#i’m collecting personas like. well. i think you get the idea

[lu-the-artist]

oh yeah

i’m 18 now 🎉

[deadsetobsessions]

“I ate paint once,” Danny nonchalantly threw out in the middle of game night.

The entire table stopped. Heads whipped towards Danny.

“Yeah, me too. Cardamom yellow was my favorite. Ugly as hell but the chemicals just tasted right.” Tim replied, using the distraction to nab some of Bruce’s money. Monopoly money, that is. Everyone’s heads snapped towards Tim, only Cass and Danny (who was part of the scheme) caught him cheating.

“Really? I think mine was those spray can blue cosmos paint. But that might have been more my thing for space than the actual taste.”

“WHY WERE YOU EATING PAINT?!” Dick asked, looking like he wanted to lunge over the table and shake Danny until he puked out paint. Bruce looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

“Yeah, what the fuck, Tim?” Jason snickered.

“In my defense,” Danny grinned. “I was left unsupervised. Also, Steph, you owe me $24 in rent.”

“Ugh! I’m almost out of money! Can’t you loan me some, Alfred?”

“I am sorry, Miss Stephanie, you are not qualified for another loan. In fact, one of your properties is about to be confiscated as per the collateral agreement.”

“Noooo!” Stephanie made dramatic dying noises.

“What was your excuse, Timothy?” Damian asked, eyes glued to the board and determined to win the game.

“Hey, I was probably less supervised than Danny was.”

“Yeah,” Danny perked up. “My parents brought us down to their lab all of the time. Taught us a lot of stuff.”

“Really? Like what?” Duke asked, casually slapping away Tim’s sneaky hands.

“Oh, like what a rocket launcher sounded like up close! And how to build a laser gun! Oh! And what human organs looked like when they’re fresh!” Danny chirped, collecting his money from a stunned Stephanie’s hands. He looked up.

“Oh, don’t worry! I at least learned what not to do when it comes to lab safety. And we wore hazmat suits to protect ourselves from the radiation.” Danny smiled in a ditzy fashion as the table fell silent in a horrified manner. Cass tapped his arm amusedly, but allowed his bullshit to stand. After all, it’s not like he lied.

“Radiation?” Duck’s voice raised a couple of octaves. Oh yeah, Danny’s going to laugh about that pitch for a long while.

“Organs?!” Jason’s hands closed around the plastic house he was holding rather forcefully.

“Do you even know what basic lab safety practices are, Danny?” Damian demanded, finally looking up with brows furrowed. He rolled the dice and grabbed a mystery card. He gets $100 from Alfred.

“How old were you??” Duke asked.

“Like… 8, when they first brought me in?”

“Eight.” Bruce rumbled, slipping into a more Batman like persona. When Danny sent him a confused look, Bruce straightened back into his Bruce persona. “Wow, they must have trusted you a lot!”

“Sure?”

“What were their names again?” Stephanie asked sweetly, Cass nodding at him.

“Jack and Maddie Fenton.” Not that they’ll find them here, considering his parents are dead and in another universe.

“Cool, cool, cool!” Stephanie blinked, beaming as her hands formed lethal fists underneath the table.

Danny blinked and tilted his head in an unassuming way, pretending like he had no idea what Stephanie was thinking of. He sneakily handed over $600 to Cass in order to complete his monopoly on his side of the board.

Danny stood up and spread his hands out, one hand clutching his new found victory.

"Well, lady and gents, you've all been floundering against the inevitable tide of capitalism. I am here, as a reminder that you can never win against the hopelessness that will be your financial ruin! I, Danny Fenton, have obtained a quarter of the board and therefore have won against even your best efforts!" He cackled, holding up his fan of properties triumphantly. He shot a mischievous grin at Cass, who held up a solemn thumbs up in support for his monetary takeover.

"... Danny, are you... planning on a career in villainy?" Bruce asked, after a brief and total wave of shocked silence. Damian looked like he was having a conniption at having been bested, unknowingly. Yeah, Danny was disarming like that.

"Yeah, that was concerning." Tim piped up, nabbing a ten from a shell-shocked Damian.

"Hey! The Riddler gives surprisingly good monologues! And he's really loud, so it's hard not to pick up on things. Duke, your turn." Danny sat back down, pouting. The villainy comment was a little too close to his fears.

"Damn it." Duke, who had rolled, landed smack middle of Danny's territory. He handed over a sheaf of bills to a grinning Danny.

"Wait a minute! You have cheated!" Damian bolted upwards from his seat, finally done running through the purchases he remembered Danny making. "You acquired that property not within the games' rules!"

"Okay, first of all, the rule book is a suggestion, like lab safety rules," Danny saw the others open their mouths to protest, but he quickly shut it down. "Second, there's totally no rules about selling and buying places from a private owner so suck on it. And thirdly? Cass sold it to me, so you all can take it up with her."

"Diabolical!" Damian muttered indignantly.

"... Dammit." Dick sighed, falling back into the chair and balancing on its two legs. He couldn't say anything, considering his current of bankruptcy.

"Danny. Danny, I'll buy a property from you." Jason said, eyeing one of Danny's other properties near his own cluster.

"What do you have that would interest me?" Danny asked, falling back into his Vlad-like imitation.

"Ew, don't do that," Steph reached over to jab him in the arm.

"Yeah, Jason, what do you have?" Duke said, the lovely subtle instigator that he is.

"Red Hood's signature."

The others blue-screen, gaping at the actual audacity Jason had to offer up something that would take him no effort. Danny, prepared with a poker face that came with lying straight to Jazz's ever perceptive eyes about whether he nabbed the last of her ice cream or not, was prepared.

"Red Hood? The condom guy working out of the... um. Upper East Side?" Danny asked, pretending to hesitate. He knows where Jason operated. That doesn't mean he couldn't simply pretend otherwise. For science, of course.

...

...

...

The table howled with laughter, Jason's indignant spluttering unable to say anything against Danny's wide eyed look of innocence. Cass leaned against the table, chuckles falling out of her mouth and eyes crinkled in mirth. Dick had fallen out of his chair, helplessly wheezing on the floor. Duke is hiding his face in his hands, mirroring Bruce's pose as they both shake from silent laughter. Damian is smirking, wicked and sharp as he smugly stared at Jason. Stephanie and Tim are leaning against each other, repeating "the CONDOM GUY" in alternating and increasingly louder voices. Alfred had a smile on his face and a tight grip on the bills in front of him that betrayed his amusement.

"He's a crime lord!" Jason exclaimed, indignant.

"Uh, okay. Well, I mean, why would I want a crime lord's signature? I don't want to be on his radar. Or echolocation or whatever. He's... a Bat, right? That's what you guys call that group, yeah?"

"How do you know the Rogues better than the vigilantes?!" Jason glared at his unhelpful family. Those assholes better prepare for a load of rubber bullets the next time they're on patrol near Crime Alley.

"Hey, it's not my fault the vigilantes here are unsociable. Maybe if they monologued more, I'd know who they are."

"Wouldn't- wouldn't that make them more villain like?" Tim asked, stuttering from his laughter.

"I dunno?" Danny replied, enjoying his the family's unabashed joy. "I mean, they're pretty legit and they help people already so I guess they don't need to be sociable... but still I swear I haven't heard anything about Batman other than that he grunts and is mean towards criminals."

Is mean towards criminals, Duke mouthed at a recovering Dick who was in the process of heaving himself back up. It sent him careening back down to the floor with restrained giggles. Cass tapped Danny, reminding him to eat some food.

"Tt. Of course not. They're efficient at their jobs and have no need to be seen as welcoming to criminals." Damian puffed up.

"Yeah, but they've gotta feel safe, right?" Danny shrugged as he plucked a cookie from the cookie platter. "The... one with the sword, what was it?"

"Robin." Damian supplied, eyes narrowed and trained on him.

"Yeah, the baby bird. The kids think his swords are cool so they trust him. But like, the others? The flippy blue one? Not so much."

"Wait," Dick said from the floor. "They don't trust Nightwing?"

"Nah, they trust him to protect them, but he has a history of bringing the kids to the police, you know?"

"What's wrong with that?"

Danny shrugged. "ACAB. But also because everybody knows that half the guys in the GCPD and CPS are child traffickers."

"Wait, what?" Jason and Tim straightened.

Bruce piped in, the emotional whiplash of amusement to concern to amusement to concern visibly making itself known on the man's baffled face. "I thought Batman and Commissioner Gordon took care of that?"

"Sure, the obvious ones." Danny hesitated. Well, he's pretty sure they think he's a meta so... "There's... a meta trafficking ring that they're a part of. That's. That's kind of what I was running from."

Danny looked up pleadingly. Cass placed a hand on his arm in comfort, not knowing that he was fibbing about running from them.

Danny was on the streets helping his own Alley metas to run from them.

Danny is as feral as she was, and that meant he could hide just as much as she could read off of him. Cass was the best and he felt kind of bad about lying to her, successfully or not.

"Uh. Some people said you know Batman, Bruce. I know- uh, that might not be the case but if you do, could you ask him to look into it?" Danny made his eyes tear up. "And maybe he wouldn't care about me much, I mean, I know he doesn't really like metas but if he helps out, I could totally like, leave the city once the kids are safe, promise."

Ooh, Danny put a little too much sincerity into that. He could practically hear the hearts breaking in the game room as everyone glared at Bruce.

"You won't have to leave."

"... Promise?" And Danny's voice was a little too desperate, too hopeful, because Bruce's eyes tugged down in sadness.

"Promise." He rumbled, all Bruce Wayne and all Batman. Danny's core warmed. Danny also saw the rest of the family's faces darken in pure agreement. And partial wrath.

"Yeah! We'll kick Batman's ass if he even thought about kicking you out!" Stephanie proclaimed.

"He's far more proficient in combat than you are, Brown." Damian immediately leapt to Batman's defense and that was that.

Well, later, as Danny was "sleeping" and Phantom was hovering in the cave, invisible and intangible, he got confirmation that his Alley meta kids were going to be safe, soon.

After all, the entire Batclan was suiting up and baying for blood, with Oracle's all encompassing presence behind them, fingers reaching for their enemies' weak points.

[theresattrpgforthat]

This might be a long winded question, but for a while I’ve brainstorming on and off ideas for a TTRPG system based on those stories about “secret worlds where you have different abilities when you enter them” (Persona, Deltarune, Omori, more I’m sure), and I was thinking “there’s gotta be an RPG for that”, so like… is there? Is there an RPG where you enter a secret world to influence and help things in the real world? Or enter a secret world and develop special abilities when you do?

THEME: Alternate Worlds

Hello there! The Persona series is one I'm tangentially familiar with, so I've mostly got games that list it or The World Ends With You in their references. I've noticed that the PbtA community (and its siblings) really seems to like this genre.

Heartbeats in Perfect Sync, by Nathan Blades.

In your city, there’s an otherworldly force that lurks in the hearts of many: The Pulse. Feeding on negative emotions, they’ll devour everything… if not for a group of ordinary people with a mysterious app installed on their phones. Activate the app and you’ll be bestowed with a weapon that can purge the Pulse, but opening your heart can be dangerous…

Heartbeats in Perfect Sync is a tabletop RPG inspired by the shounen battle aesthetic in games like The World Ends With You, Kingdom Hearts and Under Night In-Birth. Play as a group of ordinary people who fight monsters with ridiculously over-the-top weapons.

Character creation in this game looks to be wonderfully simple. You fill in a ad-lib style sentence with information about your job, your weapon, and your fighting style. You pick a special move, and mark your Heart Rate, which marks your emotions. Your Heart Rate can grow or shrink, but get too close to either end of the spectrum, and your character becomes a dark version of themselves, super-powered and extremely cool-looking. If you like dramatic moments and rule-of-cool fight scenes, this game is for you.

The Midnight Generation, by Five Points Games.

The Midnight Generation is a rules hack for Masks: A New Generation by Magpie Games inspired by the Shin Megami Tensei: Persona series of JRPGs. Take the role of teenagers thrust into mystery and conflict. Explore the cognitive landscape of The Midnight World, the realm made by the collective unconscious of humanity and the distortions that arise when people retreat from reality. Take control of powerful Facades, spiritual manifestations of one's true self to battle powerful Shadows, willful manifestations of human emotions and to overcome the trials set forth in The Midnight Generation!

If you are a fan of MASKS, but want to use the original rules in an alternate setting, The Midnight Generation might be worth looking at. This book is fairly comprehensive - it comes with guidance on how to create the people, places, and other elements necessary to play in a Persona-like universe, as well as a city you can pick up and use with little extra effort. Another thing I really appreciate about this supplement is the addition of 10 playbooks that communicate the themes and struggles of Persona characters, including the Icon, who is masking their true self from the world around them, and the Shadow, how was born in the other world from the emotions of mankind.

Vibe Check, by Ostrichmonkey Games. (@ostrichmonkey-games)

Vibe Check is an illuminated by LUMEN tabletop role-playing game for 3-6 players.  Players take on the roles of Players in the Watcher's Game - a week long challenge with the prize being another shot at life, while another player takes on the role of the Game's Master to introduce complications and consequences the Players must overcome as they fight to survive the Watcher's Game. 

Vibe Check features LUMEN's fast paced dice pool system, tailored for action filled combat and paired with plenty of powers and cool abilities. Fight the Pandemonium within the Inversion to earn new Tokens and rewards. Upgrade and buy more powerful gear. Survive the Watcher's Game. 

Inspired by The World Ends With You, Vibe Check places your players in a high-stakes afterlife competition to become alive again. As members of the afterlife, you’ll receive special abilities attached to your archetypes. For example, the Cryptic archetype had an ability called False Gnosis, which allows them to state something and roll to see if what they said was true. Your character’s looks are also important to determining their stats, with each Look belonging to a Brand. Do you have an entire set of clothes bought from Antiquity’s Glance? Now you can carry more things on your person.

If you like games with moddable upgrades and simple (but rewarding) combat, then Vibe Check is for you.

Eidolon: Become Your Best Self, by Reveal Your Master Plan.

EIDOLON: Become Your Best Self is a Powered by the Apocalypse RPG in which your character gains the power of an Eidolon, a physical manifestation of their soul that reflects their truest, innermost self and grants them incredible reality-defying powers! With the help of their friends, they'll fight against the pressure of the Undertow, the shadowy flow of collective psychic energy that imprisons society in an untenable status quo.

While this is a PbtA game, Eidolon has a battle system that uses a mechanic called “crashes”. Every blow that you land will escalate the fight, with victory becoming less and less likely the longer the fight draws out. This requires creativity and teamwork to overcome, drawing from your collective resources to save the day.

If you want to hear this game in action, the designers have an Eidolon Playtest podcast where they play through various seasons of Eidolon.

Shifters, by Moonlit Bard.

You are a Shifter, someone who can step from our world into the Major World beyond to do battle with sentient emotions and compulsions known as Forms.

Forms can be malevolent spirits inciting violence, landscapes saturated with desire, objects that seethe with chaos and discord, or anthropomorphic personifications of envy. No matter their appearance, they spell disaster for our world, and only you can stop them.

There’s not much info I have for this game, other than that it’s in demo form and is currently a one-page RPG. However, if you’re interested in games where emotions have power in an alternate world and so far nothing on the list here is speaking to you, this might give you something light enough to hack to your heart’s desire.

Stand Up, by Elena Murphy.

Stand Up is a Belonging Outside Belonging game about rebellion, forming bonds, fighting injustice, and changing the world.

Take on the roles of normal people with the capability to become heroes, explore a fantastical world that houses mankind’s inner feelings, and find a way to fight back using power only you can wield.

If you are a big fan of the Persona series, this game is for you. Collaboratively build a hidden world, called The Reversal, formed from the perceptions and feelings of humanity. Choose from a set of seven playbooks, all named after tarot cards. Bind your characters together, and then determine your Setting Elements.

Because this is a Belonging Outside Belonging game, Stand Up has no GM. Instead, it has setting elements that are picked up and played by players whose characters are not active in any given scene. This keeps the entire table engaged in the story even when their character isn’t involved, and lightens the burdens of GM-ing while giving everyone an equal chance to contribute to the story. If you enjoy story-games and a lot of control over when your character succeeds or fails, Stand Up is worth checking out.

Voidheart Symphony, by UFO Press.

There’s a wound in the world, a rot eating at hope and community and empathy. You’ve seen it in dark alleyways and gleaming boardrooms, gifting terrible power to those who will use it to hurt others.

You’ve had enough. You’re going to dive through that wound into the nightmare castle on the other side. You’re going to find the avatar of the one bringing you misery, and strike them down.

But what’s next, once you’ve stolen their power and ruined their ambitions? Will you return to your daily grind? Cherish those who are close to you? Or revel in the power you have taken from the void? Because within that wound, the castle waits, and it is hungry.

Voidheart Symphony is a tabletop roleplaying game about mundane people diving into a demon-filled labyrinth to save the ones they love. Based on Apocalypse World and Rhapsody of Blood, it’ll fill your story with dramatic choices and dynamic action. The World and the Void will both offer you their power, and make their own demands. How will you strike that balance? What will your revolution fight for? That’s your story to tell.

This is probably one of the darkest games on this list. With an alternate world that is meant to trap your characters and pit them against demons all the while, this is a game about rebellion in the face of little to no hope. I’ve heard a lot about this game in a number of different circles - it is well-loved and well-played. If you want to take a look at some pieces of this game before you buy, the Itch page includes free playbooks and reference sheets, as well as a link to a Google Sheets Character Keeper!

[joyswonderland1108]

Letter

I hesitated to write this post, i did say in another post that i decided to post it later (wow that’s a lot of “post” in the same sentence lol) so i can say that this has been sitting in my drafts since hours ago but i guess i’ll just post it anyways. As you can guess it’s about “Letter” 

So as you may know, Jimin brought us a surprise which is a hidden track called “Letter” with JK doing background vocals (The Jikook subunit we never knew we’d get, well close enough i still see it as a subunit i don’t care sue me), thing is, i’ve seen some “theories” going around it about how “It’s a letter to us 🥺” or “It’s a Jikook song” and well.. I don’t agree with either one of those, why? i’ll tell you

Yes despite being a Jikooker i’m not a crazy cultist to come up with theories where i just stop seeing Jimin and JK as two individuals, we don’t do that in this house. So reason why i disagree is because this album is supposed to about Jimin all about himself, about facing himself, about growing out of a toxic past, leaving it behind and taking new fresh steps full of acceptance of who he truly is, he said it himself he didn’t want to have any collab because it wouldn’t make sense for someone else to sing about what HE feels.

Now “Letter” is supposed to come after “Like Crazy” English Version, well not really after it but it’s part of it, and i know that not everyone is smart enough to understand the message, many ignored the purpose of the album completely and the clear messages written ON THE ALBUM to interpret it but let me just rewrite it (i know damn well the homophobes will turn a blind eye to this) On Jimin’s album this is what’s written

Key sentence : The reflection of myself in an unfamiliar appearance. Despite people freaking out about “OMG i thought they were going to kiss” “It’s a break up song and the girl is supposed to be his gf/ex-gf” 

(Okay i know i’m now talking about Like Crazy while the initial post said i was going to talk about Letter but trust the process)

While Jimin did say that Like Crazy was based on the movie, it also wasn’t LITERALLY based on it, there’s this general idea, a story each can relate to it their own way and that’s what Jimin did, In an interview this was his reply

Key word : Ambiguous. 

Jimin isn’t making an OST for the movie so why would anyone think he’s taking the literal story for his song? Going back to what he said about his reflection and the girl that made people go crazy without doing the minimum effort to understand, she basically represents Jimin himself, they walk towards each other but never collide because they are reflections

And to give you more insight about this, this is basically coming from “The Four Carl Jung Archetypes”. Carl Jung identified four main archetypes: the persona, the shadow, the anima or animus and the self. These are a result of collective, shared ancestral memories that may persist in art, literature and religion but aren’t obvious to the eye. These recurring themes help us understand the Jungian archetypes.These Jungian archetypes represent a journey from an unconscious state to individuation: a merging of the conscious and the unconscious.

What people also failed to notice is the very clear queer-code in the MV, from the colors, little details, clothings, etc.. As someone said on Twitter “This feels exactly like how my gay ass feels when i’m in a bar surrounded by straight people”. The outfit : 

Which has Robet Michael Mapplethorpe in it

Now this one is my very own interpretation so take it with a grain of salt but this 

Personally to me, him sitting between a woman and a man kissing says a lot to me. It’s the fact that he’s in the middle.. I’m not going to further explain those who get it get it, those who don’t don’t.  But that’s my own personal interpretation i’m just slipping it in here.

Now that this is out of the way let’s go back to “Letter” this whole talk about “Like Crazy” is mainly because to me Letter is related to it since very obviously both tracks are one technically speaking. So while people think it’s a letter to Army but i’m over here like “If it’s a letter to Army, why is it hidden? Why would they make it so that it’s only accessible to people who have the physical album? I thought the purpose of an Army dedicated song was for it to be OFFICIALLY out for all Army to listen to” because yes despite that being uploaded online by other Army but if we all decided to be petty and selfish af, this won’t see the light of the day on the internet and that defies the whole purpose of a song for Army.

As i said above this album is about himself, he’s talking about his own struggles so saying that this is an Army song as if Army are a struggle too is a bit.. And that also on his very first solo album where he’s supposed to focus on sharing a message about himself. When Hobi decided to dedicate a song to Army he didn’t put it in JITB it was a separate single, Joon didn’t have no Army dedicated song in Indigo either because again their solo Albums are about themselves, it’s a journey to share with us their individuality and their own colors. Jin didn’t have much of a choice he had to leave for MS there wasn’t enough time for an album or maybe he himself didn’t really feel the need to make an album and his main focus was to make a song for Army which he did and gifted us Astronaut. (GOD I MISS JIN)

The lyrics too, i as Army and as Jimin’s FAN, it didn’t feel directed to me. “Now I'll be the one to hold you, When you want to cry, So you won't trip and fall” or even “Because we don't know what days await us, Though it's scary, though we're afraid, Never forget that we're together” those feel like something related to himself as well, let’s also not forget that technically speaking it’s related to “Like Crazy” too which i explained above, why would anything Army related be scary? Why would we be afraid? What is there to be afraid of? Also how will Jimin hold us when we want to cry? 

I also said that i disagree on the fact that it’s a “Jikook song” i don’t know how to explain precisely but some people seem to interpret it as THEIR song whereas even if Jimin is actually singing about his relationship with JK it’s still about his OWN feelings, his OWN promises, his OWN confession, despite JK doing the background vocals in which they harmonized so very beautifully kudos to them, i still think it’s all about Jimin, yes there might’ve been a reason why he chose JK himself for that or maybe they chose that together because really it could’ve been anyone and JK could’ve done the background vocal to any other song in the album yet it was on this one. He really did a lot of effort to open up to us so i really hope people see it as his pov on everything. 

I made a post relating the song to There for You from GCFT and yes quite honestly to me it feels like a response to “I’ll be there for you but you gotta be there for me too” and yet again it still goes back to the same thing, it is Jimin’s OWN reply. I also noticed how Army songs didn’t have other members in them (well i mean Army songs in this solo era) so again why would this be an Army song if JK was in it? I don’t even know if all of this makes a lot of sense, can’t say i’m the best with words but i tried to convey how i see it. 

Oh and let us be reminded that this was his reaction to knowing we found out about and and so cheesily saying that he won't tell us about it for now lol

Boy what are you all giggly and shy for?

🧐

(Tagging this under Jikook because i don’t trust the rest of the fandom that much)

[warden-melli]

Please expand on your Melli/Irida ideas for us, I am fascinated by the concept and how it would work on a friendship and relationship level.

Sure thing ^^ I’m going to try and keep this as brief as possible, so this doesn’t get too long. If you’d like me to expand on anything specific, or if you have anymore questions, just let me know. I try to refer to canon as much as possible, but I think it’s unavoidable for something like this to not have conclusions based on personal head canons, or interpretations.

Melli is my favourite character or all time, and I just adore Irida, so I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about both characters individually, but it was this moment specifically that first made me consider how the two of them may interact, and of what type of relationship they may have after the events of the main story

They’re both musicians/performers, with Irida being a talented flute player and Melli being a singer. Seeing the pair perform together is certainly a clue that (outside of the events of the main story) the two are likely to get along, or at least work well together. Music seems to be extremely important to Irida, and Melli is someone I feel could truly connect with her through it. It also acts as the perfect catalyst for them to connect and for a friendship to naturally develop between the pair. I’d really like to imagine that the two of them would continue to perform together, maybe even forming a musical duo (or quartet if Glaceon and Skuntank continue to perform with them)

Outside of music I feel like the characters also have a lot of other similarities, or life experiences they could connect with. Both characters are kinda outsiders, with Irida having anxieties about her role as leader, and Melli being confirmed to secretly be extremely shy, the concealment of which is the driving force behind the adoption of his overly confident persona. Both characters are unsure of if they are truly worthy of the roles they have found themselves in, evident in Melli’s behaviour and Irida’s confession during the main story. Despite this self doubt, they are both extremely loyal to their respective clans, dedicating their lives to serving their communities (as leader and warden respectively). Even though their two clans have had disagreements in the past, I can’t help but feel like the two would have a deep respect for those qualities in one another

In the art book Irida is shown to have an interest in foraging plants and botanicals, and Melli is a poison type trainer, so I feel as if the two could have a lot to discus when it came to poisonous plants, and of their uses. My personal headcanon is that Irida collects these plants because she has an interest in traditional herbal medicine, and some poisonous plants have medicinal uses, or require medicines to counter their effects. As a poison type trainer it would make sense that Melli would have an interest in poisonous plants himself, especially with his work as warden. It’s possible he may also have uses for antidotes, either personally from accidental poisonings from his pokemon partners, or to cure wild pokemon he’s encountered/battled out in the field. Melli’s ward, Lord Electrode and it’s Voltorb friends, are also grass types, resembling seeds/apricorns/peppercorns. They may also be of interest to Irida.

Melli is shown to have a great respect and admiration of those he believes to be great leaders (Adaman), and after the events of the story, when the two clans have resolved their differences, he would be exposed to other leaders in a neutral/positive context for the first time. He seems drawn to those types of personalities, and with Irida being the leader of her clan it would make sense for him to gravitate towards her, even if they may butt heads over certain issues. There’s plenty more I could talk about the two characters positively, but this is a good Segway into talking about what factors could make a friendship/relationship difficult between the two of them. And honestly I think the biggest source of tension between the two is, well, Adaman.

As I just mentioned, Melli is drawn to “great leaders”, but more specifically one in particular. Melli is a character, who in the main story, is mostly defined by his relationship to Adman and the diamond clan. Melli dedicated his life to help Adaman become a great leader, and is shown to be very devout in his beliefs, fearing punishment from “Sinnoh” when questioning the right course of action during the main story. As much as I love him, it’s true that he seems deeply superstitious/religious, and views Adaman with great reverence as the leader of his clan, seeking his guidance on spiritual matters, and being highly motivated by his approval. He seems to deeply distrust anyone outside of his own clan, and that likely includes Irida, at least at the beginning of the game. There’s so much more I’d like to talk about when it comes to this topic, but I feel as if Irida, out of any character in the game (outside of the player character) may be the one with the best chance of Melli being able to connect with them outside of his clan, because we’ve already seen it happen with the performance scene. Having music in common, and a shared goal of performing could actually be the perfect catalyst for Melli to overcome these reservations. This sets up opportunities for the two to get to know each other naturally, and may be a good way to challenge Melli’s world view. Irida despite being a clan leader and with the clans past tensions, seems to have no problems connecting and interacting with members of the Diamond clan, forming a friendship with Mai and volunteering to perform at the Diamond Clan settlement

Even if Melli was able to get over his own reservations and connect with someone outside of his own clan, Adaman would likely still be an obstacle in other ways, simply due to his open dislike and incompatibility with Irida. Adaman is the person Melli looks up to most in the world, and it would likely be a source of tension between the two if Melli was to strike up a friendship/relationship with the leader of the rival clan. At the end of the game, Irida and Adaman come to a bit of a truce, vowing to put aside their natural dislike of one another for the good of the one thing that they have in common, a love of Hisui and it’s people/pokemon. Even though they’ve vowed to work on their issues, it’s likely negative feelings from past interactions, as well as the personality incompatibilities that (in part) caused much of their tensions to begin with, still remain even after the truce. Melli may be too conflicted to pursue anything beyond a working relationship, and it’s likely he’d have to deal with negative opinions coming from both parties about the other, but I don’t necessarily think this is a bad thing, at least from a potential growth perspective

Having Melli come between Irida and Adaman as somebody they both care about would not only help to challenge Melli’s rigid world views and help to lessen his reliance on Adaman in regards to his own identity, but could also serve as a catalyst for Irida and Adaman to truly overcome much of their own conflict, and could allow for them to genuinely connect in their own right. Having Melli openly challenge misconceptions the two may have about one another, and hearing stories about them through Melli’s perspective might help them to see each other in a completely different light, allowing them to genuinely get past their rivalry, or at least truly accept each other’s differences as quirks, and not as reasons for conflict. Even if only for Melli’s sake. I feel like the three of them have the capability of forming a genuinely healthy relationships with one another, even if at first any sort of relationship between Melli and Irida may be a source of tension.

This is a general overview, and I could easily talk more about different dynamics, conflicts and logistics about these two, and of any friendship/relationship the two could potentially have, but this post is already too long lol. Ultimately the two seem likely quite lonely characters, and with them both looking so happy performing together at the festival, and with the potential for the two of them to gain so much from a potential friendship/relationship, I can’t help but consider the possibility. The possible tensions or problems that may arise between the two is equally as fascinating as thinking about the ways that they could connect. As is thinking about ways they could potentially overcome any problems. I personally like to think of the Pokémon world as a multiverse, so from that perspective it’s fun to consider different interpretations of characters/worlds, and of different dynamics and relationships between them

[bharv]

Actually that Siken interaction does have me thinking about online interaction and even on a tiny level what it does to real people because like. I am NOT famous I will stress that so strongly. I’m not tumblr famous or real life famous but in the past few years as more and more people have got online I have had such a weird change in my relationships with others.

I have had multiple people meet me in real life after following me on what was Twitter and literally say “oh I know you from your posts!” and start to form a friendship with me, only to get angry when I’m. A person. And honestly my online persona and reality are not super different! But people have made up a version of me and then are annoyed when I’m not that?

You like the blunt, quick posts but you don’t like when somebody in real life is maybe blunt. Or, one that I find I get a lot, you like the slightly separate, artistic person but then you are weird that person wants to talk mostly about art. That the person who talks about living with having to balance chronic illness might not be able to go to the pub with you every week?

It’s like to them I’m a collectible so they can say oh well I know HARDING so that gives me kudos!

My wedding was such a distillation of this man. Some people, not all but some, had this idea of what it was going to be like because they had decided I was going to throw some kind of enormous event and really badgered me to an invite, only to literally complain at the venue that it was an intimate, hand crafted (but admittedly very well catered) gathering. Like. Running big events (with a funded budget not my own very limited money!) is my JOB. I’m posting about that because it’s my job. Urgh.

[letstrywritingmaybe]

Hi! I suddenly very invested in the shinsherry ship dynamic, of course I have my own ideas and hc. Do you fancy the dynamic? If it is a yes, do you have some sorts of hc for them?

Pd: I am still working on in this shinsherry fic so I need a bost of energy.

Oh my, idk if I’m the best person to ask tbh since I tend to write shinshi and CoAi exclusively compared to other dynamics. The closest I’ve come is probably Don’t Blame Me. I won’t be much help, but I do agree we need more of it in the fandom! It needs to be explored! I’m hopeful you’ll be able to share your fic with us!

Idk if it’s cause I’m a Gemini, but as much as I believe Sherry to be a part of her. It’s more of a persona to me, so underneath it all she’s still Shiho. Just forced to be this character that she never wanted to be out of survival. So when I do dabble with her being more of a bad girl, that’s the approach I go for.

Sherry is all snark, sass, confident, and cutthroat who takes no shit. She’s not allowed to be weak, she fights back and isn’t above playing dirty. At least on the outside this is how she appears to be, but at the end of the day she’s soft and does actually own a heart. Shinichi I think sees this side of her despite her best efforts to pretend she’s pure evil. Though at first he’s definitely tricked into thinking she’s just bad news, but him with his savior complex wants to rescue her. Thus begins their interesting relationship

The more he tries to get close to her, the harder she pushes him away. But in the grand scheme of things they’re both after the same goal, so she helps him bring the org down. She’s a traitor anyway, may as well play the part to the fullest. She expects to be locked away to atone for her sins, but Shinichi has other ideas.

I’m basically retelling my own fic, but I think the most important thing to me is that Sherry is in charge and she gets to decide how close he gets to her. She’s the one with the experience and she knows what she wants and what she’s willing to give him and what she wants to take from him. As time goes on he gains more control and tries to defy her, but she’s one step ahead every time. My queen stays winning!

The second but equally as important thing to me is the devotion on his part. She has a bad reputation and yet he’s still willing to throw everything away for her. It’s like everyone on the outside is telling him she’s bad news but he’s still getting burned just for a chance to love her. Basically he’s down bad for her as he should be.

My girl is a bluffer and mostly all talk, but fuck around and find out. She’s ruthless in her own ways and won’t hesitate to play into her role, self destructive and insane but she’s just passionate okay.

This dynamic is honestly very intriguing, it’s all a game and not meant to be real. So very flirty and fun with very serious consequences but they’re not going to worry about that. It’s almost a break/relief when they’re together which doesn’t make sense cause everything they do is very high stakes and people’s lives are in danger but I think the risk is part of what gets them. It’s very push and pull, will they or won’t they? The almost, and pure frustration but also satisfying at the same time? They shouldn’t make sense, but they do. They made opposites attract, the tension is very real.

She’s cool, calm, and collected while he’s the exact opposite until they settle into their routine and he has no choice but to be just as cool about how casual their relationship is. Not that it’s much of a relationship, cause no labels. She teaches him patience cause he’s way too damn impulsive, and the consequences of his actions. He takes her teachings to heart.

He’s left in the dark a lot and he hates it but again he doesn’t have much of a choice cause she won’t give him the answers. There’s a lot of trust on his part, she doesn’t tell him anything, she has to trust him too but she definitely holds back just in case since she’s paranoid and she is still trying to protect him.

I’ve rambled too much and I don’t think I even made sense. But I think it depends on the setting too. Cause I have other ideas if she is for real riding for the org. There’s a lot to their dynamic but the tldr version is: Sherry is more dominant and Shinichi is hopelessly intrigued. Best of luck to you, Love! Happy writing! <3

[wildandsmile]

K͓̽i͓̽n͓̽k͓̽t͓̽o͓̽b͓̽e͓̽r͓̽ a͓̽n͓̽d͓̽ M͓̽a͓̽s͓̽t͓̽e͓̽r͓̽l͓̽i͓̽s͓̽t͓̽

🍎we don’t know about y’all, but pea and i are beyond ready for spooky season! nothing is better than having an apple spice candle burning by the windowsill while you make pumpkin muffins. of course, with great vibes come great orgasms ;) 🎃

🔥pea and i collectively agreed to begin prep for kinktober now because neither of us work very well under pressure. that being said, it’s an open house! i’m going to leave a list of kinks below. to request, simply choose the number corresponding with the kink, and then tell us who you want it to be for. example: “one, tanjiro komado”. you can also add your own tidbits like tropes, setting, etc. have fun with it! Then once everyone has thrown out their character for that day me and Pea will pick one to write about for that day this way it fair and fun.🔥

🔪to make this fair for us and avoid confusion with you all, i’ll also leave a list of the fandoms we write for below. don’t be afraid to suggest spooky movie characters too! (i.e ghost face, brahms, venom, etc.) y’know, the typical monster / slasher men you’d want to get down with. 🔪

🚫Be aware that we will NOT write for real killers!!! (ted bundy, the menendez brothers, jeffrey dahmer, etc.) not only is it immoral, it’s disrespectful to the victims and the victims’ families. so don’t ask🚫

❤️ other than that, happy requesting! there are 31 spots open, we’ll choose the ideas we think are the most creative / freaky / etc. happy halloween!<3 ❤️

𝐯𝐚𝐥’𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐬 —

a court of thorns and roses

sally face

haikyuu

ice breaker

diary of a wimpy kid (rodrick)

call of duty

avatar: the way of water

criminal minds

alice in borderland

venom / eddie

stranger things (NOOO eddie munson. 😾)

brahms

ghost face

the last of us

Etc

𝐩𝐞𝐚’𝐬 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐦𝐬 —

jujutsu kaisen

haikyuu

call of duty

tokyo revengers

hunter x hunter

blue lock

my hero academia

genshin impact

resident evil

persona

honkai star rail

spider-man: into the spider-verse.

Etc

𝟑𝟏 𝐝𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐤𝐞𝐫𝐲 —

knife / gun play - Sanzu

choking - Miguel O ‘ Hara

spanking / impact play - Kage

degradation / dumbification - Blade

pet play - Upper Moons

psychological manipulation - Gojo

tears / overstimulation - Notes

consensual non consent

bondage - Gaara

temperature play

Breeding

phone sex

dirty talk - Bakugou Squad

mirror sex - Leon

cam girl - Link

hate sex -Ristto

cucking

exhibitionism - Itto

voyuerism

sex toys

marijuana + sex

forbidden love

orgasm denial - Connie

electrostimulation - Ryuji

oral (giving + receiving) - Sanji

hair pulling + collars kiss

remote control vibrator - Itoshi Rin

spitting - Ghost

Sir - Reo

master

humiliation

💀happy requesting, also make sure to like and reblog for your favorite writers<3 💀

[randomfandomlov3]

Price of love (Chapter 5)

Warnings: Angst. Crying. Let me know if I missed any.

Note: Thank you for reading! <3

Word Count~ 2110

He knew that his best friend just did what he thought would be in his best interest, but boy did it hurt to lose her. After he dropped you off at your room, Bucky went to find Steve. He knocked on his best friend’s bedroom door. When the door opened Steve is in shock to see Bucky standing there looking almost nervous. Steve welcomed him into the room and closed the door. “Hey Punk, I wanted to say that I am sorry for how I acted. It’s just that she was one of the best people I had ever met and felt comfortable around. I realize that I am just as much to blame for not telling you off sooner. But I was worried that maybe you were right, and maybe she deserves better than me. I did realize though, that I don’t want to lose you again.” Bucky put his arms out for a hug from his best friend.

Steve gave Bucky a soft smile before returning the hug. “I’m sorry that I meddled in things, Buck. I thought that experience would be good for you, but I knew you wouldn’t do it without incentive, I am really sorry if I messed things up. But just know anyone would be lucky to date you.”

He felt Bucky shake, as he felt tears on his shirt. “What if she was the only one out there for me, and I went and lost her.”

Steve’s heart ached. “I promise things will work out how they are supposed to.” They stood like that for a few minutes before Bucky collected himself and apologized. “You don’t have to apologize for this, I will always be here for you.” After they went their separate ways, Steve knew what he needed to do.

Your bag was empty, and you were trying to get a feel for the room when a knock interrupted your thoughts. When you opened the door, you saw Steve standing there. “Look, I wanted to apologize. I was the one who came up with the stupid idea of paying Bucky to date someone. I was just trying to get him back out there, and more comfortable with others. I can tell I was wrong though; he is heartbroken over this. Did you know he even refused the money after?” His words made you feel heavy.

“But then why didn’t he turn down your offer in the first place?” You were still unsure whether he cared for you.

“He was afraid. He thought that you deserved better than what he could give you. Someone with less baggage. But I promise he is worth getting to know.”

A soft smile graced your face. “I know, I had just started to get through his hard exterior. But I wish he would have let me make that choice for myself because I think that he might be it for me. Why am I telling you this? It doesn’t matter anyway; he would never see me like that after how I reacted.” You went to close the door on Steve, to go cry into your pillow.

He put his hand on the door to stop you. “I disagree, he is very much so still into you. I probably shouldn’t tell you this, but he just spent a good 10 minutes crying into my shirt about you.” This shocked you; the unfazed assassin was crying over you. “Just think about it.” He took his leave, leaving you with your thoughts. Did Bucky really feel that way about you?

Probably one of the most terrifying things to do was to be seen entering the medical wing by the team. You were bombarded with questions about why you were going to the med bay, and if it had anything to do with you having been away for a couple weeks. Too tired to answer them you allowed them to follow you into the room where Helen said for you to meet her.

She looked around at all the people and back at you to make sure that you were okay with all of them being there. “Yeah, I don’t have the energy to explain everything to them right now so I was hoping you could,” You said with a big grin on your face, to keep up your sunshine persona.

"Well, okay then. How's your shoulder been feeling?" You gave it some gentle movements.

"It's been a little bit sore, but definitely better than it has been," you said, taking off your sweater to reveal the bandage.

"That's to be expected, you were shot in the shoulder, just 2 weeks ago. Now, let's take a look to see how it's healing." The room filled with gasps when she mentioned that you were shot. You didn’t notice Bucky leave the room. Dr. Cho took the gauze off and gave it a gentle wipe to not only check your pain response but also to remove any of the leftover cream. "It looks like it is healing just fine, and you should be able to get your antidote shot at the scheduled time. It doesn't look like you need any more antibiotics, but if anything about it changes come back to see me. And you can take ibuprofen for the pain from here on out, but once again if it doesn't work come back and see me." She reapplied the dressing and told you when she wanted to see you next. You went to the kitchen and smiled upon seeing Bucky standing there, but your bubble burst when he glanced at you before leaving the room. Maybe he was just trying to give you space to figure things out.

He never stayed in the same room as you over the next few days. What if Steve and Sam were wrong? What if he didn't like you anymore? What could you have done to upset him? Spotting Bucky across the room as you set up your station for the injections made your heart ache, you wanted to be happy, but he seemed to hate you. The first thing you did was give yourself the injection and shock so that you could be ready when everyone else arrived. “Agent Roberts? What are you doing here? Didn’t you get your shot already?”

She nodded as she came over to you. “One of the people who have an appointment today requested that they have anybody but you. I’m sorry, but after the agent you shocked, some people are a little wary of this.”

You faked a smile because you had a suspicion that that was not the case, but rather it was personal. She listened very closely to the instructions you gave her for the people who were there for accommodations not just because they were not able to get the shot the other time. Bucky overheard you and his chest hurt, hearing how much you cared.

You left the room trying to hide your broken heart. You decided to go for a walk to get some fresh air and clear your thoughts. Feeling your phone vibrate, you pulled it out to see a text from Natasha. “I heard that you left before the shots were given out is everything okay?”

You wondered who told her because the only one she really knew from the room is Bucky. “Everything is fine it was just requested that I don’t give them out.” You sent back, hoping she would drop the topic.

“Did you get yours though?” A sigh left your lips, you knew that she cared about you, but you didn’t want to talk about that anymore.

“Yes, I did.” You then turned your phone off to have a little bit of peace. The walk ended up leading you to a small café that you went to with Bucky on one of your dates. Feeling nostalgic you decided to go inside and get something to drink.

The lady at the front counter recognized you, but also the look of sadness on your face. “You need a chocolate milkshake, but if you ask me no man could ever be better than a chocolate milkshake.” She said to make you laugh.

“I do like me a chocolate milkshake. Alright, I’ll get one.” A newfound smile graced your face. Taking the milkshake, you went to sit in a booth by the window, to go through your thoughts.

As you were staring out the window a certain redhead comes to sit across from you. “You’ve been distant lately. Is there something on your mind?” Wanda asked setting down her milkshake.

That earned a smirk out of you. “You tell me.”

She looked down at her hands. “Okay, so your thoughts haven’t been very quiet, but I promise I only looked at them when I was concerned for your well-being. I hate seeing you so upset.”  

You took a sip of your milkshake before answering, “I understand, I was just teasing you. I don’t mind you peeking in every now and then, it makes me feel cared for.”

The smile that covered her face made you smile as well. “I truly do care about you, which is why I think that you should focus on yourself right now because you are still trying to heal from the injury that you sustained on the battlefield. You need to do what’s best for you, and I promise to help you in whatever ways I can.” She lifted her glass to cheers yours.

“Thank you, Wanda. This means the world to me.” Once you both finished your milkshakes, you stood and hugged her. “I will see you back at the tower shortly, first I want to grab some things from the store.” You said your goodbyes and went your separate ways.

Re-entering your room you dropped the bags onto the floor. In the first bag you opened, you pulled out baskets. You arranged them all on the floor careful not to step on any as you went to grab the next bag. Bag by bag you built up these baskets to say thank you to the Avengers for how welcoming they had been, and essentially saying goodbye. Each of them was signed with a sunshine 🔆. You had to do what was best for you, and right now that was not staying here. They all had training right now, so it was the perfect time, you grabbed the baskets and placed one by each of their doors. Then you grabbed your bag and left the tower.

They were all very confused to see cute little baskets outside of each of their doors. Natasha picked up hers and read the note. “Thank you, Habiba. I need to do what’s best for me but let’s stay in touch.”

Sam also read his. “Thank you so much, for everything you have helped me with lately Sam. I will be gone for a while, but I would love to stay in touch.”

Each of the notes was personalized at least a little, but all Bucky’s said was, “I’m sorry.”

Wanda was proud that you took her advice, but she was going to miss seeing your bubbly face around the tower. “Does anyone’s say where sunshine is going?” Tony asked feeling slightly sad that you wouldn’t be around to randomly bring him coffee when he stayed up in his lab way too late.

Everyone just shook their heads. “Just that she will be away for a while,” Sam said, looking between everybody.

Bucky’s brow furrowed when he realized that you left longer messages on the others’, but he just got an apology, but he didn’t even understand why.

“What about you, Buck? I imagine she left you a longer message.” His heart shattered at his best friend's comment.

“All she wrote were the words ‘I’m sorry’ that’s it.” He then entered his room closing the door behind him. Why were you apologizing to him? He was the one who messed up. He was the one who got you shot. He was the one who broke your heart. What could you have had to apologize for?

You were not quite sure what you wanted to do forever, but right now, a vacation was needed. “Hey, Fury?” He hummed in response. “I was hoping I would be able to take a vacation for a while, you know, get out of the city and maybe find myself.”

You stared at your shoes, wondering what would be worse, being allowed to go, or being made to stay. “I think it would do you some good, we will miss you around here, but you being at your best will be what is best for your team.”

Chapter 6

[alica-tech]

A Crash Course to Design Thinking: Empathy

●~•──────── Introduction  ─────────•~●

Hello! Today I wanted to talk about UX design. This post was supposed to be longer but Tumblr deleted my draft and I’m feeling (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ so here is just part one.. We’ll be covering the “Empathy” step which includes:

Exploring the problem space

Conducting User Research

Defining User Personas

I believe that taking time to do design thinking when creating a product avoids bad door knobs and confusing app interfaces. Here’s a handful of hilariously bad UI demos for taste: https://mattw.io/bad-ui/.

Here’s some other common pitfalls: 

Too many choices for a user (overcrowded toolbars)

Not enough options for users (accessibility)

Poor feedback (“Did that form actually go through?”)

Inconsistent interfaces (“Do I push or pull on this door…It says push, but has a pull handle!”)

●~•────────What is a prototype? ─────────•~●

A prototype is an early model mock-up of the product you want to build. We’re focusing on digital products in this case, so the product can be an app, website, or any other applications. Prototypes are useful for conceptualizing and visualizing your ideas for the product. It's also meant to showcase the "flow" of using the app from a user's perspective, as well as show the layout and organization of your product.

●~•───────What is the design thinking process? ────────•~●

The design thinking process is an iterative process to approaching designing products. It's not necessarily linear, but we'll walk through what you should consider at each step. In practice, you may find yourself revisiting steps to refine your problem, ideas, and mock-up itself after getting user feedback. Let’s talk about the first step, empathizing!

Part 1: Empathize

●~•─────── Step 1 ────────•~●

⭐ Pick a problem space.

What problem are you trying to find a potential solution for? It could be as simple as "Tumblr’s draft system sucks" or maybe your friend just said "This book tracking app could be better.." Sources of inspiration are everywhere! 

Coming up with your own: Think about your own experiences as a user of different products or services. Have you encountered any frustrating issues or pain points that could be addressed with a potential solution? Maybe you struggle with finding parking in your city and wish there was a more efficient way to find available spots. Or perhaps you find it difficult to keep track of all your passwords and would like a more secure and user-friendly password manager. Consider your own needs and experiences as a starting point for identifying potential problem spaces.

Interacting with others: Talk to people in different industries or fields, or attend events or conferences related to areas you're interested in. This can give you exposure to different perspectives and potential problem spaces that you may not have considered before. For example, if you're interested in education technology, attending an education conference could help you identify common challenges and needs in that space. Or even reading through r/professors or talking to your own instructors!

📚 Resources:

https://www.uxchallenge.co/  - List of problems 

https://uxtools.co/challenges/ - Walkthroughs on tackling specific problems focused on UX skills

●~•─────── Step 2 ────────•~●

⭐ Understand the users affected by the problem.

Once you have a problem space, don’t jump ahead and start thinking of solutions! First, we must understand the problem from a variety of user perspectives. Why? Because by understanding the users affected by the problem, we can gain insights into their needs, pain points, and behaviors. This understanding can help us develop effective solutions that address their needs and improve their experiences.

There’s a variety of user research methods we can use to collect user perspectives, this is just a handful of them:

Survey: If the product already exists (and it’s yours), you could add a survey in-app for feedback on a specific feature. Otherwise, you can create a survey assessing a user’s impressions on a problem they might have (“Do you encounter this..?”, “Would you be interested in a product that..”, “What kind of features are most important to you?”).

User Interviews: This involves talking to users one-on-one to gain insights into their experiences, needs, and pain points. It's important to ask open-ended questions and actively listen to their responses to understand their perspectives fully. 

Online Research: Checkout user impressions on products by looking up existing reviews online. This can be from Amazon, Reddit, the app store, whatever. To make this kind of data useful, you can identify patterns of what is often mentioned or common pain points users express online. It’s going to be better if you can connect more directly with users about your specific problem area, but this is something to start with.

📚 Resources: (I love nngroup…)

https://www.nngroup.com/articles/ux-research-cheat-sheet/

https://www.nngroup.com/articles/guide-ux-research-methods/

https://www.nngroup.com/articles/which-ux-research-methods/

●~•─────── Step 3 ────────•~●

⭐ Create User Personas to represent the types of users your product will be addressing the needs of.

The user persona shouldn’t represent a specific (real) person, rather it should represent a realistic archetype of a person. I think of it as like a character sheet. For example, if we’re creating an app for book tracking our user personas might be “Reader Rhea - A college student looking to organize books from her classes” or “Bookworm Bryan - A young adult looking to get book recommendations”. The persona should be based on the research you did prior. Creating user personas will help you better understand and empathize with your users, and make design decisions that align with their needs and goals.

Here’s a quick checklist of what to include in a user persona:

Name: Give your persona a name that reflects their characteristics and needs.

Demographics: Include details like age, gender, occupation, and location.

Goals: What are the persona's primary goals and objectives when using your product?

Pain points: What are the main challenges or problems that the persona faces when using your product?

Behaviors: What are the typical behaviors and habits of the persona when using your product?

Motivations: What motivates the persona to use your product?

Personality: What are the persona's personality traits and characteristics?

Scenario: Describe a scenario in which the persona would use your product or service.

Quote: Include a quote that summarizes the persona's attitude or perspective.

📚 Resources:

https://about.gitlab.com/handbook/product/ux/persona-creation/

https://www.nngroup.com/articles/personas-study-guide/

https://www.justinmind.com/blog/user-persona-templates/ - lots of examples and explanations here

●~•─────── That's All! ────────•~●

Phew, ok that is all for now! In a future post, I will go over the second step in the design process. If you have anything to add to this topic, pls share! :D Thanks for reading

[general--winter]

May I please request headcanons for Sae Niijima falling in love with a fellow lawyer who used to be a cop and seeing them defend themselves against a violent client?

author's note: Ooooo this is a good one!! I had a lot of ideas for this one, but the end result is what I ended up running with. Sae's a pretty complex character, so I hope I didn't do anything extremely wrong with her. I just thought about how she would act in this situation based on my memory of her from the game. This is also based around post-P5 Sae. Enjoy everyone!

rating: teen

fandom: persona 5

pairings: sae niijima x gn!reader

word count: 666

warnings: physical assault, explicit language

summary: Sae's struggles with falling for her cop-turned-lawyer coworker.

Sae was currently engrossed in her podcast as she strode out of her office building two hours late, as usual. Work piled up too much and it was essentially expected that she would take unpaid overtime. Rush hour was in full swing, and taking the train home would be an absolute nightmare, so she was steeling herself for the journey, which would consist of standing on her heels for an hour and a half in a rocking train.

Before she could leave, however, a commotion broke out in the lobby. Through her headphones she sensed someone yelling obscenities. “You god-damn, good-for-nothing attorney! Gonna get me fucking life if you keep up this shitshow,” she caught after pulling one bud out. Her head would whip around to see you, standing with your back rod straight, hands behind your back, while the client was detained by their prison security escorts, spitting in your face with their words. They had it handled, so Sae figured she would leave and make sure you were okay later over text, as you two were acquaintances. The next move of the client kept her gaze glued, though.

She saw the client break free from the hold of the security officers and make a run for you as she turned around to depart. Her entire body tensed up, ready to make a run for it if they were in fact dangerous. But before Sae could process anything, you had stepped to the side, grabbed your assailant’s wrists, and pinned them down with your knee to the tile floor face-down. It looked like a move straight out of Makoto’s toolkit.

Sae would be almost awestruck at this. I think she would genuinely believe that someone who can defend themselves in such a calm and collected manner is pretty… cool. Her demeanor would never give this away, though. Maybe just a raise of her eyebrow.

“Can I get a pair of handcuffs?” you would ask in a quiet voice of the guards. “Preferably a pair they won’t break out of.”

At this point, Sae would turn to leave, her heart thumping oddly. Sure, you two were friends. She knew you used to be a cop, so that move you pulled was probably just standard stuff for you. But it made her heart flutter. Why? She figured your effortless protective actions may have awakened some sort of attraction in her. This was a pointless feeling. You two would remain friends. No ifs, ands, or buts. Sae has no time for frivolous pursuits.

Every day after, however, Sae would find herself losing her composure around you. Stumbling over legal jargon that she has studied for years, spilling a cup of coffee on the floor of the office, just… uncharacteristic mistake. You would ask Sae if she was alright after a week of this. Her response would be a curt “I’m fine.” Maybe she would continue the conversation to ask you about open cases that you two were collaborating on.

“Listen,” you would say. “I know that you’ve been acting strange around me since you watched me put that client’s face on the tile. Are you scared of me now?”

Sae would reply: “No, I’m not. If you intend on talking about this, please contact me after work hours.”

And that you would, calling her when you were free. Luckily, she would be as well, and you two would talk. Sae reassures you that she’s not afraid of you or anything, but you would need to really work the truth out of her. In a fit of frustration, she would yell that she was pretty flustered by that move and couldn’t stop thinking about you in a romantic way.

“Oh? That’s what it is. How about we go to an izakaya tomorrow after work then? Just the two of us.” Had you just asked her on a date? She would act reluctant to accept, but deep inside, she was elated to spend time with you alone outside of work.

[farewell-superiors]

I’m having so many thoughts about @ammstify’s persona 6 idea for it being about nature and being based on Arthurian legend but as more of a spin-off but I’m in the “pacing while brainstorming” phase which means that I have too much energy to sit down and actually write down my ideas so I may as well start a post that’s like… just a bunch of ramblings about ideas. Have so at least it’s WRITTEN DOWN and I won’t forget anything. If I think enough I might even make a fanfic in the style of steal the truth (which you should absolutely read btw it’s genuinely one of the best video game adaptations with how well it integrates persona’s calendar mechanic and social links into its story structure) but that would require a lot of foresight and planning (hence why u want to WRITE SHIT DOWN)

Anyway here goes. Spoilers for something that I just made up but might make into an actual thing in the future I guess lol

The themes are about growth (there's LOTS of plant imagery), moving on, and how it gets better (the sun will always rise, darkest before dawn, etc. (there's a lot of day/night imagery as well)), and it looks at the relationship between humans and the environment.

The setting will probably be Kyoto, or at least some city, but I'm undecided about whether the characters are high school or uni students. Both have their pros and cons and I just have to figure them out. I'm leaning towards Uni?

The actual persona elements take place in the sea of souls, although it's more accurate to say the field of souls, as it's an undending field of grass, flowers, and the odd tree/hill, with every bit of flora representing a life. Select people will travel to the sea of souls in their sleep, but sleeping in the sea of souls won't get you out, so if someone is there without a way out, it looks like they're in a coma. If they happen to die in there (haven't completely figured out shadow mechanics yet, don't know if day/night cycles in the sos would be over a few weeks (to represent the collective unconscious) or over a characters journey (because it's cool imagery)) the body will start growing vines and leaves as their pulse slowly fades.

One way to get out is through the velvet room: In the sea of souls there is a battlefield, with velvet blue warbanners rising amongst the bloodstained foliage, and in the centre is a familiar long nosed man sitting on a particularly comfy looking rock, with a warrior clad in a deep blue leather armour brandishing a spear and shield. As neither protagonist is a wild card (whoops spoiler) Igor doesn't act as the guy who fuses your personas, he's like a guide both through your journey and on your way back to the real world. Maybe belladonna and nameless are also there, who knows.

Persona users have a body part wrapped in foliage, vines, flowers, and the like (the location can be thematic, it’s as if wrapped in chains), and when summoned the foliage chains break and rapidly grow into the summoned persona.

Protag A (who I shall refer to as Sun because that’s their arcana) is a kind young man who was diagnosed with cancer. This diagnosis comes shortly after moving to a new city to start university, so he rightly is in a lot of turmoil and feeling alone. One of the way he copes is by having a fairly dark cynical sense of humour, contrasting with his kind and caring personality. I’m not set on a subject he does, I’m thinking natural sciences, it’s got a wide range of topics and, most importantly, MATHS (this isn’t a joke). His starting persona is Arthur, his second awakening is Arturus Rex, both of the sun arcana, and his ultimate persona is Excalibur, of the world arcana.

Protag B (who I shall refer to as Moon) is a standoffish young woman in the year above sun. An abuse survivor, her father (her only living relative) recently was jailed for what he did, but she still holds a deep contempt for humanity who she thinks has failed her. Initially forced to interact with sun because of a scheme where second years help first years, she stays with him because of a shared goal once they enter the sea of souls. Her story arc is about growing to care for others, learning to see the good in people, and stopping seeking revenge. Her starting persona is Lancelot, who evolves into white knight, both of the moon arcana, and her ultimate persona is Galahad of the world arcana (I’m intentionally hiding some things but oh well lol. The personas are thought out, I’ll tell you that).

I’ve not settled on social links or party members, I’ve got a few ideas, like Sun’s maths professor (who would either be magician or hierophant) and the Lovers arcana, but nothing concrete.

Getting into real endgame spoilers now, the premise is that two gods, Pendragon and Morgan le Fay, are arguing over whether humanity should suffer or not. Pendragon thinks they're a stain on the world and should be wiped out, while Morgan le Fay thinks they should live in eternal bliss. Given that the themes are about moving on and growing, neither is very good, or rather, life is a combination of the two. They're represented by the moon and the sun in the sea of souls, when Pendragon is "winning" it's night, when Morgan is "winning" it's day. towards the end of the story the party beats Pendragon without realising that now Morgan le Fay is able to act unchecked and so the regular course of life grinds to a halt. During the course of the story each protagonist holds one in themself, Moon with her contempt for humanity holds pendragon, and Sun with his wish to live with his friends forever holds Morgan, but once Moon starts to see the good in humanity her mind boots out pendragon (hence why they fight him), and once Sun accepts that a life in stagnation isn't a life living at all, his mind boots out Morgan (hence why they fight her). Basically, I really really really like the ideas of third semester and am doing something similar lol.

At the start Sun and Moon are visited by a Doctor informing him of his cancer diagnosis and a chief prosecutor "congratulating" her about her father's loss in court respectively. Both talk about their fascination with/contempt of humanity, and end with "do you agree?", a cloaked agreement to a contract that makes them their champion, for these are Morgan le Fay and Pendragon in human forms. A side effect of tricking them into agreeing to a contract, however, is letting them into the velvet room, a mistake that would lead to both of the gods' downfall.

Ah shit I haven't even tackled how dungeons and stuff work. I know at least the last one is gonna be called Avalon.

I think I'm just gonna go ahead and post this for now, I might edit it later so uhhh stay tuned I guess

[minttsaltt]

Okay so you like Fruits Basket too!? AWESOME!

Okay the thing is I am very hyperfixated on Fruits Basket and Persona, and I was like “what if Tohru had a Persona” and then I was playing Persona 2 and was like “yknow Maya and Tohru would get along especially well, huh?”

I really love the idea that since the Sohmas’ curses are part of the Chinese zodiac, that the Personas of the cast would be based on Chinese myth and history.

I’ve been trying to figure out the Arcana of the gang, but so far I think Tohru’s Persona is Nüwa (the Chinese creation goddess) and her card is the Fool, considering the Fool’s whole deal in Persona is their ability to draw power by connecting to others.

I’ve mostly been focusing on Tohru, Kyo, Yuki, Hanajima and Uotani so far (I love them all so much), but definitely want to extend further.

I’m not actually sure what reason there would be for the Fruits Basket cast to use Personas, but it’s really fun to think about.

omg yes

eating riceballs :)

i don't really know about what personas they would have but i did think about arcana! i know much more about tarot

ok imo hanajima would be the Moon!! the moon is known for its representation of femininity and the inner conisous and the unknown.

hanajima is clearly a girlboss fem queen, and she can get the vibes of other ppl (their waves, right?) another part of the moon is exposing the collective unconscious, things people are not aware of

kyo i think would be the tower, as the tower is dramatic sudden change, destruction and liberation.

tohrus appearance and witness of kyos form is clearly the change, and leads to his liberation of his destructive personalty!! the tower is often seen as a negative card that people dont want, but there are many other positive meanings in it too!! (kyo coded fr)

yuki is the hanged man card, which can mean seeing something from another perspective, being stuck, and is symbolic of the pause before something big happens. yuki lives his life stuck to akito, and is one of the zodiacs closest 2 her. moving w shigure is the peace b4 the storm (tohru + the events of fruba) seeing a new perspective is tohru and how not everyone is disgusted w the zodiac curse.

this is all just my opinion :0 the tarot is a highly opinion based and personal thing!! like personally i am not a religious or spiritual person so my view of the tarot is different!! but this was sososo fun to think about and i would love to hear about what u think ❤️❤️❤️

also sorry no uochan !! i was thinking maybe the World or the Judgement cards?

also akito would be the Wheel of Fortune hehe

sorry this is soso long but character analysis is mwah

[dojae-huh]

im more a fan of doyoung than of jaehyun so i’ll mostly talk about him.

as for music itself, it’s a really good, cohesive album. it tells a story, it’s not a collection of random songs in random order. to me the stand out tracks are from little wave, dallas love field and lost in california. my least favorite is warmth. i wish the track with taeyeon was a more intense, emotional song. beginning isn’t the best track on the album but it’s a perfect opening and it’s nice to see doyoung’s first official song writing effort get so much love. little light had to grow on me and i think the fanchant helps it a lot. overall, i’m glad doyoung didn’t go the mellow and safe ballad route that many people expected from him. i think youth is a strong first step to building a full fledged artistic identity. i’m still not bored of it, and i listen to it nearly daily.

it was a step away from doyoung’s idol persona towards an indie rock band frontman. i understand why his album isn’t very popular among international kpop fans - they (we?) were never the target audience. as a kpop release it lacked choreography, interesting visuals, cinematic mv. but it was really well received by domestic audience, non-kpop fans.

the most memorable contents were the documentary, dingo live where he did snippets of each song from the album, dingo storytime where he meets the fan. judging by how often i see people on kforums and ktwt say they got into doyoung during his solo era i guess they were effective. it was nothing innovative but there were quite a lot of viral moments - the open air showcase, the complicated fanchant, meeting the fan, lovesome festival, cute interactions with kiss of life girls at a radio show, hanging out with seventeen backstage. i liked the muk2u episode with mark and johnny as well.

i think that rather than showing new sides, doyoung confirmed things i always thought about him. i find his hard work and ambition inspiring. he really craves recognition. he wants his music to touch the hearts of many people. overall, i’m a satisfied customer. i feel like doyoung gained new confidence and improved as a performer and i’m looking forward to his future work. i’d like to see him do some jazz and a dreamy, ethereal sound. maybe have a more interesting mv.

i’m not really into rnb and i didn’t love jh’s lab releases so i didn’t have high expectations that i’d love his solo. and i didn’t. smoke was quite forgettable. my favorite bsides were completely because of the piano and can’t get you. i don’t really have strong opinions about other songs. i haven’t yet had time to check out much of jh’s promo contents but i get the impression that he wanted to show who he is as a person, something he hasn’t really had opportunity to do before. i watched his lmj service and i remember thinking that he’s a really awkward guy, lol. he chose some popular programs to appear on, it will be interesting to see if it’ll result in domestic fandom growth in the long term.

Firstly, I wholeheartedly agree with your last paragraph about Doyoung. For me as well there were no new surprising sides (maybe a reminder about some of his traits I see rarely or tend to forget), rather, the idea of his character I had became sharper, in a better focus.

I also agree that the three song you listed (From little wave, Dallas love field and Lost in california) are, probably, the strongest tracks on the album. Maybe not something new (my friend dismissed LinC as american sound copycat, heh), but with its own bright character that can leave an impression without understanding the lyrics. FLW is not in a genre I like, however, it makes me like it because of a powerful charge it has.

Never expected a ballad album from Doyoung. I really think this idea came from the fans who joined recently.

You know, after reading an overview of LSM's musician/producer/visionary history, it really sinked how musically backwards SK was and continue to be. Yes, k-pop is something bright and fresh for the world, however, in the country itself it is a subgenre that not many people listen to. It's not just that Doyoung deviated from his idol image (hard to digest for old fans), he couldn't go all out with a new sound if he wanted gp to like him. DY Track and the NCT jazz medley for the concert showed he is interested in even more creative things as a musician and a vocalist. I think now that he proved to himself the public approves of his ideas, he will be brave enough to go further towards creating his own distinctive sound.

Could you list which moments and ideas caught the most attention among knetizens? What worked best?

[2346khith]

Been thinking about my weird sub zero au. I originally planned for Kuai to be very stoic and not used to life outside the clan. However then I realized … as an assassin he would have to travel the world and have to blend in a lot right. So he actually pretty used to regular life due to all his missions. See this is why I shouldn’t be the one to write stuff, my moronic ass was going to make him a complete fish out of water with out taking to consideration that his job factors and that he might actually act like a normal Joe. Course I wouldn’t say he acts like the average person though. He still has a lot of trauma and brainwashing caused by the Lin kuei so he might act somewhat closed off and defensive along with having some pop culture references and maybe has some self worth issues leading to him always to make up for stuff. Now as for some other traits, I feel like he very well verse in different languages and cultural norms and traditions. Just like in canon he be very well mannered and calm but I also like to think he be quite curious willing to get know more about people, although his assassin side might lead to him over analyzing everything. I feel like he would also collect small items from his travels as reminders of the places he went. I can see him talking with this au version of frost, who at the present of this au is still a child, showing her all the neat little items he got from different missions and tell her his personal experience at those places (minus the parts where he had to kill people.) I also think he’d be a good negotiator/ mediator since he also depicted as the calm one out of the more brash and more violent Lin Kuei members. I also wanted to note the old mortal kombat comics where he was shown wearing a business suit.

This may sound weird but when I found out about this, I kind of felt like he would have a charming and persuasive persona and would be stingy with money ( not exactly like Johnny cage but still there just less present and tone down) which yes I know sounds stupid but I can’t stop picturing it. Also for appearances wise I like to think he started to grow his hair out as the Lin kuei probably had restrictions on hair length for kombat purposes. Also also he’d be more jack than Bi Han . I don’t know I just see Bi Han always wielding scythes and spears in my head while Kuai hands more heavy melee weapons like axes and maces which could be a contrast to each others or there own personalities, I don’t know I’m rambling at this point. So yeah that how this au version of Kuai Liang is different from canon. Where as the mainline sub zero is a calm, cold and collect warrior mine pretty much a tired fresh out of jail terrifying, cool uncle who always insisting on helping you out, giving you life lessons, making sure your not in may trouble and is …. maybe on the neurodivergent spectrum (wasn’t my intention but now I can’t unsee it). Ah character assassination at it finest. Seriously guys please give me some feedback on how to improve or fix this or give me some suggestions for how this au works. I have no idea what I’m doing.

[th3finalboy]

i know this isn’t in the “ask me!” list but i’m just curious, what are your favourite sub genres in horror? which movies do you always gravitate toward bc they have certain themes/elements? i love finding out what makes horror “scary” for people!! <3

first off i want to say SORRY for taking so long to answer this, i haven't had the time to sit down and collect my thoughts because i really want to give this an articulate response. i have loved horror movies since i was little, so at this point there is little that necessarily "scares" me in the same way that other people get scared. however, some types of horror still get under my skin, for sure. but outside of what may personally scare me, there are subgenres that i just enjoy. note that a lot of the movies i list apply to multiple genres but. like. idk deal with it.

DAYLIGHT HORROR:

one of my favorite subgenres (if you can even call it that?) is daylight horror. horror movies typically happen during darkness/night time, which makes sense. obscured vision, more isolation, lack of awareness around you. what could be lurking in the darkness? what is there that you can't see? however, i think that daylight horror works really well because it's about what IS seen. that despite it being a seemingly "safe" time, there is still danger. and you can see it, but it can't be avoided. something about horror being in plain sight gets to me. some examples of this that i personally love are: the texas chainsaw massacre (1974), of course the passenger (2023), and midsommar (2019).

COSMIC HORROR:

i personally think there's something very primally horrific with cosmic horror. the idea that all of this, every single thing you feel or believe in, being completely insignificant in the grander scheme of things. that none of it even really matters at the end of the day because it was all completely out of your control. i dont know, things like that get to me especially for some reason! though they dont necessarily scare me, i find myself really relating to the characters and finding myself in their helpless plight to fight against something so much bigger than themselves. some examples of this that i am a fan of are: the thing (1982), in the mouth of madness (1994) , color out of space (2019), event horizon (1997).

BODY HORROR:

yesss... YESSS!! i am personally a big fan of gore in movies so, body horror is like my favorite thing. the desecration of the human body, twisting and morphing into something completely unrecognizable like yaesss... there's a lot of different ways movies utilize it, and typically body horror is coupled with cosmic horror so you'll probably see both in a movie. the thing and color out of space have good body horror, i'd also add society (1989), videodrome (1983) (honestly anything by david cronenberg is good), slither (2006), hellraiser (1987).

OCCULT HORROR:

now, here i have to admit a personal bias. i grew up in a very christian household, so, i think that definitely has something to do with occult horror getting to me. it's strange though because satanic horror typically doesn't really get to me, i think aside from longlegs but i think that movie utilized dread really well. i find satanic horror mostly lame and cheap tbh. but occult horror? something about that does get to me. i think it's because it also sort of plays into cosmic horror themes of helplessness and insignificance in the face of something bigger and greater. some movies that i really like are hereditary (2016), longlegs (2024), the wicker man (1973) , apostle (2018), rosemary's baby (1968) , suspiria (both the 1977 and the 2018).

PSYCHOLOGICAL HORROR:

man, i really love psychological horrors. i love when fucked up things happen to people's psyches! i love when characters are driven to madness! love when they're confronted with their worst fears in the worst ways possible! love it, love it. another persona bias for me just because i am a psych student lol. there's so many i can list, uhm. love love love silence of the lambs (1991), get out (2017), the shining (1980), the lighthouse (2017), the ritual (2017), possessor (2020), jacob's ladder (1990), the night house (2020) (underrated honestly! im sad this one went under the radar), audition (1999), martyrs (2008), i could honestly go on and on...

SLASHER HORROR:

slashersss... oh my beloved, what can i really say? slashers are probably one of, if not my absolute favorite subgenre of horror. i know people tend to find them trite because of how formulaic they can be and how oversaturated the genre is, but if you really start looking, you can find some GREAT, great movies. i love the popular choices, like scream (1996) and halloween (1978) of course, but i think there's a lot of other hidden gems that come into play. behind the mask: the rise of leslie vernon (2006) is a really good commentary of the slasher genre as a whole. i think house of wax (2005) was also really fun! tucker and dale vs. evil (2010) is also another good satire of slashers. i really loved a nightmare on elm street 3: dream warriors (1987), too! aside from what they do with nancy :,) my bloody valentine (1981), chopping mall (1986)...