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thankskenpenders · 23 days ago

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Thoughts on two specific areas of the writing in Sonic X Shadow Generations

The best new 3D Sonic game in over a decade (or even two, depending on who you ask) dropped late last year. And I didn't write anything about it! Sometimes life happens. Well, I've finally sat down to finish Shadow Generations, and by now everyone has already been singing its praises for three months. This is the rare instance where the entire Sonic fandom, and even mainstream reviewers, are in agreement on something. The level design is the best it's been in a long, long time and the cool factor is off the charts, embracing Sonic's peak cringe era in an incredibly confident way. It's great. If you're even reading this post, you probably don't need me to tell you that. So I won't!

No, what I'm really interested in here is the writing. Because this is me we're talking about. But I actually don't want to talk about the main narrative of Shadow Generations, which is really solid little story about Black Doom trying to mold Shadow into his perfect soldier. No, I'd like to zero in on two other aspects of the writing here: the revisions made to Sonic Generations, and Gerald Robotnik's unlockable journal.

The updated Sonic Generations script

The new package mostly presents Sonic Generations how you remember it. There are some tweaks, but it's not a major overhaul. Graphically, I don't think the game has been touched much, if at all. I certainly can't notice any difference without a side-by-side comparison, despite playing it on a PS5. The most notable update is that the game's script has been rewritten by Ian Flynn.

Naturally, this caught my attention. Generations always had a nothingburger story, so with Ian rewriting Pontac and Graff's lame dialogue there was nowhere to go but up. (I don't like to pin the blame for those games' stories entirely on them, as a ton of it was dictated to them by Sonic Team, but, well, I don't think they're very good dialogue writers.) But it's less a complete rewrite and more like Ian was brought on as a script doctor for some minor touch ups here and there. Many lines of dialogue are completely identical to how they were originally written in 2011, and many others only have slight wording changes. Ian was clearly not allowed to request additional scenes or extend the ones that already existed. He has to match the original beat for beat so that they can reuse 99% of the cutscene animations. Don't expect it to be a whole new experience compared to the original.

Still, I think the new script is an improvement, albeit a minor one. Various things have been tweaked to maintain characterization consistency. Cream calls Sonic "Mr. Sonic" instead of just "Sonic." Instead of calling Sonic "buddy," Rouge uses the pet name "Blue," like she tends to do in things like the IDW comics. Espio doesn't have to remind you in the dialogue that he's a ninja, and he no longer has a line making it sound like he has some kind of soul reading power. I also like that Modern Sonic now actually has responses to what his friends say when he rescues them, rather than being silent like Classic Sonic. They won't blow you away, but they make Sonic feel a little more engaged with everything.

In general, the altered dialogue just seems tighter to me, and some of the more childish or trite wording of Pontac and Graff's script has been altered. Here, let's actually make a direct comparison, just because this stuff is interesting to me as a writer. Here's a couple lines from after the Egg Dragoon fight late in the game, in the original script:

Modern Eggman: Ooooh... I can't believe this! I was supposed to beat you this time. Modern Sonic: Aw, I'm sorry! I didn't get that memo. I beat you every time! [Turns to Classic Sonic] No, seriously, we beat this guy every time. It's like it's our job or something!

This is a simple exchange. Eggman is mad that he lost. Sonic is unflappably confident because he always beats Eggman, and he explains this to his younger self. But the wording here isn't particularly good. Eggman's simple and direct wording makes him come off like a little kid who's mad because his older brother beat him at Mario Kart, rather than a mad scientist who just had his plans foiled. It's making light of the situation.

And I've never liked Sonic saying "It's like it's our job or something!" That doesn't feel like a thing Sonic would say, it feels like a thing an outside observer would say about Sonic. This is a frequent problem with so-called "MCU dialogue," where quips meant to echo the commentary of a casual, somewhat disinterested audience are inserted into the story itself so that the writers can be like "See? We get it. We're genre-savvy, too!" It also just reminds me of bad Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric lines like "Rings! It's like they're made for me!"

And then here's Ian's rewrite:

Modern Eggman: I recalibrated everything! This was supposed to be my time! Modern Sonic: Oh, please, keep dreamin', Egg-head. I beat you every time. [Turns to Classic Sonic] No, seriously, we beat him every time. Our score card's flawless.

Eggman's still mad about his defeat, but the line "I recalibrated everything!" makes it more specific. He put all this work into the engineering side of his latest scheme and got tunnel vision, thinking if he got his creations just right there'd be no way he could lose. "This was supposed to be my time!" also turns it into a time travel pun, which is a bonus. He's still pitching a fit over losing, but it feels more like Eggman pitching a fit, rather than sounding childish.

And then instead of saying that beating Eggman is "like his job or something," Sonic says he's got a flawless score card against Eggman. He doesn't take Eggman seriously as a threat—at least, not to his face. He acts like it's all a game. But he conveys this in a way that feels truer to the character, rather than feeling like the words of a real world observer poking fun at the tropes of the Sonic series.

Is this amazing, A+ dialogue that blows me away? No. Again, it's not a completely different scene from the one we already had. Ian had to fit the beats of what was already there. He couldn't go all out and write an all new story confirming his longstanding headcanon that the Time Eater is a remnant of Solaris or whatever. But the wording here makes the existing story land a little better and feel truer to the characters in subtle ways.

But to me, the main change is that the Sonics and Tailses seem to have a more solid understanding of what's going on with the timeline and the Time Eater, compared to how idiotic they sometimes seemed in the original game. Which is good! No more standing outside Green Hill and wondering why it seems so familiar. Thank god. As part of this, yes, there are a few more references to past games in the dialogue, like Sonic briefly being confused about the fact that they're time traveling without the Time Stones, or South Island and Westside Island being acknowledged as the normal locations of Green Hill and Chemical Plant. Yes, ha ha, insert joke about how Ian loves references here. Look, it's Sonic fucking Generations. It's a game built entirely out of nostalgic references. Just own it! And, again, in this instance Sonic and Tails come off as less stupid when they make it clear that they do, in fact, remember their adventures from presumably less than a year ago in-universe.

Eggman, too, seems to have a better understanding of the powers he's toying with. Where in the original vesion his focus was simply on going back in time to undo his previous defeats and he seemed kind of oblivious to how much the Time Eater was actually fucking up the universe, here Eggman says he wants to use the Time Eater to give himself complete control over the entire timeline. Eggman also makes way fewer references to his own failures and shortcomings. Of course he won't admit that Sonic has defeated him time and time again. To him, he's never truly lost—Sonic just keeps delaying the inevitable total victory for the Eggman Empire.

So, yes. The new Sonic Generations script is better. It won't blow anyone away, but it's better than it was. It's been elevated from "kinda lame" to "fine." No, if you really wanna see Ian flex his ability to breathe new life into old Sonic stories, look no further than...

Gerald Robotnik's Journal

Hoo boy.

The story of what happened aboard the ARK has always been... a bit confusing, to say the least. Fans with encyclopedic knowledge of the script for every route of Shadow '05 may disagree, but it's the truth. We've had all the pieces to understand the story for a long time now, but that info was given to us out of order by a pair of unreliable narrators—Gerald, who became a vengeful lunatic shortly before his death, and Shadow, who was subjected to multiple rounds of amnesia and altered memories. Some of the ambiguity left by Sonic Adventure 2 was cleared up in Shadow '05, but that game also retconned in a bunch of new elements to Shadow's backstory (aliens!) that lead to further confusion. Not to mention the fact that that game had multiple routes and only revealed the truth about Shadow if you sat on the ultimate final boss battle for WAY longer than the fight would normally last. Or the fact that Sonic X made its own tweaks in its telling of the story. Or the fact that none of these things ever had the best English translations. I can't blame anyone who hasn't played those games in two decades for not remembering the truth about these characters and getting some details mixed up.

What we needed was something to piece together all of the info we have into one coherent backstory, told in chronological order. And thanks to Shadow Generations, we have that, in the form of an official journal tying together what we knew from Sonic Adventure 2, Shadow '05, and Sonic Battle into the tragic tale of Gerald's rise and fall.

Ian Flynn was the perfect man for the job here as the guy who started his career by tidying up the mess that was the first 159 issues if Archie Sonic. This is what he excels at: taking disparate bits of weird Sonic lore from multiple different sources, boiling them down to their most interesting elements, and connecting it together in a way that will make the audience see the dramatic potential he's always known was there. Rather than feeling like a cynical exercise in franchise building, going back and explaining things that never needed explaining so that people can add more bullet points to the wiki, he puts a new spin on things that retroactively enriches those past stories. The story here means something to the characters involved and gives us a better understanding of them as people, rather than as plot devices to motivate Shadow.

(And, of course, Ian didn't do this journal alone. He wrote the story, but I also have to give a huge shout out to Evan Stanley, who made the final product. All of her handwritten journal entries, sketches, and "photos" included throughout. The physical damage done to the journal over the course of 50 tumultuous years, passing from Gerald to Eggman to a certain special someone at GUN. The way Gerald's handwriting gets less and less legible as his mental state declines. So much love was put into what could have been a mere text dump in a menu, and it really elevates it to the next level. Congrats on officially getting hired by Sega, Evan, you've sure as hell earned it!)

The main idea the journal conveys is that Gerald was under a lot of pressure from a lot of different parties—GUN, the President, his colleagues aboard the ARK, Black Doom, even his own family—and boy did it get to him. The known incidents aboard the ARK mentioned in previous games are put together here to form a story where everything slowly spirals out of control as Gerald keeps compromising his morals to further his research, thinking he'll eventually find some way out of all this because he's a genius. I won't recap that whole story here (if you haven't already played the game and read the journal entries, I would highly recommend at least reading it on the Sonic wiki), but I'd like to highlight my favorite elements of the story, as Ian tells it here.

1) The Eclipse Cannon

Here's something that never quite made sense in Sonic Adventure 2: why does the ARK have a laser that can blow up the Earth built into it? It was supposed to be a peaceful research colony. Sure, Gerald went crazy and swore revenge on the Earth, but, like... when did he have an opportunity to go back up to the ARK and modify it? Did he have someone else do it? How? The ARK was raided by GUN and shut down! And then they arrested him, held him in prison for an unclear period of time, and executed him by firing squad when he was no longer useful! It doesn't add up. Shadow 'the Hedgehog '05 would give its own answer by introducing the Black Arms and saying that the Eclipse Cannon was always supposed to be a secret trump card against the Black Comet. But, like... we know that's kind of a bullshit answer, right? You don't need enough power to blow up a whole planet just to destroy a comet.

Well, the new journal retains what we already knew, but it paints a much more complete picture.

See, long before Gerald ever made a Faustian bargain with Black Doom, he had already made one with an even greater evil: the military. GUN gave Gerald much of the funding for the ARK, Gerald's personal utopian research station in space, but it didn't take long for GUN to start pressuring him to design them weapons. Gerald tried to get GUN off his back by personally contacting the President of the United Federation, and the President gave him an alternative: how about, instead, you just use your genius brain to figure out the secret to immortality for us, so our soldiers can be immortal? Gerald was initially sickened by the notion and found it completely absurd, like chasing a shadow... but given no other option, the sarcastically named Project Shadow soon began in earnest. (Maria would later put a more positive spin on the name after Shadow's awakening, pointing out that a Shadow can show us the direction of the light, like she says in the game itself.)

Of course, this search for the ultimate life form didn't go very well, and without any results on that front GUN kept hounding him for weapons. Gerald would throw them a bone here and there to get them off his back. His research on Chaos resulted in the Artifical Chaos prototypes, which he worried would be used for warfare but could at least theoretically be used for search and rescue missions in floods, in his mind. But that wasn't enough. So he gave them Chaos Drives to power their mechs. And that still wasn't enough. He's got Emerl. He'll give them Emerl. They're not impressed by Emerl. They'll shut the whole ARK down if Gerald doesn't give them something big.

Fine! GUN wants something big? Gerald builds a huge fucking laser cannon into the ARK. However, as a middle finger to GUN, Gerald makes it so powerful that it would destroy the Earth if it was ever fired at any target on its surface. In other words, GUN now has their ultimate weapon of mass destruction, fulfilling his contract, but they can never actually use it. Oh, the delicious irony. (And also Shadow will blow up the Black Comet with it in 50 years yada yada yada.) Is this perhaps extremely shortsighted and naive of Gerald, to believe that such a weapon would never actually be used just because of the risk? Of course. But hey, that's Gerald for you. And I love this as an answer.

(Also, this, uh, kinda echoes something from real life! Remember the bit in Oppenheimer where he says all nuclear war will become unthinkable, and Edward Teller responds "until somebody builds a bigger bomb"? Yeah, Teller went on to conceptualize a superweapon codenamed Project Sundial that would have been able to kill all life on the planet, as the ultimate deterrent for war. This was never made for obvious reasons, but hey, there's a basis for this sort of thinking outside of heightened sci-fi! There's a whole Kurzgesagt video about this if you're interested.)

2) The Biolizard

The Biolizard is, of course, brought up as the initial failed prototype of the ultimate life form, from before Gerald met Black Doom. We don't really learn all that much about it that we didn't already know, but I just love the way it's framed in the story.

As you can see above, we actually get to see a picture of Maria holding up the cute little salamander that would end up mutating into the Biolizard through Gerald's experiments. (Researchers want to figure out how to replicate salamanders' regenerative abilities for humans in real life, too, so this was a natural starting point for the project.) And then, after it grows to a monstrous size and goes out of control, Gerald has to lock it away in an unused sector of the ARK. He needs to keep the poor thing alive for his research into harnessing Chaos Energy, building life support systems directly into it, but he doesn't have the heart to tell Maria what happened. So it just becomes this first dark secret weighing on his conscience. The Biolizard becomes Gerald's Tell-Tale Heart beating beneath the floorboards of the ARK. I love that.

3) Lost Impact was the breaking point for the ARK

Remember the level Lost Impact in Shadow '05? The flashback level on the hero path where Shadow is running around fighting Artificial Chaos enemies on the ARK 50 years ago? Yeah, that wasn't just a random incident. That was important, as we now know due to its placement on the timeline.

See, Emerl's rampage aboard the ARK that was chronicled in Sonic Battle and Dark Beginnings set off a domino effect. Emerl riled up the Artificial Chaos, causing Gerald to lose control of them. They became violent, and so Shadow had to stop them, as depicted in Lost Impact. The thing is, that incident sent an SOS signal to GUN telling them that shit was going down on the ARK. Gerald didsn't fully understand the trouble he was in and assumed that he'd simply be reprimanded by the higher ups, or maybe face legal action. But, well... the next time he heard from GUN, armed troopers were raiding the ARK.

So Lost Impact was the straw that broke the camel's back. I just really like that detail.

4) Maria

And, of course, there's Maria herself. Maria has often been more of a symbol than a character, this perfect embodiment of everything that's good and pure in this world who gets killed to motivate Shadow and Gerald's revenge plots. But I really like the wrinkles this journal adds to her and Gerald's story, and their relationship. This is the most fleshed out they've ever felt.

For one, the journal leans into the idea of Maria's intellectual potential. The rest of the Robotnik family is all geniuses, after all, and she was proving to be a really bright kid. She excelled in her studies on the ARK, and she even helped design Shadow's jet skates and inhibitor rings. When Maria died, the world didn't just lose a symbolic personification of purity. She genuinely could have been a hugely influential scientist who did so much good for the world. That's what Gerald wanted for her. But we'll never know, because GUN killed her.

Speaking of her family, their presence isn't just mentioned for the sake of fleshing out the Robotnik family tree. It's mentioned that as Gerald struggled to find a cure for Maria's illness through his genetic research, he faced mounting pressure from his family. They didn't want Maria to be up on the ARK forever. They wanted Gerald to hurry up and find a damn cure, or otherwise just send her back home to Earth so she could be with her family again. She'd been up on the ARK for so long that Gerald's coworkers started thinking that she had been born up there. Eventually she gains a baby sister on Earth who she's never met. A rift forms between Gerald's two sons, and he's unable to really deal with it because he's so consumed by his work. There's this sense that the family is falling apart, and that everyone is dreading the possibility that Gerald will never find a cure and that Maria will just spend her final years up in space and die far away from her family, because Gerald just couldn't let go. If that happens, it'll break the whole family. But he can't stop now. So he just keeps working. Curing Maria is the only way to win his family back, in his eyes. It can't all be for nothing.

But my favorite detail regarding Maria is this one paragraph:

Maria is growing into a lovely young woman. It breaks my heart that someone as bright and energetic as her is diminished by disease. There are no visible effects, and I've caught my fellow researchers muttering to each other, doubting her illness. It is infuriating. I find all my reason and restraint vanishes when she's slighted.

This is SUCH a great addition to the story! It's always been true that Maria doesn't really seem all that ill, just looking at her in cutscenes. With this one little comment, Ian flips that issue on its head and turns it into a story about invisible disability. She doesn't act like she's in chronic pain, so she must not be, everyone thinks. And this really, really gets to Gerald, as does the pressure from his family. He's dedicating his whole LIFE to saving her, and they think she's faking it?! It's such a small addition, never referenced elsewhere in the journal, but it adds so much flavor to the story, as does the implied family drama. It grounds Gerald and Maria and makes them feel more like real human beings, rather than being pure archetypes. It's just enough info to let my imagination run wild filling in the blanks.

You also get the feeling that Maria being such a walking ray of sunshine was the only real source of joy Gerald had left in his life before Shadow was awakened, and the only thing keeping him from snapping under pressure sooner. All this stuff just keeps piling on, everything's spiraling out of control, but at least Maria is keeping her chin up, right? It makes so much sense that losing her would make him go off the deep end when it's framed like this.

It's just... man, I never thought I'd care so much about Gerald and Maria. But that's the Ian Flynn touch. After years of less than stellar Sonic writing that seemed to be embarrassed of itself, I'm so happy to have new games coming out that fully embrace the history of the series like this, making its world feel so rich and real instead of just serving as an excuse for a string of platforming levels. I don't even like Shadow '05, but I'll be damned if Ian and the rest of Sonic Team didn't make something amazing by "yes, and"-ing Shadow's cringe past here. Sonic has truly reached levels of "we're so back" never thought possible.

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accirax · 7 months ago

Note

I think I remember you making a theory about who would die and when in Eden’s Garden. Now that the title of chapter 1 has been revealed, (and the title usually at least loosely relates to the themes/victim/culprit of the chapter), have your options on who might bite the dust this chapter changed?

Project: Eden's Garden Chapter 1 Killer/Victim Theory

Ooh, an Eden's Garden ask! It's been a while since I've gotten to talk about this game, so, thanks :D

Funnily enough, the inciting incident of this ask isn't actually real. I haven't made a full death prediction for P:EG, mostly because of how little information we have as to the characters' full personalities and, perhaps more importantly, their bonds with each other. Your memory might be a combination of my mastermind ranking (and its update), that one time I rambled about different fangan writing styles (including the logic behind a first victim), and some off-the-wall speculation about what a ch2 victim Eva might look like in another meta discussion post mostly focused on DRDT. I made some offhand comments about potential victims and killers (especially in the early game) in all of those posts, so given my history of discussing DRDT's death order, I can see how that post might have formulated in your mind. Alas, it does not actually exist.

Still, with the first chapter of P:EG coming out soon (ish), I'd be delighted to spare some speculations as to who might be on the chopping block for the first chapter, least! My usual apologies for this taking so long, but this time, I also wanted to replay the prologue since I was kind of hazy on what actually happened in it. However, this extensive writing period has given me additional time to think of what I want to say, and hopefully come up with a convincing theory as to what may happen.

(Spoilers for Trigger Happy Havoc, SDR2, and V3, as well as some very minor spoilers for SDRA2 Chapter 2. You only need to worry about them if you wanted to go into SDRA2 completely blind.)

The Title

The first step here is obviously to take a deep dive into what the title could actually mean or imply. I keep wanting to think that the title refers to death, but that phrase is "beyond the veil," not "beneath the veil." "Beneath the veil," as far as I can tell, isn't a commonly recurring phrase. Plus, it's not like saying that there's going to be a death in this chapter is anything mind blowing, nor does it help us narrow down who would die.

So, let's take a step back. "Beneath the veil" implies that somebody is hiding something, because there's a piece of fabric concealing their face, and therefore their true intentions. However, it's not necessarily a super successful concealment, because (according to a quick google search) most veils are transparent. The character(s) this title refers to may only be partially concealing their hypocrisy from the group, as opposed to being fully undercover. Notably, veils are often (in Western culture, at least) associated with weddings. The choice of the word "veil" could implicate our local Matchmaker as the beholder of the hypocrisy.

Speaking of hypocrisy, I think that's the key word in this title that can help us pin down the central characters and themes of this chapter. As defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, hypocrisy is "a feigning to be what one is not or believe what one does not, especially the false assumption of an appearance of virtue or religion." In simpler terms, it's lying about or double-crossing something that you believe in to make it look like you have the moral high ground.

Therefore, in order for a character to fit the themes of this chapter, they have to have something they're actually hypocritical about. Take Ulysses, for example. In what way is he pretending to be better than the others around him? What core beliefs has the game shown us that he has that could be weaponized against others? I don't yet see anything compelling, and therefore, he might not be super important to this chapter.

Combining the title with the way the prologue ended, I definitely think that this first chapter is going to be about Damon's point of view being proven correct. Meanwhile, the rest of the students will secretly struggle with morality and their desire to kill while pretending that everything's cool. You know, like how most killing games start! (Other than the protag being such a downer.) It'll be interesting to presumably witness this typical group dynamic from the perspective of an outsider. Being someone who's used to tearing others' arguments apart, I wonder if Damon could be better than the average person at finding the hidden meanings and opinions behind others' words. I just think it'd be super funny if he were listening in on a breakfast conversation and it was just like--

Ingrid: Keep your chins up, everybody! If we can keep our heads on straight and trust in one another, I'm sure we'll start figurin' out how to get out of here! Damon: ("We'll start," implying that no progress has been made thus far. Combined with that if clause, Ingrid's frustrations that no one is thinking clearly and she's found no one to trust become obvious.) Eloise: Right...! It's like my dad always said: "in union, there is strength." I'm sure he'd be happy to hear that all of us are on the same page. I wish I could tell him... Damon: (Sounds like someone has been obsessing over the thought of going home.) Wolfgang: There's no need to worry, Eloise. I won't let any of the despicable killers in this academy keep us from our families. You can count on me. Damon: (Jesus Christ.)

Anyways, victims and culprits! I'll be discussing the top 5 most likely students that I can see filling each role.

The Killers

As much as I'd like to talk about the culprits second for the sake of drama, it'll be a lot easier for me to talk about potential blackeneds first. I think I've said this somewhere on this blog before, but who a victim is really depends on who the killer is. After all, the victim was only targeted because of the killer's rationale. A victim can be random, but a killer is pretty much never random. So, who could be filling our first blackened spot?

#5: Diana

Despite her placement as #5-- AKA, above 11 other students that I won't be talking about in a role as the killer at all-- I actually don't really like putting Diana here. To me, her fears and hopes for the future read as genuine. And, while a character who starts off fully sipping the hope Kool Aid can obviously come to murder in the end, for Diana, I don't think it would happen so fast. If she isn't secretly evil, I think it would take at least one murder to make her crack under pressure.

However, I can't argue that Diana has a compelling argument for the title of hypocrite. Simply put, she's the character in the prologue who seems most invested in everyone working together and being friends, without any personal power-seeking agendas. Therefore, if the veil in question is that of promoting friendship, Diana would be the most extreme example to use to prove the point that friendship in Eden's Garden Academy (at this point in time) is a fruitless endeavor.

#4: Wenona

After discussing my reasons for suspecting Diana, Wenona might come as a surprise. Does she really fit the theme? Out of all of the characters who could be hiding behind a guise of teamwork and being a good person, is she really the best fit?

Well, while I think it's likely that the main crux of the hypocrisy this chapter will be about remaining unified and trusting one another, that theme can always be interpreted in multiple ways at once. We could have characters who are hypocritically pretending to be nice while harboring ill intentions, and characters who are hypocritically pretending to be meaner than they are looking down on the nice folks while secretly being soft inside.

That's more of what I'm getting at with Wenona. If she were the blackened, I think the hypocrisy would be "pretending to be strong and better than other people while actually being just as weak as the rest of them." As the Ultimate Entrepreneur, Wenona seems to take a lot of pride in herself and her skills. She has the same sort of snobbish demeanor that Damon has when it comes to assessing the less academic of the talents recruited to Eden's Garden Academy.

Wenona is a cutthroat genius when it comes to social politics and financial practices. Even if this killing game wasn't in her initial plans, she'll obviously be able to crush it. She isn't trapped in here with Tozu; Tozu is trapped in here with her. That's what she wants everyone to think.

But, if she does become the blackened... how much of that attitude is really real? I'm imagining a scenario in which Wenona's reason for killing is less "fuck this shit I'm out" and more genuine fear for losing her life at the hands of the killing game and/or never returning to her regular life. When asked why she killed the victim, she tries to fake ruthlessness, but in the face of her execution, the clear truth is that she was just afraid of dying. Thus, Wenona would spend the majority of the daily life hypocritically sneering at the "weaker" students like Toshiko or Diana for not being tough enough to cut it in the killing game, before ultimately proving herself as the weakest link in the end.

#3: Eva

From the Prologue alone, we can already tell that Eva is a character who easily has strong enough opinions to potentially become a hypocrite. But, wait-- wouldn't her killing someone actually line up perfectly with the argument she made?

How is that hypocrisy?

Well, although Eva is certainly of the opinion that someone will kill, she acts as if she's above it herself. If it's been a while since you've seen the Prologue, that could be easy to forget. However, after she makes her initial statement that someone here will kill because they have too much to lose, she starts talking about how pretending that everything is fine will only make people more vulnerable to being killed. She directly accuses Wolfgang of doing this purposefully in order to better his own chances of succeeding as a blackened.

Most of her statements use the pronoun "you," which, whether referring to anyone in the group or Wolfgang specifically, does not include Eva herself. You, Wolfgang, are making a mistake that will lead others towards their deaths, murders that will happen by your guys' hands. Me, though...? (I'm tight as fuck!!!)

After criticizing Wolfgang so harshly, Eva would be the biggest hypocrite if she was actually the one to be the first killer. Even though Eva was doing the other students a favor by telling them the harsh truth, she did so in a way that put herself above them. She's let everyone know that she's smarter than them for immediately seeing straight through the killing game, and for not falling for Wolfgang's obvious manipulation tactics. If the rest of the students then learned that Eva played directly into the killing game's hands by becoming its first killer, I think they'd have every right to call her a hypocrite.

As for Eva and Damon, I think that making Eva the first killer could be really interesting for Damon's character. That's because, whether he'd admit to it or not, I think that Damon does align with Eva more than anyone else at this point. They were working together to promote the idea that pretending that nothing is wrong is dumb at best and harmful at worst. Damon doesn't seem like the type of protagonist who would be super vehemently against the idea of killing another student himself.

Thus, if Eva did become a killer, it would give him a startling window into what he would look like if he had decided to forsake this academy and kill. Every assertion he's internally made suddenly sounds flaky and desperate when coming out of the mouth of someone on death row. And, now that he's been betrayed by Eva too, why do some of the counterarguments the other students are making against Eva's claims sound more and more legitimate...? I think Eva's death as a killer could be the perfect wake-up call to Damon that his cold and calculating demeanor might not be as perfect of a plan as he acts like it is now.

However, much like Diana, I do think that Eva's reactions are genuine-- in this case, genuinely coming from a place of wanting to save the other students as opposed to wanting them all dead. Even if it would be compelling if Eva turned out to be some massive hypocrite, that doesn't mean that the setup for that being the case is actually there. We've seen so little of all of the characters so far that it's hard to provide textual evidence as to why I think this is the case, so unfortunately we'll just have to rely on my gut feeling. Every day I have to remind myself that it's okay to say "it's just my opinion" in the Just My Opinion essays. Sigh.

#2: Wolfgang

I feel like (as compared to something like DRDT) I have so little of a finger on the pulse of the P:EG community in terms of knowing what's popular opinion and what's not. Is Wolfgang's placement here a surprising take? Are people surprised to see that I have Wolfgang listed as a potential early killer as opposed to a final boss antag/survivor? Are people surprised that he's not #1???

Anyways. Hypocrisy. Wolfgang. It's so obvious that I feel like I don't even need to say it. I mean, I already did say it in this very post. Eva has already called Wolfgang out for hypocritically claiming to protect everyone while actually increasing the odds that someone could be taken advantage of. Wolfgang claims to be a defender of the people, but as soon as he hits the Trial Grounds, he seems to fixate on proving his viewpoint correct over all else. In the Chapter 1 demo (really mild spoilers for that, I guess), the literal last thing we leave off on is Damon calling out Wolfgang for being a hypocrite when it comes to investigating the school. Wolfgang Akire, Ultimate Laywer? Nah, I only know Wolfgang Akire, Ultimate Hypocrite.

Going back to my analysis of how early deaths work (here's the link again if you didn't read/refresh on it before but want to now), if P:EG is a project that wants to make their early deaths out of characters that are really visible, then Wolfgang is perhaps the best choice for that. The only other possible rivals he has in that regard are Damon or Eva.

Given how visible Wolfgang has been, it feels inevitable that this chapter will revolve around his hypocrisy somehow. The question is whether that would result in him dying or not. And, part of that question for me returns to what I mentioned at the beginning: how much does the fandom expect that it would result in him dying?

Make no mistake, this isn't an effort to people please by going along with what most people believe to be true. It's an effort to deduce which option would read as a more surprising and satisfying answer to a mystery posed in this mystery series. If the fandom is really caught up on the idea that "Wolfgang is P:EG's Byakuya/Nagito/Kokichi antag character, and that character MUST make it to the end after opposing the protagonist all the way through!!!", then it would work as a successful subversion to have that character die early, and leave the audience questioning who will come to fill the void in the story that Wolfgang left behind. However, if the audience has already broken free of those expectations and see Wolfgang as someone whose biases and neuroses could easily lead to him snapping early, then actually making him the first killer could turn out kinda boring.

I think I'm of the latter opinion at this point, although I could obviously just be biased in thinking that others share my opinions because my opinions are the main ones I've heard. Even if Wolfgang is a really obvious fandom's favorite edgy antag archetype, I can't deny that there's a lot of really good thematic setup in the Debater vs Lawyer department that I feel like the writers will want to reap the payoff from. It would be a shame to let whatever twisted worldview Wolfgang is cooking on "go to waste" by having him exit the story so early. But, I'm also always a fan of riffing wildly and unexpectedly off of the preconceptions of a killing game that Danganronpa fans have built up in their minds, so I would neither be too surprised nor mind at all if the writers did wind up letting Wolfgang flame out early, as long as they have a plan for what happens next prepared.

#1: Jean

Despite what I was just complaining about in Wolfgang's section, I'm almost certain that this will come as a surprise to people. Does that make me a hypocrite, too? Yay, how thematic!

Jean does not seem like the typical first killer. He's way too silly and entrenched in his theming. He's an oddball character! Accirax, weren't you literally the one who said that oddball characters don't die in Chapter 1?!

Oddballs tend not to die in Chapters 1 or 2. This is because oddball characters are generally created to supply a very niche kind of comedic relief[...] Any character deemed worthy of being included in a fangan occupies one of 16 highly contested slots. So, if you include a character for the purpose of making jokes with them, you'll want to get your bang for your buck! It’s hard to fit every joke you have in mind into only a chapter or two. The best example I could come up with for a (canon) oddball who dies early is Teruteru. In his case, the writers likely anticipated that his hyper-flirtatious nature would get tiring if it continued on for too long, and thus, exhausted all of the jokes they wanted to make in Chapter 1 before his exit. An oddball who dies this early has a limited shelf life, and is likely accompanied by other oddballs who can pick up the comedic slack.

Why, I sure did! Thank you for remembering that one niche argument in a really long post about a completely different series, imaginary person. However, that logic is why I initially wasn't suspicious of Jean either. With a bit of investigation, however, I've landed on him as my most likely choice.

Let's start with the hypocrisy. Although not necessarily the loudest voice on the subject, Jean, too, is someone who has strongly advocated for unity and friendship in the face of the killing game. It was easy for me at least to forget, but he has a bit of a leadership position in the Prologue, a bit behind Wolfgang. Even Damon can surprisingly attest to the command he can wield when he needs to.

It makes sense that, as a Ship Captain, he's all about getting people to work together under his leadership to accomplish amazing feats. Therefore, while not as obvious about it as Diana or Wolfgang, Jean would also be someone who could only commit a murder hypocritically.

Like, you can't just say this and then selfishly try to win the Class Trial to protect your own life. Well, not without speaking from beneath the veil of hypocrisy, anyways.

However, as I just admitted three sentences ago, the argument for Jean fitting the hypocrisy theme is weaker than someone like Diana or Wolfgang. So, what chose me to pick him over those two, or someone else at a similar level? Well, for that, we'll have to go over my...

Project: Eden's Garden Chapter 1 Murder Theory

HA HA! You thought we were merely conducting narrative analysis, but we're taking a look at evidence as well! It is a bold choice to try to predict who the blackened will be based on the murder committed when said murder hasn't even been committed yet, I'm aware. However, it's the choice of location that made me lean towards Jean. And, while it's no guarantee...

... I find it really likely that this will be the site of the murder. It screams murder location to me. Why the hell is there all this water on the floor if it won't be relevant in some way somewhere down the line? It's also locked in as the first area that you investigate closely. This doesn't have to mean that a murder will happen here, obviously-- none of Makoto's classroom, Hajime's beach, or Kaede's classroom become murder locations-- but it still does mean that this location will leave a lasting impact on your mind. The first time you ever get to wield the controls in this fangame is to investigate this room. And investigate it, we did.

I feel like locations that become murder relevant are often investigated in a much more specific way than ones that aren't, especially in cases where aspects of the room are critical to solving the mystery. This often includes them having CGs and/or cutscenes to illustrate the location's functions at work, and potentially be art used for a truth bullet in the future. Off the top of my head, I can remember a couple of times this happened in v3.

To use a fangan example, it also happened at least once in SDRA2.

(translation by Johnny Youngster)

The P:EG basement area was investigated to hell and back during Eva and Damon's first introductions. Like, can't you imagine this being truth bullet art?

Anyways, down in this basement that no innocent student has any good reason to visit, there's a conspicuous vent we've investigated in detail that looks over the Dining Hall, which several students are inclined to visit at various points in the day.

It has gaps in it that are wide enough to see through, and perhaps wide enough to use a weapon through. Even beyond something like a poisoned spear or the like, if you could shoot a gun through these slits, it could be enough to take someone out. Damon has very conveniently already removed one of the grates in the way, which will make it easier for the killer to do their malicious deed, and perhaps even make it easier for them to figure out that they could remove the other vent as well.

Now, it is true that Damon and Eva had to work together in order to reach this vent, which could make it difficult for the killer to utilize. However, it's obviously not impossible. If the killer were tall-- say, six feet tall, an entire half foot taller than Eva-- then it's possible they could access it on their own anyways, especially if they possessed any sort of climbing ability. The killer could also have an accomplice with which to create the same sort of setup Damon and Eva made (although, to Jean's credit, if this were the case, he'd probably be the one on the bottom -> not the one holding the weapon -> not the actual blackened). Or, they could use the cardboard boxes and duct tape that have conveniently already been identified in this room to make some stairs.

Although, that raises a problem, doesn't it? The entire floor of this room is covered in water.

A cardboard box would likely have structural issues if you put it in the water and then tried to stand on it. Maybe it could work if you put several cardboard boxes inside of each other...? Or if you just quickly used them as steps to hop up before fully leaning your weight on the generator. Regardless, we have other problems. Even if Eva has proven that the water won't electrocute you if you step in it, it's still an issue. If you step in the water with your shoes on and then try to quickly flee the scene, you'd leave wet footprints and damning damp ankle evidence behind. You could take your shoes off and roll up your pants like Damon does, but that could cost you precious time.

If only there were someone out there who was already wearing waterproof shoes...

... and maybe even a cloth or sash of some sort to wipe them off with before leaving the room.

Even Jean's character conception makes sense to me from this perspective. For your first chapter, you need a character who can be a kind and friendly leader type whose betrayal will rattle the more friendship-inclined of the group, and you need them to wear waterproof shoes. Leader plus waterproof shoes... well, that could be a ship's captain, couldn't it?

In this case, Jean's oddball nature is actually a boon to him in pretty much all manners. Despite relying so much on the gimmick of "I'm not a pirate!", Jean does seem to have a serious side to him. That duality gives him some clearly articulated character depth, even if it may not be explored much in the main plot. The striking nautical gimmick makes it harder for him to fade into the newly introduced crowd. He's quickly recognizable at a glance, making it easier for the casual viewer to remember him in the long gulf between chapters.

Speaking of being memorable, Jean is placed right in front of the tree when the characters in the Tree of Knowledge room are introduced.

He also stands there before the 0th Class Trial.

(Using this screenshot even though it's blurry just to show that these are different points in time.)

It's not as memorable of a spot as Eva, Grace, Wolfgang, or Toshiko (who go around and introduce themselves with Damon and thus get top billing), or even as Eloise and Desmond (who at least get their own room), but it's still notable. Between my own playthrough and others', I've seen people go around the circle with Ingrid first or Ulysses first, but everyone always talks to Jean right after they enter the room. The dark trunk is a great contrast against Jean's bright orange design, so he's really striking standing against the door. When I think of this room, I know exactly where Jean is, while the others are... somewhere back there. If I'm right, it's a subtle way to make sure that all players have at least some connection to Jean before he dies, and possibly even to make the first post-Trial gathering feel a little emptier with that super-highlighted spot empty.

I do want to touch on the narrative again, though, because that's more important than the murder plan that may or may not just be my own invention. I maintain that, right now, Diana or Wolfgang make more sense as someone who would illustrate the hypocrisy of pretending to be friends while actually murdering for their own purposes. However, depending on how Chapter 1 plays out, I think that Jean could be just as good as them, if not better. There's been some foreshadowing that Jean might take on a leaderly role in the group, but at the moment, it's been pretty focused on Wolfgang alone. However, if Jean starts to take on any sort of leadership position, even if it's mostly in the background or as the heart to Wolfgang's brains, I think he could work just as well as Wolfgang.

So, that's my prediction for now! The most likely blackened is Jean, with Wolfgang and Eva as backups, and Wenona and Diana as backups after them. But, in the case of any of them being the killer, who would they kill? Obviously, the answer may differ slightly depending on which of them (or someone else) it is, but I'll try to come up with a good aggregate answer.

The Victims

While my victim ideas will still be roughly ranked in order of likelihood, know that there's a lot less difference between #1 and #5 here than on the killers list. And, along that line of thinking, I'm a lot less confident in these predictions than in the killers', in the sense that I would be less surprised if the victim was none of the five characters discussed below than I would be for the killer. But, at any rate: the five most likely victims.

#5: Kai

I could definitely see some personal bias coming in to me placing Kai here. Not because I dislike Kai-- actually, he was quite possibly my favorite character coming out of the Prologue. I love a funny pathetic drama queen. I just remember, after first playing that Prologue, having the fear that Kai would turn out to be the first killer, thus eliminating my so-far favorite from the game. Obviously I've since removed him from my likely killers' catalogue, but I still can't shake the feeling that he could be an early death.

Kai is an easily recognizable and memorable character. You know who he is near-instantaneously-- take one look at him and you're already saying, "oh god, the influencer." He's really talkative, already having taken up a lot of screen time in his "arc" of being terrified by the body to being too lazy to participate in the Trial to eventually blabbering his way through it anyways. He also already has a defined dynamic with Damon. Even if I can't necessarily say that Damon would be sad to see Kai gone at this point (sorry Kaimon shippers), he'd have to have some sort of personal reaction to it. I could see him eventually recognizing something along the lines of, "it's weird to not have Kai around bothering me anymore."

It's no surprise that Kai is a popular character in the fandom, because he has all the traits to take on a role like that. However, that sort of characterization is a double edged sword. When considering the killing game as a whole, it's hard to come up with a first victim who will still be remembered and celebrated by the end of the entire saga (assuming that's what you're going for). However, despite not being a super critical character to the story*, I could see Kai continue to be featured in fanart and included in fanfiction due to his humor and pretty boy appeal long after his demise.

(*I'm not saying that Kai couldn't be a super relevant character if he survives Chapter 1, I'm just saying that, if he is the Chapter 1 victim, I don't think it would be in a Mukuro/Twogami/Rantaro Early Mystery kind of way.)

Kai is definitely one of those characters that I see in a crux position, where they're either going to be a super early game character or a super late game character. And, to be honest, despite what I've said here and what I believed after playing the Prologue, I actually now think Kai might have the legs to go long game. Although he could just be a bit of a cowardly funny guy who can't handle the circumstances and instantly drops dead (sort of like what was originally planned for Hiro in THH), Kai does seem to have a lot of... issues. While I originally thought those might just play out in his FTEs-- which is still theoretically possible-- I think the story might take more time to dive into them. There's also a clear arc before him of initially not rising to the killing game's challenge, but eventually being forced to take things seriously and give it his all.

There're also the comments that Grace made in Kai's introduction about him a dictator. From what we've seen of Kai so far, that label seems really hard to believe. If his character ever needs to rise to that dictator status, he'll probably need more time to do it.

I'm also applying some... meta knowledge here. I'm pretty sure I remember from watching some of the San Japan interviews that Kai is at least one of the writers' favorite characters, which is a bold take if he does die literally first. Also, I just learned from trying to look up what Kai and Damon's ship name is that apparently three of the staff artists ship Kaimon. Could that indicate that Kai and Damon might survive together...? I could definitely just be looking into things too much with both of these, but it's hard for me to not consider all the evidence at hand.

Anyways. Kai could really easily be taken out first, or he could have a major role to play yet. In either case, I'm sure this speculation will be fun to look back at in the future.

#4: Toshiko

Hey, maybe I can make that wedding veil thing have meaning after all.

Part of what I was considering when coming up with my list of potential victims is what sort of rationale the killer would have when choosing who to kill. Obviously, with the method I described in Jean's section, it's possible the criteria would be "whoever walks into the Dining Hall alone first," which is essentially random. However, that doesn't give me much to work with, so I tried to assume something more specific than that. However, I also didn't want to make it too specific-- like Peko targeting Mahiru in SDR2 Ch2 due to a prior conflict-- because that forces me to pin down my killer too hard, and might rely on information I simply don't have.

Instead, we're looking for a broad category, like "Sayaka wanted a manipulable man." Honestly, the "I want to kill but I don't have a specific image in mind of who" apparently doesn't happen too much in canon, but I think it's a really useful one to consider. Would the killer want to target an unpopular person so that anyone could have a motive to kill? Would the killer want to target the smartest person around so that they'll have fewer hurdles to deal with in the Class Trial? Would the killer take out the weakest and most vulnerable target because that's all they could manage, or even because they want people to believe that's all they could manage?

To go along with the hypocrisy theme, I think that the killer taking out an easy target for simplicity's sake is a very plausible option. Especially if the killer is a strong person like Jean, there's that added injustice of, "dude, you couldn't even pick on someone your own size?"

If that is the case, Toshiko is an obvious choice for someone who's small and easy to beat in a fight. (Kai follows these guidelines too, to an extent.) Other than her small size potentially making her harder to hit, I could imagine anyone being able to overpower her with relative ease. This part is more of a shot in the dark, as we haven't seen any daily life play out yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if Toshiko's notably younger age leaves her with few friends around the school. Thus, she might more often be found alone, making her easier to ambush and giving the killer more time before somebody realizes something is wrong.

Toshiko is also in the group of Eva, Grace, Wolfgang, and herself who got additional focus via conducting introductions with Damon in the Prologue. Including the first victim within that group would be a great way to give their character with the least screen time a bit more before they die off.

However, I also have my doubts that this will happen. It's just... such a bold move to kill the literal child as you're drawing first blood. Like, obviously I picked it for the hypocrisy-themed chapter because that kind of thing would make you look like a monster, but, would anybody really bite?

I also just kinda get the vibes that Toshiko is set up to be more than the first victim. While uniquely making her a child could be intentional, if the first killer is meant to look extra heartless, I don't understand where the Ultimate Matchmaker talent would have come from in that case. I guess she could matchmake or otherwise psychoanalyze people in the Chapter 1 daily life before she dies...? Maybe the killer could be worried about her figuring out how they're feeling and want to silence her. Actually, okay, that's convincing enough.

Picking Toshiko goes against my gut instincts of where Eden's Garden is headed, but I can't deny that there are sensible arguments behind Toshiko dying first as well. Or, maybe I'm just delusional. I'll leave that up to y'all's judgment at this point.

#3: Diana

Uh, kind of the same things that I just said about Toshiko, as well as my arguments for Diana being the killer. Diana also appears to be pretty weak, so it wouldn't be too hard for others to overpower and kill her. I also didn't forget that she too is a child, although she appears much more mature than Toshiko due to 1) being a high school senior as opposed to a high school freshman and 2) having an industry job rather than however Toshiko's business functions. You could still use the argument of "why would you kill someone who still has so much life left to live," although it might feel a little awkward when characters like Mark are only one year older than Diana and Toshiko is (presumably) still standing right there.

Really, though, the main reason why Diana ranks this high is because she's so darn nice. Even if people might see her as a little ditzy, I still feel that she'd have the most unilaterally "why did you choose to kill such a sweet person" response across the board. Depending on who the killer is, that choice could be hypocritical. If it's someone like Jean or Wolfgang who had been trying to convince everyone to work together and shaming those who didn't conform, eliminating someone who was happily following along with your plan could be considered hypocritical.

However, I still think that Diana is more primed to have a surprisingly deep run than a surprisingly short one. If Diana died first, then her character is "nice girl," and that's it. What about all of that weird mastermind coding?! My new theory is actually that Diana will be killed at some point because people think she's the mastermind, even though she's actually innocent. (That, or The_Humbugg is right and Diana has autism, and the mastermind coding is a galaxy brain method to ensure that viewers are wary of her for reasons that are entirely not her fault, much like how neurotypical people might instinctively find autistic people unsettling/shifty even when they aren't trying to be. I love The_Humbugg's video everyone should watch that.)

I was actually at first worried for her in Chapter 1 for that reason, until I remembered that (currently, at least) the students haven't been told that there's a mastermind among them. (Assuming there even canonically is, I might add.) Obviously, they could learn about that in Chapter 1, but at that point, just put it in the Prologue. Then the fandom could be sure in the long hiatus that speculating about a mastermind had a point, and potentially start thinking about how a killer could react to that information.

Still, Diana's extreme friendship stances make it easy for me to fit her into the hypocrisy theme in either the killer or victim position. But, if she can use her chameleon skills to fade into the background for just one chapter, I think she might have a long life ahead of her.

#2: Wolfgang

Anybody think this dude is just... flying too close to the sun?

Perhaps this placement is a remnant of the past: when my sister and I were first playing through the Prologue, we totally thought that Wolfgang gave off first victim energy. Except, funnily enough, we thought it was because he was kind of a bland, friendly character who clearly didn't have much going for him, if he was burning one of his voice lines on "Miss Madison!". We were fully taken aback when he popped off in the Prologue trial, and agreed that he wouldn't be a first victim for those reasons anymore. However, he could still die first for other reasons.

Other than Damon, it's hard to argue that any character gets more of a spotlight in the Prologue than Wolfgang. Hell, he might even beat Damon in that regard. It may just be the fandom's penchant for fawning over pale, skinny, antagonistic men, but Wolfgang certainly felt like the most after-the-fact-discussed character to me. However, it's possible that Wolfgang is being set up as a huge figure in the Prologue and Chapter 1 daily life because that's all the time he has to shine. It's possible the Prologue trial was conceptualized under the rationale that the Ultimate Lawyer should have to attend at least one Trial.

While Wolfgang isn't necessarily easy to overpower, it's easy to see how any killer would want to off him so that they don't have to face him in the Class Trial. Even if Damon did a considerable amount of heavy lifting, the majority of the Class sees it as Wolfgang's skills that got them through the Class Trial. He certainly displayed how ruthless he was willing to become against those who spat in the face of what he called justice. If I were becoming the blackened, I'd be worried about facing off against him in the Class Trial. One easy way to prevent that from happening is to cancel his attendance.

Also, while I said I didn't want to get too into the details of any killers in particular, should Jean be the blackened, things could get extra spicy. If I'm right that Jean and Wolfgang could come to lead the group together, then killing your co-leader because you're afraid he could properly bring you to justice is just extra salt in the wound.

But, now it's time for the counterarguments, naturally. Everything I said about the lost potential of having Wolfgang cap out at first killer is probably even more true if he's the first victim. The whole "lawyer versus bargain bin" thing would only actually be applicable to one Trial, even if the memory of Wolfgang's Trial prowess would probably hang over Damon's head for a while. More decisively, if the game is going for an ethos/logos/pathos thing, I have a hard time seeing who would fill the ethos shoes quite as well as Wolfgang did. I guess Damon could eventually step into that role, coming to embody all three...? However, it might be a little early to set that arc in motion.

Again, maybe it's just an inability to shake my initial assumptions, but I still have the vibe ingrained in my mind that Wolfgang will be a shockingly early death. Well, shocking to some people. Not me or Venus, though. But, I won't be shocked if he lives, either. Wolfgang will be a narratively important character, we just need to see how exactly he'll go about it.

#1: Eva

Wow, Eva gets to be the third character included who introduced themselves alongside Damon and the third repeat character from the killer's list! Unfortunately, it seems like I'm not predicting that she's going to make it even as far as the third death in this killing game. Tell me that statement's a lie...!

I think I'll actually start out with some of the counterarguments this time, because they relate to things I've said about other characters. Like Diana, I did initially call Eva to mind because I thought people would think she's suspicious, and perhaps kill her under the assumption that she's the mastermind. However, that's once again probably not going to be the case, because the students don't currently know whether there's a mastermind among them or not. Also, going back to the ethos/logos/pathos thing, I think there's a pretty decent chance that Wolfgang will be ethos, Damon will be pathos, and Eva will serve as logos. There are... probably better options for a replacement logos (including Damon just double wielding with truth and pathos bullets) than a replacement ethos, but Eva is probably still be the best fit. Given that no one trusts her (ethos) and everyone thinks an emotional argument would be a lie (pathos), all she has to convince people is the cold hard facts (logos).

Also, you can't ignore that Damon, Wolfgang, and Eva could just be a really obvious protag/antag/support trio that will all make it to Chapter 5 or whatever. I'm hoping for something a little less vanilla than that, but, hey, that's just me. It's their game and they can do whatever they want.

However... The_Humbugg comes in clutch once again! I won't fully reiterate all of their points, but basically, they bring up a lot of solid arguments about how Eva might have additional information about the prior killing game in which Cara died. Even beyond the possibility that Tozu might stack the killing game in a way that could subtly target Eva, unlike Kai, she does feel like she's being written as the Early Mystery. Also, if she's the one bringing up information about the prior killing games, it's possible another student could "connect the dots" themselves and assume she's somehow behind this one.

Beyond those more far-reaching speculative points though, I do also think that Eva being a victim would fit with the themes of hypocrisy. Specifically, the veil part. Given that the killer is (probably) "beneath the veil of hypocrisy," they aren't just hypocritical, but they're hidden beneath their hypocrisy. They might not even know that that veil is there. So, essentially, killing Eva-- the one who's been directly calling people out for their poor assumptions-- would be the killer succumbing to vice and doing anything to shut up the nagging voice that's accusing them of wrongdoing. They can't come out from under the veil of hypocrisy and confront it face-to-face, so they wind up only furthering their hypocrisy in an attempt to hide from it.

Eva is also in the top three most highlighted characters of the Prologue, between introducing herself alongside Damon (bonus points for meeting Damon first and in special circumstances) and her little speech at the end of the Class Trial. Even more than Wolfgang, to me, her heightened involvement in the Prologue feels like an inclusion to get her more content before an early death, rather than setting up a major character with other relationships and plot threads down the road. That's just my gut instinct, though.

Final Thoughts

And with that, Eva's section is over. I do want to make quick mention of Cassidy, though, because I know a lot of people think that she'll be the first victim. I think it's because of where and how much she's appeared in promotional material...? To be honest, I don't really see it, but I probably would have listed her sixth for lack of other ideas. She is another character whose jokes made her very memorable after only one chapter, and I could see her getting on someone's nerves enough for them to choose to strike back against her. Again, won't be super surprised if it is her-- because, to reiterate, I don't have incredibly strong feelings about who the victim will be-- but I didn't have much of my own to add for Cassidy speculation.

Well, you askers have done it again (/pos). You got me to ramble for way too long about Fangan Possibilities. It's fine; I think that geeking out over various fangan theory essays is important for my account and my personal ecosystem. Perhaps next time, I'll have a bit more evidence to look over if the first chapter is out by then. Or, maybe I'll have a thought of my own after rewatching/replaying the prologue again, or somebody will send me another ask that I take WAY too long to respond to.

Thank you again for the ask and your patience, @thefandomenchantress! I hope you and everyone else enjoyed. Until next time!

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sootchild · 2 months ago

Note

So what is happening in your Blades in the Dark Game exactly? The Midnight Runners Specifically?

[Takes a deep breath in] OK so this is gonna take a bit.

Blades in the Dark: The Midnight Runners was run by my friend colinomicon on The Lost Caravan RPG twitch channel at the start of 2024. (You can find 3 out of 4 sessions on the youtube channel, sadly the 4th is lost to time and space.) The premise of the game was the 1979 film "The Warriors".

Where The Warriors leave their turf in Coney Island to take part in a meeting in uptown NY city called by the largest gang in the city. Things go south and The Warriors have to survive the night and get back to their turf whilst everyone thinks it is their fault things went wrong at the meeting. So our game followed that premise but with a bit more to it.

In our game The Midnight Runners is a small gang of drug producers/movers that specialize in "Blue Lips" a psychedelic mushroom that grows on corpses. It mimics the "going into the light" feeling people have in near death experiences, though untreated the shrooms cause actual death. The gang knows how to make the shrooms safe to consume and also how to make the purest high, so they corner the market on Blue Lips.

The members are (L to R)

Rust: The Cutter. The muscle of the group. Loves to fight and fuck, typically in that order.

Soda Pop: The Hound. Second in command and drug tester. Drinks a lot of soda pops, like so much. There is a post about her pre episode 4.

Cricket: The Lurk. "God's favourite child", an ex Blue Lips junkie and sneak thief. Likes having a place she feels she belongs and River.

River: The Whisper. She sees dead people and talks them into moving on which makes the Blue Lips high all the better. She likes stuff... she is insane but she likes Cricket.

Dexy. The Leader. Botanist, mother figure, the best of us all. GM NPC.

The gang got their invite to the big meeting called by The Unseen by crashing a big old fundraiser/ball at the Academy and getting everyone high as balls off Blue Lips that was added to the beef wellington and vegetarian dishes. As well as having smashed so many priceless antiquities and releasing some ghosts in the process.

There was a lot of downtime and flashbacks that happened in episodes 2 and 3 so I'd suggest checking out the videos that didn't get lost to time and space, cause I think we were entertaining and brilliant.

At the meeting (which they had to go to without any weaponry since a truce was called), all the leaders were called up to the stage to talk with the leader of The Unseen... Only for a bomb to go off. Killing a lot of the leaders, including Dexy. Dexy had been wearing a piece of pottery that served as a new calling card for the gang and that unfortunately survived the explosion and made everyone think that The Midnight Runners had set up the bomb.

Episode 4, which is sadly missing, was the gang trying to get back to Barrowcleft.

Dodging gangs and the police. Dangerously climbing under a bridge to bypass a barricade. Fighting Soda's old bounty hunter mentor who was trying to collect the bounty on them. Fighting a gang with a ghost toilet cover, River called up a useless ghost of a man that died on the toilet along with the ghost of his toilet. So Rust having no weapons armed himself with the cover from the ghost toilet and bashed a man's head in.

Getting back onto their boat to try to make it home, only for the mostly exploded leader of the Grinders, Marlo, sitting in the boat being a scary badass. Luckily talked her into not killing us all with her one good hand.

Got back to Barrowcleft only to find our hideout, the barn, on fire surrounded by cops. Decided, fuck it, we are going in live. Ends up that "Officer Muttonchops", a seemingly joke of a man, was the one that set up the bomb and pinned it on us... Soda shot him through the eye before he could get into his whole villain monologue. Everyone ran in swinging: River summoned a lightning storm, Rust punched his way through, Cricket armed herself with dynamite from some stashes, and Soda made her shots count.

In the end The Unseen showed up and ended the conflict. Apologizing for thinking we were to blame for the death of their leader and offered us reparations. We said we'd need a new hideout and since we needed new corpses for Blue Lips, we'd be taking the cops'.

That is how it went. Hope that answers your question.

#answer #blades in the dark #blades in the dark the midnight runners #the midnight runners #ttrpg #ttrpg art

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jordanswitches · 2 months ago

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had a cute little hang out with e yesterday after we hung out on discord basically every night since our date lmaooo

she came over and she'd brought me flowers which was sooooo so lovely and sweet of her. i cut them shorter and then she took off the leaves and arranged them for me which was incredibly cute and no one had done for me before. it was very domestic i loved that. we went upstairs and just fucked around and talked shit and then i gave her this little hat and mittens i'd crocheted for her bc i'm an easily attached freak. she loved them and she told me when she showed her mum she wanted me to make her some as well so i guess i have an order hahahah.

we played the second unraveled game on my floor and it was only our second time seeing each other irl, so we started out sitting apart and just got gradually closer and closer to each other. after a while we got some food and i showed her one of my favourite shows, and we ended up cuddling while we watched which was sooooo lovely. she was so cute, i had my hand on her thigh and her breathing got so heavy. i was stroking over her tummy and ended up kissing it for a bit and she was very cute and noisy about it, and we made out for a bit and then i got Panicky so we took a little break. she was stroking over my torso and kept hitting my tickle spots so i was just. twitchy. i had my arms above my head and she started stroking like the underside of my arm near my elbow and i like full body flinched hahahhaa, i knew i was kinda sensitive there but i didn't know that much. she likes to torture so she was being a dick to my feet for a while and i kicked her a bit bc i warned her i would and she just went "go on" so i was like alright fine, get kicked. she even took off my sock i was like what are you DOING you are a CIVILIAN. after a bit she sat on my hips and was messing with that spot on both arms and i was just like. so red in the face and worked up about it i was so embarrassed. she asked me at one point if i was okay with it and i was like.......... yes, as if i wasn't fucking loving it lmao. she leaned in to kiss me again and it was. so good like she's such a good kisser. i was very grabby with her and i kept just going from her waist to her hips to her thighs like i couldn't decide where to put them. she pulled back and was like, are you good? and i was like, yes, full on starry eyed, and she was like, i think we should take a break because you are breathing very hard and i was like. okay well that's embarrassing but she knows i really do want to take it slow and she didn't want me to end up agreeing to anything i wasn't ready to do, she's so sweet. i trailed my hands up her back and she was all twitchy and i was like YES so i pulled her down to lie on my chest and held her there with one hand while i messed with her back with the other. she was so twitchy and cute, it was really sweet. she actually managed to like crawl across the bed while i was hanging on her like a lil monkey which was very impressive bc i'm probs like 1.5x her size. i got into her armpits and she laughed really cutely and she pulled back and i was like okay okay, and she told me today she was worried she'd have been sweaty but she was basically happy for me to do whatever i want and i was like okay i'm gonna pin you down and tickle them then. and she was like yeah go ahead. she may be...... perfect? perhaps??

we had such a lovely time and it was so nice to just chill out with her. next time i see her we're gonna go bowling and for drinks and i'm just having so much fun. it's a big part of me not posting lately, i'm just really enjoying finally doing things irl and not spending my whole life online. i should be back, i won't be gone forever, but it's just so lovely after years and years of not being able to have a life to finally get to have one.

#diary #j and e

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nailamoonsi · 9 months ago

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Writeblr intro (open to mutuals)

Hello again @ writeblr...! I'm Naila--Bangladeshi-Am (South Asian), sapphic, neurodivergent, they/them, incredibly nerdy about certain media like Revolutionary Girl Utena, and someone who has been very, very focused on their LGBT epic science fantasy for several years.

Fun fact is that for 5 years as a child I lived in Japan and only spoke Bangla and Japanese. I forgot both by the time I was 6 to 11, though I can understand spoken Bangla (and am fluent in English). 💦💦

I'm pretty much in love with my LGBT epic and multimedia science fantasy verse, once called Another Sky WIP and now called Blue Horizon! It's about three generations of alchemy-oriented mages upon a faraway planet obsessed with ancient Earth (our era) and their troubles across thousands of years!

I'm planning on releasing the first epic science fantasy novel (and side light novel/novella) at some point in the next months!

I'm both an artist and a writer, so you'll get art and writing topics from me! A lot of it is in my Blue Horizon tag.

Despite that, I feel like I haven't gone all-out to make mutuals here on Tumblr. I'd love to make more mutuals who are 20 and older and interested in fantasy fiction (especially featuring BIPOC and LGBT characters)! 18 and older is fine too, but I won't mutual people who are younger than 18. (I'm 32.)

My main warning is that my novels are aimed for adult demographic and even my art can contain blood TW and cursing. Sometimes older Blue Horizon characters will have sultry/sexual implications, too, and not just romantic! (However, despite the main novel being an epic science fantasy and very romance-oriented--as far as I understand, it doesn't perfectly fit people's idea of Romantasy due to particularly intense and serious topics at times. I think of it as a epic science fantasy with a lot of gay, sapphic and LGBT romances and implied romances.)

I'm open to tag games. ^^ If people are open to being tagged, feel free to mention it in this post, my pinned, or message/ask box me!

Hope to connect with more people here! 💗

#writeblr intro #writeblr #writers on tumblr #I FIGURED OUT HOW THESE SORT OF POSTS WORK anyone who saw the previous ones please ignore #if it's still off oh well #art by op #myart #writing #no longer messing with this post #Blue Horizon

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siarven · 8 months ago

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I made this for cara but thought I should use it to FINALLY make a proper pinned post on here! (image descriptions in alt text)

Hello everyone (:

I thought I'd use this to properly re-introduce myself. These days I have a lot going on irl, so I'm not as interactive on here as I used to be. However, I love making new friends and getting to know their projects :D Some of my most important friends are from here, even if most of them are no longer active on writeblr (we have migrated to discord), so if you think we'd vibe pls shoot me a message!!

What you can expect:

Started out as an artblr, then turned into a writeblr, now it's mostly me collecting inspiration, art and writing references, with some infrequent original writing wip/art posts ✴︎ — more info about tags and writing below the cut — ✴︎

✴︎ — #queer tag - I reblog a lot of queer related posts, particularly about aro/ace and gender related topics

✴︎ — #inspirational - art, writing, photography, nature/environmental issues related topics, history, paleontology, archaeology; things I find inspiring and fascinating :D

✴︎ — i love all of the creatures, fictional or real, but less in a "cute videos" and more in a "I love how our world works" type way. I worked at a wildlife sanctuary for a year after school and learned a lot there. one day i will be the forever home for an old cat nobody else wants

✴︎ — sometimes I still post art and or writing, though I guess there'll be more art on Cara if you wanna follow me there (less AI threat)

✴︎ — i study concept art, work as a freelance illustrator, and am currently working on my MA thesis project "Fragments of the Infinite"

✴︎ — my main wip novel (Dream's Shadow) is probably finally getting close to being Finished. Feels somewhat surreal. idk if it's even worth querying it because it really doesn't fit into the current publishing world but it's not actually finished yet anyway so... we can worry about that later

✴︎ — very into fantasy with cool worldbuilding in particular. don't much care for elves/dwarves/.. fantasy preindustrial england type worlds, but dungeon meshi is my current obsession so if it's deeply developed and interesting enough I don't really mind :)

✴︎ — hopepunk my most beloved! i do love when characters get put through the wringer to get to their hopeful ending though. Sometimes, things are tragic in a bittersweet way, and that is okay too

✴︎ — deeply nuanced, complicated, messy morally grey characters driving the narrative

I am open to tag games, but will probably only manage to respond to like 10% of them... it's not you, it's me

Always open for DMs or asks <3

I try to tag everything as well as I can, if i forget, ask to tag <3

If you're into TMA, I have a podcast/TMA blog @moth-song-archives; my rambling animals/shitposts/memes/other fandoms/... blog is @lirhin, and I have a dedicated art blog @siarvenart

a hopepunk dark fantasy story with creepy/horror elements set in another world; small scope that transitions into epic fantasy later on

Status: draft 6.5 completed at 141k; currently mini-beta round. First in a trilogy

✴︎ —1st, 2nd and 3rd person limited, present tense ✴︎ — hopepunk, sibling dynamics, dysfunctional family, power of kindness & love, platonic love, queer characters, queer-embracing worldbuilding, mental & physical trauma, light & dark, secrets, tragedy, lies, betrayal, loss of innocence, holding on & letting go, cute creatures, (in)humanity, trees, religion & belief, growing up, monsters, dreams, nightmares.

When Ava and her parents arrive at the hospital, they find her older brother Ben in a deeply unnatural coma - and nobody can tell them what happened. Despite the magical abilities of the Asim Healers, there seems to be no way to save him. But then, why do they still keep him alive? As Ava slowly learns the magnitude of how terrible Ben's situation (and impossible his future) truly are, she finds herself embroiled in a larger conflict, ready to hook its claws into her as well. And the one person she cares about most - who always had her back - is gone. So despite everything, there's only really one choice: Find out how to save him and try anyways.

the travel journal of a young scientist, documenting the cultures, places, people and creatures she encounters on the way (art/text)

Status: storyboard/script 2nd draft completed; beta feedback

✴︎ —1st person present ✴︎ — 66 double pages of art accompanied by ~10k text ✴︎ — hopepunk, (body) horror, religion & belief, nihilism vs making your own meaning, platonic love, queer characters, queer-embracing worldbuilding, transitioning with magical body horror means, mental & physical trauma, light & dark, deep worldbuilding, eldritch monsters, loss of innocence, SO MANY creatures

Features: a tidally locked planet orbited by 5 moons and populated by giant eldritch monsters; two trans aroace main characters; body horror; so much art; the most gratuitous worldbuilding project; character driven narrative

When the fifth moon hatches during Thorn's own naming ritual, making her one of 2 people who saw it happen, she knows she's been chosen. But back at home, nobody believes what she saw, choosing to instead take the moon's disappearance as a sign of celebration as it mirrors religious scriptures. So Thorn sets out to find physical proof, and uses the opportunity to document her travels. She doesn't know that her view of the world will be thoroughly challenged, but she also doesn't know about the friends she'll make <3

I have various other wips, some of them are linked in my header. I'll return to them at some point, but these 2 are my current projects for 2024:)

#if you wanna connect on cara please come visit :3 #now that i have finished this thing i feel like i can finally actually interact on there lmao #about me #pinned post #writeblr intro #writeblr #idek what i am hoping to accomplish with this but anyway yes XD

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ladadee195 · 8 months ago

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Ladadee meets Legends of Avantris at Too Many Games 2024 (LONG POST read at your discretion)

I'm not one to write up a trip report cause I'm firmly in the "no one gives a shit." camp but for this I feel like people will get a kick out of my anxious distress over the past two days and I know those that couldn't make it would also appreciate it.

I knew a few months ago that when LOA said they were gonna be at TMG that I could go, its only an hour away from me. I'd gone to TMG back in 2019 to meet Brandon Rogers of Youtube and Helluva Boss fame and even then I didn't get HALF as nervous as I did the past two days. I was a shaking hyperventilating mess. Embarrassing, truly.

Friday was worse then Saturday.

First off, we'd barely parked in the parking lot when we see Andy casually strolling across the parking lot and get into his very nice red mustang, nice to see where the car vlogs happen!

By the time we got to the booth I could barely breath but I wanted to grab my free pin and say hi first. I want to disclaimer this by stating that I realize LOA tries really hard to make it perfectly clear that the Party and fam are regular people that work hard to produce their content and be successful at what they do without being celebrities or influencers. Logically, I know this and I respect the hell out of it. However my hyperfixated brain and general anxiety made it incredibly hard for me to remain CALM. Its really hard to remain calm when you've been watching them by yourself alone in your room hours upon hours and then suddenly there they are in real life before you, talking to YOU! How am I meant to be remain calm?

Anyway, I met Andy and Nikkie. Talked briefly with Andy and just generally embarrassed myself but he's so cool ya know and is probably used to it all things considered. I asked them both to sign my Cake Chad shirt, both we're happy to do so and I got a great hug from Nikkie. After that I cut my losses and decided to move on. Their meet and greet wasn't for a few hours and we were hungry. When the meet and greet came, I jumped in line to get a picture. It went really quick and I got no chance to really talk to them but they were super awesome and I love the picture! I knew they were TALL but god I felt like a hobbit.

The live show wasn't until 7:30 so we left the con to check into our hotel and relax for a few hours. It was a nice break and I finally got to breath. We returned to the con and got seats for the live show.

if you haven't already seen other's overviews or the whole video I wont spoil anything but it was SO good. I was so curious about what they could possibly do for a one shot but holy shit was that amazing. Its always interesting and fun to attend live shows with cheering and laughter and suggestive whistles. Gives one a sense of community you only ever get a taste of on here or discord.

Afterwards we went back to our hotel and rewatched the whole show on the live stream LOL

Saturday I was much calmer because I had a goal. Get the whole parties signatures and not be embarrassing.

We did a lot of waiting cause the con opened at 11 and again their meet and greet was at 3 but we managed to pass the time well enough and then we got back in line. An readers when I tell you how amazing it went!?? I was very proud of myself even though I was still nervous and shaky I did much better.

They all were super cool and signed my Hootise shirt. I still geek out thinking about it! But the best thing happened. Richie saw my Gideon/Kremy candy bead bracelet I'd made myself and legit forgot I'd worn for this exact reason. This is how that went. Richie: is that a Kremy and Gideon candy bracelet?

Me: YES!I forgot I had that on!

Richie: thats the best I gotta get a picture and show Mace.

I was DYING omfg. The two behind the ship SAW my ship bracelet??? still freaking out. I decided that I should have made ones for them. I convinced myself they wouldn't like them, I know better now for next time.

After they'd all signed my shirt I gave them my thanks and MAYBE acted a little embarrassing when I told them name and that I was already in the discord but as I said earlier they're so cool and awesome I doubt they noticed me being like that.

i felt like even though it was short I had a really good moment with them which is all I really wanted.

I regret a lot of things. Like the fact that I had plans on making them gifts but ran out of time due to me being sick like right up until Friday and being so nervous and scared and I acted only a little crazy. I know next time (PAXUnpluged in Dec?) I'll be much better prepared.

I hope those that cared to read this very long post enjoyed my little overview. Just remember even though you may be scared and nervous to do something, you still should cause you never know how great it might be at the end.

#legends of avantris #once upon a witchlight #Too Many Games 2024 #I am a mess #plz #I was so nervous.

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letters-from-dekarios · 9 months ago

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(post-game, half-elf wizard formerly too poor for schools stayed with Rolan and his sibs to help in the shop)

Dear Gale-

So good to hear from you again, I'm glad you're really loving being a professor! Astarion is gaining quite the reputation in the Upper City for his bespoke couture. I saw him the other day when I picked up a couple robes for Rolan. (can you see my eyes rolling?) Sorcerous Sundries is doing well, as is the new magickal lending library Rolan's instituted here. He's also sponsored a good handful of kids with potential via a scholarship and letters of recommendation. He's even thinking about hosting some intellectual wizarding salons once a month and wanted me to pass that on to you. Wine, wizarding chat, nibbles... whee. I know, it's a great opportunity to network and learn, blah blah blah.

Don't get me wrong, I deeply appreciate his offering me a place and a job here, I just... Rolan rarely has time outside all this and his own learning to have the kinds of in-depth chats we used to have. I know he's worked so hard to get where he has and is incredibly talented (I mean, his Thunderwave is amazing), but I- I cannot complain. I will only say that I didn't really foresee a future working retail, no offense.

In truth, Gale, I find myself often reminiscing about our Fine, I shall say it. I miss you. I miss our talks, our discussions of poetry and the theater, history, even our favorite drinks. While I am most grateful we no longer contend with tadpoles, goblins, daily death threats, or even gods (mostly), I do miss our time together. You are witty, funny, kind, considerate, brave, talented, compassionate, erudite- Oh dear, I think this Esmeltar Red is a bit more vintage than I'd planned.

Ah, yes, quite old. I stole it from the cellar, shhhh. Perhaps I could nab another one if you'd like to visit? I'll see if there's a nice place in town than the Elfsong. I know you appreciate the finer things in life, perhaps even more so now. I must end this so I don't weight down the pigeon enough for Tara to pounce, eh? Hope to see you soon, Gale.

Yours,

Tavelyon Shit. Tav. Pretend I didn't write that.

Dearest Tav,

I’m glad to hear Astarion is doing as well as I assumed he would. I’m sure it’s refreshing for him to experience the city in a new light now. Figuratively, of course. I am also elated to hear Sorcerous Sundries has flourished! Turning it into a more casual lending style will open the way for more magically inclined persons to learn more freely. I am quite happy to hear that. Perhaps Rolan can write recommendation letters for students to come here to Blackstaff. We could use some younger minds every now and then.

Do tell Rolan I’d be all the interested if he does decide to pursue hosting those meetings. You’ve got me pinned quite nicely, as it would be incredibly nice to collaborate with like-minded individuals.

It is normal to find irritation in mundane tasks after the journey we had. There is nothing to quench the appetite of an adventurer quite like, well, adventure. Placing yourself back in such a position for boredom can cause the mind to wander.

For what it’s worth, I miss you as well. While I love my professorship with my entire heart, I do reminisce often about the conversations we’d have. I have yet to find someone on such a level who can compete with you, someone who makes me question things in ways I’d never considered before. You made me think, you made me consider the whole universe in my answers. There is nothing better than the company of someone you can analyze the air with. I am glad to have had that with you.

Please know you are welcome here in Waterdeep whenever you’d like. I’m sure if you wished to stay for some time, you could gain a short position at the Academy if you needed to.

I will be visiting the city soon, rest assured. I must see what Rolan has done with the library and I do owe Astarion a visit. But, most importantly, I owe you a visit, too. I aim for next tenday to make my way to the city, but we shall see where life puts me by then.

From the desk of,

𝑮𝒂𝒍𝒆 𝑫𝒆𝒌𝒂𝒓𝒊𝒐𝒔

text reads: gale dekarios

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felixwaffling · 10 months ago

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Totally different vibe but I'm gay and thinking so much about him. This post might get nsfw, folks.

I'm smitten. Sure we have our problems, I mean, of course we do, he's dating ME- But FUCK, man. It's like how I felt with Alex except Victor is a good person who actually loves me. He's way stronger than me, which makes me SHAKE bro. He could hurt me if he wanted to, but he's so nice. He calls me things that have me on my fucking knees.

Like. Hooooly shit I can't wait til I get a chance to meet him in person bc when I say I'm gonna do whatever he wants... I MEAN WHATEVER. Like. I will be incapable of saying no. I will be pathetic.

Imagine if we meet in a bar and I get super drunk and kiss him dude that- HGJDHDBFHFHD.

I want him. I want him ON ME. I legit- like. I'm acespec, sex repulses me, the thought of being touched is so scary, but like I'd let him be all over me if he actually wanted me. I'd let him do ANYTHING.

I am so fucking attracted to this guy, and we have so much in common that some days we do nothing but play video games for literally the whole day together... We play almost every night and he puts up with my drunk nonsense, he doesn't complain <333

I wish I could tell him about the shit I'm into bc the only way this could get better is if I get proper dominated man I'm- I'm weak, I'm small, I like hiding behind people and letting them make all the decisions. I'm a dog for this man. I'm property.

FUCK I am drunk rn and if any of my friends find this I'm going to be humiliated beyond belief, they don't-

Nobody knows how much I want this man to fuck me and it weighs heavy, like, I don't even think he knows how I'd kill for him to both absolutely wreck me AND baby me.

Bc on one hand. I'm a little baby. I'm pure. I'm innocent. Treat me like a little goober and hold me and. IDK FUCK MAYBE I JUST HAVE DADDY ISSUES BC I THINK IM ASKING FOR A DILF-

... but on the other hand, I'm a bad person, I'm the worst, I'm whatever villain you need me to be just PLEASE put me in my fucking place I *WANT* you to punish me I'm like literally asking for it, I'm doing shit that gets on ur nerves bc I wanna be RAILED man I WOULD BE SO MUCH LESS ANNOYING IF YOUD JUST SLAM ME AGAINST THE WALL AND BREAK ME WHEN IM A LITTLE BITCH

HhHh.

I still can't believe I'm saying all this shit

I'm beyond wasted. Like. Intoxicated moreso than usual. Typing this so far has taken an HOUR and I got sad halfway through out of humiliation and went to write that first post. But even through all the drinking, all I can really think about is being pinned to his bed 👉👈,,,

,,, it's not just sex either bc I want kisses. Neck kisses. Like. Damn. I want him to hold me from behind. I want to cling to him. Hide my face against him. If he touched my face I would do the fucking meme thing and refuse to let go of his hand. I want to snuggle against him and just. Disappear for a while.

.... I want to cry myself to sleep in *his arms* instead of on my own. I hug my pillows and try desperately to pretend they're him. I see him when I fall asleep, when I'm alone, when I'm sad... when I'm fucking suicidal the thing that stops me is that then I'd have to wait who KNOWS how long for him to live out his own life, and that I might have to watch him fall in love with someone else (the worst thing ever)

If. If I ever lost him idk what I'd do because fuck dude. He's everything. Victor is my world. I want to meet him.

.... I also want him to control every aspect of my life and tell me what to do bc without guidance I drown. Ppl might think it'd be toxic, but I think I need that in my life. I hate making decisions. I want to sit quietly and let him think, bc I'm bad at thinking, and thinking overwhelms me. I want him to hide me behind him and be the one to handle the world so that I can just be *his.*

UGH. THIS IS THE HORNIEST, SAPPIEST FUCKING POST IVE EVER MADE EVER.

#felix kranken is real but hes an 18 year old fat transmasc kid sorry guys #Rambling about my hot ass boyfriend #vent post #drunk posting #vent #lgbtq relationships #embarassing

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ferventrabbit · 1 year ago

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Ao3 Fics

Hello hello! I thought I'd pin a post of my works on Ao3 :-). Here are the pairings I write:

Hannibal: Hannibal/Will Good Omens: Aziraphale/Crowley Interview with the Vampire: Lestat/Louis Our Flag Means Death: Ed/Stede Red White and Royal Blue: Alex/Henry

Fic Key

🎨 Art Available

🤝 Collaboration

🎙️ Podfic Available

Series

🐭 Hannibal: Disney for Cannibals

🏝️ Our Flag Means Death: Exit Zero

🏡 Our Flag Means Death: Tales from a Seaside Inn

✨ Our Flag Means Death: Written in the Stars

Completed longer works (>5k)

Hannibal

🐭 Tale as Old As Time (M): "I would consider very carefully before moving any further, Will," says Hannibal. Will can feel the mirth dancing in time with Molly's pulse. "What am I considering?" A great perhaps," he says. If he could learn to love another, the spell would be broken. But who could ever learn to love a beast? (24.7k)

Our Flag Means Death

🎨 Ariadne with art by @babykittenteach (E): While out thrifting for furniture and decorations for the inn, Ed comes across a painting that leads him on a journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance. (17.3k)

Down to Fall (E): Stede decides he wants to expand their repertoire, so to speak. Like all things worth having, it's worth working for. (5.9K)

High Point (T): Documentary videographer Ed Teach retired at the top of his game five years ago. An odd request from documentary producer Stede Bonnet has lured him back into the field to join a film crew in the mountains of India. Ed and Stede are looking for a snow leopard, but end up finding something unexpected along the way. (9.6k)

🏡 Old Friends (T): The crew of the Revenge pay the innkeepers a visit. (6.7k)

🎨🎙️ One Day You'll Awaken (T): A sea witch gives Edward Teach a gift - Blackbeard, a shadow, a sentinel - to keep him safe and strong. Her condition? He must keep Blackbeard close, or she will make sure he sleeps soundly forever. Stede Bonnet threatens to ruin her plans. (32.6k)

🎨🤝🎙️✨Paint the Sky with @shieldmaidenofmithrilhall (T): It’s been a month since Ed and Stede met on the top of a mountain during a solar eclipse. Ed’s supposed to meet the kids for the first time this Friday, but a new solar event, the impending aurora borealis, upends their well-laid plans. (8.5k)

🎨 🏝️ Shore Thing with art by @tresdem (E): Stede books a room at The Queen Anne B&B in Cape May, run by mysterious proprietor Blackbeard. His life is about to change again in ways he could never have expected. (36.9k)

Red White and Royal Blue

Once in a Century (E): After the kiss everything goes to utter and complete shit. OR COVID-19 interferes with best laid plans. (23.7k)

Completed one-shots (<5k)

Hannibal

A Terror Quiet Calm (E): Will makes up his mind during Mizumono, when things could have ended differently. A Mizumono fix-it. (1.2k)

Conversion (T): The woodsman notices a presence in the wilderness. A giver of gifts. (2.5k)

Hot Stuff, or The night Hannibal realized he was well and truly whipped (T): Hannibal wakes up to find Will is missing. His search leads to some surprising discoveries. (2.1k)

Into the Dark (G): "In the dark Will looked like a shadow. Hannibal felt the soft sound of Will’s breathing on his skin, tasted it in his throat." Prepare for super creepy times! (1.3k)

Raindrop Prelude (T): Will and Hannibal, on a boat, feeling feels. (1K)

🐭 Poor Unfortunate Soul (M): Will would sell his soul to be rid of the nightmares that plague him. Or, at least, his voice. (4.9k)

Surge (E): "He remembers that look in the kitchen, tries to place it. He’d seen flashes of it in Baltimore: the night of Clark Ingram’s arrest and maybe even the first time they met, glimpsed from the corner of Will’s eye. Then in Italy, seated together at the feet of spring. He doesn’t think about the cliff – can’t, or else his lungs tighten and he feels like he can’t breathe, like he might be dying." (2.3k)

The Tide (M): Based on this prompt: I can’t shake this idea: Hannibal and Will being intimate for the first time and being utterly overwhelmed by it. (1.5k)

🐭 Trust in Me (G): Will is lost in the jungle. He finds refuge in a familiar place. (2.1k)

Until (M): Will is desperate for an end. Hannibal will fight him every step of the way. (1.8k)

Interview with the Vampire

Room for One More (E): Baby Vampire's First Night In. or: Louis is feeling some type of way about sleeping in a coffin, but after some finagling he and Lestat finally get it right. (2.3k)

Good Omens

Hush (M): Aziraphale has returned from heaven, but there are things still left unsaid. Crowley has finally had enough. (2.1k)

Our Flag Means Death

🏝️ A Holly Jersey Christmas (M): Stede arrives at The Queen Anne for a Christmas party with the crew. He's brought a special gift for Ed, and has a surprise or two in store. (7.3k)

A record of the kingly duties of Maximilian, cat about town (T): Maximilian may be a new cat on the island, but it looks like he'll need to teach these clueless human innkeepers a thing or two. This fic is a remix of "Leave a Mark" by dance_across. (1.8k)

🎙️ Anchor (E): Ed assures Stede that their first time was not a mistake, which Stede desperately needs (AND DESERVES) to hear. (1.7k)

🤝 Canvas(s): Not just for sails anymore with @the-widow-olivia (T): Stede is newly divorced and ready to turn over a new leaf. Ed is trying to escape the monotony of his day-to-day life. Sparks fly when they are paired up at a "Get Out The Vote!" event. (6.4k)

Captain's Quarters (G): Ed and Stede platonically share a bed and feel feelings, like pirates do. (2.3k)

Daylight (E): Ed doesn't know what to do with himself when Stede comes back, until he does. (2.1k)

🏡 Filled (E): Stede thinks about what it would be like if he could carry Ed’s child, which leads where all roads lead during Bottom Stede Week. (3.6k)

🏡 Filled Out (E): Ed tries to figure out how he feels about his body post-piracy. A post-season 2 inn fic. (1.6k)

🎙️ The Finer Points (G): Stede expands his fancy pants curriculum to include a simple waltz. (1.9k)

🏡 First Night (E): Truly just an entire fic of Ed and Stede making out in this shitty house. A post-season 2 inn fic. (2.1k)

Five Kisses (E): A chronicle of five important kisses on the good ship Blackbonnet. (2.3k)

🎨🤝🎙️✨ Forever's Gonna Start Tonight with @shieldmaidenofmithrilhall (G): As the total solar eclipse approaches, two strangers meet at the top of a mountain, one with a telescope and one with a picnic basket full of eclipse treats. (5k)

Holdover (E): A PWP in which Stede wears a nightie for one reason and one reason only. (3.5k)

I Feel Pretty (E): Stede engaging in body worship of Ed, his preferred occupation. (1.4k)

Interlude (E): A PWP missing scene from 2x08 because BOYFRIENDS. (1.7k)

Leather and Silk (E): A PWP based on the “leather and silk” bts we received from Samba 🙏. (1.6k)

Midnight on the Revenge (G): Literally just a smol fic about Stede holding Ed until he falls asleep because I need that, okay? (1k)

🤝 Milkmaid with @dracothelizard (E): Stede remembers the little song he and Ed sang at the floating market, and Ed decides it’s as good a day as any to show Stede the true meaning of “all things milk.” (4.6k)

🤝 Perfectly Ordinary Tuesday with @petrichorca (M): Dave just wanted a place to sleep for the night, but he gets a lot more than he bargained for when the owners of a seaside inn make him an unwitting participant in their wedding. Will he make it through the ceremony unscathed? And what’s that seagull doing here? (4.9k)

Pinned (E): Ed has been thinking about Calypso's Birthday since they arrived at the inn, specifically about Stede shoving him up against a wall - the strength of his arms, the look in his eyes. Maybe it's finally time to ask for a repeat performance. (2.5k)

🎙️ Reset (E): Ed notices Stede looking at him more than usual, leaving them both a bit hot and bothered. He proposes a failsafe plan to give them both a reset. What could go wrong? Set sometime between 2x05 and 2x06. (5k)

🤝 🎙️ Row Your Boat with @petrichorca (T): A missing scene following the events of season 2, episode 4, “Fun and Games.” Ed’s agreed to come back to the Revenge with Stede for the night, but they’ve got two dinghies to row back to the ship—will the distance between them linger? (3.3k)

🎙️ Skintight (E): Ed wears a set of lingerie that he's kept in the back of his closet before now. Stede does what anyone would do after seeing Ed in lingerie, bless him. (3.7k)

🏡 Soft Open (T): Ed and Stede start sprucing up their inn and welcome Mary and Doug for a soft open. (3.3k)

Storm (G): Stede helps Ed through his grief in the season 2 finale. (1k)

🎙️ Taking it Slow (E): As requested, Stede takes it slow. (2k)

🎙️ That Ship Has Sailed (E): My interpretation of what happened after Calypso's birthday. (2.1k)

The Lube That Fell to Earth (E): A fic in honor of the Astroglide lube-along, in which Ed and Stede are in receipt of a gift from outer space. (4.1k)

🏡 Threshold (T): Ed and Stede take turns carrying each other over the threshold of the inn. Eventually, they cross it together. (2.6k)

🏡 Tucked In (E): Discussion of first times and new discoveries under the Wee John blanket. A post-season 2 inn fic. (2.7k)

Wanted (T): The fuckery after their inevitable discovery at the inn, and what it means for Ed. Written for the #13DaysofCrimesmas! (2.7k)

Wide Awake (M): Five times Stede wakes Ed up, and one time Ed returns the favor. Set throughout seasons 1 and 2. (2.2k)

Works for Spiders, Works for Men (G): Stede rescues Ed from a formidable eight-legged foe. (575)

Works in progress

Good Omens

The Second Coming and Other Heavenly Tales (T): Aziraphale is the new Supreme Archangel of Heaven, and he's made a huge mistake. As Aziraphale navigates a tricky heavenly web, Crowley tries to find a way forward - is there one? - while being periodically interrupted by wishful Bentley songs and transmissions from Alpha Centurai. Can the ineffable duo save Earth from "Plan C?" Will the ducks in St. James' park ever get the good bread again? Join my headcanon for season 3 to find out! (16.5k, 15/20)

Our Flag Means Death

🎨 Life in a Major Key (E): Stede Bonnet loves his job as artistic director of Revenge Community Choir. They might not perform on the biggest stages, but what they don't have in prestige they make up for in heart and gusto. A chance opportunity with the Philadelphia Symphony might be the big break Stede's choir needs. Stede will have to work with illustrious guest conductor Edward Teach to make sure his singers' voices soar. Will the two of them be able to work in harmony? (2.6k, 2/?)

#my fics #fic writer #ao3 #hannibal/will #gentlebeard #young royals #red white and royal blue #interview with the vampire #good omens #ineffable husbands #ofmd

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