and this unknown girl. My eyes found Olivia, and my heart pounded against my ribcage as I watched her knock back a shot of the whiskey we had been passing out all night. She grimaces, then catches my eyes with her glossy ones. My heart sinks to the pit of my stomach seeing the hurt in her features, and drops even lower when I see her take another shot immediately after.

I fucked up, big time.

|Chapter 8|

[aticklishpercivalwriter]

Updates

Yeah, so it been busy for me lately. List below:

Job Interview Monday, will hear back today if I get the job or not.

Making the itenary for my family trip

Shopping (For my little bro's birthday and myself, two tablets. Got good deals, but still the most money I have ever spent in my life 😭)

Adding on, making sure I still have enough money 🙃

Played the Bedtime Story quest in Genshin and man that was emotional. Spoiler: When she said Aether's name and he was like, "You're the only one who calls me that," not just because they were talking but because that hits so hard. Everyone calls him Traveler and hearing his name for the first time in forever was like, oh man. Heck it rang deeper for me because there was this one fanfic of Lyney and Aether that was exactly like this (I'll try to find it). If I remember correctly, Aether was crying because he was feeling so lonely in the world doing all these commissions over and over, helping the people in Teyvat and for what? No lead on his sister and everyone calling him Traveler and he like completely lost his identity/way. Then Lyney came into the picture and the moment he said Aether's name like "Aether, that's your real name isn't it?" Aether was like crying and they eventually kiss, and yeah, so many emotions. We're not going to talk about Hoyoverse making it so they don't remember.

Writing the Zhongli and Itto fic. The reason I put it off for so long is because I didn't know how I can write their dynamic and the plot. I got it now though! I'm sorry for the two who requested for them that it is coming to you this late :(

Just being so tired. Like I feel exhausted everyday and I don't know why.

Getting jealous over Genshin males. Yes, I get jealous and when you see artwork and writings of hot male characters, and your favorite ships kissing each other, being themselves, smut, fluff, and tickles, all the time, you get jealous of wanting something like that in the real world. It passes...eventually...then comes back.

Got a Playstation Plus trial and was browsing the games when I saw Tales of Zestria and Final Fantasy. I've read many fics of the two and loved them and was curious how the games fair. Wasn't disappointed at all, I just started mind you.

So, Tales of Zestria, I loved the ship between Sorey and Mikleo when I read fics and seen artwork of them and now I can fully appreciate why people ship them. They have a great dynamic and are funny even in dangerous situations. Also, is Mikleo like jealous? Once Sorey starts talking to the girl he saved, Mikleo is like pouty when Sorey isn't giving him as much attention as before. There was a couple lines where Sorey goes, "I hope Mikleo isn't worried," and when you talk to Mikleo he goes, "It wasn't like I was worried or anything." Give him attention Sorey!

And then Final Fantasy, the VII Remake, one. This is my first time playing Final Fantasy, so I am really out of the loop. I thought I would see characters like Ignis or Noctis from the fics I read, but they must be in a different version or I haven't encountered them yet. Action and fighting was the first thing I was doing in the game and I was hooked. I love to appreciate the graphics and fine details that goes into video games and this was no exception as I took in the experience, the cutscenes, everything. The dialogue, the other characters, Cloud Strife (main character), the story so far, it's so cool. Then Jessie brings up how Cloud is good to look at and then I actually look at Cloud and yeah. Why is he so hot?! You probably know my type knowing who I like in Genshin. Like his arm muscles are well defined. I am a sucker for males in tank tops and showing off their arms. And his cool hair, his facial expressions, his sass. Why does he look so good!? Ahem, gotta stop. I am also interested in his story more than anything like what happened? There's these flashbacks and yeah. This game has me hooked, okay? I admit, I searched up Cloud Strife thirst trap (I'm sorry, I had to. I blame the fan artists for making Sethos hot asf with arm muscles. @cawiechan on Twitter for example. I'm obsessed.) and you know what came up? "FF7 Remake transforms the horniest Final Fantasy into a full-on thirst trap" So, you are telling me the first Final Fantasy game that I play is the horniest and a thirst trap? Hey, I'm not complaining and I find that really funny.

Lastly, one of my irl friends knows about this blog! He wanted to read my latest fic (SethoScara), so I gave him a few warnings and such in case he feels uncomfortable with it, but seems like he is okay with it. I trust him. Really the only person I trust talking about tickling honestly irl. He is a great person. I really want to give him a shout out because he makes really cool landscape art and he was also doing some character stuff or portraits. I don't know if he wants that, so I'll ask him.

If you made it this far, thank you for reading! I consider this a safe place to talk about stuff that I wouldn't talk about anywhere else and where I feel welcome, so thank you for making me feel accepted here :) Wishing you all well and talk to you all later ❤️!