#i have managed to fuse the aesthetics

[givemeabite]

Spent most of my January in hibernation, resting and enjoying some of lifes simple pleasures like the South African summer, new bedding, fresh fruit and lots of tea and coffee. In spite of everything going on in the world, I'm grateful. It was a good month.

[nottswitch]

Hi babe!! 💞

Congrats on 1k you deserve it!!!

can i get 1 pls?

hi baby!! thank you sm, and thanks for sending a request 💘 i kinda hoped that this aesthetic would come up for theo bc i really wanted to use this pic, and yay! it did! your aesthetic is…

— glowwave

(surrounding the theme of things that glow in the dark or with assistance from a UV light or with the glow of neon lights and bright, neon colors)

» navigation ; masterlist ; theo m.list ; how to request ; 1k celebration

18+ smut

the booming beats coming from the party were filling the (almost) empty bathroom, making the floor beneath your feet vibrate. not for long, though – in a second, you were lifted up onto the sink, the cold porcelain edge digging into the back of your thighs. you didn’t really notice, though – your mind was preoccupied with your ex’s mouth devouring your own.

theo’s hands wandered all over your body, shamelessly sneaking underneath your tank top to palm your tits as his lips moved down to your jawline and the side of your neck. the feeling of his teeth sinking into your flesh made you moan softly into his ear, pulling on his hair to have a look at his face. the purple fluorescent light inside the bathroom made him look like some otherworldly creature, an alien who always managed to take you to another dimension, to a new planet completely of his own.

"missed me, cara mia?" theo murmured against your lips, a faint smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. you already knew the answer – it was the same shit every time: you’d convince yourself that you didn’t need him, that you were way better off without him, that you just weren’t meant to be. but…

"fuck- yes!"

the words were practically coaxed out of you by theo’s fingers harshly shoved deep inside your treacherously dripping pussy, making you desperately grab his shoulders for support and moan in a lewd, pornographic way into the air.

theo’s face was now adorned with an even wider, cockier smirk as his ‘fuck me’ (or, in this case, ‘fuck you’) eyes studied your blissed out expression intensely, catching every single twitch of your mouth, every single wrinkle creasing between your furrowed eyebrows. the wet, squelching sounds of your arousal mixed with the beats of some annoying techno sound rang through your positively empty brain, filled with cum, cum, theo, cum, theo-

a gasp broke out of your lips when you felt his hand cupping your jaw, fingers digging into your cheeks, firmly pressing the soft flesh against your teeth.

"what’s going on in that pretty little head, hm?" theo cooed, his voice clearly mocking. you wanted to reply, but the addition of a third finger shut you up instantly, a moan serving as a perfect reminder of your already fucked out state. "ah, piccolina, you never change."

theo chuckled and let go of your face, moving his hand to wrap around your throat instead. his lips hovered just above your parted, glistening ones. his eyebrow went up when he saw your eyes rolling to the back of your head again as his fingers curled inside you one more time.

"words, cara mia. use your words," theo hissed, tightening his hold on your throat to remind you who was in charge of the whole ordeal – although, there were never any doubts.

"cum, theo, cum," you mumbled, your voice way more high-pitched than usual, like a broken music box playing the same melody over and over again. his eyes drifted from your face to the place where his fingers were currently fucking your coherency away. the smirk was fused to his lips at that point, encouraged by drops of wetness bouncing off your inner thighs with each thrust of his.

"cum, bambina, scream my name. i want every single person in this fucking party to know you’re still hopelessly mine."

playlist

❥ e.t. by katy perry

❥ unfold by alina baraz & galimatias

❥ so sad so sexy by lykke li

❥ colors by halsey

❥ dancer in the dark by chase atlantic

[valentine-cafe]

˖⁺. ﹙ the villain harpy sculptor. ﹚: nadia armetta stenskjold 9948e.𖹭 ݁

. . . our destiny, carved in marble !! 🍒 : “ dolcezza. come closer won’t you? i am eager to study you a bit longer, you’d make such lovely statue ”  

꒰ verse ꒱ 9948e

꒰ species ꒱ enigma : horned owl humanoid

꒰ ethnicity ꒱ danish italian

꒰ age ꒱ speculated to be in her early 60s

꒰ gender ꒱ female

꒰ mbti ꒱ esfp

꒰ alias ꒱ marbled owl ( villain alias ), mrs. armetta, lady stoneshield, madame hoot ( derogatory by zhào yŭ xī )

꒰ story ꒱ 

delving deep into the city of elritea, a famed sculptor, noblewoman and unbeknownst to the public an infamous villain, nadia armetta stenskjold builds statues for politicians, commonfolk and aesthetic decorative purposes. with a bittered melancholic heart she hides her resentment with kindered and gentle facades.

with good reputation as an artist, she manages to get around to big faces throughout city, that she can easily pull a few strings at with her cunning deeds during the hours of villainy when they strike.

 her owl screech haunts the night streets. searching for the faces of her enemies to paint the concrete streets red with.

though misdeeds aside, she spends most of her days sculpting. a passion she has always had.

 

꒰ appearance ꒱

nadia has lightly tanned skin. freckled around her collarbones and forearms

her eyes are deep brown, spotted with small specks of green around each iris.

her hair is a mid-length dark brown bob, often tied up in a small bun to keep it away from her face when she’s working.

often wears retro styled outfits as a statement aesthetic, though she can at times also switch to the rich wine aunt aesthetic.

5’9” ft, with a curvy pear shaped build, with strong muscles usually hidden by her choice of outfits

soft makeup looks, with a dark red lipstick.

has a beautyspot on her right shoulder, where a few feathers surround, looking more golden brown in contrast to the rest of her dark brown feathers

her face is compromised of mostly soft features, yet her cheekbones have sharper edges to them

has a pair of standard lobe piercings, usually wears obsidian dangle earrings

wears lots of golden jewellery. thin necklaces and bracelets, one bracelet and necklace holding the ashes of her daughter.

long, talon like nails, that have an ombre dark brown to beige colour.

feathers decorate her back, along with the back of her shoulders.

has a pair of large wings hidden away most of the time.

 

꒰ personality ꒱

nadia is a rather softspoken individual, not one to raise her voice unless necessary. it is also much harder to get through to people’s trust with a loud mouth, in her opinion.

a charming and charismatic individual, catching the attention of many for her seemingly benevolent nature.

persuasive and cunning. she likes having her connections, and so, she has taught herself throughout her life how to get them with no problems coming in the way.

a kind soul to most, though quickly twisted to spiteful and malignant should you get on her wrong side.

artistic in nature and with a knack for details. from big to small. she’s well known for her quick work around both

honest, sometimes to the extent where it becomes brutal honesty spouting from her.

quite the confident sorts, none can put it down. she’s not annoyingly confident, but she knows her worth.

She’s calm, not one to lose her patience to anger. though that’s not to say her fuse can’t be pulled. certain topics may make her blow into a rage

calculative and deceitful. she’s planning her next move at every possible moment, though intentionally make people think she has no clue what is going on.

She’s a clever and witty individual. Knowledgable.

stubborn and dominating at times. sometimes someone needs to help her calm down the stubborness before it spirals. her dominating demeanor can also sometimes take over too much. it comes from a place of her extreme independence

melancholic. though it is often hidden by her facade of a calm and cheery personality.

manipulative and sadistic. she does enjoy to watch her enemies fall and writhe in pain. her greatest achievement is to make even the strongest of heroes of elritea scream in pain, on a brink.

 

꒰ with a lover ꒱

she absolutely loves to dance around with you. especially at her workshop. she initiates little waltzes with you around her various sculptures

rambles to you about the history of sculpting. it is all done endearingly, sculpting you as she tells you of some of the first statues and head busts ever made to the newest. she also showcases a lot of her own to you

makes lots of beautiful trinkets for you. especially cups, plates and so on. anything that she thinks you would make use of. she leaves these around for you to find

very protective, bordering to overprotective. she’s lost enough, she’s not losing more. expect to be shielded by her wings a lot. she may get a bit paranoid when it comes to you

adores taking you out on flights. especially during the night where the both of you can admire the midnight sky and moon. wherever you’d like to travel, she’ll take you.

enjoys dinner dates with you, whether it is out or at home. she thinks that they are pleasant and cute. if at home, she enjoys cooking the meal with you

her love language to you is her art, along with subtle touches and acts of service. if she’s not making you her muse, then she is around you doing whatever she can to make your like more comfortable.

wakes you up during midnight to go for short walks to talk - depending on your mood of course. it’s typically when she is back from a full few days of work and needs you company.

likes to experiment outfits with you, testing out jewellery and new clothes. she enjoys finding outfits that compliment each other.

spoils you rotten, buys you anything you want ( unless she deems it’ll come to harm you ). it’s a way of showing her gratitude for you.

loves it when you visit her at work, and therefore she always visits you for a nice cheer-up when she can sense that you need it

likes to count freckles, beauty spots, moles, on you, anything where she can quickly tap her fingers on and familiars herself with.

 

꒰ strengths ꒱

claw retraction: the ability to retract and draw claws

inaudibile flight & inaudibility: when nadia flies, you can’t hear her, now the flaps of her wings. even moving around normally, you hear nothing. unless she’s working on her statues

enhanced senses

camouflage

darkness adaptation: she can adapt to darkness quickly, seeing, moving around, etc.

can and will use her sculpting tools during fights. and she uses them well.

high poison tolerance: she built her poison tolerance throughout the years after learning how quick it can kill her targets. and to prevent being affected by the poisons herself, she began building the tolerance.

quiet assasination: the feathers of her wings and her suit all have small knives hidden within them. laced with deadly poisons to kill enemies quicker and quieter

enhanced speed: quicker than most, with her quiet feet, you won’t hear when she comes for you. so keep your eyes open

owl screech: is able to produce incredibly high pitched screeches that may damage hearing of oppontment or strike fear into them

 

꒰ weaknesses ꒱

wings and water: although she can swim, it becomes ever so difficult for her to fly when her wings are submerged in water.

voice strains: her screeches may at times become straining on her voice, preventing her from speaking loudly and clearly. thus is the result of her softspokenness as well.

sensitive hearing and sight

if damaged, her wings can take a while to heal.

 

꒰ relationships ꒱

laelia armetta: daughter, deceased

yuè mèng yáo: nemisis

zhào yŭ xī: enemy

the zhào family: holds a great dislike to them all

xu yingtai: absolutely cannot stand him, enemy

 

꒰ extra ꒱

she lives in an old family manor. the halls empty and barren of people.

she has an owl, named adelina

midnight walks are an important part of her nights. it is when her inspiration is flowing the most

enjoys making wine out of the grapes from her vineyard

[duhragonball]

Dragon Ball Super Manga ch.97-99

Cell Max is running wild, but don't worry, because Goten and Trunks are here to pad the story give Piccolo and Gohan a breather.

To be fair, the boys do a little better once they turn Super Saiyan, which kind of begs the question of why they didn't just turn Super Saiyan from the start. This page's sole purpose is to have the Gammas notice their "resemblance" to Saiyaman X-1 and X-2. This would be annoying enough even if they did look alike, but they don't. Look at them! Trunks and Goten have tights and some sort of Stormtrooper midriff thing going on. The Gammas are wearing jodhpurs and bellhop jackets. And Goten and Trunks' color schemes are clearly reversed from one to the other. The Gammas match perfectly except for their red and blue capes.

The only real similarities here are the numbers on their costumes, and the fact that there are two of them. Oh, and Gamma 1 has a red cape, and Goten has a red cape. Eerie! What are the odds of two superheroes having red capes? You almost never see that. I mean, there's Superman, Thor, Great Saiyaman, Dr. Strange, Spawn, Great Saiyaman 2, the Scarlet Witch, Supergirl, Great Saiyaman 3, Power Girl, Steel, but other than those characters, I can't think of anyone else!

Then they all pose together and attack Cell Max in concert. It looks impressive, but their quadruple-team fails to do any damage. The Gammas acknowledge that Cell Max is still getting used to moving around in his body, so he's not fighting as effectively as he will be later in the story. So that's why Goten and Trunks can do this well without actually hurting their opponent. And that's fair.

What doesn't make a lot of sense is the Gammas' role in this part of the battle. Of everyone involved in this battle, they alone understand the danger Cell Max poses to the world, because Dr. Hedo told them about Max's powers. That's why they went in first when Cell Max first emerged. They knew they had to shut him down as quickly as possible. And they're not rusty like Goten and Trunks, or unfamiliar with their bodies like Cell Max. If there's a window of opportunity here for Goten and Trunks to fight Cell Max without looking outclassed, then you'd think the Gammas would use this chance to target Max's head and finish him off.

Of course, they can't actually do that, since that's not what happened in the movie, but that's the problem I have with all of this. Toyotaro keeps shoehorning Goten and Trunks into this story, and their scenes tend to interfere with the plot instead of adding to it. The Gammas have a cool gimmick and aesthetic with the super hero thing. It works. They don't need two more characters aping that look right beside them. At best it's redundant, and at worst it just cramps their style. It'd be like if Frieza had a teen sidekick following him around repeating everything he says. It would kill his whole vibe.

Okay, so once Goten and Trunks fuse into Gotenks, the battle plays out mostly like it did in the movie, but there's one part that got changed up and it caused some controversy in the fandom. Remember how Pan almost got killed, and Krillin called out to her and told her to fly, and then she managed to fly for the first time?

So in the manga, Pan has the same moment, except she doesn't take flight. Instead...

In this version, Krillin just flies over and grabs her. And that makes sense. Why would he just assume she can fly on her own? Why not just zip over and get her? However, this kills the character arc Pan had in the movie. She started the film wishing she could do more advanced training, but Piccolo won't let her because she can't fly yet. Then in this scene, she does fly, and when the movie ends she shows Piccolo and he proudly agrees to start giving her the advanced lessons.

Fans didn't like this version, because Toyotaro appeared to be saying "no" to something the fans enjoyed in the movie. Krillin doesn't need a hero moment in this scene because he gets a couple of hero moments when he helps fight Cell Max. He saves 18 and distracts Cell Max with a solar flare. Krillin's fine. So it sure looks like Toyotaro just scrapped Pan's big moment for no discernible reason. This happened in Chapter 97.

Hey, check out this cool shot of Orange Piccolo fighting Cell Max.

Right, back to what I was saying.

So in Chapter 98, Toyotaro redeems himself by having Pan fly for the first time, just in a later part of the battle. When Big Orange Piccolo gives the last senzu bean to Gohan in the movie, Gohan just eats it and that's it. But in the manga, Cell Max attacks Piccolo and knocks it out of his hand. No one can catch it, until Pan goes after it and follows it over a ledge. Gohan's worried, but then it turns out she can fly now so she was never in danger, and she gets to help him this way.

Is it better than the movie? I can see a case for this version, but one thing that bugs me is that it seems a bit contrived for Pan to notice the senzu bean and be able to follow it through the air the way she did. I believe she could and would catch it for her dad. That's fine. But I'm not sure she would understand the need from where she was sitting in Bulma's aircraft.

For that matter, I don't know that it makes sense for Pan to understand what a senzu bean is, or why Gohan would need one so badly. Someone might have explained it to her at some point, but Pan's only three years old. I wouldn't expect her to know everything about everything.

Anyway, it goes to show how much can change from one chapter to another. People were mad about Chapter 97, but only because they didn't have 98 right there in front of them to show them it wasn't that big a deal. This is one major reason why I don't like to read the manga as it publishes.

From here, well, I think I'm just down to cool shots of the fight with Cell Max.

I don't think much is different here, but the art is cool, and this is one of my favorite parts of the movie.

I think this is a manga-only bit. Cell Max works over Piccolo with ki blasts, and it looks like Piccolo blows up, which triggers Gohan's Beast form, but then later it turns out Gamma 1 was protecting Piccolo with his force field, which allowed him to withstand the blast.

Also, when Cell Max tries to use his wings to escape the attack Gohan has planned, Toyotaro has Gamma 1, Krillin, and 18 cut off his wings. Not sure we needed this, but sure, it gives those characters one more chance to shine.

And then Piccolo holds Cell Max down and pleads with Gohan to take the shot, and that's the end of chapter 99.

And that gets me all caught up. Now I just have to wait for Chapter 100, which is supposed to drop on December 20. Hopefully, it'll wrap up the Super Hero adaptation, but I wouldn't put it past Toyotaro to drag this thing out another three chapters with some sort of press conference featuring Sergeant Nutz, Saiyaman X-1 and X-2, and Cleangod.

There's been talk of a big surprise twist or something in chapter 100, but I'm not holding my breath. Usually when this franchise has a big announcement, it's about the date for some actual announcement later, and that announcement usually turns out to be something the fans kind of already heard about anyway. "Yes, we will be releasing a Chapter 101" is the sort of thing I would expect them to "announce" in chapter 100.

It would be cool if Chapter 100 ended with Black Frieza showing up and killing Vegeta or something major like that. Or, I don't know, maybe Goten and Trunks turn evil. Those would be shocking developments, but I doubt this manga would go that far. We'll just have to see...

[simplyaskfellowplural]

Hii! I don't know if someone has asked this yet but could there be guides/inspo for a SimplyPlural member Custom Field informations?

Simply Plural App Guide 3:

"What are inspiration and ideas for Simply Plural custom fields?"

Created and written by <3 (She/Her) + 💛 (She/They)

Minor Content/Trigger Warning!: There is a mention of Fusion and Dormancy in this!

Simply Plural allows for so many different areas of customization and levels of view ability, one of those being custom fields!

Custom fields are the fields in the "info" section of each and every member profile! To access the customization you click the three horizontal lines anywhere on any page at the top left, press the cog / settings button, press "Account" then it should be in the top half labeled clearly "Custom Fields".

If you've never accessed this before, it will have default pre-set fields available, but if you want to start fresh and need ideas? Look no further than here!

So with a few previous questions, we linked an Imgur group, and that'll be the same here! Here, you can find some ideas to use for custom fields that might be helpful! But besides that, some general guidance on how to make custom fields work for you and your system or generally whatever you intend to use it for!: (That was a quick reminder that Simply Plural according to the developers has stated the app can be used for anything legal!)

What information is helpful for what you need? In the case of systemhood, what basic subjects do you think would help to know for your system?

Do you think you want to make your custom fields in some ways aesthetically pleasing? If so possibly a color border or a text border made for the title for a color border could be pleasing! (Shown below)

What privacy settings do you mainly need? Are there certain areas only needed for your system only, or can everyone who's friends with you know that information?

How much time do you have to dedicate to updating information? Can you manage several 100s of members + 100s of fields of information? Or are you more comfortable at 100s of members + 5 simple fields of information?

Try not to feel peer pressure by other System's field information, always check in and recognize what works, not what looks good. Big one for us!

Possibly create a temporary or non-temporary puppet friend account specifically to test out how you can see certain settings and information with different profiles! Scared someone's information is viewable? Use the puppet account and test it!

Think about how often you might be editing specific headmates custom fields, and how much they'll be editing their own. Try to actively communicate in the way that's possible and see what information would be crucial for every headmate to have available for their profile.

Now! For us, here's some examples of how we personally organize our custom fields!

We have a field called "Contributors 🤝", This field is meant to help us know when a profile was last updated and by who. Primarily we put our name or emoji down, and the date of when we updated the profile information.

The next field is called "Formed, Fusion(s), Dormancies", this is Meant to help figure out when someone formed from just their profile, if they fused, the times they went dormant.

Afterwards we have a category, "System Related Information", technically split up for privacy purposes.

Below is an example

Above, the two fields with the globe icon are shown to only public friends, then the two below are shown to old trusted friends. If the trusted friends info was filled out, no public friends would be aware. And it helps separate a title of what someone does internally to how they'd describe more personal things.

After these fields, we have notes fields. Mainly meant to be a public version of actual profile notes. We have one set of notes 100% public, then 2 labeled "Notes from system" and "Notes from friends". The notes from friends is a field for us personally as we have had situations where we've had to ask friends to log in and change information for us, and they left little notes for headmates in our system :>.

Then the last part is personalized. We have fields ranging from links, to playlists, to MBTI & personality Tests results. They're meant for the person to feel free to customize their profile in some way with different areas.

Those are the main areas for our custom fields!

We apologize this took a minute to get done! We're probably going to be reupdating our cover/pinned post to be more structured, and it took a while to focus fully on getting the most responsive tips for this guide out! If anyone has additional information and tips they'd like to add to this guide, or you'd like to request more specific information from this, feel free to interact!

For other Guides for Plural Apps / Websites / Resources, check out our List!

[realmbred]

oscar  isaac,  pansexual,  cis  male  +  he/him  →  isn’t  that  elenorius  draknor?  i’ve  seen  them  wearing  the  crest  of  vissai.  i  hear  they’re  45  [  118  ],  but  they’re  also  a  high  priest.  they’ve  risen  up  the  ranks  to  become  a  high  priest.  they  seem  to  be  focused  &  professional,  but  also  defensive  &  a  perfectionist.  if  you  look  closely,  you’ll  see  their  aesthetics  include  white  robes  adorned  with  gold  designs,  candles  lit  in  dark  spaces  radiating  plenty  of  warmth,  paper  cuts  around  all  of  his  fingers  from  hours  of  reading. 

main  page  is  here,  but  it's  also  below  the  cut  for  a  mobile  friendly  version  !

name:  elenorius  draknor.  age,  date  of  birth:  118  (  appears  45  ),  august  14th  181  AD.  gender  &  pronouns:  cis  male  &  he  /  him.  social  class:  came  from  the  upper  class,  but  has  since  then  removed  himself  from  that  type  of  listing.  allegiance:  first  &  foremost  is  tied  to  the  old  spirits,  secondly  his  kingdom.  outside  of  that,  he  falls  neutral.  civil  status:  single.  occupation:  high  priest.  kingdom  &  house  sigil:  vissai  &  6  arms  with  an  orb  in  the  center.  faceclaim:  oscar  isaac.  religion:  the  old  religion  (  the  old  gods  /  spirits  ).  family:  parents  are  deceased,  a  couple  of  siblings,  and  some  children.  sexual  position:  top.    

physique:  5’9  ft  /  175.26  cm.  brown  eyes.  hair  length  varies  depending  on  how  much  time  he  has  to  take  care  of  himself,  but  it’s  dark  brown  almost  looking  like  black  in  some  cases.  he  has  a  burn  mark  on  his  left  arm,  with  years  of  healing  it’s  barely  noticeable  anymore.  nice  build.  not  as  strong  or  toned  as  a  warrior,  but  he  has  thick  thighs  from  all  of  the  walking  he  has  done  through  the  decades.  a  couple  of  birthmarks  here  and  there  as  well,  mainly  on  his  arms.

psychology:  oftentimes,  it  can  seem  like  nothing  gets  to  him,  but  this  is  far  from  the  truth.  he  just  has  a  good  way  to  navigate  &  regulate  his  own  emotions.  there  are  some  things  he’s  fearful  of,  like  kingdoms  banding  together  to  attack  vissai,  not  being  a  good  educator  to  the  next  wave  of  seers,  sorcerers,  &  witchers,  and  losing  someone  he  loves.  tries  hard  to  take  care  of  himself  so  that  he  won’t  have  to  manage  stress,  but  it’s  noticeable  when  it’s  too  much.

abilities:  dark  magic/necromancy,  magic,  divination,  longevity,  resiliency. 

biography:  the  eldest  born  in  the  draknor  line  (at  least  at  that  time),  his  birth  was  something  to  be  celebrated.  his  father  was  a  witcher.  someone  that  gave  up  the  magic  that  fused  through  his  veins  to  hunt  monsters  that  threatened  the  kingdom.  his  mother  was  a  powerful  sorcerer,  mainly  dealing  in  defense  magic  and  setting  up  wards.  they  had  a  strong  standing  amongst  the  others.  everyone  knew  who  their  family  was,  especially  as  they  grew  in  numbers  when  his  younger  siblings  were  born. 

if  anyone  would  have  been  looking  into  his  magical  abilities  at  a  young  age,  they  would  have  been  pretty  bored.  he  didn’t  get  his  first  vision  until  he  was  18,  something  that  could  have  helped  the  royal  family  at  the  time.  after  that,  his  family  labeled  him  as  a  seer  and  called  it  a  day.  yet  more  magic  sparked  within  him  and  he  shot  up  as  if  it  was  a  second  puberty.  sadly,  it  was  a  bit  more  destructive  at  first.  causing  fires  when  trying  to  help  someone  stay  warm.  it  took  a  lot  of  training  to  get  to  where  he  is  now. 

his  father  was  still  around  by  this  time  and  he  was  the  one  that  told  him  about  the  bloodline  they  descended  from,  one  of  powerful  magic.  even  though  they  thought  it  was  going  to  skip  a  generation,  it  was  clear  now  that  he  was  powerful.  elenorius  began  to  manifest  other  forms  of  magic.  the  easiest  types  for  him  to  control  at  first  were  animal  and  elemental,  especially  fire.  the  hardest  types  to  get  a  handle  on  were  darkness  and  healing.  simply  because  he  just  wasn’t  focused  that  much  on  them.

forty  years  ago,  he  proved  his  real  strength  when  he  helped  out  in  a  neighboring  world.  that’s  also  when  he  decided  to  say  to  hell  with  his  social  class.  there  were  plenty  of  other  relatives  that  didn’t  have  much  to  live  for  in  a  magical  sense  and  deserved  all  of  the  earthly  pleasure.  he  has  plenty  of  nieces  and  nephews  that  still  connect  him  to  his  siblings  (at  least  those  that  have  passed)  and  he  loves  every  moment  of  it.  although,  his  duty  is  mainly  to  his  magic  now.

that  sacrifice  to  the  earthly  pleasures  is  what  raised  him  up  to  the  ranks  of  a  high  priest.  he  connected  more  and  more  to  those  that  came  before  him  and  the  ancestors  continued  to  bless  him  with  magic.  while  he’s  sired  a  couple  of  children  throughout  the  century,  he  hasn’t  been  the  most  hands  on  father  at  times.  duty  and  magic  can  be  quite  addicting  when  you’re  not  careful  enough.  especially  when  he  would  rather  live  out  in  nature  rather  than  the  lavish  home  that’s  been  passed  down  generation  after  generation.

[wifegideonnav]

Okay, so I get that I think Tamsyn has said that while you can draw some clear parallels (Gideon is Female Dave, Harrow is Rose, Ianthe is Vriska), obviously Homestuck and TLT aren't one to one, in the same way that the two other big Would Not Exist Without Homestuck pieces of media, Kill Six Billion Demons and Undertale/Deltarune aren't one to one with it either. That being said. I would like to submit. Isaac is Tavros.

😭 that's so mean. to isaac. wtf.

i don't really see it but let me counter with:

babs is the tavros. obviously i've posted before about how his personality/aesthetic is similar to cronus ampora, but if you think about his relationship with ianthe, i feel like there's definitely some similarities to tavros and vriska.

now ianthe "being a vriska" is something i have a LOT of thoughts about, which i will. probably write out at some point. mainly, while they share surface level plot points and arm deficits, their motivations are very different. i've been holding off tho bc there's a lot we still don't know abt ianthe's motivations while the series is still unfinished. but in general, vriska is a child who has no idea what she's doing and just wants to be safe (although she thinks she wants to be important - and she does, but because she thinks that if she matters enough, she'll stop being vulnerable, both emotionally and physically), whereas ianthe clearly has some actual irons in the fire. (given what little we know about the tridentarii's parents and childhood, i could 100% see ianthe trying to protect herself in a similar way, but we just don't know enough to be sure.)

but to compare babs and tavros:

both the "some guy" wedged in between some very toxically codependent girlies

both killed (run through) with their own weapon by their counterpart in a mysterious facility during a very tense afternoon

you can't tell me that if it was relevant, vriska wouldn't be happy to chew on tavros (use his body for what she's trying to do)

both an intimate part of their counterpart's ascension, in opposite ways

that last point is the most interesting to me, because vriska's ascension involved her own death and ianthe's ascension involved babs's. vriska begged tavros to kill her, and he would not, leaving her to die alone and in pain, whereas ianthe had no qualms about killing babs. as we learn in the unwanted guest, babs's soul has had an effect on ianthe's - they are fusing, in a sense. compare that to the very brief existence of tavrissprite, whose constituent parts could not reconcile and merge. in the end, vriska has always been both obsessed and disgusted with tavros because the world has allowed him to be soft, and kind, and nonviolent - all things that she was never given the chance to be. whereas for ianthe and babs, they have always been fighting side by side, concealing corona's secret and managing third house high society.

so essentially, babs is a tavros who has been strong and active enough to both protect and support his counterpart. while ianthe killed babs because she needed power for whatever she has planned, and she is always going to prioritize coronabeth over anything and anyone else, she had no real beef with him and saw him as, if not an ally, then at least a means to an end whom she didn't mind being bitchy with in the meantime. meanwhile vriska killed tavros not out of necessity or duress, but because he had betrayed and abandoned her at her moment of greatest need and vulnerability, and then decided to be her enemy.

to be honest you didn't ask for any of this longass response lol but to be honester its my blog and i get to rant about vriska if i want 😌 i'd be interested to hear your case for why isaac reminds you of tavros tho! bc i seriously do not see it at this point lmao

[yanderefairyangel]

Engage, 3 Houses and the "aesthetic of deep"

Alright, so this post will be comparing the uncomparable in order to make a point about how this fandom can easily be fooled by appearances and first impressions

So recently on TwittX I made a post asking

for context I made this after someone told me about the story establishing that Sombron raised Zephia....(no comment) and I got some interesting answers

Basically saying that the reason why people managed to misunderstand some plot point if not the entire story it was because "Engage had a "too simple" aesthetic opposed to 3H's "too complex" aesthetic".

For example, I received one answer saying this

I'll spare you the big details of this conversation but I choose this quote cause it was what stuck me the most. Alright, let's sum up what happened in the begining of 3H and Engage ok ?

3H : dream of Rhea/Seiros killing Nemesis, you chose you Avatar after talking with Sothie, you meet the Lords who need to defeat a bandit named Kostas, you get nearly killed, Sothie save you and give you the power to rewind time, you do it, you save the kids, they immediately tell you they want to hire you, you go to Garrech March and get hired as a teacher and got to choose one class. By 3 chapters, all you do is essentially mission and at some points, Jeratl dies, you fused with Sothie to escape a trap set by Solon and the war begins in chapter 11-12 where Eddie declares war.

Engage : you make a dream that will be explained by a time loop in chapter 24 where you fight the final boss and that you save the world. You wake up surrounded by Stewards telling you you are a dragon revered as a deity, you encounter monster, you try to run away but have to save the twins who risked their life to help you escape, Marth lend you a hand, you beat them and as more appears, your mother arrives to help you. She takes you to the castle where she explains to you that the Dragon that tried to destroy the world might have awoken and that you have to prepare yourself. You train. You go sleep and boom, people attack by surprise and steal the rings, killed your mother and you end up with the fate of the whole world relying on your shoulder when you are amnesiac, woke up from coma and just lost your mother that you didn't even had the time to properly mourn. By the time of chapter 10, the stakes were already established : Alear as the fate of an entire world on their shoulder, they are aware of it, they lost their mother, are amnesiac, weak and dependant. Byleth on the other hand has a new job and have to choose a class. Which one has bigger stakes ? Well according to the one who made the comment, it's 3H

"saving the world is pretty boring to me now".

Somehow, fans will find the premise of saving the world boring compared to choosing your class.

And reading more of the OP's answer made it clear why he thinks like that. It's all because of the aesthetic.

3H has the aesthetic of deep. Engage has the aesthetic of something that is just "silly" or simple.

This means that 3H, no matter what it does will be seen as having a deep story because it has the looks of it. And that Engage, no matter what it does, will be seen as no more then what it present on first glance because it doesn't have the "aesthetic of deep".

3H looks more mature from a art direction point of view, it has darker colors and strives to be an adult war chronicle

Engage has a more colorful artstyle that is perceived as childish because "anime" and strives to be a tradtional hero saves the world journey.

One sounds more complex with the several route, the other too simple. So, as a result, the fans never tries to go look beyond that.

They won't question 3H's depth or Engage's simplicity. And it is a problem.

The two are not comparable because of those precisely very different aesthetic but 3H's story makes it even more of an outlier as every story as always been like Engage's about a hero's journey. The devs said as much in the Engage interview. The only difference is that Engage never tries to wear the political make up that some game could use : FE 1/11/3/12 ? Marth's adventures. FE2/15 : Alm and Celica (mostly Alm's) adventures. FE 4 ? In reality, it's about Sigurd and then Seliph's struggling to save the world. FE5 ? Leif's journey. FE 6 ? Roy's. FE7 ? Eliwood's and his friends. FE 8 ? The Renais twins's. The Tellius game ? About Ike and then Micaiah's journey. Awakening ? About Chrom, Lucina and Robin's journey. Fates ? Corrin's journey.

3H is the only game that actually tries to deal with the war in a way that is not a make up, but even that is not true when Edelgard and Dimitri's route are about their journey in growing as a person.

Engage is following the pattern here. Thus 3H, no matter how light the stakes are (choosing a class) will always seems deeper and higher then the one set by Engage, because saving the world has become such a common scenario people don't even question the gravity of it anymore. This aesthetic of simplicity that Engage is considered to have make it impossible for them to actually pause and try to consider what it feels to be in Alear's shoes : to be amnesiac, having woke from coma, knowing nothing from the world, being scared by everything, being unable to manage the fights without exterior aid and having lost your mother. And it's not even thinking about the implications of this scene once you know about the whole story, that makes this begining a lot more darker.

If you put your shoes in Byleth's... you don't even know what consequences you choice will have because you just choose your class based on which one appealed to you the most. That"s all. The divorce between the player and the self insert couldn't be higher cause no matter how much foreshadowing 3H has when it comes to this decision.... nothing changes the fact that Byleth will never knew nor expect the consequences of their action, which makes the stakes rather flat in contrast to Engage's where you are facing someone who is mourning and has to safe the world, a 17 year old who just woke up and will have to mature up quickly to become a hero. Really, which stakes are higher when you look deeper into it ?

And that's not getting into how replaying changes the perception of most of Engage's first moment. Chapter 2 was at first a very light hearted chapter, but when you realize it was written to parallel with chapter 25, what it represent to Lumera and Alear, the evolution... all of this elevate a fun chapter 2 into a tragic bounding between mother and child making the light hearted of this moment shines even brighter, cause you know that you will lose Lumera, that Alear will lose their mother even though they don't know yet that it was their very first time in being family with Lumera and the tragedy repeats each time you replay.

In 3H, this doesn't exist. Take for example the one moment that happens at least thrice ; the battle between the three lords. It happens in the first chapter of White Clouds, the chapter 7 and... in one of the chapter of AM. So basically, you have all those infor about the Battle of the Lion and the Eagle and for some reason this chapter doesn't exist in CF and SS ? And unlike in Engage where the response to Lumera's death from Alear was very different and meant to showcase their developpement... the reaction from your students remains the same in chapter 1 and 7. So... no progression. Byleth will smile but ... that's it. Just that. And I know, they don't emote often but ... that's just it. This doesn't help when this reaction doesn't really matter in route that don't have the chapter supposed to parallel with that one. And also, you are supposed to have a feast after the battle where all the students bond together... you see nothing of it. You just spend time with your students, whom are perfectly safe on the route cause none of them will die....let's say, this doesn't make this moment as striking as Engage's chapter 2 cause in chapter 2 you don't just see, you PARTICIPATE at what is supposed to be Lumera and Alear's first and last moment as family. So which balancing between dark and light is stronger ?

3H's deep aesthetic will lead people to not question some of the game's event to judge it as what it is and that's why most people are more forgivng of it's flaws such as style over substance, something that seems deep turning out to be rather shallow etc.

Engage doesn't have this aesthetic so it leads people to not try to look past its simple, to insist on it flaws and exagerate them and to not try to understand the depth hidden behing small things.

To put it simple people think 3H is deeper because it does big and Engage is bare bones cause it has the look of it bcause it does smaller.

And this mindest is actually misguided cause it's not quantity that matters but quality. The talent of a good writers isn't in "I am gonna make a lot of big things to make it seems deep and complex" it's being able to put a lot of subltely and nuancing in very small things or even obvious one just for you to realize the deeper meaning of it.

Take Sombron's name for example. People mock it as being generic cause it's dark in French. But how many of them will look into the actual etymology of Sombre ? How many will find out that its' based on a verb in old french which means to enshade and reflect his role as being the one who corrupts everything and plunged the world into darnkness ? How many will realize that his weapon, Obscurité is deepening this concept as it is supposed to show that the darkness he cast are deadly ? How many will look at his design to reason "ah yes, he looks like that cause he is meant to reprsent Alear's trauma" ?

This is the same mindset as people who won't look at Grima past evil dragon when he is the refletion of Robin's despair and fear.

This isn't just Engage. All the game that are considered "bad" by the fandom cause simple don't try to look anydeeper then this, but when it has the look of something dark, greedy, and complex it checks the box of the "aesthetic of deep" and therefore people will consider it to be deep, doesn' matter if in reality it isn't

Likewise if a media doesn't check the boxes, they will look at it as simply what it appears and not search any deeper

That's ultimately the reason why people were disappointed by Engage after 3H : it refused to embrace the same "aesthetic" as 3H. So it doesn't matter that the story is actually deeper then it is, they won't believe it because the aesthetic doesn't appeal to them.

[desultory-suggestions]

just asking for advice, you're not forced to answer ofc

i struggle a lot with motivation, when i force myself to do things, it just doesn't feel right, and i feel so guilty about it, things like going to school or even brushing my teeth, it's all pointless and physically exhausting

idk if i'm just lazy or smt

anyway, any tips for folks with low motivation?

Hello, love! Thank you for your patience. Motivation is such a common struggle. I use some unconventional study and motivation tactics personally, as someone with ADHD and Dyslexia I have to get through a lot of nonsense to do basic things. First, you are not lazy! The idea today of laziness is very frustrating to me, and I feel is built on capitalist (and white supremacist) ideals. See the NAP Ministry.

According to The (USA) National Library of Medicine, "Executive dysfunction is commonly seen in major depression. The types of executive deficits seen in depression include problems with planning, initiating, and completing goal-directed activities." Anyone struggling with depression, whether an episode or long-term can struggle with these basic tasks. So how can we deal with this?

Some different techniques that may help:

Talk through the tasks you need to do out loud. You can discuss them in linear order or not. Don't focus on making them perfect and detailed, just explain it like you would to a friend.

Explain what you are doing as if someone is watching you/you're teaching someone. This is how I motivate myself when studying/working out/etc. and shows you that you do know what you are doing.

Break tasks down into smaller pieces to help them be more manageable, or simplify the ones that seem too complicated. (For this I need to do x, then y, then z. I don't need to overthink brushing my teeth, it's okay to just go do it.

Ask someone to be your accountability buddy. Body doubling/parallel play can be very useful. I ask my partner to brush his teeth with me so I have someone else there.

Accept that you don't need to do 100% of everything. You can't brush, floss, and use mouthwash? Okay brush for even just thirty seconds, it's better than nothing!

Utilize tools, but don't try to make it fancy. Aesthetics can be helpful and motivating, they can also apply pressure to make everything look good. Google Calendar or a messy notebook is good enough.

Surrounds tasks with cushioning time to relax. Even for little tasks, you can promise yourself rest before and after. Likewise, do enjoyable things during arduous tasks. Watch a silly video, playa. song!

Consider what the biggest obstacle is. Does it feel pointless? Do you want to do it? If not, why not? How can you change what is making you avoidant? If you do want to, what feels like it's stopping you? A specific fear? Or an impenetrable wall? These questions help define the next steps.

Accept you cannot do everything, especially not when you are suffering. You deserve help and it's okay to ask for it. Professional help is important when conquering issues with motivation whether from depression, ADHD, etc. Medications, therapy, and more can improve your mood.

Some tools I use:

Brushout - An app to help you brush your teeth for the right amount of time. Simple, and makes a nice dinging sound. Can be added as a widget to your home screen on iPhones.

Google Calendar - Also simple. Easy to click and add events and get reminders for things creeping up on you.

Mnemosyne Notebook - Ok the brand doesn't matter but the paper in this is so smooth and it makes me want to use it. But yes a notebook to organize thoughts.

Little Treats - I like to keep little snacks and treats around for working on things I have been struggling with. You don't have to wait until after, let yourself fuse joy with your efforts.

You do not need to be ashamed for struggling. No matter the reason or the manner, we all go through difficult things. Reach out, and don't give up. Feel free to ask for more information or advice again.

Best,

Evan

[call-sign-shark]

I have a question about Savage Daughter. I loved it however one part confused me a lot. Why did the mc buy a corset that was too small or tight lace her corset to make it hurt? And I'm also co fused on how the mc tore off her underwear (corset) without ruining her dress? Especially since at this time, the everyday corset she would wear would have worked no problem as long as the dress was appropriate so she wouldn't have any discomfort at all. Corsets through history have always been comfortable and easy to move in, as it was normal to do heavy labor, run, bike, or lift heavy objects every single day. They were either custom-made or shaped to the persons body to fit them perfectly. They offerd back, brest and shoulder support and took pressure off the hips. I'm sorry if this is a rant. I'm just genuinely confused about how or why this happened

Hi Nonny! Thank you so much for your interesting question and for enjoying Savage Daughter. Sorry for the confusion, I wrote this without the slightest proofreading tho, so I get it. Just so you know I’ll refer to MC as Heaven in my reply.

a. The corset wasn’t too small for her. The adorable dumbass she is just tied too very tight. Also even if 1920s corset were less restrictive than their mainstream depiction, it’s enough for her to feel suffocating. This uncomfortable sensation is also psychological since she feels oppressed by the crowd. I presume you haven’t read the series linked with the short story — it helps understanding why the character feels so cornered/choking.

b. As for the corset I get your confusion but it is not an underwear corset. It is not under her dress but above it. Just like the image below. This is why she managed to tear the lace off. Don’t know if the term corset is the good one tho, maybe bustier is better?? Idk.

c. Also to be completely honest with you, the character’s clothings are sometimes a bit “anachronistic”, either because I didn’t spent time doing extensive research on the matter or just because I love the aesthetic! 😌

[fragments-of-despair]

So thanks to justonegamr uploading a really good let's play, I got to watch the entire first chapter/prologue of Master Detective Archives: Rain Code. And I have some....thoughts. Nothing bad, really, just....some concerns.

I'll keep any spoilers under the cut and will tag this as "Master Detective Archives Spoilers", "Rain Code Spoilers" and "MDA:RC Spoilers", in case anyone wants to filter out tags.

With that one last warning, onto my thoughts.

To start: Positives!

Music: Once again, Masafumi Takeda is a Master Composer, and the soundtrack is one of the strongest he's put out so far. I enjoyed listening to the music and felt it did great at establishing the tone and I feel like it'll be the most memorable part of the game for many.

Art and Character Design: As with the music, the character designs by Rui Komatsuzaki is spot on as always and every single character looks fantastic. And the designs translated pretty well into 3D. For anyone who had worries given how UDG's models look in 3D, rest assured, everyone looks great in the Unreal Engine. On top of that, the setting is very vibrant and interesting, despite it all being mostly in one location for a good amount of the opening chapter. The Mystery Labyrinth is very colorful and creative and it was fun seeing Yuma explore. Shimadoriru did excellent work and I'm excited to see more of his art in the setting of Kanai Ward.

Player Character/Protagonist: I WOULD DIE FOR YUMA KOKOHEAD. I adore this little guy and I find him to be quite entertaining. If Wato Hojo from Process of Elimination is what would happen if you fused Hajime and Shuichi, then Yuma Kokohead is what you'd get if you mixed Makoto and Shuichi (or if you want to imagine a Naegiri child, that is also an apt description of Yuma so far). He seems to have an ability to let him feel when someone is using their Forensic Forte, almost like some kind of magical physical empathy.

I want nothing but good things for him. Protect Yuma Kokohead.

The First Mystery: Without going into too much detail, the way the culprit of this first case managed to pull off the murders was rather clever. I have family that has been working railways for decades now, and we've been train fanatics for years, so the car switch trick was definitely clever. Not the first time this trick has been used in mysteries. In fact, I'd say it's a classic in train-centric murder mysteries. But Rain Code's example was really good in that not only was it clever for the murderer, but also was good to help establish more about our big bad and give hints to the difficulty of the enemies to follow. Overall, a solid mystery.

Now for the negatives. Or rather......concerns......Okay, a mix of both really.

Last chance to turn away before MAJOR SPOILERS. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

Gameplay and User Interface: From what I've seen this game is not going to be friendly for those who have vision issues. There were points where I was finding it difficult to read and that affected my ability to enjoy the investigative portions. And I'm watching on a small flatscreen TV I use as a computer monitor. Playing this on small screens is going to be hard for some, which I don't think was really taken into account during development. Aesthetically it looks fantastic, but unless you got really good vision or some super strong glasses, you'll probably have as hard a time as I did. (this will be especially hard in the Pirate Pop Up minigame that seems to be replacing Hangman's Gambit. We truly cannot avoid that game being hell, can we?).

Also, there were parts where, as I was watching, it looked like there might be issues regarding whether or not the controls will read properly. It looked like justonegamr should have managed to dodge some things but in the end, the game read that they didn't. I imagine a lot of it has to do with the font and the size of the hit box. Just know that if this was an issue for you in UDG, it might be a minor problem in Rain Code as well.

Also, there were points during the game that I thought that the concept of the Mystery Labyrinth was....for lack of better words, it felt very gratuitous at points. I think the story is trying to set up something with them, so I'll hold my full thoughts off until then, but with what we're presented with so far, it's pretty much coming off as "What if we took the trials of Danganronpa and made it a Persona 5 dungeon", and it isn't really working for me.

Oh yeah, Climax Reasoning is back. Forgot to mention that. It's....fine? I guess? I think it leans too far in the aesthetics and had trouble reading most of the questions and hints personally. It's kind of hard to top the Climax Reasoning from Goodbye Despair and V3......

The Rest of the Cast and Overall Story: Oh boy. This one is going to be a doozy.

I just want to say, before we go on, that what I am about to say is my personal thoughts and if you do not agree, no hard feelings. It's just my own personal silly little opinion and you're free to disregard it.

With that being said, I am severely disappointed in how Five of the Master Detectives that were advertised were treated.

I hope no one here were fans of Pucci, Zange, Melami, Zilch, or Aphex based on their designs, Character Profiles, and Forensic Fortes. Because they're all dead.

That's right. FIVE of our detectives are dead right now. What had happened was, Amataratsu Corp. hired a hitman to kill the detectives. And that hitman was Zilch. Or rather, someone disguised as Zilch. Or maybe it was Zilch. See, the explanation we're given is that there was a Master Detective named Zilch, but that he was killed before the others and his identity was stolen, while his body is stored on the train somewhere. The Imposter Zilch then drugged everyone, killed Pucci, Melami, Zenge, and Aphex by burning them to death, and then used Aphex's body to help fake his own death, before hiding in the control room in a blind spot and framing Yuma for the crime. The train car swap was done using a split track and a tunnel as well as leaving a car behind at one station (it was supposed to be five cars long but was four for the trip to pull off the trick), and having another prepared at the end point. The real Zilch is supposed to be on the car that was left behind on at the station.

But according to Shinigami, completing the Mystery Labyrinth and letting her reap the culprit's soul there kills the culprit. And the culprit looked like too much Zilch to make me believe it wasn't. Shouldn't it have looked more like the actual character? Or perhaps be similar to the Grey Man we see in the Climax Reasoning if they wanted to keep it more vague?

Also, throughout the prologue up until their deaths, it really felt like they were building up these detectives to be interesting acquaintances to Yuma, and I was looking forward to seeing how they'd all work together and grow. Aphex actually ended up being my favorite of the five because what little interactions we got were that impactful to me. So you can imagine my surprise to find all these detectives not only dead, but that Zilch (my second favorite) wasn't even the real Zilch. I wasn't shocked like I was when playing Danganronpa or going through Process of Elimination and finding these characters dead. I was left feeling hollow, frustrated, but mostly, I was disappointed. The hype around these characters and their talents was enough to get me hooked, and what little we got made me want more. But now we're not going to get anything. It's like being given a taste sample at Cold Stone only to be told that the ice cream you were offered was just taken off the menu by corporate and they're not allowed to serve it to you anymore. This is going to make a lot of people put down the game I think if they were hoping to investigate with any of those five and experience their Fortes in more interesting and dynamic cases, and I wouldn't blame them. If they bring them back somehow, it'll have to be pretty damn convincing because as things are now, they can't without making it feel like an asspull.

And as for Shinigami.......

I'm so sorry everyone, but I just cannot get behind her right now. She's a lot like if you fused Junko, Genocide Jack, and Ibuki in terms of personality, for lack of better ways to describe her. It was those three I was thinking of whenever she spoke or was on screen. But there's a reason characters like Ibuki, Jack, and Junko work, and a lot of that is moderation and balance. They're used moderately, balanced with the rest of the cast or with the character they're primarily spending time with. But since for most of the chapter she's your primary partner, that moderation isn't there. And there were so, so, SO many times I just wanted to hit her. I'm sure she's going to have a lot of fans, and there were parts about her that I enjoyed (usually when her behavior was more toned down and when she was not using Yuma's pain as humor), I know a lot of her actions are due to the mystery of the contract she made with Yuma and that will be revealed in time, but there were times where I wanted Yuma to just tell her to stop. And her talk about death and despair...... Yeah, as a Danganronpa fan, that's setting off a LOT of alarm bells. (I honestly wouldn't be surprised if this did turn out to secretly be a Danganronpa game given how she's being written so far).

If her overall character becomes more balanced or goes through well written growth, then my opinion will probably change, but as is, she's on the bottom of my list of characters I'm enjoying from this game.

Also, Yakou Furio is..... there. So yeah.

FINAL THOUGHTS (so far):

Between the characters we lost and the ones we still have and the rules of the Mystery Labyrinth, I'm really concerned about how the overall story is going to go. The game has a lot to do to earn back my trust after what happened to the first five detectives we met, and the writing is definitely going to need to pick up in ways that'll hook on the players who might consider putting this down after Chapter 0. The UI could have been better implemented and more accessable, and the future Labyrinths will need to really do something to justify their need to be included in the narrative going forward.

But the character designs, art, music, and Yuma alone make this game worth at least watching playthroughs of. And I do want to see Yuma's continued growth with the remaining detectives.

If you're a die-hard Danganronpa fan who just wants to have every part of Danganronpa Team's works in your collection, this game is worth a place there, I think. The Soundtrack especially is worth the price of the base game imo.

But if you're debating if you'll enjoy this game overall, I'd suggest waiting a couple of weeks for a more solid consensus before investing $60-$100.

As for Kakera's thoughts? Overall, I'm not mad. Just confused and disappointed.

[becausegoodbye]

A home to treasure, a home to flee

(**This post contains big-time spoilers for Citizen Sleeper and Life is Strange: True Colors. No way around it! **)

In the last year, I've had two experiences with video games that unearthed some interestingly divergent intuitions in me.

In one, the game let me make a precarious little home for myself, and even though it kept giving me opportunities to leave – it really seemed like it hoped I'd leave, to strike out somewhere in pursuit of a better life – I clung to the fragile little home I'd created, savouring its small earned pleasures.

In the other, the game gave me a home, aesthetically dazzling and too good to be true, with a hideous past which the game desperately wanted me to forgive and to stay – laying it on thick about how beautiful it would be if I stayed – and I found I couldn't flee fast enough.

It makes me wonder a bit about my relationship to home.

*

Citizen Sleeper is one of my favourite games I've played in a long time. It's quietly etched its place on the list I keep in my mind of "proper Hall of Fame indie games", along with Celeste and Immortality and at most a dozen others. It's a game whose ambitions are restrained, but the light touches of its writing are pretty much all paintbrush-perfect.

In it, you play a Sleeper, a degraded kind of worker-clone, carrying the emulated consciousness of a real person inside a crummy bio-android body that'll fall apart if it doesn't get regular injections of corporate-controlled medicine. Your entire existence is a method of skirting labour laws. You managed to escape your corporate labour-camp, but now you're on this random space station with no money or friends, and your biological meltdown-clock is ticking. Just gotta keep moving, keep working, keep trying to figure something out.

I won't give a full review of the mechanics and story; what I really want to talk about right now is the apartment. In Citizen Sleeper, you're always choosing how to allocate your limited time and energy, and if you want, you can choose to spend an irresponsible amount of both fixing up an abandoned apartment unit, using scrap metal to try to plug up the holes and make it livable. This is, frankly, the best thing. With how nightmarishly precarious every aspect of your existence as a runaway Sleeper is, just to be able to lay your head somewhere that's yours is blissful.

And then – most special of all – once you've fixed up the apartment, a stray cat will sometimes stop by, and you can spend some money to feed it some crushed-up crackers. The cat never becomes yours (it always maintains its independence, coming and going as it pleases), but you can know each other. You can become part of the weave of each other's lives. Even in this hostile capitalist hell-hole, even with a body constantly on the verge of betraying you: you can eat some delicious spiced fungus and have a cat stroke itself against your thighs. Things can be worth it.

As I got on top of my finances and found a steady source of medicine, I only found myself more and more attached to my apartment. Some missions take you right over the other side of the space station, and (because it can take ages to get back) the game frequently offers you places to crash that are much closer to where you need to be. I didn't use them once. Once I'd fixed up the unit, I slept every single subsequent night of the game there, even if it meant traveling a silly distance to get there and back. I wanted to get back because, first, it was my home, and second, I had to feed the stray cat. It might miss me if I were gone.

As you get further into Citizen Sleeper, the game offers you all sorts of ways to get off the station. You can work/cheat your way onto a huge colony ship that's set to begin populating a new and uninhabited planet. You can hitch a ride with a mercenary and start a more knowingly dangerous kind of life. You can fuse your consciousness with a cyber-organic plant-consciousness, 'Grow Vast and Strange', and lose your sense of a distinct self entirely.

I didn't go for any of them. I got my friends on board the colony ship and waved goodbye to them. I gave the mercenary the cold shoulder. I thanked the plant-consciousness profusely for the opportunity, but wistfully turned away from what it was offering. I kept choosing to return to my own small world on the station: to the apartment, to the stray, to Emphis' spiced fungus stand, to Lem & Mina & Tala & Riko, and to all the tiny meaningful markers of the life I'd built for myself here.

This was my life. I'd made it, and that meant everything.

*

Life is Strange: True Colors is a much weirder game, and one I'd recommend to far fewer people. I've written before about my complicated feelings about the Life is Strange series, which have a tendency to take huge emotional swings with subjects that they're not really mature enough to handle responsibly. That's part of their appeal, admittedly: these games absolutely go for it, and even when they stumble, it's usually pretty compelling.

In True Colors, you play as Alex Chen, a shy 21-year-old orphan with a kind of superpowered empathy. She can read people's thoughts a bit, sometimes even accessing their memories, and when somebody near her is experiencing a big emotion, she gets overwhelmed with a mirrored version of it. This got her branded as 'emotionally unstable' in the Oregon foster care system, so she struggled to be adopted. She lost touch with her older brother Gabe after he was placed with a different foster family, but eight years later, with his own life straightened out, Gabe was able to track her down, and invite her to come live with him in the idyllic little mountain town called Haven Springs.

I won't go beat-by-beat through the whole plot, because it's bonkers and byzantine, but the key points are these. (Again, full spoilers.) After Alex and Gabe's dad abandoned them when Alex was 11, he ended up working for a locally hegemonic mining company called Typhon in Haven Springs. Later, Gabe tried to track him down, and Haven Springs was where the trail went cold. This turns out to be because their dad died in a hideous mine collapse, along with several other miners. A local foreman named Jed Lucan got credited as a 'hero' for saving the miners who survived, but in reality he was the one who chose to abandon the others to their deaths, and Typhon conspired with him to cover it all up.

When Gabe came to Haven Springs looking for their dad, that same foreman, Jed, now the owner of a local bar, felt guilty about having left this kid fatherless, and treated Gabe with a lot of generosity. He set Gabe up with a job in his bar, let him rent the great loft apartment upstairs, and really just ensconced Gabe in Haven Springs life (obviously without telling him the murdery truth). Then, when Gabe is finally able to track down his little sister Alex, he wants to pass on the generosity, and offers you the loft. He’s moving in with his girlfriend, you and your brother are finally back in each other’s lives, and it all seems too good to be true.

It is. Almost immediately after arriving in town, Gabe is killed – by the very same mining corporation – while up in the mountains trying to rescue his girlfriend's kid. Typhon were told that there were people in the area and they needed to delay their blast, but they knowingly went ahead with it anyway, because (it turns out) they needed the noise to cover up a second, more illegal scheduled blast nearby. That second blast was to fully cave in the old mine and bury the evidence of the incident that killed Alex and Gabe's father, in preparation for a coming inspection that could have uncovered the deaths.

So essentially: your brother was murdered casually, incidentally, as part of covering up your dad's murder from years ago.

I'm delivering this information in a totally different order than the game does (there, the relevation that Jed let miners die and your dad was among them comes very late), but I'm laying it all out so you understand the chronology of events. Just lay it all out flat in your mind. You're Alex, and you find yourself living in this town that seems pretty wonderful – picturesque and warm, with an economy of little other than bars and flower shops and record stores – but you eventually discover that both your father and your brother have been murdered here. You also discover that the person who's been kindest to you, the surrogate father-figure who let you work in the bar and live in the loft virtually rent-free, is the evil fuck who killed your dad.

You do eventually empathy-detective your way to exposing all this, of course. By the end of the game, Jed is going to prison, and Typhon is facing the absurdly (but not unrealistically) softer consequences of 'their CEO resigning' and 'their stock price taking a hit'. But then – and this is the part I've needed to go over all this melodramatic plot in order to talk about – the game wants you to stay in Haven Springs.

Alex's final choice is whether to stay or leave. Somehow, you're still living in the loft of the murderer you put in jail, and it's implied that you can just keep doing that. The game gives you an option to leave – to go off on a scrappy music tour with your indie girlfriend Steph – but the game gilds the lily heavily in favour of staying. You have an entire conversation with an imaginary ghost-projection of Gabe, and he spins this whole fantasia about how wonderful your life could be if you simply stayed, let "time do its thing", and commit to transforming this place.

But like ... fuck that, right? Fuck that!!!

As far as I'm concerned, this is a "noping out of a horror movie" situation. By the end of True Colors, Haven Springs feels cursed. This tiny pretty town is where every existing member of your family was murdered. What, you're literally just gonna stick around limply hoping they won't murder you too? While the hegemonic mining corporation is still stalking around, knowing you did this to them?

Like, Alex. Dude. These white people are not safe. The Chens are seemingly the only Asian-American family in a hundred miles, and the track record of Chens not getting murdered by the biggest and most powerful local employer is bad. Sure, that one guy is in prison now, but the problem was never that one guy. Underneath this town is a seam of raw murder and lies and evil, and everyone being so saccharine-sweet to you all game long only makes that fact worse. You can’t escape your trauma, you can’t escape your brother and father having been killed, and you can’t escape the horrorshow of capitalism – but you surely don’t have to stay here.

It's hard to overstate how repulsed I felt by the prospect of staying in Haven Springs. While Citizen Sleeper had me taking pride in the modest, scrappy life I'd clawed out for myself in the margins, True Colors felt like the complete opposite. It felt like a series of overbearingly loaded gifts, all lush and pretty and tailor-made, but with a violent catch spring-loaded inside every pocket. It felt like the bashful smile of a poisoner offering you a drink. All of my instincts were to run.

*

Some day soon, I'm sure I'll be able to write a thing about videogames without tying it back to transness, but look – I'm two months on HRT. Right now everything feels connected with transitioning, and I'd be lying if I said the trans-relevance of this little parable didn't occur to me immediately.

My body is the home I was given, and I’ve always lived here uneasily. I’ve never known what to do with the ‘gifts’ that came with being read as a guy (most of them are still half-unwrapped in the back of my closet). Everyone wanted me to like it here, expected me to like it here – why wouldn’t you like it here? – but I just didn’t. A seam under the surface was wrong, and kept itching. I don’t want this to come across as a matter of pure contrarianism, but being real: the amount of contrarianism at work here probably isn’t zero. The world tried to give me a gender I’d like – a whole sweet-ass loft if you just ignore the murders – and I’m leaving. I’m off to make my own thing. And even if it’s objectively shittier in tons of ways, I’m confident I’ll like it more.

Between Citizen Sleeper and True Colors, my inescapable conclusion is: I would rather sit alone in this cold empty abandoned apartment than live in Haven Spring's paradise. I would rather chew fungus and scrape for corpo-medicine as a girl than be the beloved centre of a twinkling idyll as a guy. Haven Springs is so pristine and gorgeous, so flush with friends and flowers and foosball, but at a certain point you just can't unsee the seam of wrongness under everything. Whereas the kind of life you can build in Citizen Sleeper – the crummy apartment, the stray cat, all the friends you make and all the people who pass you by – feels infinitely stronger to me. Infinitely more earned. Infinitely more durable and darnable and real.

[somediyprojects]

Bleu de Saxe stitched by Edith. Pattern designed by Julia Line of Long Dog Samplers.

Today we have a tale of mystery and imagination. It's Edith's performance on a honkytonk tapestry needle of the solo "Bleu de Saxe" from <the book> which we will not mention again for the duration of this post. Anyone doing so will be thrown to the raven guard who are currently on latrine duty in the water meadow and consequently in a very bad mood. Well wouldn't you be?

This is only Edith's second Long Dog but already the creative fuse sticking out from behind her left ear has been well and truly lit and she's completely changed the border. Audacious little minx, you go girl.

Now, draw a bit closer because I want to whisper something to you which you mustn't repeat. I've been told that Edith's enchanted by strong diagonals and radiating tie-dyed linen. She kept that to herself didn't she, and she went to all sorts of places that would make your hair curl to source the perfect frame that played into this aesthetic.

You can move back now, I'm starting to feel a bit claustrophobic with you all so close. So, where was I? That's right, I was telling you a tale of mystery and imagination.

The mystery to me is how on earth did Edith manage to find her way so confidently on such super-dynamic linen? And Quill and The Great Colin simply can't imagine what she was drinking at the time but they want some.

Could it have been the fabled "Stingo Oblivion" of which only 100 gallons were ever brewed and which Quill has been searching for all his life? It's rumoured to be even rarer than a signed, first edition of the tome we're not going to mention even now.

—Julia Line, designer

[greaterbayarea]

Economic Herald | Couture Review by Wen Jun: Transforming Aesthetic Confidence into Global Expression

On December 18, 2024, the Fifth Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Techno-Fashion Culture Week, in conjunction with the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Fashion Week, officially opened in Guangzhou, China. The event, endorsed and guided by the Guangdong Provincial Committee's Office for Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan Affairs, was jointly organized by the Guangdong Garment Culture Promotion Association and the Fashion Brand Committee of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Cooperation Promotion Association. This prestigious annual gathering brought together a global assembly of fashion professionals, acclaimed designers, leading brand representatives, and distinguished cultural scholars to showcase the Greater Bay Area’s pioneering strides in fashion technology, cultural creativity, and worldwide discourse.

Spotlighting Chinese Couture to Unfold a New Chapter of Cultural Confidence

At the opening ceremony, Wen Jun, the founder of Couture Review, China’s first couture media platform, delivered a keynote speech titled Couture Review: Narrating the Story of Chinese couture in This Era. As a leading voice of the "culturally confident generation," this post-90s visionary vividly interpreted the cultural mission and global promise of Chinese couture through her distinctive personal journey.

“I believe every generation has its own calling,” Wen stated during her speech. “As a post-90s individual, I aspire to champion and elevate China's cultural confidence, with a particular focus on advancing the legacy of Chinese couture, shaped by my personal journey and expertise in couture.”

Wen Jun's creative vision for couture is rooted in her unique insights, honed through her international studies and work experiences. During her Fashion Arts Management studies in London, she explored in depth the challenge of amplifying Chinese brands' voices within the global fashion discourse. Her immersion in the rigorous traditions of French couture led her to realize that building confidence in the cultural storytelling of Chinese couture is essential, alongside with excelling in design and craftsmanship.

Founding Couture Review to Empower the Ascendancy of Chinese Couture

In 2024, Wen Jun unveiled Couture Review, the world’s first media platform solely dedicated to Chinese couture. Since its launch, the platform has published 268 in-depth features, exploring topics ranging from the evolution of Chinese couture brands to the cultural interplay between international luxury brands and the Chinese market. Wen Jun envisions these insights sparking a renewed sense of confidence among industry professionals, empowering Chinese couture with cultural pride through the transformative power of storytelling.

Building on its online presence, Couture Review has extended its reach into limited-edition print publications and launched Couture Gallery, China’s premier dedicated couture gallery. This pioneering initiative acts as a bridge connecting couture brands, designers, and the public. Wen Jun curated designer Ivana Zhou’s solo exhibition EsseriSenzienti: China Couture, featuring her acclaimed all-ceramic fashion pieces, which have been exhibited at prestigious international venues, including the Louvre Museum.

Fusing Global Vision with Local Culture Heritage

Couture Review, distinguishing by its Chinese-English content and an international team, is committed to advancing Chinese couture onto the global stage and enhancing its cultural and artistic significance. “Beyond fashion, our coverage extends to haute jewelry, couture home décor, luxury automobiles, and lifestyle—domains that represents the zenith of Chinese aesthetics,” Wen Jun emphasized.

Wen Jun also announced the global release of Couture Review’s inaugural commemorative issue, with plans to present its digital edition through salons. In her vision, Couture Review is poised to inspire more creators to push the boundaries of refined aesthetics, exploring boundless creative possibilities. It will act as a pivotal bridge, connecting the fashion industry with consumer.

The Fifth Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Techno-Fashion Culture Week, standing as a pivotal showcase for multi-sectoral collaborative innovation within the region, underscores the vibrant dynamism and cultural confidence of China's fashion industry. From the Greater Bay Area to the international stage, Chinese couture is forging a meaningful dialogue with the global fashion section, leveraging its distinctive cultural allure and exceptional artistic value.

[aelfricedenhoodieus]

Aelfric Eden Sweater: The Ultimate Guide to Iconic Streetwear Style

Aelfric Eden Sweater and Sweatshirt All Colors Available on our Official Aelfric Eden Shop Get Huge Discount On All SweatShirt.

Aelfric Eden Sweater

The world of streetwear fashion is ever-evolving, but few brands manage to capture the hearts of enthusiasts quite like Aelfric Eden. Renowned for their unique blend of urban aesthetics and comfortable designs, Aelfric Eden sweaters have become a wardrobe essential for fashion-forward individuals. Whether you’re a streetwear veteran or new to the game, this guide will help you discover everything about Aelfric Eden sweater—from their unique appeal to styling tips and where to purchase them.

What Makes Aelfric Eden Sweaters Stand Out?

Aelfric Eden is celebrated for its distinctive designs that effortlessly fuse art and fashion. Here’s what sets their sweaters apart:

Bold Graphics and Creative Prints: Aelfric Eden sweater are known for their eye-catching designs. Whether it’s retro-inspired artwork, anime characters, or abstract graphics, each sweater tells its own story.

Premium Quality Materials: Comfort meets durability in these sweaters, crafted from high-quality materials like soft cotton blends and fleece.

Inclusive Fit: Their unisex designs and wide size range ensure everyone can find their perfect fit.

Sustainability Commitment: With an increasing focus on eco-friendly fashion, Aelfric Eden incorporates sustainable practices in their production processes.

Popular Aelfric Eden Sweater Designs

1. Retro Aesthetic Sweaters

Inspired by vintage trends, these sweaters often feature nostalgic color palettes, geometric patterns, and old-school vibes that resonate with fans of retro fashion.

2. Anime-Inspired Sweaters

A favorite among anime enthusiasts, these sweaters incorporate popular anime motifs, making them a standout choice for otaku culture lovers.

3. Oversized Streetwear Classics

The oversized sweater is a staple in streetwear culture, offering both comfort and style. Aelfric Eden’s oversized sweaters are perfect for layering or wearing as a standalone piece.

4. Graphic Statement Pieces

Bold and unapologetic, graphic sweaters from Aelfric Eden often feature unique typography, abstract designs, and thought-provoking imagery.

How to Style Your Aelfric Eden Sweater

1. The Streetwear Look

Pair your sweater with baggy jeans, sneakers, and a bucket hat for a casual, street-ready vibe. Add a crossbody bag to complete the look.

2. Layering for Winter

During colder months, layer your sweater over a turtleneck and pair it with an oversized coat. Add some chunky boots to keep warm while staying stylish.

3. Minimalist Chic

For a more minimalist approach, opt for a neutral-toned Aelfric Eden sweater and pair it with tailored trousers and clean white sneakers.

4. Athleisure Vibes

Combine your sweater with joggers or track pants for a sporty, laid-back outfit. Finish the look with a sleek pair of trainers and a cap.

Where to Buy Aelfric Eden Sweaters

1. Official Website

The most reliable source for authentic Aelfric Eden sweater is their official website. Here, you’ll find the latest collections and exclusive drops.

2. Online Retailers

Popular online marketplaces like Amazon, ASOS, and Zalando often stock Aelfric Eden sweater. Be sure to check customer reviews for authenticity.

3. Local Boutiques

Some streetwear-focused boutiques may carry Aelfric Eden products. Visiting in person allows you to try on different styles and find your perfect fit.

Caring for Your Aelfric Eden Sweater

Proper care ensures your sweater stays vibrant and comfortable for years to come:

Washing: Machine wash on a gentle cycle with cold water. Turn the sweater inside out to protect printed designs.

Drying: Air dry whenever possible to prevent shrinkage and maintain fabric quality. Avoid using high heat in tumble dryers.

Storage: Fold your sweater neatly rather than hanging it, as hangers may cause stretching.

Why Aelfric Eden Sweaters Are Worth the Investment

Investing in an Aelfric Eden sweater goes beyond acquiring a piece of clothing. It’s about embracing a lifestyle that values creativity, quality, and individuality. With their iconic designs and unparalleled craftsmanship, these sweaters are a testament to the evolution of modern streetwear.

[mycomicbox]

Random Thoughts on Persona 5 Royal - Part 4

[Progress: November 20th, 6th Palace conquered, first Bad Ending viewed]

<<< Part 3

Y'know, sometimes, I worry that my comments on this game are just meaningless fluff, but then again, these are my Random Thoughts, not a profound literary analysis.

After seeing this unused design, I am ITCHING to design a female protagonist for Persona 5 (à la Persona 3 Portable), but I want to finish the game before then, so that I have full context. I already have a pretty clear design for her in my head.

Cool how the Akihabara crane game plays the Junes Theme from Persona 4. My headcanon is that Junes and the crane machine have the same parent company.

I forgot to mention this earlier, but Elizabeth Maxwell did a fantastic job voicing Sae Niijima.

Network Fusion is fun... and game-breaking. I managed to fuse a Parvati with Thunder Reign, Wild Thunder, Victory Cry, and the Bargain Bolts trait.

One thing I noticed back during the Okumura arc: if you talk to Chihaya during that part of the game, she'll mention that the Empress card kept coming up during her readings, foreshadowing Haru joining the Phantom Thieves.

Sojiro was surprisingly chill with finding out the protagonist's secret. He'd make an awesome Phantom Thief. I might draw that...

That's... a lot of eyeliner, ma'am.

As much as I refuse to step foot into a casino IRL, I love the aesthetic of casino-themed levels/areas/characters in video games. Other examples I can think of are that one level in Kirby: Planet Robobot, or the Gambler job from Bravely Default II.

Now with proper context, the scene with the protagonist getting beat up in a cell has a lot more weight behind it than at the start of the game. I physically winced.

...

And now, we've caught up with the present. Here I lie, on the floor of this interrogation room... six feet under.

I sold out my friends to save my own hide, and even then, it was for naught.

I've failed.

I'm sorry, everyone...

If only I had shown her the smartphone...

...

⚡️ Confidant Lightning Round

I've heard that the Priestess Confidant is, narratively, one of the weaker S-Links/Confidants in the series, and... yeah, I have to agree. It's not terrible, but I feel as though Makoto wasn't really the star of the show in her own Confidant. And on top of that, her awakened Persona isn't a motorcycle anymore!? Cringe. (I still like Makoto, though.)

It's narratively fitting that I maxed out the Priestess Confidant right before the fight with Shadow Sae.

Great vegetables.

Rank 7 of the Hierophant Confidant really helps explain why Sojiro was so tough on the protagonist near the beginning of the game: he was projecting his own feelings of having to stay in line. Throughout modern Persona, this Arcana has pretty consistently good writing.

What the hell is Akechi's problem!? Then again, I guess I'm going to find out soon.

Futaba's Rank 10 was really heartwarming, especially in conjunction with Sojiro's Confidant. Though, I'm going to miss her initial Persona's design...

To see Chihaya go from scamming people, to taking responsibility for her actions, to weaving her own fate... it's really something. (If you're curious as to who I romanced, it's her. She's too cute.)

The maid cafe scene with the Warden Twins got a chuckle out of me.

I've always been particularly interested by the Social Links/Confidants involving those younger than the protagonist (such as Maiko, Nanako, and now Shinya). I think it's because kids generally have a more limited worldview, and as such, don't have the same tools to navigate their issues that teens and adults have.

If Mishima was a real person, he'd be like one of those people who annoys me, but I wouldn't have the heart to tell him that he annoys me. Granted, I think he gets too much hate as a character: his whole endgame is dealing with both his sense of entitlement and his lack of self-worth (with both issues being connected).