#if that balloon is still a thing that is

[sonohban]

woke up early to watch the macy's thanksgiving parade since a friend is involved this year and the stream keeps panning over a guy cosplayed as goku

[acesw]

Reverse: 1999 : Disabled Characters

The game doesn't stray too far on the neurodivergent allegory for the arcanists themselves. But at the same time, there are also inclusions of other characters who are very much known to be disabled. So for this post I'll delve into that, just a bit.

Now, there are 10 characters that I want to put in the spotlight. These mostly lean towards being canon, but a part of these are also researched upon and shortened so the post doesn’t become way too long.

Cristallo, Rabies, Erick : Chronic Illness

It's quite self explanatory that Cristallo herself has a chronic illness. She was born prematurely, with an added condition that makes her physically fragile. As seen in the game, she needs a life-support system to maintain her health when she's outside. It's also implied that her condition may be a recurrent cancer, as her arcane abilities are tied to a machine that provides cobalt therapy, a known advancement in radiotherapy in the post-WWII era.

Rabies is an odd case. In his stories, it's noted that Adam cured Alicia through unknown means at the cost of contracting rabies himself. However, instead of the virus being acute and guaranteed to be fatal, it becomes a chronic illness to Rabies due to the abundance and use of arcanum. And since the rabies virus attacks the brain, his cognitive capabilities and ability to recall things before the present had been impaired, making him rather docile and animal-like in nature as a result.

Erick, as revealed in her anecdote, has a hereditary blood condition that came with her arcane skill. With her arcane skill making her physically powerful, overusing it will accelerate the effects of her blood condition to the point that it can become fatal. To prevent this, she also inherited an armband from her grandfather, Harald. The armband suppresses one's ability to use arcane skills, but by extension it also prevents Erick's condition getting worse.

Shamane : Amputee

Shamane's circumstances are also self-explanatory. He lost his arm for unknown reasons, but after having lived without it for 20 years, it doesn't bother him anymore. However as we know, he crafted his prosthetic arm as a means to avoid scaring kids. (which I think is quite cool in itself)

Ms. Radio, Bessmert : Blindness

Ms. Radio and our new friend, Bessmert, are both canonically blind. Ms. Radio has stated that she cannot see, and asks Vertin to left in places where she can feel temperatures to make her feel at peace.

And as we know, Yenisei (or in other words, Yenisei's VA) has stated in the 1.6 livestream that Bessmert is known to be blind, but even with that, she's a great researcher and guide to her.

Mesmer Jr. : OCD [Content Warning: Mentions of Self Harm and Suicide.]

Mesmer Jr.'s character has heavily implied throughout the main story and her own to have OCD as a result of the traumatic experiences she had gone through from her field of work and her family’s history in it. She identifies that she has "incurable" anxiety, which causes her to think differently about arcanists and act a little irrationally from our own perspective. This anxiety results in double checking everything and having a slightly intensive routine.

This routine is created as a means to maintain herself and her own sanity, but an imbalance or interruption can greatly upset her. As a result, she has conflicting ideals, experiences hallucinations and panic attacks, has suicidal thoughts, and actively inflicts self harm as a means to cope with her anxiety. However, she’s calmer and at peace with herself when she's left alone in a quieter and clean space, away from others, and where nature is heard more than constant buzzing. In short, Mesmer Jr.’s mental health is really complex and would be better if it's explored in a separate post.

Baby Blue : Alice in Wonderland syndrome

It's no secret that Baby Blue has Alice in Wonderland syndrome, or in other words dysmetropsia. This affects her perception of reality and her ability to recall, but this in turn makes her arcane abilities all the more powerful. As a result, she doesn't realize that she's growing up, yet it seems she doesn't mind that much. This doesn't seem to affect her physically either; In fact, it has a heavy influence on how she displays her arcane skills.

Poltergeist : Social Anxiety

Poltergeist has been known to be anxious in social settings which conflicts with her people-pleasing tendencies. She's also insecure about herself which adds up to her not wanting to be directly perceived. At the same time, she doesn't like being left alone as a result of having been ignored and forgotten post mortem. Poltergeist is also elaborate (i.e. not wanting to be looked at for too long) yet awkward at the same time when communicating them.

However, I'm not sure how to describe Poltergeist's case quite well, but the idea of her having social anxiety resonates greatly in my mind, so it can be treated as a partial headcanon.

Balloon Party : Autism and Speech Impairment

Balloon Party as a child had contracted an illness that caused her to have a persistent high fever. In the end, she awakened her arcane skill this way, with her being able to cough up balloons that can be harmful or a cure to anything.

However, it might have also affected her speech because of the physical strain that comes from coughing, it results to BP's speech being a bit slow and having abnormal pauses before she speaks again. Though, this also might be a sign of her possibly also having autism, where rigid and uneven language development is a common pattern in how autism affects one's ability in communication. Her speech also has a pattern of echolalia, having a flat tone, and lack of control of it.

However, speech impediment isn't everything about autism, and there's a lot more about BP's character that also connects with it such as her special interests. I can better explore this in a different post, which will be explained below.

Last Notes

These are the characters I’ve written down, most of these are less headcanon and more of observations I’ve found when looking into these characters. Some people from the lore chat have also added their own insights on some of them. (Thank you lupjo for beta-reading through it and helping me out) 

Of course, there are a few more characters I want to discuss because of the implications of them having autism / ADHD, but these will be written in another post in the future because I still need to research and gather other information. Additionally, it would be an opportunity to talk about the connections between an arcanist’s and neurodivergent person’s relationships with modern society.

Congrats for reaching the bottom of this post, and feel free to add your own ideas or headcanons about the characters here and/or any other ones.

[starheirxero]

I love you Eclipses with multiple arms. I love you Eclipses that can retract or add more at will. I love you Eclipses who stole their extra arms from other people. I love you Eclipses who were made with multiple arms to wrangle more kids. I love you Eclipses who have multiple arms because they aren't entirely animatronic.

I love you Eclipses with multiple voices. I love you Eclipses who stitch together clips of other people speaking to communicate. I love you Eclipses who speak with a layer of heavy static. I love you Eclipses who speak only in video game sound effects. I love you Eclipses who don't speak at all.

I love you Eclipses with a red/black/orange color scheme. I love you Eclipses with a yellow and blue color scheme. I love you Eclipses with a purple color scheme. I love you Eclipses with a black and white color scheme. I love you Eclipses with a glitchy handful of colors.

I love you Eclipses who hate Sun and Moon. I love you Eclipses who love Sun and Moon. I love you Eclipses who have a messy relationship with Sun and Moon. I love you Eclipses who are Sun and Moon.

I love you Eclipses who bite and snarl. I love you Eclipses who are cold and calculating. I love you Eclipses who are scared and anxious. I love you Eclipses who are silly and whimsical. I love you Eclipses who are ominous and unsettling.

I love you Eclipses who sink their claws into everything out of a fear it will leave. I love you Eclipses who believe they've never done anything wrong. I love you Eclipses who actually have never done anything wrong. I love you Eclipses who were made to fail. I love you Eclipses who deserved better.

I love you Eclipses <3

[heybiji]

double life

[clowningoose]

Balloon Sword AU

Further thoughts under the cut

So a good while ago I got a balloon sword and thought wouldn't it be funny If the duels were fought with balloon swords then I got serious about it

So besides the swords being balloons, the roses are too

The first idea in regards to this was the duelists using what is essentially a toy in battle, a childish imitation of a sword fight

The second had to do with empty desires, what motivates them to fight. They have swords, but they're filled with nothing but air, merely a shell to hold almost nothing at all

Coming to the roses I thought Anthys blowing up the balloons is in a way the inflation of the duelists desire and them then being molded into motivation to battle, folding the balloon into the form of a rose

It'd also make a very nice sound when the balloon is popped, literally exploding on their chests

I had imagined that around the black rose arc we could possibly switch over to real swords

Visually I Imagine the sword pulls of the arc as a balloon floating out of their chests on a string to then be exploded by the sword inside piercing the balloon

From then on out real swords would be used, the roses remain balloons

Not entirely sure what to do with the Sword of Dios, it could either be replaced by a real one once Utena gets hers pulled out of her chest, it stays a balloon sword forever or it only turns into a real sword in the very last episodes

[completeoveranalysis]

[3]

For a moment I thought Doumeki was going to mention that Kohane was worried about Watanuki and asked Doumeki to look after him - but instead he pivots to the thing I had completely forgotten about and mentions the balloon. 

How long ago was the balloon. Forever ago. It was from before Watanuki fell out the window. 

NO WAIT I WILL FIND OUT. PLEASE HOLD.

Balloon appeared in Chapter 50, which I seem to have read in 2017, and Watanuki gives it to Kohane in Chapter 58. So this balloon is seven years old for me. This balloon is the age of a small child. 

I suppose it’s not as extreme if you go by publishing date. Volume 8 was published in Feb 2006 and Volume 14 was Feb 2009. But that’s still three years!

Clamp really playing the long game here as if we would expect anything else at this point. 

[xeno-bio-sociology]

Every creature movie I am always begging and crying to be able to see the creature.

Nope delivered.

Miss me with that "split-second glimpse in the corner of the screen" and "blurry shaky-cam in a dark room". That is absolute crud for anyone who isn't there for/doesn't get any adrenaline pounding and just wants to see a cool Creachure.

Nope is here giving me several long minutes at a time, multiple times, close up high-def full-frame no jitter of Jean Jacket. Actual naturalistic behaviour and not stupidly villainous for no reason. Creative anatomy, movement, interaction, and action that makes sense for both it and the movie's themes. It doesn't look like an earth animal, let alone a human in a suit! A predator that ACTS LIKE A PREDATOR!! Not wasting energy all over the place or anything! Nor does it act like a dog!!!!!!

It's *chef's kiss* beautiful~~

[springlock-suits]

Fnaf-tober | Day 27: FNAF Movie

The fnaf movie was so good you guys!!!!!!! DEFINITELY going to draw more Steve Raglan in the future, so for this prompt I decided to go for something that I probably won't draw in the future. Enjoy a bb and my very silly little theory

Fnaf-tober by Miiilowo

[smile-files]

(my ii3 rewatch is going swell! i'm quite enjoying myself.)

it is sort of funny how nickel goes from blaming everything on balloon in ii2 to blaming everything on clover in ii3. he very much wants to contextualize his misfortune, wanting someone to get mad at (he doesn't like feeling in the wrong personally, and i doubt he'd like to think he's just unlucky); when he starts to get along with balloon in ii3, he needs another scapegoat, and clover's the perfect pick...

as i was saying, nickel seems to have some hidden guilt about treating balloon badly before, with his stubborn, heels-dug-in hatred of balloon fading away now that he doesn't have to save face in front of baseball and suitcase. of course, he wants to save face in front of balloon too, so he half-passes it off as box suggesting it (he always wants a passive lackey to help him push for what he really wants, huh?). nickel's caught in a limbo of not wanting to seem like he had a sudden heel-face turn/change of heart, but also wanting to express that he genuinely enjoys balloon's company (because he's actually letting himself do so now). he isn't being explicitly nice to balloon, but he's simultaneously secretive about the fact that he only did it because "box" told him to -- he doesn't want balloon to think his amicability is nothing more than obligatory, but he doesn't want to be vulnerable either. really interesting stuff.

in any event, nickel's friendlier with balloon now, so obviously balloon could no longer be his scapegoat. he still doesn't like feeling guilty for his own mistakes, nor does he enjoy his troubles being blameless, so he picks clover as his target: largely because he's cynical and can't cope with the idea of pure goodwill, happiness, and innocence which clover represents. she is everything that he isn't, but at the same time what he wants to be; he resents that. this cynicism about clover probably connects with his cynicism about balloon in ii2 -- he initially couldn't wrap his head around a manipulative person changing for the better. weirdly, he still hasn't completely gotten over balloon's heel-face turn as of now (he still doesn't believe in that kind of change, at least not fully), and yet he's still chummy with balloon. as far as i can tell, nickel is strongly projecting his own reservations onto balloon: that he himself can't change and be a good person.

[carolperkinsexgirlfriend]

Aro4Aro Stancy Break-Up AU Part 1

Or: Steve Harrington and Nancy Wheeler are both aromantic. Neither realize this. Poor Jonathan Byers ends up in the middle.

It hits him like a slap. The sounds of the party outside the bathroom door distort, muffle, cease. He can’t hear anything past Nancy’s words.

“Like we’re in love?” he asks. He cups her face, like you’re supposed to cup your girlfriend’s face. It’s soft. Nice. His gut curdles.

“It’s bullshit.” She spits it at him, eyes unfocused, mouth snarling. 

He wants to ask her, “how did you know?” Wants to shake her and demand what gave away the game, where he went wrong. He doesn’t. “You don’t love me?” Steve asks.

“It’s bullshit.” She doesn’t sound angry anymore. She sounds like she’s going to cry. That’s what keeps his feet planted. 

“Okay,” he says, backing up a few steps and dropping his hand from her cheek. “Let’s get you home, Nance.”

It’s hard. Nancy’s all elbows and flailing limbs. Even when she’s plastered, Nancy knows what she wants and right now, that’s away from Steve.

“Get off me.” The looks he gets from the partygoers at the bottom of the stairs tells him exactly how this spectacle is going to go over at school tomorrow. Didn’t you hear? Steve Harrington’s just a chip off the old block. Can’t seem to take no for an answer. 

“Harrington?” Jonathan Byers’ disgusted face tells him that it’s going over just the same for him. He stands at the bottom of the stairs, a red cup in hand. A bit of the lurid red spiked punch sloshes onto the floor as he passes it to one of the kids he’s standing next to. He takes a single step forward, pushing up the sleeves of his jacket like they’re in some action flick. “What the hell are you–”

“Jonathan,” Nancy says, slurring. Her mouth is stained that same lurid red. Her sweater, too. “It’s bullshit.”

She’s crying when she says it. The gossips surrounding the spectacle are already whispering to each other, giggling behind hands and faux concern, too quiet for Steve to hear over the music. Something swells in Steve, a latent desire to bodily shield Nancy Wheeler from anything coming her way. Even if it’s just high schoolers. Even if he’s bullshit.

He sighs. “Help me get her home, man.”  

Jonathan’s arms drop, his sleeves rolling down as gravity does it’s job. Steve refuses to meet his gaze, eyes trained on his sneakers, watching them shuffle back and forth on his toes with indecision, until they finally make their way toward where Steve and Nancy are stalled out at the bottom of the stairs. Jonathan must put his arm around her because her weight on Steve’s back lessens.

They limp their way through costumed teenagers, shoving through when the bodies seem unwilling to move. The chilled October night air hits like relief. Steve gulps it down.

“Where’s your car?” Jonathan asks, quiet.

Steve finally looks over Nancy’s head at the other boy. He doesn’t look mad anymore. His brows furrowed in a expression Steve isn’t familiar enough to read. “Did you drive?” Steve asks. “Did you drink?”

“Mom has the car.” His shoulders droom, like that’s somehow a shameful admission.

“Did you drink?”

Jonathan shakes his head, “barely got my first sip.”

Nancy’s hiccuping between them, muttering quietly to herself. He hears some choice B words –  “Barb” and “bullshit” and “boyfriends”  – before tuning her out. 

He fishes his keyes out of his back pocket, tossing them left-handed to the other boy. “Can you drive?” he asks, relieved when Jonathan nods.

Steve leads the way to his car where it’s parked down the block. It takes concentrated effort to shuffle Nancy into the backseat. She lays down, face smushed into the leather seats. They don’t bother trying to wrangle her into a seatbelt, just close the door and slide into the front.

When Jonathan starts the car, Blondie belts out about her heart of glass – la, da, da, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, yeah, riding high on love's true bluish light – at a volume that really emphasizes the tonal shift the night’s taken. Jonathan turns the volume all the way down until all they can hear is Nancy crying in the backseat. The true soundtrack of the night. 

The twelve minute drive to the Wheeler house drags on for hours. Jonathan's knuckles are white on the steering wheel, and Steve's head keeps boucing off the glass of his window with how he's pressing his heated cheek to it. Nancy stops crying by miute three, starts snoring by minute eight. No one says a word.

Steve and Jonathan don't communciate beyond hand gestures and mouthed commands as the lever a grumbling Nancy out of the car and sneak her into her house and into her bed without waking anyone up. She's going to be pissed in the morning. Her teeth are unbrushed, she's still in her stained sweater, and her shoes are still in, shoved under the quilt on her bed with the rest of her. Steve lingers at the threshold, staring down at her as she sleeps. She's so beautiful it makes his heart stutter nauseatingly. 

This is what love feels like. 

Jonathan is already settled into the driver's seat when Steve makes it back out to the car. He slides into the passenger seat, looking out the front of the windshield, palms sweating. 

"What now?" Jonathan asks. 

Steve looks at him from the corner of his eye, surprised to find the other boy already looking back. "Take me home?"

Jonathan turns the key in the ignition and drives.  

Part 2

[c10v3r]

my pick for babygirl of the year (and winner of iii ig...)

[icewindandboringhorror]

More misc. daily life pictures and such

[mallywarez]

You being here...is not so great. So. Adios.

[brinehater]

using @bearlytolerant's npc dialogue template; I've been really slowly filling this out since original was put up in Pawn Lovers' Guild Discord. I then got brainworms and have added unnecessary stuff, and updated to the version put on Tumblr!

Name: Wildrose

Residence: Small house in North Vermund/Base of Mt. Alles region, in the woods northwest of Melve. Yard is loosely fenced, lots of herbs and vegetables growing in garden. Decorative flowers grow along edges of house with many climbers. Interior of house is cozy. Path around back leads to quiet little spot with a neatly kept gravestone.

Occupation: Healer

Greeting: Location dependent. Remains at home first day. Travels to Melve on second day and stays there until sunset, then returns home. Wanders woods near home on third day until sunset, then returns home. Repeat from there.

At home: (surprised, friendly) "Oh! Welcome! Give me a moment to put on the kettle…"

Melve: (friendly) "Hello there!"

Anywhere else: Anywhere else: (surprised, friendly) "I did ne'er expect to see someone this ways!"

Small Talk

Weather: Weather dependent.

Sunny: (ambivalent; speaking thought aloud) "Hm… warm day…"

Rainy: (excited, laughing) "'Tis refreshing out, is it not?"

Gossip: (thoughtful) "Some of the traveling merchants have acquired most esoteric tomes…"

Friendship

Greeting: Location dependent. See general greeting set for his location schedule.

At home: (warm, cheerful) "Welcome back! Feel free to rest here as long as you need."

Melve: (happy) "Good to see you're here!"

Anywhere else: (playful, friendly) "Ha! And so we meet again!"

Gossip: (cheerful) "I heard that someone at the border can make the most remarkable confections should you bring them the right inspiration!"

Action: Places his left hand on his heart and gives a short bow of his head, smiling.

Romance

Greeting: (warm, but shy) "I am glad you're here. I… I missed you."

Flirt: (warm, but shy) "Will you stay…? I mean, o-only as long as you would like."

Term of endearment: Moonglow

Action: Places his hand gently on yours for a moment, or turns away and hides his face while smiling and blushing.

Culling Request

Start dialogue: (anxious) "I apologize to trouble you so, but the wolves have been at the garden and I've been having difficulty simply warding them off…"

End dialogue: (relieved, grateful) "Thank you! Please take some of what I've made recently; I hope it aids you as much as you've aided me."

Reward: Exquisite Roborant x1, Stability Extract x3, 1000g

Escort Request

Destination: Vernworth Market Quarter

Start dialogue: (friendly, but a bit anxious) "I fear I am in need of more particular materials than I can find nearby. I would be very grateful if we might travel together so I may browse for them elsewhere."

End dialogue: (warm, grateful) "Thank you for making this journey less lonely. I always shall be glad of the comfort of your company. Take these with my gratitude; I promise to make you more soon."

Reward: Miracle Roborant x1, Panacea x1, Noonbloom x1, 5000g

Vocation

Preferred weapon(s): Staff, either Favored Flower or Favored Canopy.

Victory pose: Very soft and cheery "huzzah!", holds weapon in front of himself with both hands and gives a small, brief bow.

the super unnecessary additions under cut

NPC Wildrose has two appearances. The first would be utilized for when he is at home and wandering nearby (first and third day of schedule), the second for when he's visiting Melve/traveling (second day of schedule and during his escort).

His at home appearance is intended to be more relaxed and comfortable, hair worn more freely though still kept mostly out of his way. His Melve/travel appearance is a little more tightly kept and obviously neat, and non-standard for a mage. While wandering and during his escort, both would be worn with a neatly pinned shawl scarf matching the reds on his home attire, a pattern of small suns and flowers embroidered into the edges.

If spoken to while at home during the day, the Arisen can buy a variety of curatives from him. He's a bit out of the way, and his stock only replenishes every three days (when he returns to the "first day" part of his schedule), but his prices are always at least 20% lower, and lower further when his affinity is raised to an eventual total of ~40%, and the Arisen can buy up to three of each of the rare curatives from him at a time.

Additionally, once per inn save, no matter his location and so long as he isn't asleep, the Arisen can ask Wildrose to heal them. This cleanses any debilitations, restores any loss, and gives the Arisen and accompanying pawns the bonuses they would receive if they'd rested and cooked an Aged Scrag of Beast (though this lasts for only half the time compared to camping). He can be asked this still even in the latest parts of the game (provided some prerequisites were completed and the Arisen can find him to at least start his secret second escort to a certain location). Asking him to do so again before the Arisen rests at an inn/home will earn them his apology, saying he needs time to prepare components to do so again and asking them to please be more careful.

If the Arisen idles during his escort in a spot where there's harvestable plants nearby and no obvious enemies, Wildrose will collect them and give them to the Arisen. There's a chance he requests to keep one along the way; allowing him to gives +20 to his affinity, though there is no penalty for denying this request.

In combat, he makes use of Anodyne, High Palladium, High Halidom, Argent Succor, and High Levin. Additionally, Wildrose's damage with High Levin actually scales higher off his affinity with the Arisen (very cheesy "he believes in himself the more the Arisen believes in him" sort of deal), making him capable of putting out surprising amounts of damage when drawn into combat should the Arisen increase his affinity.

[danganronpa96]

Natsuki introduces her 3- I mean 2 alive dads to the other { still alive } dokis and for some reason they can see ghost dad number 3 😁

not even the all-knowing Monika could be prepared for the horse (is here)

[lilacs-stash]

Shout to out Nickel for going from "It's always been...Balloon. And I'm done with that" to "Me and Balloon share everything!" with in the spand of like four episodes. What is wrong with him <3