#i don't think there's a lot of that kind of thing in ds over all – as a cohesive thing it's very much Monsters Real !

[widowshill]

this is just an idle thought so i'm not sure i can word this well but there's ... something about supernatural narrative ambiguity (such as in cases like carmilla) that really interests me with V's ultimate fate. i.e. i think in one reading ... she did fall from the cliffs that evening at widows' hill, just like carolyn prophesied she would & roger joked endlessly about, and liz did not save her. and victoria getting her quote "happy ending," miraculously getting sent back to be with her vanished husband into a long gone century, returning to an earlier past, is just the silver telling the story version of it. her Savannah, if you will.

"I had to return him to an earlier state of being." / "I found a way to reach into the past and undo it." / "To the rest of the world, they simply cease to be."

moreover i think it's Compelling who liz is with when she finds victoria in each case: professor stokes as V contemplates suicide on the hill, and barnabas when she vanishes into the past with jeff. stokes, who certainly is more than involved with the supernatural but who comparatively represents rational thought, research, learning, Truth and accepting even difficult truth ( "I'm afraid, my dear Miss Winters, that if he is here, he feels as I do. Your place is here. Your time is now. The only way you can join him is to die." ) and barnabas of rewritten myths, of vampires, false identities, the transmutation of women's very sense of self, who has never accepted anything be it feeling or fact and has made every effort to forcibly change it, even if that is only in the telling.

[inbabylontheywept]

Realizing in hindsight that the only reason I was so skeptical about your camp story is that being covered in a combination of crusty, sticky pink residue and rotten fish oil for days on end while sleeping on a wooden floor in the Arizona heat sounded like such unbearable sensory agony that I wanted to convince myself it was fake, because I didn't want to believe that anybody had genuinely been through that. I'd have walked out of that place with a rucksack of pink ooze and either find my way back to civilization or become crispy pink buzzard chow after day 2.

Like, legitimately, I think about my reaction to that post a lot. The imagery was so deeply unpleasant that I was desperately scrambling to convince myself it wasn't true like I'd just found out my spouse was a serial killer. There was no torture, no death, no hunger or disease, just a bunch of sweaty guys being covered in sticky fruit-flavored slime, subjected to unpleasant smells, and sleeping blanketless on the floor. And you can't even smell! You were spared a good third of it! Yet your experience still horrified me worse than any war story, medieval torture device or horror movie for reasons I cannot hope to fathom.

idk, I've had this ask stewing in my head for months, but I keep forgetting to actually write and send it. In my heart of hearts, I knew your story was perfectly plausible. I was just grasping at straws, praying for you to admit that no, nobody has ever showered in off-brand Gatorade and then not slept for 3 days while being expected to attend uni lectures. It's all untrue, a ruse, a trick, and such things could never happen outside of the cruelest depths of hell. Santa Claus is real, teachers live in the school, babies are delivered by storks, and the pink sauce incident never happened.

My mom pulls me into a warm hug after I scrape my knee. The plastic egg I found under the couch opens to reveal a piece of chocolate. A dollar magically appears under the pillow where I'd put my tooth. All is well. I am safe. The universe is kind, and whoever's running it loves me.

It's a sunny August day and I'm holding a popsicle on the swingset. I'm using my plastic dinosaurs to act out an improvised battle between good guys and bad guys as I sit on the carpeted floor. I'm playing Fossil Fighters on my dinged-up Nintendo DS in the plush brown armchair by the window.

I add the carrot nose to my snowman. Candy plops into my Halloween bag. The speaker on the classroom wall announces that school's out for summer, and we all bound out the door with wild glee, free at last.

Panting, wheezing, I drag my battered form back into the cobbled-together wreckage of my innocence, only one arm remaining with which to drag myself, blood and intestines trailing behind me as the storm rages overhead, washing my entrails downstream. I huddle underneath what remains of my once-pristine shelter from the cold and wet, pulling the shards back together as best I can as the wind howls angrily, hatefully. It's no use. It's broken. It's gone. It cannot be repaired. My innocence will never return to me. The rain seeps through the cracks and lands upon my face.

The rain is pink, I realize, and I cry.

First off: I haven’t actually been on the receiving end of this before and I have to say, it's an almost literally gripping experience. I felt this rat for the last three paragraphs.

Incredibly well done. Second: If you just didnt' want to believe, that's fine, I barely have room in me for medium fries - a grudge would just pour out the top, too much tea for my cup. But you don't have to like, gaslight yourself into thinking the story is totally normal and believable (I always stretch my stories out a little) or beat yourself up over it for months. I meant it when I said we're good, you and I. It still makes me happy to see a comment or a like or, rarely, a question like this from you.

If it's just something that pops into your mind every now and again, I dunno, don't sweat it. I'd hate to give you a complex. Did I mention that I loved that writing for this? Incredible experience.

[ilovemylawyer]

hiii, im back <3333

i was just thinking about how doyoung kind of remains mysterious in his rituals, like i for once never seem to fully understand what tf is going on inside in his mind maybe i just didn't put enough effort in understanding his microexpressions, still ive been thinking about him winding down for the day lately and every trivial aspect of him like getting out of bath and using body oil or something, bonus points if it gets anomalous teehee because unlike some allegations of him being greasy i think he takes his hygiene very seriously!! atleast whenever he could. sooooo could you pleaaseee maybe sometime write about him just indulging himself in his unwind routine and getting ready for his next day, it's just very important for my mental health i think...yeahh and it doesn't matter which part of timeline it's set in, possibly somewhere in ep 6? im not being serious here, i never was.

lots of love byeee 💗💗💗

hihihi welcome back dear <33

doyoung is totally mysterious! i think it is absolutely intended by the show to make us, the viewers, not privy to the interworkings of his mind. this makes it easier for us to sympathize with dongsoo (to a point..) and it makes it easier for us as viewers to write doyoung off as a psycho criminal killer and NOT understand him as an inexperienced lovesick fool. i think this is totally intentional so i don't think you Missed anything by not scrubbing every scene <3

re: hygeine. HMMMM... so i am more of a greasetruther. at least up until the silver jacket gets replaced with suits and such. but all of that, the fashion upgrade for dy and his men, i see as a direct result of ds' desires. pre-suited dy and gang, his hair is noticeably like. greasy. it just is. i think if he cared about hygiene/appearance on his own, he'd keep his hair shorter and maybe own more than one pair of pants.

BUT! in ep6, he does change to become Cleaner. so your timing here would be correct. like i said i think this is only because of dongsoo. he realizes just how important status/respect/appearance* is to dongsoo, and decides to make himself more desirable by slicking his hair back and dressing like an adult. but i unfortunately do not think he would ever make this decision if not for dongsoo's high standards.

if i do this i think i can make it ep6, a little pre-funeral prep sesh. here are my problems: this would be totally doyoung centric, doyoung pov doyoung brained solo doyoung alone in his big borrowed house. this is AWESOME in theory, but i THRIVE with dialogue, back and forths and quips and spoken lies and stuff. i do not feel like i have a strong, detailed voice for bathtime relaxation. but also ep6 is a rocky dyds episode, ds is supposedly leaving for good and never coming back, dy knows his (ds') mom is going to be executed, dy has already said his would-be final goodbyes... this is tough.

and this: "im not being serious here, i never was." i think (and i could be wrong, i don't quite know, this is only my best guess) that you're trying to say something like "haha jk... unless?" but i am not entirely sure. but i take everything (EVERYTHING) very very very seriously even in our extremely fast paced irony-poisoned world. my friends call me "serious" all the time. there is no need to be anything but serious w/ me! otherwise i actually get pretty confused (which may be evident rn) but plzzz never feel any kind of shame or embarrassment for any kind of ask to me! FR!

i take this show and my contributions to it like, deathly seriously. that is the only reason i cannot 100% guarantee u that i can pull this off. i have started a doc and jotted down my initial notes/thoughts, so it is there! but this will not be my main focus rn. the longer i think on things the more ideas i get, so this request might just take me some time to mull over/break down/work out. and maybe it'll turn out like super radical gnarly awesome cool. this is something that we will find out together!

MUCH LOVE ALWAYS! thank u forever for ur ask and i promise i will think some more on this and see if i can't figure it out <33

[callmearcturus]

Arc Plays Games: Nora to Toki no Koubou: Kiri no Mori no Majo (NDS)

(apparently in English that's something like "Nora the Time Witch")

I'm gonna try something and try to keep track of all the games I play this year. First up is this extremely cute little that honestly got me through being sick as hell over the holiday. It is kind of perfect as a game for your brain at 40%.

Nora is a DS game that has better "Cozy" feel than most games under the cozy game genre. Basically, Nora (the character) is a chronomancer, so she can do time magic. She's a rookie so she's supposed to be learning how to get good at chronomancy. She's sent to a lil cottage in the woods to bone up on her skills.

The house and garden are extremely precious. You can redecorate the cottage, move furniture and crafting items around, change the walls and floor. The garden has friends and you can lure in cute creatures.

The main loop of the game is in three parts. First is making items to fulfill requests for townsfolk and friends. You'll be asked to make a certain item, and have to figure out the best way to do so with time magic, dismantling raw materials, and processing materials into new stuff. You start off with just a work table and the time magic thingie, then get more and more crafting options like sewing tables and smokers and stuff.

Then you turn in those items and get other items in return and make people happy!

There's also foraging, bc obviously you need materials to make stuff.

There's a whole map with multiple places to go and each of those locations has different materials to gather.

When you arrive at a location, there are interactable things that will give you different materials. Some are sparkly and also give you random effects, like increased rarity, more items, or monsters.

You might want to grab the sparklies first to try and booth the number of materials you get, but on the other hand you might find a monster instead.

Battles are the third pillar. There are a SHOCKING amount of party members, and you can pick and choose teams depending on what you want.

Want to make sure you survive really tough monsters? Go with the errant knight lady and the big friendly city watch guy. Want to get more materials? Go with the soft-spoken clinic worker who can spot more herbs of the 12 year old shop girl who fucking LOVES rocks and can find you more rocks. But the clinic girl isn't great in a fight, so you gotta be careful.

Party members include: a weird mercenary dude who just wants to be the cool knight lady, the buff city watch man who has tea parties and tries to kill monsters with stale bread, the clinic lady who secretly can deadlift a tree, aforementioned 12 year old who thinks rocks are just soooooo cool, the hot knight lady who i think has the hots for Nora but i'm not sure, a Capitalist, a thief who kinda sucks, and a mascot character.

I weirdly ADORE the economy/shop system in this game.

Sometimes when you are selling off old equipment or excess materials, the shopowner will counteroffer your request for money with rare items instead.

YOU CAN DO THIS TOO. Most of the stock in the shops can be bought outright OR you can choose "Buy with items" and offer up stuff in exchange for the item you want.

Shops have normal stock but also special stock you can only get by trading the right materials. The armory guy has swords and stuff BUT if you want the good shit, bring him a dragon scale instead.

I bounce off a lot of these kind of soft, cute games because they don't feel like they have depth but this game sooooo does. I would say the only downside is when you struggle to make a certain items or find a certain material, you... sometimes just gotta figure it out, because this game was an oddball Japanese-only Atlus title and the fan translation isn't super well-known, there isn't a robust wiki to refer you. Just figure it out!

Anyway, solid fucking 4 out of 5 on this game. If you can emulate DS games, you can locate this one pretty easily if you know where to look. (And if you don't know where to look, send me an ask off-anon and I will direct you a bit.)

gd i maybe need to try an atelier game...........

[n7punk]

for all the None people who follow me and care about Trace Memory/Another Code (spoiler free I promise): if you're interested in the remaster, I recommend you only get it if you're getting it for the sequel that was never released in America. they changed a lot in Trace Memory (Another Code 1) and this isn't a "new is bad" thing (usually I prefer remasters), this is a "they cut puzzles, 'streamlined' the game, and reworked/removed the best scene in the entire game" kind of thing. the game undoubtedly looks better, but it's also missing some of the hand-drawn art that really added to its story. there are some improvements (the new voice acting is cool to have, especially having it be optional, and the way they implemented the autoplay feature for that is clever. there are some improved scenes they could rework with the benefit of 3D graphics and voice acting), but I don't think it should be your first Trace Memory experience.

if you can't get your hands on the DS line and an emulator isn't working for the puzzles (something I can see - some of them did actually need to be cut just for being janky or more difficult than they needed to be) and this is the only way you can ever experience the first game, I recommend it over not playing the game, I'm just saying it's not the original. from what I can tell they normed the style of the first game with the second, so it's brighter and all the dialogue and non-flashback cutscenes are rendered in game, which loses some of the impact of the stylistic comic panels. I never thought I'd prefer flat art to rendered cut scenes but in a game like this the hand-drawn, kinda gritty art did a LOT and the brightly-rendered 3D models just don't lend themselves to the mystery of all these people's deaths. I am excited to play the second game since, changes or not, this is the only way to experience it in America (like I said, I still recommend Another Code: Recollection if it's the only way you can experience Trace Memory), but I would say the remaster is mostly worth buying for the sequel if you like the original game.

[antianakin]

Hello, do you have an AO3 account? Because I saw a thing on here about you writing an arranged Marriage AU for Obitine and I am interested. (Even though I don't think Obitine should be a thing. Maybe a fleeting crush when they were young brought one by being on the run together. But not much more.)

I mean, I DO have an AO3 account, but it's pretty exclusively for READING fics as opposed to WRITING fics. I don't really... write fics, I guess. I've done the AU posts here, but you'll notice that none of those are really... in prose. There's no dialogue, it's primarily just a recounting of events. And that's about as far as my creative writing skills really go.

The Obitine Arranged Marriage AU is something I wrote up on Tumblr, and you can find it here. I ALSO dislike Obitine and don't think it should be a thing and that's actually exactly why I wrote the AU, to explore what a relationship between them might have actually looked like and just how miserable and disastrous it would've been for both of them. What fleeting feelings had been there from their teenage hormones would NOT have lasted very long when up against some of the outside pressures they'd have faced.

The major thing I wanted to do in that AU was sort-of make something that went AGAINST a lot of the more popular tropes I see with Obi-Wan. So not only does it explicitly look at how BAD this relationship with Satine would be because of how badly matched their personalities are, it ALSO explicitly has Obi-Wan not at all happy in Mandalorian culture. He's not accepted within it and it's SO vastly different from Jedi culture that he can't be truly comfortable within it. He assimilates as much as he is required to as Satine's spouse, but he doesn't LIKE it much and tries to hold onto as much of his Jedi culture as he can, regardless of how uncomfortable it might make Satine or the other Mandalorians feel.

I tried to make the AU not like... a demonization of Satine, but she doesn't come off well in it, either. I'm not a huge fan of her character and I'm especially not a fan of her relationship with Obi-Wan. I am personally of the opinion that the way that relationship is written sort-of ruins Obi-Wan as a character in many ways, and that feeling absolutely comes across in this AU. Satine is... prioritizing other things in the AU above Obi-Wan, and while that can be an admirable trait on its own, it becomes very clear that it has an adverse effect on her personal relationship with someone she asked to make a major sacrifice for her. And as that relationship continues to dissolve and sour, she gets defensive because she's a teenager under immense amounts of political pressure and something has to give and she decides to let it be her relationship with Obi-Wan.

This is kind-of an exploration of exactly why this kind of relationship DOES NOT WORK unless both parties are particularly willing to enter into this dynamic. Satine CANNOT prioritize Obi-Wan over her people and her duty, but she married him, and Obi-Wan had certain expectations about how that would look that are completely unmet, which lea ds to resentment and frustration on both sides. Obi-Wan is also just someone who isn't going to be happy sitting on the sidelines doing nothing, so this dynamic works extremely badly for him in a way it may not for someone else.

Satine does ultimately come around and start to realize just how much damage she's done and tries to make amends, but in many ways it's too late. Obi-Wan is TRYING and Satine is TRYING, but they just. Can't. Connect. They can't understand each other now that they're not within the relatively simpler situation of being on the run for their lives, and that inability to see from each other's perspectives rips them apart.

All that to say that if you do not like Obitine, the Obitine Arranged Marriage AU is probably for you lol.

[astralartefact]

just some doodles of some character designs I like from the Inazuma Eleven demo (i love raimon's new long water kazemaru)

i don't know if we even have confirmation that suruga's friends are team members but we need eleven+ people so it seems likely

Thoughts on the Demo (with Story Mode) below the cut

If I had to summarize my feelings in one sentence it would be: "This can't be the last game, right???"

I'm afraid it will be, but nooooooooooo q_q it can't beeee

I know Inazuma Eleven is so beyond niche that it was clear it wouldn't stand a snowball's chance in hell and given Level5's recent struggles I should be grateful that Victory Road even gets to exist at all, but q_____q I will miss Inazuma Eleven already q_q That's what the Demo makes me feel.

Like, I thought about it, but I think I don't even like Inazuma Eleven ironically, I just genuinely like it so much. If you like RPGs get yourself a copy of one of the DS games and have a good time, just shut your brain off a little bit and do not think even once. Me? I'm fine thinking about it, I was born into this utmost sincerity, I was molded by it, but as irony-poisoned as the world has become I have to point out it's.... a little bit wild. Just be prepared that Soccer might cry.

I like what they're doing with Unmei, I think the idea to have him be a non soccer player makes a lot of sense (no clue how I didn't notice that he wasn't playing in any of the promotional material)

Don't know if I like that 5 vs. 5's are gone. On one hand, probably a good choice, I think they can be much more creative with this new thing they're doing and small battles in the new control scheme would probably take forever and/or be weird af - on the other kind of lame, that takes a bunch of the soccer out of the soccer game.

I'm wondering how important the School Council President and that one other white haired girl are going to be. I kind of hope they won't be relegated to Manager roles, because as fun as those characters might have been (were they?) in OG and Go those don't really get to do anything and we already have 11 Characters + Bench already. you could just make them players...

I don't know what their scope with the Main Story is going to be. It seems very 'regular' - the Story seems to be weirdly front-loaded as usual, where everything happens all at once before the inevitable road to victory happens, but... I don't know, I think if this (last?) game really just has the scope of IE1 or Go1 I would be kind of disappointed ngl :/

In the same vein I'm somewhat scared for how far out this game is? This game seems absolutely massive and given what they've shown so far they could be 15% done and all they have is this little bit of story and all of the imported stuff. Maybe they just are much further along then I'm expecting them to be, but I don't know. Crossing my fingers that they know what they're doing.

Also what is the Budget of this game. Non stop animated segments, even if they were CG heavy. And how many VAs did you have for the Demo alone???? And you want to add everyone from all the games?????

"Escape Freud" you don't understand I'm trying

I don't hate the Translated Names (yet, the Go ones were a struggle though) but I do wish they had a Japanese Name Mode to go with JP VA

I miss drawing the arrows to control the team so much q____q I don't hate the new system and I get why it's kind of hard to translate the old one to gamepad controls but I feel like I have no clear control over anybody... I still think that you could turn that entire mechanic into so many cool game concepts btw, it's kind of weird that nobody ever made 'sensical' Inazuma Eleven clones

I put FF14 and Hasunosora as Cross-Over Requests in the Online Survey. The first one would be hilarious to me (and it would be possible given Yokai Watch) and for the second one I'm pretty certain that that Venn Diagram overlaps in a single dot and that single dot is me. I just think Megumegu would look great in Raimon's Uniform, okay.

[kob131]

So question.

Is Pokemon DLC 'Pay To Win' competitively?

This is an accusation I've heard lobbied quite a bit and to be honest it's kind of confusing. For those who don't know- A 'pay to win' feature that allows you to pay real world money in order to get an advantage over players who do not. Think paying from a great DPS gun in an online competitive shooter or boosting XP for an online game with RPG elements.

The argument around Pokemon DLC being 'Pay To Win' revolves around two main pillars- DLC exclusive Pokemon and returning Pokemon. The 'DLC Exclusives' revolve around the Pokemon Urshifu, Calrex Rider and Ogerpon. All three of these Pokemon have seen/are seeing widespread usage in competitive and are exclusive to their own DLCs. Thus by not having access to these Pokemon- you are at a disadvantage and thus you must buy the DLC. Which sounds like Pay To Win...

Until you remember that each DLC's launch comes with an update that allows for all Pokemon, including DLC exclusives, to be compatible with games that do not have it. Thus you can simply trade for it.

'But no one is going to trade away their 30 Pay To Win bear!'

Well, thing is. Pokemon trading works a lot like bartering- you offer something worthwhile in exchange for something you want. For example, you could trade a Shiny or Legendary or even a starter in exchange for the Pokemon. And it's not like you only get the DLC once- You get it for all profiles on your Switch. So if you were to offer a highly valued Pokemon then someone will work to get it, especially since the likes of Urshifu aren't hard to get. (Can get one before the second Gym). Same with Ogerpon. The only one that doesn't count to is Calrex, which is rather shitty but Ogerpon and Urshifu are the main 'culprits' and they're also the easiest to get and trade with.

'But that's just using an exploit and it's not intended!'

... How is the DLC being downloaded on all profiles an exploit? It's not a glitch or oversight- it's basic consumer friendliness. They had to have known this was a thing.

Another argument is that returning Pokemon inevitably shake up the metagame, introducing new staples, and thus the people who bought the DLC have an advantage. Again this fails to me because you can simply trade for the Pokemon. It isn't completely locked off from you.

Of course people will argue that I'm just defending shitty business practices that modern Game Freak are employing and that they wouldn't have done this in the past. To that I answer-

How do you catch a Heatran in Pokemon Black/White?

It's a simple question- Heatran is a famously evergreen competitive Pokemon. One would consider having access to Heatran as a necessary tool for competitive players. If not Heatran than what about Laitos, the number 1 most used Pokemon in competitive BW according to Pikalytics? If not that then what about Garchomp, not even a Legendary by this point? How do you catch these Pokemon in the most widely beloved Pokemon games?

Simple answer- You don't. You CANNOT catch these Pokemon in Black and White. You either have to buy the sequel games (which is effectively full game priced DLC here) or you buy Pokemon Diamond/Pearl/Platnium and/or Ruby/Sapphore/Emerald to get them. As well as a second DS to transfer them.

And this is a major problem I have with these arguments. They never take into account how transfers inherently give older players an advantage over new players and how this basically makes older, full priced games necessary to compete. That really, the DLC are in fact the more consumer friendly alternative because you get access to more Pokemon than a sequel or third version would give you; you can easily obtain multiples of Pokemon and unlike some cases- you don't need a duplicate console.

Or in other words- the Pokemon fanbase doesn't seem to realize they're actively calling for Game Freak to fuck them harder.

[misc-obeyme]

oh I love talking abt tbwse my creativity block is go n e

I like to think most of them don't live at the castle, though. Like they just work there and come and go and have varying shifts. Uhh but that's if they're just normal people and not criminals lol!

this too! in my hc Lil Ds, Maidservants, cooks & scullions and others with a criminal past lived at the castle while others worked shifts. some also didn't need shifts since their jobs weren't that heavy. some of the ones who's family live far away from the castle also do live there, younger ones as well. oh to be a teen wingless demon running erands at the castle and knowing Barbatos....,,,

I suppose whether or not they actually did something terrible has to do with how deranged you want Diavolo to be. Like if he was really kinda off the deep end, he could absolutely just obtain people he thinks are pretty and for no other reason. That's real villain behavior generally speaking. But if you want him to be a little less that way, you could say they were criminals. Then at least there's a legit reason for it, even if the punishment is a bit intense... they are demons, so really there's a lot of ways you can go with it!

My Diavolo is the villain.. in other people's stories lol /j i just love my man being a tiny bit cruel. he's actually pretty kind, and way kinder than the older kings. they ruled with iron fists and even something as small as stealing bread for your hungry child was punished with amputation-

the past devildom was horrible to say if you weren't a noble. When Diavolo took over the throne it became way better and even commoners could live a comfortable life.

most of those "I just thought they're pretty" staff are from the timed either he was a child or still new to the throne. he did learn, although still sometimes he can't help it. plus, demons are hard to rule, they're not like humans. one sign of weakness and you're done for. if it wasn't for Diavolo showing his power, MC & the angels were possibly dead at the first weeks lol (although, since RAD .. is a royal academy, the students are nobles or have family members work at the castle, similar things. also its smth like all grades are there so Luke makes sense >:( RAD isn't that populated as well- but itsbpopulated with famous people >:) )

but that doesn't mean the whole city RAD takes place in is like that though!. RAD may be safe, but the outdoors are not.

Ohh it sounds like you've worked out quite a bit about how these things work! It definitely makes sense for there to be a lot more people living and/or working at the castle.

Okay I dunno how I missed the part about Luke... if he's really supposed to be ten why is he attending school with everybody else?!?!? How did I not realize this previously?!?!?!

Anyway... that just isn't something I really thought about before, but now it's gonna bug me lol.

I think it makes sense for previous demon kings to be... well, demons. Then you get Diavolo who is still definitely a demon, but unique enough to have his own ideas, which makes him just a tiny bit softer than the others. I like the consideration of the fact that demons are harder to rule than humans. That makes sense to me. And I think canon could use a little bit more expansion on that in general. Just because they aren't humans, but sometimes the stuff the characters say makes me go hmm.

But anyway, I quite like your worldbuilding here, expanding on canon in a way that makes it a little darker, but also more realistic. Since we are dealing with demons!

I don't mind the demons being fluffy at all, but it's also interesting to explore them being more villainous in general!

[snapscube]

Hi Penny really been enjoying your dive into Dragon Quest VII! Been curious, what made u decide on playing the PS2 version over the 3DS version of the game?

(gonna assume you meant DQ VIII and answer for that!) A few things! Obviously the 3DS version was tempting with the extra content and all that (especially knowing now that one of the added party members is Red UGHHGHHGHGHGHGHGGHGG god i wish) but the PS2 version, in turn, has

an orchestrated soundtrack (VERY IMPORTANT, Strange World does NOT hit the same through MIDI)

better visuals! i like the color palette of the PS2 visuals a lot better, and there's a lot more detail in the environment that brings things together nicely.

randomized battles, which is obviously gonna be different for a lot of people and a lot of situations in terms of whether it's considered a pro or a con. normally, i don't prefer random encounters BUT in my experience with DQ11 i found that when I had the option of skipping combat encounters I really would not level up as much as I should have before hitting a roadblock and needing to grind for at least a couple of hours. so far, though there has been a LITTLE grinding, being forced to engage with the combat system in the overworld while exploring and get a consistent flow of XP has really helped pace my playthrough a lot better!

Not to mention, at the time of choosing which platform to play on, I did not have any capture solution for 3DS fully setup and I was really resistant to the idea of emulating since I prefer playing on original hardware when I can help it. I've since settled on the fact that until I can get my hands on a hardware capture mod, emulation is gonna be the way to go for any 3DS/DS streaming I do. And I've got a setup that I think looks nice and runs well now but, again, at the time I did not.

Honestly though the BIGGEST reason, even after considering all of this stuff, is that when I think of Dragon Quest I think "large, cozy adventure". It has real nostalgic vibes even though I didn't grow up with the series. A perfect cozy-up-with-tea-before-bed kind of series. And I'm not sure if any game system complements those vibes better to me than the PS2 does. The PS2 has this pitch-perfect nostalgia factor in nearly everything about the way it runs, the way it renders visuals, and thankfully a lot of those things are in tact even when running on a backwards compatible PS3. And it does that without losing the inherent feeling of scale you get when playing a console game on a TV compared to a handheld game on a small screen. That perfect balance of comfort vs. scale is the biggest reason why I chose the PS2 version, and so far I do NOT regret the decision.

[bahamutgames]

AFTERTHOUGHTS : Platinum Version

Game: Pokemon Platinum Version (September 13, 2008)

Console: Nintendo DS (Via emulation)

Another day, another Pokemon. After a really stressful and bad move. There was only one thing I wanted to do to destress: PLAY POKEMON PLATINUM!! So I did! And now I'm here to tell YOU what I thought about it!

That's all I got for an intro. So as always, this isn't a review! Just my thoughts on the game after beating it! If I ever talk about a game that interests you, regardless of my opinion, you owe it to yourself to PLAY THE GAME!!

AS ALWAYS, POKEMON PLATINUM SPOILERS AHEAD!!

Opening

So, much like Emerald last year, this is actually my first time playing through a Sinnoh region game! In a weird way I have a lot of nostalgia for DPP, while also having less nostalgia for it than RSE? For example, it's featured very prominently in Brawl. But like, I had barely seen any gameplay of these games before. But also, I played SoulSilver as a kid. So there is a connection there even if it's all over the place! I actually have a fond memory of picking my brother up from school and having him tell me that the new Pokemon generation would have a Monkey, Penguin, and Turtle starters... Crazy how time (and space) just seems to slip on like that. But there's no time (nor space) for that! Let's get right into Pokemon Platinum!

Stuff I liked

So... first off... This game is gorgeous. Seriously gorgeous. The music and sprites really hit a sensitive spot in my brain and heart and soul. Cause my first night playing I was almost moved to tears by how pretty it was! I'm not kidding! It just really got to me for some reason! I think having actual day / night cycle that line up with real life is so charming. Even if I did end up mostly playing at night it actually made me want to play at different times to day so I could see the changes and hear the different TOD music. The sprites are seriously legendary, GBA sprites might still be a personal favorite but I think Pokemon have never looked better than they do specifically in the DS Main Series games. I still kind of consider them to be the gold standard for how a lot of Pokemon look and tend to pull out DS era sprites as reference more than their official artwork lol. And not only that, but 3D Models are used in this pretty heavily for the first time in the series. And maybe it's just cause I'm a sucker for 2D sprites on 3D backdrops, but I think it looks great! Visually, I think hands down this is the best Pokemon thusfar.

Next up, the music. Oh it was so nice, I loved a lot of the town themes this time. They were all really relaxing and comforting (again maybe cause I mostly played at night lol) and my personal favorite theme was Route 209 which I think might be a super generic choice BUT IT'S GOOD!! In general DS Pokemon has a really nice and cute soundfont. Maybe I'm just nostaglic from HGSS but... I'dunno! I like it a lot!

And the whole world of Platinum continues my personal favorite things I've been really loving about this series. Technology, and each region having a specific theme that shapes the plot and legendaries. On the technology side, the Poketech RULES. I made basically no use of it, but it's super cute and I feel like I would have been IRRITATING pulling out Platinum for the calculator constantly as a kid lol. And getting to collect new apps for it was super cute. I really love seeing the technology upgrade in the world as the technology in real life upgrades, even when tech in Pokemon is so sci-fi, it's very connected to our real world technology. And of course this ties into the tech the consoles are on with this game having online and TOD stuff. It's just... SO COOL how these games actually use technology to make each game so fascinating and cool in a tech way?? Idk.

As for the theme. Kanto had science, Jhoto had Spirituality, Hoenn had Prehistory, Sinnoh seems to be deeply rooted in... I don't know how to put it. Creation? Existence? As this focused more on human origin and creation? It has some interesting religious stuff too, even featuring a church which is surprising for a Nintendo game lol. But the whole theme of the fabric of reality with Time and Space and Distortion was very cool. And an interesting theme to set the plot around with the villains going from being kinda Rocket-esc lowlifes to becoming full blown terrorists to having the most INSANE plan yet. With the highest stakes of ANY villain team so far. It's neat.

Speaking of that, I did think the distortion world was kinda cool. I was pleasantly surprised to have the chance to actually fight the Boxart legendary after I felt a little robbed of that in Emerald. It was a neat set piece and having that last tense showdown with Cyrus in this bizarre purple hellscape was exciting! In general, I would really like to see more boss fights against Pokemon that aren't controlled by a trainer in the main story.

Sinnoh in general, I quite liked. It felt oddly familiar to me in a way. I think because so much of it is comprised of forests and lakes? It felt like something you'd see down where I live. And it has some pretty interesting areas like the beach town where they use solar panels as roads??? Totally solar punk dude I LOVED that. Super cute NPCs with some nice Gym Leader designs (a lot of hot girls in this game Cynthia was so FINE), Dawn is one of the peak Pokemon protagonist designs. It's a nice region with a lot of nice areas and people to love.

But, most importantly. How about those Pokemon? This is what it always comes down to for me. I play these games FOR THE POKEMON. They're who I want to see! Honestly? I quite like the Sinnoh dex! As a kid I remember really hating a lot of the Pokemon in this region. But I think that was childish genwunner brain. It's a GREAT selection of Pokemon with some genuinely fascinating choices for monsters. A venus fly trap, a straight up portal. Some of my favorite Pokemon come from this region like Mismagius and Darkria. And, I think DPPT does an OKAY job with the distribution. I was able to meet a lot of new faces and ultimately build a team with a few Pokemon I really wanted. But it's not perfect. Let's jump into that next section to talk about some issues I had when catching Pokemon.

Stuff I didn't like

So, yeah, I built a nice team and caught a lot of Pokemon. The distribution isn't bad. But it's not... great? So, at the start you'll be catching new guys left and right. Buizel, Bidoof, Kricketot, Shellos, Shinx... And then for about half the game you'll kinda realize... You're STILL running into those same guys over and over and over! So you end up with most of the Pokemon you'll meet right out the gate. Yes that's not entirely true, and when you get to the snowy region the selection opens up more. But still you'll be fighting the same handful of Pokemon for a good chunk of the game. And for as much as I like the selection of Pokemon, a lot of them are kind of weird looking and never really grew on me. And I think they rely a little too much on evolutions of old Pokemon. A surprising amount of them are evolutions. And while some of the new forms are personal favorites like Mismagius and Mammoswine. Sometimes they just ruin a line with something like Rhyperior!!

Alright alright. So, for as much as I liked Platinum. It had a lot of really weird shortcomings in my opinion. A big one being, you may have noticed... I don't compliment the story pretty much at all. I think it's kind of weak overall. The game opens and the reason you get your starter feels really weak and rushed. Like it's all just kind of happening to you really quickly? And then the plot is sort of nothing for most of the game. Galactic is there and doing low level crimes... Looker is there and he do be looking. Your rival is there and he talks... But there's not much happening for a good portion of the game and it just kinda feels like, underwhelming? And then part way through Galactic become terrorists and the game goes from 0 to 100 out of NOWHERE! JUST YESTERDAY I WAS COINCIDENTALLY RUNNING INTO A GUY WHO GAVE ME A TURTLE NOW I HAVE TO GO TO AN ALTERNATE REALITY!? It's not bad exactly it just feels so... Odd to me.

Then the gameplay, I can't help but be disappointed about team battles. Emerald introduced 2v2 battles and even had one whole single team battle with a partner! Platinum has way more 2v2 team battles! One where you fight alongside a green haired baddie and one where you fight alongside a guy who looked like sir aaron from the Lucario movie! That's awesome! But, and I know this was an unrealistic expectation... My beautiful 3v3 battles... Why didn't it happen? Just one battle where I control 3 Pokemon? Or it's me and 2 other people fighting all at once? I want MORE interesting things playing on the traditional battle system! I know BW will have 2 rivals. But somethings telling me to not get my hopes up for 3 way battles.

And lastly. The difficulty. Dude. I don't know if it was just me, but this game was HARD. Like, easily the hardest Pokemon game thusfar. I don't know what happened! I feel like every single story fight was a massive roadblock where I just couldn't made any progress to save my life. Grinding felt slower than the last 3 games, and it really felt like no matter how much I grinded or how high a level I was. The gym leader's final Pokemon would be 10 levels lower than me and still wipe my entire team by spamming a single move. I hit these roadblocks CONSTANTLY. During EVERY major boss battle in the game. I'm not kidding. I genuinely have no idea what I was doing wrong! I'm not a team building expert but I never had EVERY boss be a total roadblock. And sadly, this kind of made the game a drag. I knew I'd had to grind like crazy and just pray for good luck during each fight because being overleveled didn't help, odds are I'd miss all my attacks and get wiped insantly. And it really sucked the air out of a lot of scenes for me.

Final Thoughts

Platinum is a very good game. I completely understand why so many people say it's their favorite. It is COOL! It's easily the prettiest looking, maybe one of my favorite soundtracks so far in the main series. It's got a great selection of Pokemon and is fun. But ultimately, I just can't help but feel like it's missing something. Like it just has a lot of shortcomings in important areas I needed it to not have shortcomings in. If that makes sense?

Let's take a look at that tier list:

I always feel like a bit of a crazy person when I put any of these games lower than Red. OBVIOUSLY they are objectively superior to Red in nearly every way. But ultimately, for everything Platinum does better. I think Red still beats it at distribution of Pokemon, it's story, and making good use of its characters and villains. I do think this game IS a step up, but it's just not personally my favorite I don't think. However, it's still a cool game and I'm very happy I played through it!

===

That's that! Lately I'm a little swamped with irl stuff and work lately but I really had an itch to write some afterthoughts today! There's so much I'm playing atm and still some games I need to write about and there's so many upcoming games I wanna try and so many games I have that I haven't played. But we'll get to it.

Also this is completely random, but I like to mess around with the content for a game in Smash Bros. when I beat its origin game. And while I always liked Spear Pillar, after playing Platinum, it is straight up one of my all time favorite stages. It RULES! So chaotic, so gorgeous, and the detail of the bottom layer being the underground mechanic? That's SO FUCKING COOL!! Genuinely a new favorite!

Next up is Black & White! Which I actually have tried before! But never beat. So I'll hopefully be fixing that... Sometimes soonish!

If you wanna see the cold ass crew for Platinum you can right here!

And as always, you can follow me on twitter to see what I'm playing right as I beat it!

That's all I got! Go out and play something you wanted to as a kid, but never got around to!

[katierosefun]

Hello!

I’m rewatching BE (again) and I’m curious what you think of the timeline of jwds. Some people are like oh yeah they def did stuff/something after [insert arrest/clue/chase scene/homoerotic moment] and stuff like that. I personally think that while there was a lot of sexual tension going on, nothing really happened until the ds arrest scene which was basically a confession. If I had to add anything to what happened in that scene I would say the “missing” part is that I think ds stopped jw from full on confessing bc ds knew he was going to jail. He didn’t want anything to happen bc it would leave jw tied to him but also not really tied to him and he didn’t want jw to wait for him or feel trapped. Jw has had no one in his life to count on and be cared for by. Letting jw create that link between them only to be whisked off to prison two seconds later would exacerbate his abandonment issues. Homeboy literally cried over ds’s hands he would not have handled an acknowledgment of anything beyond “juwoon-a” well. Also I fully believe that jw did not visit him in prison and ds wouldn’t have allowed him to if he’d gone.

But yeah anyways those are my very messy thoughts lol. What do you think about the timeline? Do you think anything happened that wasn’t shown in the show and/or how things went at the end and after Nam Sang Bae’s death anniversary (I also think that was the first time they’d seen each other since ds got out of prison)?

Thanks!

hi anon!

to answer your questions: i honestly think part of my love for beyond evil is that there are some pretty ambiguous moments where it seems like dong sik and joo won hung around each other more than was seen on screen, so i personally love playing with whatever might have happened between them during that time.

that said, from a more technical perspective: i think the beauty of a lot of television shows (not just beyond evil, but especially beyond evil) is that there's always going to be an ambiguity of what happens where and what's shown on screen or not. i think true film theory professors/geeks could ramble for hours about the power of the camera in storytelling and how it completely changes the medium of what we know vs. what we don't. which is really all to say that i think since it's a show that has a camera that turns on and then turns off, beyond evil inherently is going to have scenes that probably happened but just aren't actually shown to the audience.

so just by default, i think there must have always been things happening between dong sik and joo won that just didn't happen in the show, and that's just by virtue that this is a television series that's made deliciously more ambiguous by director shim na yeon and writer kim su jin's creative choices.

but from a fan's perspective: oh yeah, i think dong sik and joo won absolutely had some closer will they-won't they moments that we didn't get on screen. not necessarily because the cast and creators cut them, but just talking about the characters themselves here--i like to think that joo won and dong sik had plenty tenser moments of just. figuring out whatever the hell is going on with their relationship.

and as a fan/fanfic writer, i definitely love playing with what could have happened in those kinds of moments. in some versions, i like the idea of one of the two of them crossing a line somewhere . . . and in other versions, i like the idea of the two of them telling themselves that what they have is enough, and neither of them will do a single thing about it until maybe a year or ten years after the events of beyond evil. but who knows! the world is our oyster when it comes to things like that. it's just always nice to see when people have different interpretations and different ideas of how joo won and dong sik might have finally gotten together :)

[autoplaysdigimon]

thinking about that one video (Pokémon Fan Plays A Digimon Game And Hated It) about that girl who somehow beat Dawn without learning how to dedigivolve or scan new Digimon. She beat the game with an Apollomon, a MetalSeadramon, a Megidramon, and no idea what was happening or how to play at all

Jaiden Animations! I LOVE her videos! I saw someone posting to an ace blog I follow going "DID YOU SEE JAIDEN IS ONE OF US" like. minutes after she posted that coming out video so I've been watching hers ever since haha.

Anyway, yeah! I saw that video and it was SPOT ON in like almost every way, like in the background there were people mourning ReArise and all (I was like "THAT'S ME") but I did wince a little at the top screen island being empty... girl no

But, like, if someone came up to me and asked "Hey, I hear you like Digimon, I'm looking to get into it, which game should I start with?" I... don't know what I would say. Probably ask what kind of genre they liked, since they cover such a wide range. But yeah,

Digimon World 1 is a game I'd suggest to someone if I could guide them through it directly because it's so weird and difficult (in the same way that a petulant child can be difficult)

DW2 I think I played in a really weird and roundabout way anyway so I don't know if I'd rec that but it's not really bad per se

DW3 my complaints are EXACTLY what she brought up (no fast travel and LOTS of backtracking)

DW4 I haven't actually played all that much so all I can say is "idk it seems okay"

Rumble Arena 1 and 2 are pretty good if you like fighting games and they've got some cool mechanics but there's not much substance to them

Digimon World DS, Dawn and Dusk are pretty neat but they can be pretty finicky to deal with (and I share her pain at the absolute maze nature of the damn maps) but by god the sprite work is gorgeous

Cyber Sleuth is WHERE IT'S AT so I guess I'd suggest that one? I figured out that the continuous missions from the board are random and not essential several weeks into it so idk maybe don't do that over and over? I haven't played Hacker's Memory yet but I'm gonna!

Battle Spirit = no

Digimon Racing = I would play this game if you paid me for it but otherwise I ALREADY DID MY TIME.

Obviously Digimon World Re:Digitize and Next 0rder have the same gameplay problems as Digimon World 1, mayyyybe I'd suggest Next 0rder for the perfect blend of weird and interesting gameplay and modern gameplay experience? If it's not your thing to play, it's not your thing, tbh. (It very much is MY thing, though haha)

I think I posted a comment on the video when I watched it, but I guess my suggestion for which game to play first is... don't? Watch the anime first?? idk man it's better to go in for the love of the creatures bc I will probably suffer through a terrible game if they gove me a Veemon to make up for it but if you don't have that sort of attachment then it's hard to make it feel worth it!!

ALSO ALSO.

I saw which Digimon was used as the wild encounter, and.

Leave him alone :(

[0nelittlebirdtoldme]

Writer asks

Got tagged by @bluecatwriter. With another year of writing slowly coming to an end, why not look over some of my stuff? Thanks for the tag!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

143 works, however 2 or 3 of them are just some of my crossposted fanart.

2. What's your total ao3 word count? 428,434. Wanted to get to 500k this year, but i suppose i am not quite there yet.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Still just Dracula/Dracula 2020. Some IWTV, some Fight Club. 2 for Empire of the Vampire which i have neither finished reading, nor is there a proper fandom for.

4. What are your top five fics by kudos?

Death's Sunrise (of course, the only fic to gain over 1k kudos). 1,071 as of now

3 Sandman fics i don't care for anymore so i am not gonna name them (if you are curious, just look them up yourself, you know where to find them)

The Gathered Night 

Touch as Soft as Ice (Harkula Tumblr Prompts) (the tumblr prompt collection which i kind of have disbanded by now - i just post the prompt fics by themselves these days)

Ladybugs Don't Fly at Night 

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I try to, but sometimes i just lack the energy. I do get a lot of comments, in all fairness, but even if i don't reply right away, i just want you to know that i do read and appreciate them all! <3

6. What's the fic you wrote that has the angstiest ending?

The majority is really angsty. If I had to guess, either DS or Completed - a quadruple drabble in which Dracula, in his delusion, is holding onto Jonathan's very dead corpse, somehow still waiting for him to come back to (un)life.

7. What's the fic you wrote that has the happiest ending?

Either something from Castles in the Air, my softer drabble collection, or something like Keeping Family - a very self indulgent murder husbands + accidental baby acquisition fic.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

By god, the things i find in my inbox some days are really something. (Side bar: just because a writer writes specific themes and topic it doesn't make it alright to send them death and grape threats christ on a cracker)

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

Oh yes. My smut always flirts with the idea of consent and power dynamics. I think it's in general on the more intense side, although i do have some softer, slower works. A personal favorite of mine are the really sweet and sloppy ones - consensual somno and the like.

10. Do you write crossovers?

TGN, my beloved. My Dracula x IWTV crossover. Not really related to either Dracula or Interview with the Vampire, but i just wanted to put my 4 vamps (Jonathan, Drac, Louis and Lestat) like mentos into a carbonated soda bottle and shake them around real good, just to see what happens.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

Er. Yes. Was a whole deal. Sorted it out. Kinda. Hope it doesn't happen any longer.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

Not officially (see no. 11)

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

No, but I would be down for it! I do some beta reading for KINGBeerZ on ao3, both for his Dracula fics as well as currently an original work, which is fun and interesting, but i could totally see myself actually co-writing a fic with someone else if we had the same vision for the story.

14. What's your all-time favorite ship?

Forgive me, but yes, it is Harkula. Sorry not sorry. I like them messy, i like them problematic, and i am aware of it. Also i just like to see Jonathan properly dishevelled and out of breath.

15. What's a wip you want to finish, but don't think you ever will?

There has been one fic i pulled and have not looked at since. It was giving me trouble the second i posted it, made me have a mental break down and freak out. Didn't get much feedback on it the weeks after so i decided it wasn't worth the trouble. Probably wouldn't do it that way these days, but eh.

16. What are your writing strengths?

I feel like i am quite good with dialogue, quick snappy banter and teasing and the like. Maybe also the way i describe pain, body horror, etc.?

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

Grammar. I swear. As a non native speaker, it is always grammar for me.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic?

I either translate it right away, put it in italics, or leave it as it. Totally depends on what effect i want to achieve.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

With great shame i have to say that i started out on Wattpad. 15 year old me has discovered BBC's Sherlock and was unstoppable (well, at least until i switched to ao3 and nuked the wattpad account). On ao3 my first fic was DS, and the fandom Dracula (2020)

20. Favorite fic you've written?

Hard to say. I still love DS despite the typos and messy plot, and am currently obsessed with TGN. But there are so many others i am quite proud of.

Leaving a tag for @argyleheir as well as @chthonic-cassandra and anyone else who feels like it, but absolutely no pressure!

[chrystallink]

"stillness" and "texture" for DS, deco, black, curtis, tiger, luna, and ruby

stillness: How does your OC act while still? Are they fidgety? Do they have any common gestures or tics? Does their clothing affect how they hold themselves while at rest? texture: Does your OC favor any specific kinds of cloth or textures? Is there anything they can't wear or don't like? What sort of fabrics do they prefer? DS: While I don't think I can call him fidgety, he doesn't sit perfectly still for a long period time either. Still, he is very much the kind of guy who will lazily lounge, put his hands behind his head, put his feet up on a table, that kind of thing. Since technically his clothing have become digitized along with him, they don't really wrinkle or show wear, since it basically just repairs itself. Since gaunto have hard shells, DS isn't as sensitive to texture differences as say a human would be, so he'd be chill with most any fabric. It's the style and aesthetic he's more concerned about--which for him tends to be more dramatic cyberpunk type stuff. Deco: Deco doesn't usually sit down since she's so active, but her body language is pretty proper. But since she is basically an automaton now and made of metal that is a bit boxy, she tends to wear through clothes quicker than most. And that saddens her. ;w; Deco can't really feel textures anymore, but she's always been more partial to higher end fabrics like silk and muslin. plastic-based fabrics she tends to not be a fan of. Black: He's pretty used to sitting down for long periods of time for either gaming or editing videos, so his clothes probably get a bit wrinkled due to that. He doesn't usually bother with an iron either, so that's a norm for his outfits. I think Black would be fine with most fabrics, with the exception of fur (both real or fake). I think it would feel a bit weird to him to wear fur when he already HAS thick fur. Curtis: Due to tiredness from work, Curtis can for sure sit for a good long while if he felt he could afford to do so. But since he's up and about most of the time, he most likely wears through his pants pretty quickly and gets rips in the knees and such pretty often. He probably gets tshirt rips too occasionally. Curtis doesn't care about fabrics as long as it's something flexible and loose enough to move around comfortably in. Tiger: He has a tendency to slouch or lounge a lot. Though when he gets more agitated, he tends to pull at his sleeves or clothing in general. It really doesn't help the fact that he routinely rips his clothing due to using his powers, and his clothing catching on trees (or buildings). Tiger definitely has preferences in fabric texture--mainly tshirt type material or denim. He wouldn't mind fur from a jacket collar or hood either. He will not tolerate being put into clothes that feel stiff or restricting to him. Luna: From her background in high society, Luna sits very proper, and keeps her movements in general reserved. If she wasn't trying to survive outside, her clothing would actually be very well kept. Luna's had to get used to wearing any clothing she could get her hands on. But if she had a choice, she would like to have back the more luxurious fabrics she used to have. (silk, high quality cotton, furs, exct.) Ruby: She's another one that has a hard time sitting still. She's pretty expressive, so she'll be moving her hands and arms all over the place when talking, or propping her elbows up onto a table. She's probably ripped the elbows on some of her long sleeved shirts because of this.

While Ruby likes comfy clothes, she'll also put up with stuff that are less comfy if she thinks they look cool enough. Her transparent jacket for instance is more raincoat type material, but since she likes it a lot, she'll put up with wearing it.

[sketch-guardian]

what would the classmates do if MC got kidnapped by a lower demon? 👀👀 - Isa

I'm sorry for being so late in replying to this particular ask😥but I had a psychology exam the other day, so I took some time to rest🙈I hope to be able to respond adequately and to write interesting enough scenarios. In the meantime-

TRIGGER WARNINGS: kidnapping, violence, cannibalism(?) in Demya's part, torture(?) in Domnra's part, demonic possession(?) in Azul's part, suicide(?) in Zuri's part, dark past(?) in Odon's part

A/N: I'm not used to writing gory stuff, so this might not be the best,still if some of you are uncomfortable with such themes, please don't read-

WHAT WOULD THE RAD CLASSMATES DO IF MC GOT KIDNAPPED BY A LESSER DEMON?

DEMYA

...Let the hunt begin I guess-

Now, Demya is quite a possessive demon, so at first, at the news of MC's kidnapping, she would probably burst into tears, on the verge of having a panic attack. MC is one of the best things that has ever happened to Demya, so the idea of ​losing them and not having done enough to protect them causes her a lot of distress. Once the panic has passed, the rage would prevail, which would lead her to give in to her demonic instincts. Demya's senses are highly developed and her sense of smell is one of the best in Devildom, so it would take her relatively little to find MC and once she does, well...MC would hardly recognize Demya, used to seeing her usually acting all cute and smiley, however in that moment in front of the lesser demon, she would behave like a rabid animal. Not gonna lie, the fight between Demya and the demon kidnapper would end in a bloodbath and she would probably even proceed to... eat him alive, not out of hunger, but for revenge. Once Demya comes to her senses again, she would approach MC, both relieved but also scared of having traumatized her mate, considering her appearance would still be covered in blood. With MC's permission, Demya would hug them close, shivering and sobbing, thankful for getting there on time

DOMNRA (MOBIM)

Domnra, as one might expect, would be overwhelmed by blind rage, even if he wouldn't know who to address such fury to more precisely: the demon who kidnapped MC? Diavolo and the seven brothers for letting this happen? Or himself, for not being there during the crime to protect his partner? Mobim would be the voice of reason in such situation, to avert Domnra's outburst of anger, thus avoiding the destruction of RAD. Being the more emphatic and thoughtful of the two, Mobim would use the bond that binds it to Domnra to make him reflect and consider the real priority of the situation, MC. United by the common goal of saving them, the demon and his curse would use some kind of black magic to discover MC's location and once Domnra finds the lesser demon responsible for the kidnapping… his patience would run out. Now, Domnra's a sort of shadow demon and he can manipulate them at will, so he would use his skills to engulf the kidnapper in a pit of darkness, blinding them and breaking limb by limb over and over again, making sure, however, to leave them alive to make them pay and learn the lesson. The task of freeing and comforting MC during the torture would be up to Mobim and once reunited, the three of them would indulge in a tight hug

AZUL

Azul would have an unusual reaction to the news of MC's kidnapping, namely that of remaining quiet, with a blank expression on his face and someone might think that he doesn't care about what happened, but that's far from the truth and anyone who knows Azul well enough knows that such silence is a bad sign and only the calm before the storm...after all..who plans a murder out loud? Anyway, Azul has many contacts, not only with other lesser demons, but also with other creatures such as the little Ds, so it's likely that he would find MC's location through those. Once face to face with the kidnapper… the situation would take a turn for the worse. Not even MC in this case would be able to calm down Azul, not when his eyes, freckles and tattoos are a pitch black, that's a point of no return and it means that he has briefly lost his mind, moreover it isn't a form that he uses often, considering the last time he did was shortly after the Celestial War. Now, it might not seem, seen his almost angelic appearance, but Azul is still a demon and a rather sadistic one, so with his powers, he would proceed to take full control of the kidnapper's soul to crush it and deteriorate it to the point of tearing it apart, thus putting an end to their suffering. With the threat eliminated, his colors would turn a slightly duller purple, indicating fear, anxiety, and he would approach his lovely star, making sure they aren't injured and loudly expressing his relief at having found them safe and sound . Azul doesn't show it, but he would be quite shaken by the experience

ZURI

Zuri would be quite tense at the news of MC's kidnapping, but not too surprised, having foreseen the possibility of such an eventuality. After all there are demons in Devildom who would do anything to get to her, Diavolo or the seven brothers, to make them suffer or at least to collect a ransom, but the lesser demon in case hasn't counted well, because although Zuri hates similar inconveniences, she would personally act to put an end to this affront, showing how she has lost her old title of purest angel of the Celestial Realm. To find MC, Zuri would investigate the place of the abduction and track down a trail of residual magic left by the demon kidnapper in question, enough for her to use it to sense where their location is. First of all, once arrived at the place where MC is held hostage, Zuri would observe their conditions, judging whether or not it is the case to heal them with her own magic, only then she would bring her attention to the kidnapper, who would quickly enough be pinned to the ground by Zuri, with a heel pressed against their throat, enough to make it hard to breath...such a cowardly action must be punished after all and she would have no problem putting the lesser demon in their place, in the dirt where they belong, with how patethic they are. Zuri would hold their face with one hand, ignoring her claws slitting their cheeks with red marks and making sure they stare right in her eyes, before ordering with her powers to go and turn themselves in and not be seen again, inside the dungeons of the demon lord's castle, a death sentence basically. Once the rescue is over, Zuri would bring her beloved into an embrace with a shaking sigh, while making them promise to be more careful and to bring protection next time, if not from her, at least from the seven brothers

ODON

It's basically impossible for this to happen-

Normally, one or more eye-like creatures guard MC, even without their knowledge, because they care about their safety and do not want anything to happen to the human. Moreover they usually float around many areas in Devildom too, so if an abduction were to happen, they'd be the first to know and obviously they would step in, making the lesser demon run away, but for the sake of the scenario, let's pretend they weren't present that day. In that case, Odon would be surprised that someone was brave enough to kidnap MC, considering the reputation that precedes them for centuries and had it been other times, when Odon was younger, the situation might as well have ended in genocide… but Odon has changed, they've matured and they aren't what they used to be, however…some habits die hard, so…they'd make sure to act on them. Finding MC would be quite simple, the eye-like creatures would have no problem discovering their location, the only difference with the other RAD classmates would be that Odon wouldn't confront MC right away, in fact they would probably even be unaware of Odon's arrival at first, only noticing the lesser demon going outside to check out of where MC is being held captive, having sensed something off going on. MC'd hear a little commotion and then a bloodcurdling scream, before a grave silence falls, enough to cause shivers, as if the temperature dropped drastically. Eventually Odon would show themselves to their dear friend MC, freeing them and smiling softly, giving them their green wool poncho as a blanket, asking if they are all right. Odon's presence would sooth and distract MC, however what happened to the demon kidnapper, since there is no trace of them left, as if they never existed, is unknown