#i need to get back into playing lobotomy corporation >:'(

[amikothegreat]

i made this for myself but anyway! homestuck lobotomy corporation crossover!!! featuring Dirk as Ayin and Jake as Carmen :)

secrete design under here for my fellow pm heads for whos angela

is angela based off of jake you ask? nope! lil hal is angela! ;)

instead of AR its DEM or D-em, whats it stand for?

deus ex machina :]

you look me in the eyes and say dirk "control freak" strider wouldn't make an AI based off himself, he doesnt trust anyone else enough to do the task of maintaining the script!

[arolesbianism]

Some more team captain ids! This time with the middle layer gang 👍

[just-your-average-supervillain]

Some thoughts from LCB Regular Checkup. Spoilers below.

I'm a big fan of how Pride's theme of self-deception played a part in Hohenheim's dungeon; his initial seeming control over himself and ability to simply hurry the Sinners through the dungeon giving way to the realization that no, his censorship of his memories and of the facts therein is simply a greater part of the theme; his refusal to acknowledge the pain he's in and desire to simply paper it over and play up his own arrogance to avoid thinking about his humanity.

Absolutely hilarious to see Faust have someone that she genuinely dislikes. Faust's constant need to point out that he's not better than her really re-iterates that despite her growing fondness for the Sinners and new willingness to step away from Gesellschaft's knowledge, she still does find a great degree of pride in her abilities.

We finally get an explanation for the comment of the Sinners getting weaker upon joining! Due to the nature of the Golden Boughs, all of the Sinners are reduced to the level of the weakest among them, i.e. Sinclair (or now, Yi Sang).

Once again, Outis attempts to establish a pecking order with her at the top due to individual strength... which then gets toppled by the reminder that Don Quixote can, if not rival, then at least tire out Vergilius.

It's interesting to see that Hohenheim is also aware of the "flow" of the world, and even more interesting that Faust (or, more likely, Gesellschaft) censored him when he began talking about how it was the "flow" that willed Dante to be unharmed. (Is Dante protected by fate or something?)

Also, the consideration of how powerful Dante was prior to their amnesia, and the dismissal of the idea that they could be strong, is kinda disappointing given my belief in @calmariah's "Dante is Bari" theory.

Limbus Company assisting an up-and-coming potential Wing with their goals to overthrow and replace W Corp is kind of neat, especially now that it gives us an excuse to traverse the entire City through the gateways without needing the whole song and dance of another WARP Train.

Gregor's body making weird noises, and the comment from Hohenheim excluding him from the lineup of power levels due to his body's "potential"... it seems we're really bringing back stuff from the first few Cantos.

The particulars of which Sinner groups face which Peccatulum probably merits an analysis, along with Hohenheim's descriptor of what each Sin means (Hong Lu and Sinclair with Wrath, Gregor, Faust, and Meursault with Sloth, Yi Sang and Don Quixote with Envy, Ryoshu and Ishmael with Pride and Lust, and Outis, Heathcliff, and Rodion with Gluttony and Gloom).

Hey, Hong Lu? What did you mean by your passion and rage being extinguished?

Hey, Outis? Why are you so concerned about things like setting off a Wing war and getting a threat level from the Hana Association?

While I'm still not entirely sure, I feel like having an Intervallo dedicated to a guy who used to be a researcher at Lobotomy Corporation and not having Faust be mentioned in connection to it makes me feel like the "Faust has a past with Lobotomy Corporation" theory is probably not gonna come to pass.

It's kind of sad, but also probably for the best, that the compounded thirst and curse means that Don Quixote can't just take of Rocinante and solve problems via the Second Kindred's sheer power.

[alilobsessive]

If vtuber reader is bad at video games I just picture them having full streams were they're unable to even complete tutorials sometimes 😂

How often do you think each family member would watch their streams? Like is there someone who has seen every public and members stream, and owns ALL the merchandise? Or are they mostly casual viewers?

Omg it actually happened, I got a ask because I talked about not getting any asks. Maybe I can do this again for other Readers I want to bounce ideas around with? Hmm… that’s In idea for another day.

I could see them not knowing how to crouch the first time they played Little Nightmares when it first came out. A surprisingly common issue from what I remember. There probably one of those people who keep playing games above there skill level. Like a Dark souls game that they can just barely get through, Cuphead taking weeks if not months to get through just the first few bosses. Rage quitting Lobotomy Corporation only to come back a week later and Rage quit again, beginning a cyclical cycle of playing, rage quitting and then playing again. A part of there charm is how determined they are to win dispute being shit at most games. They have a several year long series of botw, it’s the exact same save file, they just keep getting lost or sidetracked. It’s been going on for like 4 years and they only have 2 of the divine beasts not even half the shrines and they accidentally got the master sword the first try. They didn’t even know the number of hearts they needed, they literally just lucked out and had barley enough to get it.

Now I don’t think most of the family is even aware of there Vtubing. Tim and Damian are the only ones that are. Tim because Bernard introduced them and he started watching for shits and giggles. He doesn’t watch them to much because he finds watching there gameplay more frustrating then funny, when he does Reader is usually background noise. That’s when there funny, not when he’s watching fail the same easy jump 3 times before finally getting it right. He’s actually the one that discovers the Vtuber is Reader! Damian on the other hand is definitely a bigger fan, not a super fan but he definitely has a handful of march that he keeps tucked away with the rest of his “secret” anime collection. He isn’t an OG like Tim technically is as Tim was around when Reader had about 1k subs. Reader got on his radar when they started doing collabs with other Vtubers he fallows. So around 15k-20k subs? But Reader was definitely doing collabs with different people before then. He probably has two pushes, one of which is of the Vtub model in a brand appropriate animal onesie, kinda looking like the substitute doll from Pokémon. He also has a handful of keychains. Like I said not a mega fan but definitely bigger then Tim.

I don’t think the other Bats even know that much about Vtubing. Alfred and Batman definitely don’t know what that is outside of Damian liking it. Stephanie watches that ‘here’s what happened in Vtubing this week’ guy but has never interacted with anyone he talks about. Cass and Duke have absolutely zero interest, Jason thinks it’s cringe but will never tell you that to your face and Dick would just go ‘hu neat’ and move on.

[northwest-cryptid]

You know, I heard the very weird take of "Chesed wouldn't kill people to defend others he deemed more important." Which is a wild opinion to have because he uh... he does that, in canon.

This is something I see happen a lot in fandom spaces weirdly enough. It's nothing new either; this idea of "[Character] wouldn't actually do [thing they do in canon] because they're not I don't see them as that kind of character!"

I think a lot of people need to understand when something is just being misinterpreted in your head a specific way. It's fine to have a different opinion than the canon, but it's a whole different thing to say "well actually my opinion is correct and the CANON is wrong." The canon is the base by which we create everything from. Your idea of Chesed may be a fine AU or headcanon or whatever, but it's not going to go above the canon for who and what Chesed is. The same goes in the opposite direction, I love all the very on point Coffee Shop AU Cheseds. It's funny because it works for a character who does seem to love his coffee. However reducing a complex character into "the coffee man" doesn't mean his actual canon character in the actual canon games, made by the actual company behind the games; is ALSO actually reduced to such.

I think the take that Chesed shouldn't be available for reception in LoR is kind of wild because he is. If he didn't want to be, he wouldn't be. I mean look at Binah she doesn't play a role in receptions, and when we see the exception for this it's fantastic because yea she totally WOULD decide "no no I'll do it this time" when it comes to the reception of a SPECIFIC guest. Which I can say with assurance because it's literally backed up by the fact that she does that in the game. It's one of the few receptions you're allowed to use Binah for.

More over we specifically get dialogue where Chesed remarks that he doesn't enjoy fighting but that he's able to protect people he cares about by doing it. While he doesn't condone the act of hurting people, he sees it as a necessary evil to protect people. So yes, Chesed would in fact punch a nazi. That's all but confirmed through his beliefs and actions that we see him take via the actual source materials. He's not some passive centralist who wouldn't take action. ESPECIALLY given his actual trauma that stems from Lobotomy Corporation. I mean come on guys did we play the same games?!

I'm not telling people they can't have fun with AUs and headcanons or whatever. I'm saying that it's weird to claim the canon is just wrong. It's the canon, it's the basis for everything; it's the "truth" in a sense. We don't get to say it wouldn't happen that way just because it goes against our belief of how we see a character. I can't claim that "Gebura wouldn't have lost that encounter, don't you know who she is?" Because the canon says she did, and more over that's an important part of her character growth. Likewise you can't tell me Chesed would just passively stand by and not fight while his friends are hurt or killed, simply because you see him as some kind of centralist pacifist. This man literally has an entire storyline about figuring out how to take action to do something because he's tired of seeing so much pain happen around him when he can't do anything about it. Yes we know Chesed has a genuine love for all people, yes we know he hates the idea of anyone having to die or be hurt, yes I understand he would in most cases be a pacifist. However we literally see him fight to protect people. He is not above violence to end violence.

[gachabastard]

Limbus Company Sinners as Fallen London Companions

Smashing my two hyperfixations together like dolls and making them kiss. What I'm seeking (lol) to do here is not to conflate the Sinners to existing Companions, but rather create Companions based off of them instead. If you know both things then this won't take any explaining.

For people who know Limbus Company but not Fallen London: Fallen London is a browser game made by Failbetter Studios. It is an alternate history of an 1800s London that has sunk deep below the earth into a subterranean cavern known as the Neath and is now overseen by the mysterious Masters of the Bazaar. You begin the game as a Surface-dweller who has recently descended into the Neath for certain reasons, which you are able to decide for yourself and act upon as you progress through the game. Companions are "equipment" of sorts that you can equip to increase (or lower) your character's stats. A full write-up of FL's mechanics could be another three separate posts on its own, so I recommend the wiki's Beginner's Guide and other resources therein to understand the mechanics I'll detail here. If you enjoy the writing in LCB you will most likely also love FL's writing. Please play it, it is awesome. (And lmk if you do, I'll add you as a friend and definitely not stab you in the back)

For people who know Fallen London but not Limbus Company: Limbus Company is a mobile game made by Project Moon. It is the third in a series of games, preceded by Lobotomy Corporation and Library of Ruina, which are both available for purchase on Steam, though Limbus Company can be played independently of these if you want; the player avatar is an amnesiac so things are generally explained as needed (though Lobcorp and LoR are also very good and I recommend them, but you do have to buy those, so). The game centers around a department of the titular Limbus Company, the Limbus Company Bus Team (often shortened to LCB), the twelve individuals referred to as Sinners who make up the team, and their amnesiac Manager named Dante as they brave the ruins of the old branches of Lobotomy Corporation to retrieve strange objects known as Golden Boughs. All of the major characters in LCB are based off of classic literature (for example, Dante is based off of Dante's Inferno). If you like FL's writing you may enjoy LCB, but it is a gacha game which turns a lot of people off. For character info you can visit the Fandom wiki (yeah I know, it's a Fandom wiki), and if you want to read the story so far without playing the game you can check out this github page which contains all of the story text.

And if you don't know either...I don't know why you're reading this, but I hope my explanations and provided resources are enough to help you understand it regardless.

Okay, wall of text out of the way, let's get into the actual point of the post. This isn't meant to be balanced or anything this is just for fun because I'm diseased. Also LIMBUS SPOILERS THRU CANTO VI sorry.

Starting off with Sinner #1, Yi Sang:

Mirror-Marred Litterateur In the Mirror's glass, he observed endless possibilities. One such possibility observed him back. Watchful +4, Glasswork +2, Bizarre +1

Reasoning: Honestly? I thought about Sang Yi chilling in Parabola and that colored my whole concept here. But for real the whole Mirror thing is too perfect. Yi Sang defines Glasswork.

Sinner #2, Faust

Hell-Touched Engineer She hasn't the eyes of a devil, but builds infernal machinery previously unseen outside of Hell. Claims to know all outcomes, but shares precious little. Dreaded +2, Artisan of the Red Science +2, Decreases Nightmare build up

Reasoning: Something something Faust something something Mephistopheles something something her base EGO heals SP.

Sinner #3, Don Quixote

Dreaming Knight The only weapon stronger than a dream is delusion. Dangerous +5, Mithridacy +2, Increases Scandal build up

Reasoning: DQ is so skilled in Mithridacy she's got herself convinced of untruths, man. She's also allowed little a Scandal. As a treat.

Sinner #4, Ryoshu

Bohemian Blademaster Her masterwork blade is her brush; her enemies, her canvas. Legend has it that even the Boatman respects her work. Dangerous +4, Dreaded +2, Monstrous Anatomy +1

Reasoning: I feel like this one's pretty self-explanatory. I added a point of MA since I feel like she'd want to be a bit knowledgeable in monster anatomy for Art Reasons

Sinner #5, Meursault

Chained Stranger "The Neath is a prison," he says matter-of-factly, "And I am here because I am meant to be." Despite this, one could swear they saw the sun reflecting off his eyes. Persuasive +2, Respectable +3, Reduces Scandal build up

Reasoning: Hehe did you see what I did there. I referenced the thing. Anyway aside from being pretty blunt, he's probably the best candidate out of the whole group for Respectable.

Sinner #6, Hong Lu

Bright-Eyed Debonair New to the Neath, from an affluent Surface family. The Neath's many delights confuse and excite him. Persuasive +2, Shadowy +1, Kataleptic Toxicology +1

Reasoning: I think Hong Lu being new to the Neath fits with him being sheltered in canon. Also +1 KA cuz you know that boy is hittin that Honey. The Honey-Dens of Veilgarden already know him by name.

Sinner #7, Heathcliff

Bereaved Ruffian He knows the backstreets of London like the scars on his hands. He remembers that which the world does not, and waits. Dangerous +8, Shadowy -3, Chthonosophy +1

Reasoning: Oops Canto VI colored the fuck out of this one oops oops oops. Happy Firmament Day btw have some Chthonosophy. :)

Sinner #8, Ishmael

Zeefaring Pathfinder She's hunted the most feared creatures known to the Zee, losing her way to chart a path for her mad captain. Her compass will see that she never loses sight of her path again. Zeefaring +2, Monstrous Anatomy +3, Increases Nightmares build up

Reasoning: Ishy-Fishy you were made to embody Zeefaring and MA.

Sinner #9, Rodion

Lacre-Drowned Cardshark Born in a run-down corner of London where the Lacre falls thickest at Sacksmas, she knows a thing or two about cards. She wouldn't mind teaching you...for a price. Persuasive +4, Watchful +6

Reasoning: Heart's Desire vibes. That's it.

Sinner #10, Dante

Timepiece Manager An infernal timepiece ticks away where a head should be. They have no memories of their own, but they can never forget again. Chthonosophy +2, Steward of the Discordance +1, Dangerous -5, Reduces Wounds build up

Reasoning: Congratulations Dante on being the only bitch to not have the Discordance because the Discordance isn't real. Ummm I went off vibes here but tbh I think Dante should decrease your Dangerous by way more actually. Hell, let's make then decrease Dreaded too. Let's make them a Weasel of Woe.

Sinner #11, Sinclair

Unrealized Prodigy Young and anxious, jumping at every shadow. His potential is very promising. Dangerous +6, Dreaded +1, Increases Wounds build up

Reasoning: Sinclair may be baby. But he is Scary Baby.

Sinner #12, Outis

Commanding Oneironaut She's led the forces of Parabola to victory more times than you could count. Don't ask her any questions. Dangerous +8, A Player of Chess +2, Glasswork +1

Reasoning: Everybody shut the fuck up Parabolan War General Outis is everything to me, you hear me. EVERYTHING. She favors the Chessboard, obviously, with that +2 to APoC.

Sinner #13, Gregor

Metamorphic Veteran A large insectoid pincer sits where a right arm should be. He'll talk about pretty much anything but the details around that. Seriously, be careful around that thing. Dangerous +5, Shapeling Arts +3, Bizarre +2

Reasoning: You had to know Gregor would be the only bitch to get Shapeling Arts. Look me in the eyes and tell me he wouldn't. I wanted to give him Persuasive due to his amicability but also he actually. Sucks at being persuasive like canonically, so. Dangerous it is.

BONUS! Vergilius

The Red Gaze The most feared Fixer in the Neath. Whatever could you have done to strike up an alliance with him? Watchful +30, Shadowy +30, Dangerous +30, Persuasive +30, Greatly reduces Nightmare build up

Reasoning: He's the Red Goat I ain't gotta explain shit.

anyway hope you enjoyed even though you definitely didn't. i have a headache now so i'm gonna go consume painkillers and caffeine and go run mirror dungeons in lcb for that limbus battle pass.

[redd956]

Worldbuilding: Medicine & Healthcare

When I'm worldbuilding high fantasy I knock out of the rules and expectations of medicine. If leaving too many doors open can lead to plot holes, or overpowered healing medicine, or underdeveloped healing technological.

Prevalence of Medical Treatment

One of the very first things I decide when introducing a health system to my worldbuilding is the prevalence of medical treatment. I think about the size of hospitals/clinics versus populated living spaces. I think about the quality and cleanliness of the these places. I think where the wounded and injured are taken, what happens to the mentally ill, what happens to those that need constant caretaking.

The prevalence of care says a lot about a modern or high technological society, and for a low technology one about the values of local religions and cultures.

Resources is another thing to be taken into consideration. How difficult is it to get a hold of certain medicines or herbs.

Science vs. Societal Beliefs

I think societal beliefs play an unabashed major role in how willing people are to receive medical attention and explore medical science. Whether it be for historical, religious, or personal reasons people are surprisingly and sometimes reasonably cautious and avoidant to new discoveries in medicine.

Religion & Cults

Religion not only plays a major role in people skepticism towards certain medical treatment, but historically in many places was intertwined with medicine and was the source of aid.

This means religion can easily be both the enemy to medical treatment and the provider. We see this especially in the practice of bloodletting in medieval Europe, and the four humor, which dated back even greater in history, eventually becoming integrated long into religion.

With religion conjoined in medicine there comes many pros and cons. For one, medical assistance is as widespread as the religion is, but a con to that can be that religious groups become wary to good change that is discovered through science.

For centuries religion and science were combined in many cultures, and their separation was of course inevitable, but comes with lots of issues of anti-intellectualism (that we see rampant in the United States today).

Unethical History

In real life many generations that we are familiar with grew their anxious skepticism of medical technology and innovation from experience. Historically generations before us were observers of unethical government experiments on the human body, mass lobotomies, surgery without painkillers, religious cures of plagues that did nothing, and doctors more focused on future glory and honor then the safety of their patients when trying new possibilities.

This can make a widely fearful and cautious societal, and I think it's important to decide how your society views the exact same things. Are hospitals are place of safety, or somewhere to go to die?

Exploitation & Discrimination

Rarely ever to do people want to sign to up to the guinea pigs in medical innovation. That is often when governments have historically picked on minority groups in whatever circumstances to do these experiments instead, and when that became too unethical they changed to animals.

Medicine, even in worldbuilding, cannot come without a history of discovery and perfection, which begs the question of how did we get here.

Also try to think about what if everyone is treated equally underneath the scalpel. Are certain species not allowed inside hospitals? Does a certain cure require the exploitation of another? Is there a danger of medical imprisonment?

These are amazing points of conflict in worldbuilding, especially if there is already an established bigotry problem in world.

Malicious Corporation

Best for a high-tech, modern, or sci-fi worldbuilding, playing around with the corporate privatized healthcare approach can be an interesting place to pull conflict. This works well of course for dystopias and cyberpunks too.

I'm not really going to go much into it, I mean just ask your average American how they feel about having to pay for an ambulance ride.

Ignorance...

Ignorance of the people plays another major role in whether or not certain medicines and techniques are adopted. Take for instance as an example the United States and the epidemic of things like Almond Moms, Antivaxxers, etc.

The more intelligent a society, the fewer these groups will pop up, but also the more populated an environment with widespread communication like the internet, the more likely we see these kind of reactions in a society.

Herbs, Drugs, and Pain Killers

Herbs

Herbal medicine comes in many many many different forms, and often grows important or religiously well-known in their societies.

Some things I like to think about when designing herbs in worldbuilding

How it is obtained

How it is applied, ingested, or used

What beneficial effect does it posses

How common is it

How knowledgeable are locals about it

Drugs

There is... well uh many kinds of drugs. In fact drugs is a tricky word, there are many thing we don't call drugs that technically are like caffeine. There's medical, performance, recreational, and street.

We're going to focus on medical here.

Where people can get medical drugs is very important, it might be a pharmacy or an apothecary (they're basically the same thing) depending on technology and inspired time period. Maybe a pharmacists, cleric, plague doctor, witch or maybe even a witch doctor.

Next is what the expectations around these kind of things. Are they expensive? Is there law that follows them? What would I see if I approached?

We technically use drugs everyday with toothpastes, vitamins, protein powder, coffees, midnight teas, antidepressants, tylenol, ibuprofen, on and on

Painkillers

Painkillers are tricky, usually whatever aspect allows for pain relief is also often addictive in some way.

When designing painless options for worldbuilding I try to take into consideration how long this painkiller as been around and what the side effects are of it. I also try to come up with an idea of how easy it is for the average person to get their hands on it.

Potions, Poisons, and Resources

Potions

Potions can get messy really quick actually, just like spells. They might rely on the magic system in some way, and sometimes worldbuilders want to flesh them out very thoroughly with creation, ingredients, and appearance.

I think potions could deserve their own post to be honest.

There's many different directions worldbuilders can go with when it comes to potions. I think potions are great place to get super creative, and wacky, and truly delve into the fantasy, magical, or technological aspects of one's worldbuilding.

What would potions be like mass produced? Are they rare and mysterious? Do they range from commonly found in a local shop to rumor of ancient powerful capabilities?

When it comes to ingredients I like to remember the origins of "witch's potions" and their strangeness in rumor, while in all reality were typical herbs, medicines, and poisons.

Poisons

Often times poison historically wasn't sold as poison, and often times it also was.

Whether it be a key ingredient in some messed up beauty practice, "perfume" to remove one's abusive husband, or just as it is, Arsenic; poisons are often sold alongside medicine, and sometimes as medicine in apothecaries. In fact so were addictive drugs for a long time too (and arguably still today).

Resource Management

When certain materials or items become important to my worldbuilding I make noted of how the local society gathers that resource, and distributes it.

Whether it be through mining, farming, fishing, foraging, scavenging, raiding, or more there's lots to do when it comes to the origins of a resource.

House of Healers

Where the wounded are brought says a lot about a society, from the quality of the place to the care of the injured. Many things in worldbuilding can effect what this looks like. There's war, pandemics, worker shortages, strikes, corporate overtaking, religious interference, anything really.

What are doctors like, if they're even called doctors? How safe are people in the hospitals? How comfortable is everything?

Are people brought to a religious building of clerics? Maybe they're crammed haphazardly in a clinic that needed to be set up in a gymnasium-

I also like to think about where those who need caretaking go.

The Macabre

Some cultures are very morbid, while others find the macabre taboo. This changes a lot of the way we view hospitals. A superstitious culture might have many trinkets and religious outlets inside these kinds of buildings, as well as ways to prepare bodies for proper death treatment

Maybe people fear going to hospitals, and many rather die in their own homes believing it for their own safety. Maybe doctors usually travel out, especially with older folks.

How do things differ in desperate times? How does treatment change for minority groups? Are military clinics paired with proper surgeons and medics? Do prisoners receive medical treatment?

[leonawriter]

[Sorry for sending such an overexcited ask earlier, as an apology take this long analysis of how interesting Hokma joining the LCB would be.]

First of all, Hokma joining the LCB team would probably end up with him being given the recognized role of being Dante's official physician / technician and the teams's psychologist / counselor. (Much to Outis's irritation although she'll probably quickly backdown like she did in the fic when Hokma straightens everything out. It might make things awkward though with Vergilius or Gregor considering Tomerry and the Smoke War.) Should anyone ask why he's there or why he's part of the team despite not being from Limbus Company itself, he has a ready excuse to be part of the team as much as Vergilius or Charon.

(Not that Hokma would let anything stop him from being reunited with Ayin/Dante. I doubt the LCB could ever refuse Hokma let alone stop him from joining the Bus Team if he really wanted to. Afterall, it is to their benefit that someone as important as one of the three founders like Hokma is willing to take on a role in helping Lobotomy Corporation's soon to be successor. If Hokma is willing to volunteer his services for the small price of being able to join with their Bus Team, why look a gift horse in the mouth?)

Hokma, being the man most knowledgeable of the clocks, robotics / prosthetics and Lobotomy Corporation's singularity including the golden bough and abnormalities would be such a boon if he joined the team. And who knows? Maybe as more of the Sapling abilities are unlocked, more Sephirot will follow right behind him!

(I will add more if you're okay with that. This has a lot of wonderful angst potential!)

Please don't apologise for the excited ask, I loved it!

I can certainly see like, all of these things happening one way or another.

As for Hokma's excuse... I think that he'd stick with the truth of "I am the former Sephirot of the Records Team, and you've been messing around in our branch facilities. I heard that my beloved mentor was seen somewhere, and will be working with you until such time as I hear any further information on this."

When it comes to Vergilius and Gregor... I think things would be awkward at first, sure, but it's nothing they'd not be able to get over.

Hokma would be able to clearly explain the circumstances, and also express his condolences over Tomerry.

I also doubt that he'd hold any sort of grudge against Gregor; he'd have known how the Smoke War played out firsthand, and how propaganda works, and also... most importantly, I think, he knows what it is to work closely with someone who hurt you (his and Binah's Layers/Floors are right next to each other).

I can't see any of the other former Sephirot following him, haha. No, if anything there was a huge explosion of Hokma knowing that Ayin was alive and out there in the City and he just knew he needed to do something, and that 'something' was "get out there and find Ayin." The same as when he'd been safely well away from Lobotomy Corporation when the Loops started, only to realise that no, he might be safe, but he isn't where he needs to be.

Angela tried to argue against it, because once he's out there she can't bring him back if he gets killed, and the others are all worried as well - but as the fic title says, there was no stopping that sentinel about his duty.

I put in the fic that I don't have plans for more, but there sure is so much potential with this idea! Maybe when C8 comes out I'll have more to add, or even outside of that.

In the meantime, go ahead :)

[readingsfrommars]

A Hero in a City Full of Giants, Part 2

Alright, I've done Shi Association and Blade Lineage, now it's time for Lobotomy Corp and W Corp! These two will probably be relatively brief (they were not), but if you know the context, it won't come as a surprise.

After this will be Don's Middle and N Corp IDs!

Oh, Lobotomy Corp Don. You silly thing, you. I will say, on a completely unrelated note, it's cool to see how abnormalities look without the cognition filter active.

The Walpurgis night IDs feel slightly less "canon" than the others, to me, although that's more of an opinion thing. I'd be happy to explain why if asked.

Anyway, the fact that Don received a Lobotomy Corporation ID instead of one of the Library of Ruina ones is interesting here, as we know this specifically is the Lob Corp facility we play through in the game. So, we get the benefit of knowing a bit more context toward her working situation, although to be perfectly honest, the only thing that actually matters is the knowledge of her assigned abnormality, O-04-84, or Meat Lantern.

For those who don't know, Meat Lantern can be a rather frustrating abnormality to work with. First of all, it doesn't like if a work session with it ends too early, and is a fairly common escapee when shit hits the fan. Now, if it were any other abnormality this would be fairly manageable, it's just a matter of suppressing it and that's that, but Meat Lantern is a special case.

Firstly, you will not be notified that Meat Lantern has breached containment. Secondly, once you do realise, you will notice that it isn't roaming the facility. Instead, it has teleported somewhere in the facility and is waiting with its lantern sprouted out of the ground like a flower. If someone walks over the flower, they are killed instantly. You will need to find it before it kills too many people, or, worse, kills one of your important agents. It is a deceptively lethal abno with the right circumstances.

So why did I take the time to explain all of this? Well, if you were someone who, for example, aspired to be a hero that helped the weak and were given the responsibility of dealing with an abnormality that when left to its own devices can kill dozens of employees without being noticed, you would probably place a lot of importance on making sure it didn't do exactly that.

Lob Corp Don has a different way of seeing things, comparing it more akin to a game of Hide and Seek and punishing it for the "mischief" of killing multiple people by smacking its backside before placing it back in containment.

While, Don has always been an oddball case, this feels... strange to me. The most likely cause of this in my eyes is the armour she's wearing. As we have been shown through a number of different stories in Project Moon's catalogue, wearing E.G.O is not without its side-effects upon one's psyche. Obviously there is also the working conditions, as multiple instances within Lob Corp show that the body count is very high in that place (Lookin at you, Queen of Hatred). The way that it appears to have affected Don's mind is that she appears to have a great deal of affection towards the abnormalities, calling Meat Lantern (which outright eats people) cute and struggling to punish it for, again, eating people.

Suffice it to say, Lobotomy Corporation Don Quixote is no hero, although she has a commendable work ethic at least.

W Corp Don is a prime example of the speed at which The City can and will bring Don to ruin.

If you know how WARP trains work, you know why I don't need to explain much here. If you don't...

WARP trains are a form of near-instantaneous public transit, which is all well and good until you remember how time works when moving at or close to the speed of light. If you are not in first class seating, you will discover a few things.

Firstly, the train does not, in fact reach its destination instantly. Initially, people on the train may think this is the result of some sort of breakdown, and that, once the train is fixed, they will be able to get out at their desired stop soon.

Secondly, you do not need to eat or drink while on the train. This is not immediately apparent to the passengers, but when minutes becomes hours and the train still hasn't reached its destination, this will eventually be noticeable.

Eventually, hours will become days, weeks, then months. People will begin to panic, some may become violent, and if you are unlucky enough to see someone go past the point of no return, you will learn the final, terrible truth of WARP trains.

You cannot die within a WARP train. No matter what happens to you, you will still be conscious. You are forced to experience the full journey, even after a hundred years and you've watched countless people, who were once strangers, but have become life-long friends in the countless years since. Even after three thousand years, when you have long since forgotten your name, language, and what you were when you got onto the train. You will live through it all.

At your destination, a functionally identical reconstruction of you will leave the train at its destination, completely unaware of the eternity they experienced behind them.

This one does not need much explanation, although I will happily point out one very interesting detail about the ID story.

W Corp Don's ID story does not show her Uptie 3 art at all. All we see after her initial ID art is a black screen as it describes that Don's reaction of disgust and horror is the same reaction anyone has upon learning the truth of the trains.

Instead, the Uptie 3 art gives us the aftermath.

It shows us what the revelation has turned Don into.

Do you see a hero here? Because if you ask me, I don't think the word "hero" will appear in W Corp Don's thoughts ever again after this point.

[sometimes-love-is-enough]

HiIII II min, what are you reading/watching/listening to at the moment, i need recs

QUITE A LOT. i am reading and watching and playing and listening to. A LOT. I'm kind of astounded that I'm actually doing all this at once, but here we go -

Books:

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov - y'all already know what this one is about. I'm here to tell you that it's brilliantly done with a genuinely engaging writing voice and style, and a terrifyingly good unreliable narrator. If you're up to stomaching the obvious pedophilia, I fully recommend it.

Moby Dick by Herman Melville - slightly racist biologically inaccurate whale hunting. For people who know nothing about whales. I've been on a classics kick recently, I'm trying to get my way through a lot of the big 'classic' books and this is what feels like the final boss. It's good, but it's dense as all fuck, and I'm struggling despite being very close to the end with it. I don't recommend this one quite as much, but it's good enough for me to stick with it.

Sacred and Terrible Air by Robert Kurvitz - this is the Disco Elysium novel, translated from Estonian by a variety of lovely people. It's good, but it's also pretty dense - maybe not as much as Moby Dick, but it makes it hard to read in large chunks. I'm reading it alongside my beloved @lifewithoutrainydays, and i really need to put more time into it.

S. by Doug Dorst - fucking fascinating book. It's presented as a book called 'Ship of Theseus' by an author that doesn't exist, and it looks and feels like an actual old library book, complete with scribblings in the margins (that form a whole other meta story on top of the book itself), postcards and printouts jammed in between the pages, and an old library label on the spine. Still trying to figure out how to read it, but plucking away at it in-between all my other endeavors.

Our Bloody Pearl by D.N. Bryn - a.k.a., me trying to step out of my comfort zone and read some recommendations, and not quite clicking with it. Found family pirate-siren trauma-recovery story. I like the things being done with communication difficulties, but on the whole it feels a bit too fanfiction-y, which is not something I tend to like in my original fiction. I'd recommend it if you're a fan of that sort of thing, though!

Comics:

Awful Hospital: Seriously the Worst Ever by Bogleech - the author says they've never read Homestuck. I don't know if I believe them. A glorious gruesome surreal hellish trip through a very very bad hospital, seriously the worst ever, and beyond! I'm pretty early on but enjoying the fuck out of it. I don't know where it's going and I'm scared to find out.

Doctor Strange: Fall Sunrise by Tradd Moore - I read this ages ago, but finally have it in printed edition, and that rules because everything about this FUCKS SEVERELY. the art style is unhinged and brilliant, the writing is weird and beautiful, and the plot is........ the weirdest thing Doctor Strange comics have ever done since Into Shamballa, actually. i'm taking it slow this time because i want to savor every panel.

The Apothecary Diaries (manga edition) - this has been on pause for a bit, because everything else I was reading distracted me, but it's good and it's open in another tab right now, so I'll include it. Murder mysteries in an ancient Chinese court, starring the weirdest poison-obsessed apothecary girl who has ever existed. She poisons herself for fun and gets excited over particularly deadly toxins, I love her to death.

Games:

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt - I loved the books and the show, so I figured it was about time to actually play the games. I'm a tiny bit addicted to it at this point. It's a good fucking game. I like killing monsters and I like playing Fantasy Magic The Gathering and i really really like the battle music. I'm 100%ing this one or I'm dying in the process.

Lobotomy Corporation - has fallen a bit by the wayside because of the Witcher, whoops, but I do fully intend to get back to it at some point. I know there's some less-than-great stuff going on vis-a-vis the creators, but I'm not really engaging on that level. I'm just enjoying it as an SCP-like creature-management simulator. There's some very fun anomalies with very fun writeups in this one, and I enjoy the mental challenge of figuring out what makes them all tick.

Listening to:

Critical Role, Campaign Three - I'm not utterly obsessed with it, but it's a nice long chunk of listening for me to get my evening routine done to the sound of.

And on my podcast 'I'm all caught up, but I regularly listen when new episodes come out' list are: The Magnus Protocol, Dungeons and Daddies, The Adventure Zone, and Apocrypals.

Watching:

The X-Files - all of it, start-to-finish, because I have somehow managed to avoid all spoilers of a sci-fi cultural touchstone all this time, and I'm really looking forward to seeing where this goes. I love some fucked-up monster-of-the-week sci-fi.

[texasthoughtsaboutnothing]

Walpurgisnacht and how it ties it all together

So what is Walpurgisnacht?

Walpurgisnacht is a once a season fanservice event. It's a story thing with light character development. It's a banner with functionally an entire new rarity of ID. It's a game mode meant to demonstrate the power of those new IDs. It is a massive money maker for the company. And I believe it is kinda sorta the thing endgame players will align their behavior around.

That's a big claim at the end there, but I'll try to explain.

The key thing to focus on is the banner and the units that come with it. Walpurgis IDs are unique in that they are only available to purchase during a Walpurgisnacht, with the banner IDs being completely unpurchasable the first time they show up. Yes, you need to win the latest hype units from the Gacha or wait 4 months to buy them. These IDs are powerful, and, as this is a fanservice event tend to be referencing some of the coolest shit in PM's universe.

Needless to say demand is high while "supply" is dictated by a 1.5% drop chance or a 200 pull pity. This is pretty normal for a gacha, but a radical departure for Limbus, and it has some serious consequences on how we think about resources.

So in my last post I went over how Limbus' gacha after a certain point isn't worth it, and it ends up being mathematically better to convert premium currency to stamina to just grind out the units you want. There are several extremally important caveats to that statement, and the biggest one is Walpurgisnacht. I want to address that point here.

You want pulls for this, because you can't buy the unit until months after its arrived and you'll probably want it now. This changes how you might think about refreshing stamina, because you want to stockpile currency for a big pull session every 4 months. Counterintuitively, you want a lot of shards if you're new to buy the old Walpurgisnacht stuff, as unless the game powercreeps to hell and back a lot of these will be good forever (Regret Meursault EGO fundamentally changes how we think about his IDs and gameplay in perpetuity).

If we math it out (and use vague estimates so this doesn't become a wall of numbers), you can get 100 pulls from purely weekly Lunacy gains between Walpurgisnachts, but that number decreases for every refresh you do. if you refresh once every day, you're down to 85 pulls, and further down to 26 pulls if you double refresh. Ouch. However. there are other sources of pulls than just the 750 a week, and they add up substantially.

All of which is to say it's probably better to only do a single refresh to save pulls for Walpurgis, but if you do double refresh you will still have the ability to pull on this and maybe get the Banner ID.

But there's one other aspect to Walpurgis that has been met with some apprehension by the community, but makes me wonder at PMs intentions for the late game experience.

Gacha Announcers.

So Limbus has a system for Combat Announcers, There's no gameplay advantage for this, it's just to have your favorite characters comment on how bad you're playing, a nice little bonus reward that's easy to do if the VA is in the studio.

Walpurgisnacht slightly changed that, in that it added 2 Announcers to the Walpurgis gacha pool, Malkuth and Pierre/Jack. Malkuth is a major character from both Lobotomy Corporation and Library of Ruina and a fan favorite; the response to her being available was... significant. Pierre/Jack are also here. The Announcers are very rare (1.3%), and cannot be purchased, but are Pitiable (Malkuth most of all, heyyo). They take their rarity from the filler pulls, so nothing is actually lost as far as odds goes.

A big sticking point is you can roll dupe Announcers as they aren't removed from the pool like EGO, and many are upset they might not get Malkuth and instead the other guys. Undeniably that sucks, it's probably rare to save up 200 pulls for the pity and it might feel like a waste. But this decision also propelled Limbus on Steam's top 10 seller charts for the day, so PM rang in the new year with a smashing success of sales. It's also unclear if we can purchase the Announcers later, so that also is driving some fomo.

So that might seem bad, but one interesting thing is that dupe announcers give a lot of thread, 50 crates worth. Thread is the primary currency for upgrades and at endgame you want thousands of the stuff.

This creates this image to me of what an endgame player looks like, and I wonder if it's intentional. They have all or most of the game's available IDs and are now just spending Lunacy to stamina refresh to grind more boxes or thread or exp or w/e. That person now gets a second Thread bomb from Walpurgis separate from the seasonal turnover Thread bomb, which is the primary restriction of end game. I'm probably reaching here, but there's a logic to this that makes sense to me.

That's about all for Walpurgisnacht, but there's a couple other things I think are neat.

One, the game becoming one where you hoard gacha currency for a big dump to hit pity every 4 months is hilariously normal for this genre, albeit we actually get all the units.

Second, community engagement spikes with this as we get classic gacha posts like:

"Hey I just got every relevant unit in a single 10 pull, how wacky is that?" "150 pulls and nothing, it's so fucking over" "Can I get this unit in 3 single pulls? If not game sucks and devs are @%$#." "I STOLE MY MOM'S CREDIT CARD WE ARE SO FUCKING BACK"

Classic.

That's all folks, play Limbus Company.

[review-anon]

Undetoxifying Netzach and teleporting his ass over, he's head of the safety team so he can probably help too. - Abno anon

Netzach: Urrghhh....what is it now...oh, Ego Suit causing issues.

Who are you and how did you get here?

Netzach: ...Netzach...Head of Lobotomy Corporation's Safety Department. And it seems what we have here is a classic case of someone using a Ego Suit in the wrong situation.

Can you go back to the beginning and explain what a Ego Suit is.

Netzach: It's to do with the Abnormalites you have encountered so far...if we do enough research onto them we can craft weapons and armour from their remains.

So do you know what me and Akamatsu are wearing then?

Netzach: ...You are wearing a Pentence Ego Suit. That's crafted from One Sin and a Hundred Deeds. Its the most basic armour we have as it protects the user from physical blows and also absolves them of any sins they carry with them.

Well that explains why I feel a lot better since wearing it.

Its good news that Kabuya will be fine wearing it but what about what Akamatsu is wearing.

Netazach: Let's see...oh you got to be kidding me why she is wearing THAT?

...That doesn't sound good.

Netazach: It isn't. That's Da Capo which is crafted from The Silent Orchestra. Not only is that a ALEPH class Abnormality while One Sin is only ZAYIN, its also really strong against most means of attack with only Pale attacks being able to pierce it and finally you should NOT play music while wearing it.

Oh great so not only is Akamatsu wearing a super strong armour, but its also a pain to destroy?

Netazach: Well...unless you have anything that damages the soul that is?

Which is completely out of the question, we are not damaging anyone's souls and all we are doing is getting that suit off Akamatsu.

We just need to get there.

[fishfingersandscarves]

Because at this point I figured out I'll never get it done... Let me hand you the bits I started writing for the idea of:

What was captured was only the most human aspect of Dream of the Endless, because there is no way simple magic circle could fit the whole of what dream is. It changed dreams and way humans experience it, drove many of them mad, but it did not truly hold Dream. (Closer to lobotomy)

Hob was sure this dream was supposed to be a nightmare about Robyn's death. He could feel it on an instinctual level, even if it was also all wrong. The tavern was there, the same old building with worn wooden beams and formerly white walls darkened by years building has stood there. There were lights inside and noise, a vague suggestion of people inside, drinking and arguing.

But the unreality intensified in waves as he approached the building enough to see inside. Rather than people gathered inside to drink and play like he is certain there should be there were just vague blobs of shapes instead of people, pretending to sit around and a large one standing in the middle of space. The sound was still just distant incoherent noise that fails to form any words, getting louder but not any clearer. Only the smells of alcohol and sweat and general human unpleasantness are still the same. Then the shape of the middle blob shifts a bit and... oh, there is a splatter of blood, strangely stark and clear on the aged wood but with how unreal everything else looks it doesn't have the emotional impact it should. Hob knew what it represented, and it was hard not to, but he is also aware it was just a dream and not a realistic one. It wasn’t even a nightmare anymore.

Hob looked around, again wondering why there are no people in the dream that by all means should be full of them. Then he looked at his own hand, first just glancing down, then as there was something missing he lifted both his hands, trying to take a closer look, just to realize that he didn’t have hands at all.

Actually, his body felt like he isn't even human anymore. The edges of the dream frayed and dissolved while he was still there and watched it go.

And then he woke up. It was still somewhere in the middle of the night, but he could hear the neighbors' dog barking... since when they had a dog?

shapeless shadows clinging to the edges of the room seemingly deeper, with swaying movement for no discernable reason. Everything seems off, wrong in subtle ways, but enough to drive Hob to check his hands, just to see, to make sure he really has hands and it's not just another layer of that strange dream, but it was just a hand, normal. No need to think too hard about it. He drank some water and turned his pillow, determined to just go back to sleep. Hob rubbed the remains of sleep from his eyes, just as a desperate scream sounded out from the house on another side of the street.

Hob sat up on his bed with a groan, wondering what kind of insane night was it going to be. Clearly, something must be going on and he didn't want to have anything to do with it.

If anything important is happening he would hear about it in the morning, but probably it was nothing, he tried to convince himself. And yet, it felt like something behind him was watching him. But he knew it was just a wall there.

With the effect it had, Hob decided to put the dream he had just had firmly back into the nightmare category.

He grumbled to himself, burying himself into the warm sheets, determined to ignore the feeling and people who decided to be noisy in the middle of the night.

Barking continued.

(it is the neighbor, little bit carried up by dreams of being a dog)

Dream of the Endless swayed on his feet, corporeal form dissolving at the edges, flashes of clothes weaving in and out of existence as he followed the faint thread of power back home. He gave all he had in that one desperate effort and not much was left of his personification, just enough for the gravity of his greater self in the dreaming to pull rather than recreate.

And then his next approximation of step across the unreal space got pulled off course.

“Here in the darkness!” Whispers of voices were more suggestions than actual words at first.

“Here in the darkness!” Demanded attention, yanking another step.

“Here in the darkness!” Pulled Dream down, stumbling into corporality.

“Here in the Darkness!” His cloak was material, the air was cold and bones ached with the pain of wear.

The chants stopped and Dream couldn’t feel his self, just the faux blood rushing and thumping in his ears, the feeling of skin covering muscles, internal organs materializing and shifting inside. Disgustingly fleshy and painfully limited, human senses ringing and clawing at his self demanding attention in absence of eternal song of the minds. Wrong. Something so small and contained simply couldn’t be Dream of the Endless. And yet Dream was there, personified. It ached like a fresh wound, being cut away from himself. It was making him sick. It hurt.

He couldn’t get the incorporated vessel to move. There were muscles and he never before had needed to figure out how those functioned. There was skin and it was tight and uncomfortable. It felt like he was tied down in it. Flesh resisted.

The figures were gathered around, empty mindless dolls walking around. They were just lifeless existences, shifting as they moved away. The cloaks obscured features, but the faces didn’t matter either way. They were just dull things without dreams, without souls that Dream could sense.

Not worth any attention, even as one shaped as a child was pushed forward.

The thing took his dreamstone of anchoring and pulled the bag filled with grains of creation out of his fingers that refused to cooperate. The corporeality should be less stable without it, and yet the bones stayed aching underneath the mess of biological parts he rarely would bother to pay any mind to.

Even those things didn’t help lifeless things to fix their lacking souls, but it hurt even more for Dream to be separated with even those bits of self, like the things had some malicious intelligence guiding them to tear away even more bits of what Dream was.

He tried to abandon the corporation, to drift into the diffused self.

The void welcomed him instead.

Hob glanced over the pub casually and then froze. There was a *thing* standing in the doorway, something vaguely resembling human, but like the bad rendition put together from pieces that were decidedly not.

Someone else noticed the thing as the whimpering inhale suggested and after that first reaction everyone else did as well, the voices fell silent, and heads turned, everyone seemingly too frozen in fear to react. Bunch of bloody animals in face of predator no one could escape from. Not when thing stood blocking the exit.

And then it moved, taking what probably was supposed to be a step, but flesh flowed and oozed and flowed in air all at once in a sickening manner, for a moment splitting things "leg" into two. The movement of the body parts was disjointed and it slid forward out of sync with it. It was moving toward hob, black holes in its head glowing with distant supernovas.

Then it shifted and yet it felt like it didn't change at all, marble sculpture of perfectly white skin, raven feathers formed into a shock of black hair sticking from the head, and Hob felt his stomach sink with realization.

It was trying to look like his Stranger. Failing badly at this but as it came closer he could feel that there was something familiar in its aura.

Someone screamed in the background, the piercing noise of panic, that seemingly broke people out of their terrified stupor, to make them run.

But the thing... flared, for the lack of a better term. And people settled on their places, back to their discussions and drinks like they haven't seen anything. Like thing was not standing right there in front of the table with a humble professor on other side.

"HOB GADLING" thing rumbled in a voice that wasn't voice, cascading of sounds of nature somehow coalescing into meaningful words. And then it wasn't using even that anymore, just flashes of images and intent flowing into Hob's mind, popping right there but obviously separate. Greeting. Then shift to question about his time between meetings, but not giving nearly enough time for Hob to form the words as it moved on from a topic, right into question if he still wishes to live. Almost as if this thing was following some sort of programmed script.

Hob felt bitter thinking about how it must mean his stranger doesn't want to meet him again if he sent this thing... but then he remembered the date. It was years early. As he thought that the thing seemingly responded to his thought, responding with a sensation of time flowing weirdly, non-linear, and grand concept. Too much.

He found himself slumped on the table, alone. The pounding headache suggested he had far too much to drink. But he couldn't have just hallucinated the bizarre meeting. Whatever it really meant. Something must be wrong. Something about his Stranger, almost certainly.

And Dream sitting in the fishbowl, disconnected and unaware what the hell is going on. The impersonal Dreaming definitely would capture back quickly at least the sand, maybe grabbing ruby quickly as well. Because while it isn't a person at the moment, it is all animals and plants and planets and stars and all has instinct to try being whole. Probably without anything else actually changing on front of capture, since Hob lacks way to figure out stuff, and there are no hints to try looking for something captured. So Morpheus is mourning that he is forced to miss the meeting. And when one day he is free, one if the first things to do is to rush and apologize for not coming and Hob is all so confused because he kind of was there twice in last century? He didn't quite look well, but it felt like him?

And Morpheus makes decision to basically sit with hob and wait for rest of him to come and pick him up because he clearly can't find the way to even try going back.

ooooooooooooo i love this <3 the body horror of it all <3

[that1nkyone]

we need you to know that the second we saw "lobotomy corporation" in the tags of that post abt music our braincell instantly activated like "wait a second. does inky. know of that" like. hyperfixation braincell activated asdflkjn

jhgfdgkg I had a small phase back in 2020! Realtalk I've never played the game (i do not think I can Juggle So Many Tasks), but I really enjoyed the music and the aesthetic. The story is a bit too dense for me to really get into, but it's still been a fun ride. : )

Happy to re-ignite your hyperfixation, Anon. XD

[ruinaimagines]

Maybe some friend and/or being queerplatonic w/ Malkuth HCs? She deserves love too!!

Malkuth absolutely deserves love too, and I'm glad you requested her because she's super fun to write for. I hope these hcs are what you're looking for, and thank you for requesting!

Being a Friend and in a Queerplatonic Relationship with Malkuth Headcanons:

Malkuth is a really great friend, but sometimes she can forget to take care of herself. She’s constantly on the move, and while there’s nothing wrong with being someone who prefers to be busy, it’s important to take breaks. Even when you’re done with the work day you find her looking for something else to do.

You help her relax and shift some of the work off of her shoulders. There’s nothing wrong with taking a step back, she’s already done so much already. A break doesn’t necessarily mean ceasing all productivity, it just means taking a moment to be productive for yourself.

I think a big reason that she acts like this is because she feels a guilt for being a bit blinded back in Lobotomy Corporation and pushing difficult tasks and too much work on her employees. She has a constant need to feel useful, and that’s manifested into making up for it by doing everything herself.

It’s unrealistic to expect yourself to be perfect and able to do everything constantly though. You’re here to remind her about that. While it’s respectable that she wants to make amends, the librarians, you included, know that sometimes you might have to do a little more or work a little harder. It’s that way in any job.

Plus, she’s already vastly improved the quality and condition of the workplace. A lot of the librarians you know that work on the floor of history have already forgiven her, it seems like the only person she’s trying to earn forgiveness from is herself.

You might come along as she runs through the library, trailing after and offering assistance whenever you think it might be needed. She’s constantly on the go, so either you have to be to, or you have to find a specific place to sit that she frequently passes by.

When you’re with a friend the tasks you have to get through can seem a lot less tedious and more fun. It gives you something to do after all, you’re sort of confined to the library so there’s a limited amount of things to occupy yourself with.

Don’t worry though, there are times where the both of you can have restful moments. You might have to reach these points through some convincing, but it’s not too difficult even then.

I have no clue if the patron librarians have their own bedrooms, or if the other librarians do as well, for the only real layout of the library seen is the floors themselves. That being said, even if they’re not full rooms and more like little areas to sleep, I would like to entertain the thought they do.

Malkuth and you would absolutely have sleepovers. I can see the both of you in a situation where she’s sitting on her bed in her sleep clothes, criss-cross legs and arms wrapped around the pillow. You’re in front of her, instead sitting on the floor, sorting through papers or a book or maybe even playing a board game.

If it is a board game expect for some competitive gameplay. I feel like she’d be the type of person to say ‘I’m more of a casual player’ but you KNOW she is planning out your every move with how concentrated she is staring at the board.

And when you’re done you both flop on her bed, holding each other, likely surrounded by plush animals and talking about how you’re the best friends either could have asked for.

I feel like she’d have one of those really fluffy comforter blankets. I can just see her liking those or some poofy pillows. Either way, you jump onto her bed and just land in what feels like a cloud.

She also wakes up way earlier than you do unless you intentionally try to. I personally see her as a very early bird type of person, and you know she’s going to use this to her advantage.

Serves you breakfast in bed and you’re just like ‘I love you so much what did I do to deserve a friend like you.’ cause I mean come on… food? That’s the way to a person’s heart.

Just saying, I do not take Malkuth as the most… consistent cook. She very well might burn the pancakes a bit every once in a while, or the presentation may be a bit jarring, but it all tastes good! It’s not like a fire emergency type of damage!.. For the most part.

You appreciate the sentiment anyways, whether it’s edible or not so much. I think that she has a bit of a hard time feeling competent, so she might beat herself up if it ends up not being the quality she hopes for. She’s not a perfectionist, but she’ll still get disappointed in herself from time to time.

You have to remind her though that you’re not expecting some gourmet meal, and she doesn’t even have to make you anything to begin with! You’re grateful for anything you get in any condition.

If you’re a bit of a chef yourself, or if you really just want to help out, she’s totally willing to let you. Even if cooking isn’t her biggest passion, it’s not like she dislikes it. Plus, there has to be cookbooks or at least something in the library that includes recipes to test out, right?

She can grab your hand and start pulling you around without even realizing. This happens a lot when she picks up a sudden interest in a specific thing and wants to show it to you. It’s not like a harsh grip or anything, but it can be a bit of a surprise when she suddenly runs up and starts pulling you along.

If she catches herself doing this she’ll probably apologize for pulling you out of whatever you were doing, but you forgive her and say it was boring anyways. She doesn’t know whether to nudge you and comment on how you shouldn’t treat your job as boring, or smile at the compliment.

I feel like she’d do that one thing where you hold hands side by side and just start swinging them back and forth. If you’re ever besides her while she’s looking through the shelves for a specific book she might start doing this.

She gives off the feel of one of those kids who would know every single fact about dinosaurs and bugs and excitedly tell everyone about them (me, I was that kid). She’d totally retain just the most random and obscure facts throughout what she reads and occasionally bring them up.

“Did you know that leafcutter ants will create their own fungus gardens they cultivate and grow as a food source? They don’t actually eat the leaves, it’s for their garden!”

It comes out of nowhere and you’re nodding along and listening intently to everything she says and she’s just so happy that someone is willing to listen. She knows so many random science facts that she just doesn’t get to tell people because of their disinterest or it's just not being super professional at the time.

But you listen so carefully as if some god has descended to whisper the secrets of the universe to you.

You can expect sudden and random friendly pecks on the cheek and check ups from your favorite patron librarian. She wants to make sure you’re doing good, and it’s nice to know someone’s thinking about you a lot.

I feel like one day you would have had a horribly awful idea. Malkuth knew from the start that it was going to end in chaos and wreckage, but you managed to persuade her to let you attempt it. What was this idea? Stringing up a hammock in the library between the shelves.

Now, this may seem like a bad idea from the get go (cause it was) but you were bored and the day was already over with. If you happen to set up a nice rest point it can be used by not only you, but other librarians too!

You managed to get the cloth corners tied, but when all went wrong was when you sat on it. There was a moment of calm before the storm before it completely collapsed and sent you falling onto the floor and books flying out.

She rushed over of course, concerned for you, but you were perfectly fine, just a bit bruised. Then she started laughing, and so did you. That remains a fond memory in your mind, even if Angela did scold you afterwards.

[a-shrieking-cloud-of-bats]

oh yeah shit it’s new year I need to do game of the year (”need”)

anyway I think I have to give my personal Game Of The Year to Library of Ruina by Project Moon

this was a game that took me most of the year to even finish and in many cases made me wonder if I’d finish at all; despite this the plot and game concept (Lobotomy Corporation is reccomended to play first; you will get what you need to know from LoR but the full picture is in Lobotomy Corp) kept me going and I did ultimately finish it

the combat system was extremely fresh for a card battler, a genre I thought for sure was dead to me mechanically, every card has up to 3 dice (or 3 dice with a counter die), every die has a damage type (pierce, slash, blunt, block, or dodge) and enemies have Meaningfully Different Damage Resistances to these types; there are fights that will absolutely punish you for running a pierce themed deck, or whatever, which I loved. Block and Dodge both work fundamentally differently; dodge is a gamble, a dodge die will be recycled until the roll fails, for every successful roll you get stamina (SP) back; an extremely valuable resource, as getting staggered usually means you have to cover for that guy or that guy has to die. Block is simple damage reduction; it always works, even if it doesn’t win the roll.

also it determines how these rolls are competing by what enemy speed die you target; in the beginning most enemies have one speed die most of the time, as you progress enemies get up to 4 (and in one extreme circumstance, like, 6), there can be up to 5 enemies (And allies) on the field and yeah, despite being a turn based card battler things get Hectic. There are a lot of values to consider and a lot of gimmicks to consider even, too.

Despite all this there are loads of cards (and card sets) and deck building is wonderful, if you’re into that. You’ll definitely have to put thought in, but it is totally worth it. Despite how hard the game is conventionally seen as, you can dismantle all the content in this game handily if you’re smart about it and good at piloting the decks (I wasn’t)

On top of that there are up to 10 floors, they all eventually have unique bonuses that get bestowed on them as the fight goes on and there are definitely certain decks that work better with certain floors; you’re not just thinking about what cards get put in. I personally did most of the endgame with a tanky malkuth floor that took a frankly ridiculous amount of punishment, even if it didn’t have much in the way of burst damage; this gameplan required both appropriate decks and appropriate passives (referred to as EGO pages; EGO is an in universe term, you’ll figure it out).

so yeah super good game if you’re into games that don’t hold your hand and also don’t have any issues with twisting your arm super hard; if you’re the sort’ve person that plays games to relax and has nothing to prove however, maybe not your bag

Video Games