#just a lil hurt for the protag

[save-the-villainous-cat]

Hi!

I was wondering if you could write more stories of the war captive prince. (Maybe the captive one gets hurt while saving the prince from death?)

By the way, I really love your writing.

Hope you have a nice day! (*ˊᵕˋ*)ﾉ

So this doesn't really fit into the narrative but if I had to, I'd place it between part 1 and 2.

pt. 1, pt. 2, pt. 3, pt.4

Being a prisoner wasn’t as bad as he had feared.

He had a room to himself. It wasn’t much but it wasn’t a cell where he would rot within days. Soldiers guarded his door outside day and night and maids seemed to be making his bed when he was working in the castle. Whatever the protagonist had expected, it wasn’t this, it wasn’t an almost decent life.

But then again, he supposed the prince wanted to keep an eye on him. After all, everyone was watching him. All the time.

Most of the time, he worked in the castle amongst the other servants and it was easy to forget that those people weren’t his acquaintances. The protagonist knew these people weren’t responsible for his pain and suffering but still, every time he talked to one of them or shared his food, deep down his heart broke a little.

He felt as if he was betraying his friend by showing others kindness.

One day, when the prince had felt particularly merciful (or cruel), he had brought him down to the dungeons. And there he had seen them. His friend, frail and hopeless. He didn’t know if they had even recognised him. They hadn’t talked, had barely looked at him.

Since then, he had tried to sneak away and get back down there again, but it was to no avail. Whenever he was sure he had distracted the guards, one of them showed up in front of him and barked at him to get back to work.

With that memory burnt into his brain, the protagonist avoided the prince at all cost. Because he was sure he would find a way to strangle him to death the next time they’d meet.

So, when he’d been instructed to go to the prince’s chambers today, he was full of energy. His heart was beating in his throat. Rage blinded him and he feared he would make a drastic decision he could regret later.

However, as soon as he set a foot into the prince’s room, he could tell something was off.

“You actually came, I’m impressed.” The prince sat on his bed, holding his stomach. At first, the protagonist didn’t want to understand. He saw the prince in a weak state and wondered how long it would take him to end this.

In his lifetime, the protagonist had killed a lot of people. Undoubtedly, there was dark and thick blood on his hands.

Maybe he would finally add the prince’s too.

“You’re bleeding,” the protagonist realised. His eyes dropped to the wound the prince tried to hide and the strange amount of linen drenched in blood.

His muscles tensed.

The protagonist wondered what it would feel like to push his fingers into his wound and curl them. What sounds the prince would make if the protagonist found something in this luxurious room to press deeper into the cut. What he would look like if the protagonist strangled him and watched him bleed out.

The protagonist got overwhelmed with ideas, with rage and with determination. He wondered when he had gotten this violent, but maybe war had changed him.

Or he had always been this way.

“Yes. That’s why I asked for you.” His breathing was quick and he hunched, holding his stomach as the blood dropped down his fingers. “You have military experience, don’t you? That includes sanitary practice.”

“You’re delusional if you think I might help you.”

“I’ve heard that in your country you’re sewing wounds. It’s probably my last hope. My medics are panicking,” he said. His voice was raspy and the protagonist was sure he felt lightheaded. Losing a lot of blood was dangerous, even the prince should’ve been aware of that.

“Again, why would I help you?” he asked.

The prince made a noise between a groan and a sigh, mixed with pain and annoyance.

“Your friend, obviously. You can see them again tomorrow if you save me. If you don’t, they’ll be killed.” The protagonist cocked his head but what he was seeing seemed to be real. Tears were streaming down the prince’s face. Not a lot and barely noticeable but they sparkled in the dim light.

This was an easy choice, then.

“Good. Lay down.” The protagonist approached him quickly and pushed his enemy into the bed.

The prince’s face twisted and he looked as grey as ash. Even if the protagonist had to save him, that didn’t mean he couldn’t cause as much pain as he wanted.

“Put more pressure on the wound,” he said. He observed what the prince was doing, then shook his head. “No, like this.”

He pushed the clean linen the medics had given to the prince deep into the wound. They turned red immediately and the prince gasped.

“Oh gods-” He held onto the protagonist’s wrist, grabbed him harsh enough to leave bruises. He arched his back and whimpered like a dog and the protagonist stared at him, stared at the person who could be so cruel being exposed to cruelty.

Quickly, the protagonist realised, that they’d been this close in the throne room last. It was an eerie feeling.

But the pain the prince endured wasn’t satisfactory to the protagonist. He got distracted, looked a little too long at the tear stains.

“Needles? Threads?” The prince pointed at the drawer next to the bed and the protagonist found what he was searching for soon enough.

“What happened?” he asked as he took the bowl filled with water from the drawer. He put the thread through the needle’s head and drenched the needle in water.

“Assassination attempt,” the prince groaned. “I fought back but…clearly didn’t make a big difference.”

Quickly, the protagonist took the needle out of the water again.

“Shouldn’t the whole castle panic, then?”

“I managed to avoid that. Only a few people know that I’m injured,” he said. The protagonist looked at the wound. The bleeding wasn’t as serious anymore, so he pulled the linen out of the wound, much to the prince’s dismay.

His fingertips brushed against the protagonist’s.

“I’ve never killed anyone before,” the prince admitted. “Not with my own hands.”

“It’s much harder than it looks,” the protagonist said and the prince nodded. Before the prince answered, the protagonist pushed the needle through his skin.

The prince’s hand found his wrist again and he squeezed as the protagonist continued carefully.

Although the protagonist could sew, he was rather clumsy when it came to his own fingers. Every now and then, he stabbed into his fingertips until his own blood dropped onto the prince’s stomach, red and red mixing together.

“There was so much blood,” the prince said. The protagonist could feel his eyes on him. “I didn’t even notice I was wounded.”

The protagonist pulled a little too harsh on the thread and the prince flinched.

“Apologies,” he mumbled and for whatever reason, his hand landed on the prince’s forearm, trying to calm him. “I’m almost done.”

Again, the prince nodded and let him continue his work. When he was done, he looked at the result and found himself quite satisfied with it.

Maybe the protagonist was a fool for helping him. Maybe it was his own nature. Maybe war hadn’t hardened him, maybe it had exhausted him, had made him soft.

“Rest for the next few days. You also need a lot of food and water.” He stood up and turned around before he could put more thoughts into the situation, however, the prince grabbed his forearm before he could go.

“No word of this to anyone, please,” he said but the protagonist didn’t answer. What kind of power did he have here anyway? Trying to convince the people to overthrow their own prince? A revolution? Who would even listen to him? “…and thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” the protagonist said and he meant every word of it.

[littlefankingdom]

"Batman should have killed the Joker."

And then what? All his morals and what makes him an interesting character would have been ruined. And it would have been for nothing, because the Joker would have come back to life anyway, as he is an important DC character that sell. Those are comics that have been going on since the 40s, they don't have an end, they will go on as long as DC can make money out of it. They don't exist to tell a story, with a clear end, they exist to make money. The Joker will only disappear if he doesn't bring money, and he does. Bruce Wayne doesn't kill and it's a core to his character.

There's a ton of characters and protagonists that kill. Go read that instead of trying to change what Batman has always been, and leave us alone with our guy that values life.

Btw, THIS IS THE CASE FOR MOST OF THE BATFAM, so stop trying to change them too. Cass, Dick, Tim... They all value life and do not want to become killers. They are horrified at the simple idea they could become killers. Respect that or fuck off.

[izzy-b-hands]

tried to be gentle with myself today and fingers crossed, I'll be feeling ok enough by bedtime to sit up and watch some more Cucumber

[majokothesmol]

I'm going to preface this idea with a content warning for body horror, (or at least reference to body dysmorphia,) because it's meant to be... Horror.

Cool? Cool.

So I've been seeing some stuff about how people draw Kieran. Sometimes he's a twig, sometimes he's got dark skin, sometimes he's chubby, sometimes he's trans, sometimes he has very round eyes, sometimes he's a phantump, sometimes he's an edgelord, sometimes he's got scars, sometimes he's Ogrepon, and sometimes he's got acne. I love all iterations and interpretations of him, especially how different each one of them looks.

Most art has cute lil brother Kieran. But it's also pretty common to see Kieran portrayed as muscular. Like, he's got abs and lean muscle. My gut reaction was "This kid's 15 at the oldest. Suuuure." But then it became such an interesting idea to me. Like yes. Kieran wishes he was this buff. Maybe this is his immature power fantasy where's he's big and strong and cool because he's 15. Or even better, this is how the Protag sees him. (Assuming they like Kieran in that way.) Of course he's gotta be a little handsome in their eyes.

I can't begin to explain how much joy and endearment I find in those ideas.

Then I started really thinking about it. (This is where things are going to get body-horror related.) Realistically, (and cannon to the game) Kieran has not been taking care of himself. He hasn't been eating right, or sleeping, and his dorm is a mess. Keep that in mind, especially the part about not eating well. Okay? Okay.

Now imagine this: You're seeing Kieran again for the first time in at least a month. At the very least, you're expecting sad little Kiki; sullen, jealous, maybe possessed, and burnt out. But when you finally get a good look at him again... His eyes have dark circles from not sleeping, he's a lot more snappy, and his jacket is falling off his shoulders. In fact, all his clothes look a little baggy. Now imagine he takes off the jacket. He seems muscular, yes. But it's just like how he seems stronger. Once you get a good look at him, it's not that he gained muscle. It's just that he lost that much fat. He's muscle, skin, and bone.

Do you see the vision I'm having?? The dawning moment of realization, the horror of seeing just how many things he cut out of his life to get stronger? The angst potential?? The character development. The hurt/comfort that is in this concept?? Do you also see the absolute comedy of a Buff Kieran being daydreamed about by Protag? The potential of wholesome workout buddies?

[muffinrecord]

Not MagiReco, just Life Stuff

I've been doing a lot of reading lately, not just of star mythology books but memoirs from EMTs, Firefighters, and Rangers. Trying to study and get research in for the story I wanna make. I've also been reading a lot about bears which are slowly becoming a favorite animal. How dare bears look so goofy and silly while being so dangerous!!!! Scandal!!!! I've also been reading about cults and stuff, which is also research. Also medical stuff on how to repair injuries if you're in the wilds with no one else coming to help you. My protag is a former EMT so she needs a decent-ish amount of medical backing.

If I do actually start writing my story, and if people notice it, and if I somehow make money off of it, I think my current dream goal is to start a lil fundraiser and donate money to various EMS organizations. Like maybe help fundraise money so that a place can get a new vehicle with state-of-the-art equipment. I can't think of a cooler thing to do.

I think the next few things I wanna start reading about is Alaska, where the story takes place. A friend is helping me with the inside scoop of living there, but it's always good to diversify your sources and learn as much as possible. I've been watching videos and stuff but I just absorb stuff through physical text easiest.

If folks are curious; my story (When the Sun is Gone) is about star-themed magical girls (magical women?) called Celestials. I'd categorize their magical duties more similar to EMT/Firefighter/Ranger work than police/army stuff. I really want to focus on them protecting the community and the kind of struggle that arises from it. The monsters should feel more like a wildfire than a person. There are infections that develop when monsters and humans live too close together, called "lunacy" (cause these monsters formed from the lingering corpse from the dead moon god), and this presents a problem because you gotta cure these people who are going through some issues and might fight back about it. And if you don't cure them in time, they might become fully fledged monsters that they can't come back from. Some of them want to be helped, some of them don't.

There's a dead moon cult up to no good too, which is difficult for the protagonist to deal with. The cult does some negative shit to the outside populace for sure, but the real issue is that the leaders are hurting their own people inside and those victims don't want to be saved because they think this is all for their benefit. How do you help people like that? Do you walk away, even if they're being hurt? Even if they do want to be helped, how do you do it? Sometimes the protag has the best intentions but it goes horribly wrong. You can do everything right and still fail. It's hard to not take that personally or to feel like a failure.

I don't want it to be too much of a bummer of a book though, so balancing failure and winning is going to be a tricky issue. But I think it will be fun. A lot of the research I've been doing is been to prepare for the right mindset for the Celestials to be in and for different ways for my protag do develop burnout and depression akfsjsafklas. Something I've noticed from a lot of the memoirs is that they almost always start out hopefully, optimistic, and anxious about their new job. Then they develop almost an addiction to the crazy nature of it all, to the unpredictability, the out-of-the-box thinking involved in street/wilderness medicine, and to the adrenaline rush. But as it goes on, that becomes burnout, then depression, occasionally suicidal ideation. The lucky ones get out before it becomes irreparable. We always read about the lucky ones because they're the ones who survived to write a book.

That said, it's scary to work on personal projects because of stuff like perfectionism. But if you're too worried about "perfect" then you'll just end up in the situation I'm in, where you never get started lol. But still, it's scary to write something personal and think that someone might read it and be disappointed in it. What if it's just not very good? The other thing that frequently comes up in my head is "am I really the right person to tell this story? What if I get it wrong?" What if I hurt someone's feelings by getting it wrong? What if I say something wildly inaccurate and contribute to misinformation out there? Or what if it's morally wrong to read memoirs about people's tragedies for the sake of your creative writing? I'm "using" a person's life to mine for storytelling material. It feels wrong to do that. Is it okay? Am I doing a bad thing here?

But maybe it's okay to write something that isn't very good, and maybe it's okay if I'm not the "right" person to make it. I don't know. I feel a pull to move my feet forward though, step by step, and see if I can do my best at least.

I think one thing I'm really thankful for from the game and this fandom is that I was just myself and people seemed to like that. I could shout out my loud opinions about stories or gameplay into the void and people would agree or disagree, but they were generally polite and excited.

This is a lil all over the place ajfaslfaf

But-- if you've been checking out the blog, then thanks for being here :) I hope that the upcoming liveblogs will be fun to read. If you decide to hang out and read my stupid lil story in the future, then thank you for giving that a chance too. But no worries if you aren't.

<3

[themoonstarwarrior]

Well, I haven't seen the episode yet, but since it sounds like BloodMoon is refusing to be saved, imma go ahead and share the idea I mentioned to @twinanimatronics about how Sun could've possibly reached them.

Obviously BloodMoon wont sit still and listen so this scenario has Sun use star power to trap BM just like old moon did to him with Moon on standby to come in once the 5 minutes are up.

Basically, Sun asks them WHY they kill and hurt people and BM brings up the main three reasons: they enjoy it, they dont want to be a tool, and they hunger. Since literally none of the protags have actually asked, Sun would be surprised that theres more than the first reason and interrogate to get to the bottom of it. Cuz what Sun realizes is that BloodMoon doesnt have any deeper motives or desires because of their eternal hunger. Their ENTIRE existence has circled around violence to satisfy their hunger. They get used to satisfy their hunger. They enjoy the rip and tear because it stops the hunger.

They have always been a tool to the hunger.

So Sun offers the one thing that no one has: what if they get rid of the hunger?

BM is confused cuz all they've ever known is the hunger, and Sun has to dig the point home by explaining how they can keep killing but it'll come back, and probably stronger. They could kill everyone and everything but then the hunger will come back. And the only thing thatll be left to kill is each other.

And THAT freaks them out, because that is the only thing BloodMoon stands to lose is the brotherhood. (And while BM1 would probably race about lies and trickery, BM2 cant deny the logic)

So with BM actually realizing how their hunger endangers them, and Moon at this point just WAITING to finish them off, Sun lays down the ultimatum. Since no change of heart can happen if all they've ever known is hunger, Sun/Moon/Solar can try and remove it to and see if the twins can be rehabilitated, otherwise Moon ends them then and there.

And I love this idea so much!!! It addresses the REAL block that BM has that hasnt been brought up since that one episode where they kill the anime girl. We get to keep BloodMoon, since the creators went to the trouble of bringing them back and giving them a new model so it'd be a lil annoying if they just ended up killed again. It acknowledges how much BM has been used and brushed aside while admitting that there hasnt been much else to them. And you could have a whole rehabilitation arc, with everyone healing and BM given a real change and actual honesty, since god knows no one is gonna be mincing words. And I imagine their blood-hunger being removed ends up like the Ruin Virus a bit, where getting rid of it cuts down a LOT of the more sadistic urges. So the boys get a mostly-tamed but still-pretty-fucking-insane BloodMoon Twins that basically is just the feral crazy guy that hangs around Animal from Muppets lol and idk stays with Monty cuz hes more easygoing on the violent habits and they need to NOT be anywhere near the daycare.

And maybe I'll watch the episode and be alright with it, but it just sucks cuz this would work SO GOOD and I know the showrunners wouldn't do it. So now I've had to make this fucking long ass post and y'all hafta deal with it.

And maybe someday I'll write a drabble this and the other SAMS scenes I've imagined...

So yeah, sorry about the rambling and shit. I hate how emotionally involved I get with this show that I love. And I'll go ahead and tag @garbagechocolate out of obligation X)

[fry-or-die]

kakihara and ichi are really interesting parallels... kakiharas violence and ichis violence has the opposite effects too, because of how they act.. I feel like in a way kakiharas is appealing? im not a freak but I feel like everyone was entertained by the things he was doing, the high he got off of it was fun to see.. while ichi as a character in general, is the childishness to kakiharas maturity. hes still getting pleasure out of it yeah, but its especially apparent in the last fight.. maybe its cause of kakihara being unceremoniously beaten and seeing ichi like that? was so disappointing not seeing him be able to enjoy it

like idk if this makes sense but I'll put it like this;

kakiharas violence is the most appealing because you can see him enjoying it sincerely whether its on himself or someone else, and its sometimes a lil comedic (gun rimming) or kinda sexually appealing (karen stabbing someone as he smiles) what im tryna say is that its easier to see him a certain way, hes an older man, hairy and flabby, scarred and pierced with a thick tongue

ichis violence refuses to be appealing to anyone, because you see how he has to be stuck in his trauma for so long and be manipulated by jijii to do it properly. his face and crying while he kills also refuses to be appealing. he doesnt really have control, so he wants to hurt people to gain it back. even wanted to abuse the only person who stuck up for him in school because of that- but its also sad at the same time because hes deluded himself into thinking that she'd want it to be that way? in both instances where he was with a woman that reminded him of that girl, he thought that they enjoyed being hurt, and he even had a moment of clarity after jijii told him off.. it was short lived because it made him question if he should kill. really tragic shit. I don't think he "became normal" either, not just cause he started crying again when he was almost attacked- but because of how that girl reacted when he asked her out.. it was kinda weird! like maybe hes abusive behind closed doors..? maybe im wrong though and hes just a douche at worst. one way they showed how ichi thinks is by having him only really interact positively with jijii, kaneko, his son and a boy. two kids.. and he teaches em to fight because he sees himself in them. so maybe showing him interact with someone his age is proof enough that hes normal? eh. i still hold that somethings up. ichis a smooth faced young man with a strong build, short hair and bright eyes, hes tall and shy looking, and overall extrmely plain. contrasting kakiharas insanely unique design

also i think ichi "getting stronger" is like, super funny too. like a twisted look on a shonen protag that wants to be the best at whatever. thats all i wanted to say though, i hope this makes sense.

[infraaa]

So , if the requests are open may I ask for fluffy headcannons for Longan?(pls pls pls they're hawt as hell and my friends from other games know that I am in love with a cookie)

『I mean- he is a scrimblo. lub ❤️❤️❤️』

longan dragon — fluff headcanons (gender not specified)

poor baby man— this lil guy looks in the face of fluff culture and spits in it.

doesn’t understand how you mortals can just sit with each other like this… but then again, they don’t have a clear understanding of what love is either to be true.

they are about as stiff as a stick in the mud that has hardened down. Very tough cookie on the outside. they don’t like getting distracted from their war crime that is quite literally omnicide.

however… a certain cookie struck them differently. they took a bite outta you and said… “this hit different ngl wtf is this-“

favorite activity with you is pottery I feel, like I can see them taking in an artistic hobby to quell their violent thoughts of world domination. It keeps their mind busy yk? Just sitting behind you, guiding your little hands along the clay as it spins round and round… it’s so relaxing.

they also like to sit with you in their den, with you in between their legs as you rest on them, their sharp claws combing through your hair. Having conversations or hell, even in the depths of silence.

doesn’t know the first thing about cooking but will try if it means making you happy. I imagine the only thing they know how to make is pasta. and we can go in depth abt this like they love pasta with a passion and will make different kinds for you.

like “honey it’s 2 in the morning, why on earthbread are you making tonkotsu ramen?” “bc I’ve lost control of my life.”

loves movies and will watch them with you. let them pick one. just do it. most likely it will be something like Get Out or Us, they like scifi horror. again, doesn’t understand romantic movies and that gush shit.

you pick out a hallmark movie and they make fun of you, jokingly w affection

“let me guess the main protag is a wealthy business woman living in upstate New York and is slightly materialistic, meets your average joe who is actually rich but hides it until the very end as a pointless plot twist, they fall in love right on Christmas Eve, with snow and everything and somehow the main protag’s father is Santa Claus. Woooooow” “fuckinf stop”

respect dragon culture— if you don’t you hurt their feelins 😢 (nah jk but they have their own ways of expressing love that are definitely 100% foreign and unorthodox to you.)

dragon nibbles dragon nibbles dragon nibbles dragon nibbles dragon nibbles dragon nibbles dragon nibbles dragon-

om nom nom nom nom (gentle— may or may not be suggestive)

this is about as close as you will get to cuddles as they really aren’t a cuddly dragon.

and they aren’t a very soft dragon again. but they try their hardest. 🧡

[peculiarbeauty]

i’m saying possibly controversial opinions about dis.ney below btw brace urself

im tired of the adorable characters in media. the best part in my opinion about the movie wi*sh was star ⭐️ just because MY GOODNESS THAT CUTE LIL STAR MADE MY WHOLE DAY BETTER AND I WAS FREAKING OUT IN THEATRES ABT HIM

but it feels like dis.ney only cares about the happy-go-lucky protag characters. or prince h.ans 4.0.

i would seriously love a headstrong male or female in media like meg.ara or jas.mine or es.meralda because all we get these days is the adorable good natured sweetie protagonist. AND LOOK, it worked for a long time w/ other protags like rap.unzel and an.na but now it’s just the same kind of copy and paste personality. i didn’t feel w*ish was GOOD, i felt it was cute and fun but it didn’t capture my heart in the way b.atb or any classic dis.ney did.

also it felt like an amalgamation of every single dis.ney film was in this and i get it’s the 100th celebration and they wanna celebrate by making refs, BUT EVERY SECOND WAS A NEW REF. it sucks too bc my god was the animation beautiful. the scenes were beautiful to look at and I LOVED THE MUSIC ( even though the characters were singing almost every 2 seconds )

i just want dis.ney to be brave and give us a diff kind of concept. give us more badass females like el.sa idk. give us women in media who don’t need no man. i liked that abt as.ha tbh. but that’s one of the few things i can name. :/

ANYWAY IDK. there needs to be a new formula with storytelling ow my hand hurts bc i’m typing on my phone

[ungodly-amounts-of-godly-trauma]

wotw round 1

propaganda under the cut!

ianto jones:

Oh my god the amount of people who turned him into Jack’s uwu boi whump lad who Gwen was hurting with her nasty ways. Ugh that’s not a good explanation but just trust me it’s nasty - fish

dimitri alexandre blaiddyd:

Royal prince who was the lone survivor of a massacre that took his parents and childhood friend's life when he was younger and attempted to speak out against the public falsely blaming another country but was ignored due to pre-existing prejudices and was unable to stop the genocide that followed, so he's got a LOT of trauma and mental illness, which began showing itself in the form of severe bloodlust when he got older and began leading troops into battle. He finds out during the game that a different childhood friend is connected with the people behind the massacre and assumes she is the one responsible for it (she was like also 6 years old at the time so no, she was not involved with that though she's allied herself with the actual perpetrators for the moment despite also being a victim of them) and his mental health just goes downhill from there, with a full war breaking out and him being falsely accused of murder and (as far as he's aware) losing his closest ally while being broken out of prison.

So by the point in time the game focuses on him again, he's repressed all his emotions and thinks of nothing else but killing his childhood friend and her army and has become known for sadistically killing enemy soldiers. At one point in the game the protag has to perform a mercy kill because he's torturing a prisoner of war for his own personal satisfaction. Eventually he does begin to snap out of it due to the actions of his allies and he's able to think more clearly again, no longer prioritizing revenge above all else.

But you see like. You might not know any of that stuff if you just looked at fandom, because he's often treated as a lil sad uwu boy who was so horribly mistreated by his childhood friend (that evil bitch), despite the fact that he canonically enjoyed torturing people for like several years in-universe. A lot of people also reduce him to someone for the female main character to "cure" with her love if anything. He's an interesting, flawed character but people want things to be black and white and since it's a man vs a woman, he's the sad little victim rather than also guilty on some counts. A lot of this comes from Three Houses being a multi-route game but a lot of people only played his route and then never touched the others, meaning they never saw things from other angles or learned information that was available in other routes which reshapes things you see in his route dramatically at times.

[beatcroc]

Do u think u could elaborate a lil about btb and pizza tower lore?? Thank u

oh god i'm not the most well-read on either BUT uh. spoilers for both medias i guess.....i need to stress that these should NOT be seen as like dramatic edgy series because of what's going on under the hood though, that's not the point of them or what they focus on, and it'd be a huge disservice to think of them as 'taking themselves too seriously' type things for this, haha.

EDIT: it's been a bit since i made this post and in looking around since then i've discovered i might've gotten the wrong impression about some of the pizza tower stuff. i intended to only mention what was fact/hard canon here, but some might be extrapolated anyway, so take it with a pinch of salt.

---

bigtop burger is, for all intents and purposes, a chill and lighthearted series of animated shorts about a bunch of college kids who work at a clown-themed food truck. their clown boss is more than a little strange and suspicious but they're content to let it slide because he's generally friendly and well-meaning; and again, the series is only really About the kids and their day to day lives, and the wacky cartoon antics that may occasionally come with that. such as, say, watching their boss slice a truck in two with a katana. it's a little weird for sure but we don't question it.

they have a rival burger truck, zomburger, which is zombie themed, and led by a guy who is defintiely totally not actually undead. the kids this guy employs are pretty into the whole gimmick [because theyre theater majors and "get paid like thousands of dollars per hour" <-presented as the most bizzare thing that's happened], and so have no issue doing things like firing cannons at our clown-thmed protags during a highway chase. their boss has some kind of serious beef with the clown boss, but that's their problem. the kids are chill with eachother.

what they're Not telling you is that the clowns and undead have some kind of ancient feud [possibly even a war???] going on, and zombie guy was apparently[?] only using the food truck thing as a ruse to get at clown guy. both types of guys are insanely powerful and it's heavily implied that neither of them should be mingling with normal humans in the first place, which is why the food trucks and the other employees have their respective gimmicks as cover. also magic of some kind seems to be real, with illusory and portal-type stuff seen so far.

there is a possible implication that clowns are Actually Dangerous and the zombie guy's hunting them is like warranted, but given this unrelated short by the creator apparently set in the same universe, i'd like to more confidently say that it's just zombie guy being an asshole assassin type and they're both high-ranking freaks duking it out in public which is like the worst place possible given their general disinterest in hurting anyone else.

aside: bigtop's lore is a lot more plainly-presented and actually meaningful to the series and the character dynamics, but as it is currently it's nothing more than a backdrop for The Hijinx to play off of so they still never really say anything too direct about it or have characters respond to it. [that said, the most recent episode could easily be considered a turning point so we'll see how things go from here]

----

pizza tower is, for all intents and purposes, just a funny 2d platformer game where lots of silly things happen to its really excitable protagonist and you get tons of endlessly amusing expressions and animation out of it. it feels somewhat like a playable 90's cartoon, and this is its primary charm. again, you aren't supposed to really question the framing of everything. that'd be like asking why bowser is a fire-breathing turtle. because he is. that's just how it works who gives a shit. pizza tower has you kill a big pillar guy halfway through a given level and then you have to get the hell out on a timer before it all collapses, and there's a funny little janitor guy you can get as a bonus pickup to help you out in each level. each floor of the tower has a different Theme for its set of levels. traditional game stuff. you get to the top of the pizza tower and beat up the jackass pizza guy that threatened to blow up your own pizzeria. [there's more to the gameplay than that but this is just what's lore-relevant]

what the game slides under the radar with its completely-dialogue-less style is that the big pillar guy more or less IS the tower, pillar and janitor were the original residents of the tower before it got turned into the pizza tower [yeah.], and the little janitor guy, who is pillar's brother, is generally fine with helping you destroy the place because for the past [amount of time] he's been fighting a losing battle of helping keep his bro intact in the wake of it being taken over by the jackass pizza guy, who has pretty much defiled it beyond repair for his own amusement since finding it. pizza guy cloned pillar guy a bunch of times and split his consciousness between the duplicates and made them all keep all the portals to the pocket dimensions in the tower [the levels] open. pillar guy's original body has since become derelict and horribly overgrown with.,....pizza..., and it's the last one you destroy to bring the whole thing down. he gives you a tired-looking thumbs up as you blast him off the screen.

none of this has anything to do with the protagonist, who doesn't know about any of it and is Exclusively there to beat pizza guy's ass for threatening his business. and if he has to bring down pizza guy's whole tacky-ass establishment to do that then SO BE IT.

you might notice in the larger background screenshot that the protag guy is Also being cloned in that facility. you do fight a clone of him as the 4th boss and encounter more of them in the level that background is for, but there seems to be very little concrete canon for what exactly pizza guy's intention with protag and his clones was.

aside: this isn't even touching on the other side to this, which is the weird amount of actual character depth that mr. funny cartoon protag man himself seems to have. i am not going to get into that on this post because it will make me really abnormal but oh my god dude.

[yeosangs-horizon]

I'm gonna ramble on with my buddy daddies finale predictions so don't mind me I just wanna throw my thoughts out there. Feel free to read below under the cut bc its semi-lengthy and contains spoilers up to ep 11.

As for actual careers what if Kazuki actually becomes a comedian? I could totally see that hehe, not sure how Rei would go into the oil business but hey becoming true to what Kyutaro told Miri I guess.

Judging from the preview at the moment, I have high speculation that Ogino will be killed and the main protags even Kyutaro will be safe. Not sure about Shigeki though, I was thinking about the ideal of Rei assassinating his own father but I'm not 100% sure how things will go down in the brawl at the manor but Ogino will def go down.

Not sure if the finale will touch on Miri asking about her mom either, but they might tell her that she actually passed due to her cancer instead of a brutal murder from Ogino and Rei's association with it, that'll hurt her so bad :( Maybe in the future they would say something.

I really doubt this prediction will happen but if Shigeki doesn't die, maybe the Suwa organization will be stopped and turned over to the cops since they already were aware about what happened with Misaki and Ogino I'm assuming, but that would mean our boys might get jail time too so I feel like that one is super unlikely but a way to take down the Suwa organization with Shigeki alive I guess.

A prediction I had before was that Misaki actually didn't die and they are able to co parent Miri with her but judging from the trailer today it might make sense that her death is finalized and 'to be expected' by a more serious end.

After watching the trailer this prediction I had is faltered but originally I was thinking about Kyutaro sacrificng himself to protect the two since he's proven that he does care about their lil family from the previous ep. I was thinking he'd be sacrificed in the final shoot out but who knows, he seems cozy in the trailer.

Anyway Rei is me rn waiting for the finale I'm so excited and I'm so happy to be a part of this fandom and make art/writing/posts for it <3 I haven't felt this much serotonin ab anything for awhile. 🖤

[showrunnerihardlyknowher]

Since someone asked about a convo with all your protags, how would an "interaction" go between all the "giants"? Let's also pretend that they can all somewhat "communicate"/understand with one another.

In addition what would their opinions be on each other tinies, along their tinies interactions with one another based on the other ask.

Okay okay okay if we're gonna go with their corresponding giants, that would be Edix, AB299, Negasonic/Dean, Ben, and Deus.

This time it's actually a mix between giant creatures and humans so technically Dean and Ben are still tiny in comparison to the other three, which freaks out Ben, but Dean will not hesitate to nuke all of them if anyone tries to pull some shit. Ben at first tries to stick with him because, you know, us lil human guys gotta stick together, but very quickly he realizes Dean is also a morally grey bastard and would rather push his luck with the giant moth monster since he's familiar with insects (killing them, usually, but hey).

AB299 and Deus have a mutual understanding with each other and have no problem being in the other's company, seeing as their both cryptids/abnormalities. Also because they're both very active in the dark, although Deus prefers concentrated light sources obvious, while AB299 needs shadows to blend and travel. You know who happens to be a concentrated light source? Dean! (: Deus cannot stop following that funky little purple guy and any warning sparks just entices him more.

Edix...does not care about anyone here. They're all beneath him, in terms of intelligence and technological advancements. He'd rather keep to himself than be forced to interact with them, and he makes this very clear with hisses and growls when Deus tries to be friendly. He just wants to take his tiny and leave.

Edix is too jealous to let Jacob around any of the giants, but he tolerates him being with other humans (including Dean and Ben) because enrichment and socialization is good for pets. Dean doesn't care who Nano hangs around with, they're a grown adult who can make their own stupid choices, but if any of the giants seem like they might try to get rough he'll step in. Deus also doesn't mind who Jasper interacts with, both humans and giants. Ben refuses anyone to interact with Milo because he's paranoid one of the giants might hurt a kid who's barely the size of a grain of rice to them. AB299 is also possessive of Serena and doesn't want her around anyone, which causes problems because she's clearly friendly with Jacob, which causes MORE problems because Edix will 10000% go feral if AB299 tries to threaten his baby.

Edix thinks Jacob and Jacob only is the cutest, sweetest thing here and couldn't care less about the others. AB299 holds a similar view about Serena. Deus is very friendly and sociable, probably one of the only 'giant' giants that everyone can tolerate (except Dean). Dean thinks Jacob is the most pathetic out of all of them, although he's definitely got a soft spot for Milo because how can you not for the tiny baby? Ben likes Jasper's company the best. Serena has no qualms siccing AB299 on anyone, giant or tiny/human, who she thinks might hurt her, which Dean thinks is fantastic.

[andypantsx3]

Hii I just wanted to say always love hearing you talk about books!

As much as I love reading the biggest downside for me compared to fanfic is that there aren't any people immediately available to talk about a story with. I love that most often I am actually able to tell the author how much I loved their writing and seeing everyone in the comments express what they thought and felt is something I am so so grateful for!

But after I finish book that I have opinions on, whether I am freaking out over how great it was or if it made me once again question the publishing house that allowed it to go into print I am just like?? What am I supposed to do with myself now? most like i stare at a blank wall for about an hour to process and then try to move on with my day, it just not the same as being able to hear other peoples opinions on it. So, if you have any more book recs or just book thoughts please share them, it's really entertaining to read!

I hope you have/ had a good day :)

Ahhhh Archer you are such a good lil egg!! I I love talking books with other people too!! It drives me nuts because some of my faves are so niche and no one else I know has read them, because very few other people share my tastes.😭

I'm curious what your fave books are?? It's so hard to make recommendations without knowing your faves because I think book recs should be personalized to the recommendee's preferences. I would never rec my faves to the vast majority of readers, because they don't really appeal to the majority of people!!

But I guess that being said my all-time fave book as everyone already has heard me say ten million times is The Goblin Emperor, and I almost died of happiness when my beloved @acerathia read it too and I got to chat about it hehehe.

People are shocked when they learn this, because I am a silly idiot romance author and this book is very much not that. It's a meticulously-planned hurt/comfort fantasy of manners that is heavily character-driven. But to me, it is perfection. It is the pinnacle of literary achievement. It is so contemplative and explores the unique grief of losing people who were cruel or indifferent to you, about being kind in a world that makes it extremely hard to be, and about finding/making your own family in the face of social norms that would isolate you!! I just like how it gives you space to learn and process things with the MC, and how by the end of it you feel like you've grown as much as he has!! It's so earnest and hopeful and good and makes me want to rip apart a phone book with my bare hands!!!!

Another fave I semi-recently read is Winter's Orbit, which I think I have talked about on here too. It's another hurt/comfort-y found family narrative, only this time with real romance and space gays!!! The author actually first published this novel as an orig fic on ao3, and I think you can tell that by how much they seem to love and respect the tropes they employ. We get a little bit of the classic sunshine/raincloud dynamic with the two MCs, but the author does some absolutely fantastic character work and turns that right on its head, fully fleshing out both characters' buried personality traits, insecurities, and personal histories so that you end up with these two absolutely lovely good people who your heart totally aches for. It very much reads like an ao3 fic in the absolute best way, but polished and shined to perfection.

Another fave that I always blab about is the Pink Carnation series. This one is exactly what you would expect from me. It's silly idiot regency romance shenanigans, with several scoops of academia and historical espionage!! I think the author does such a good job at balancing the silliness of a fun romance with the intrigue of an actual historical thriller, and the characters are hilarious. This is the sort of thing I'm talking about with MCs who have major side character energy, as our first novel's protag Amy is good-hearted and smart enough in specific ways, but she is also unfailingly a horrible detective with a very limited perspective determined to be something she's not, and it also gets her into tons of sexy fun trouble.

So yeah!! If I had to blab about anything and rec things without knowing your specific tastes, it would be my holy trinity lmfao. But tell me more about ur faves, I wanna know!!!!

[garmmy]

garm’s video game wrap up 2022

past wrap-ups: - 2020 wrap-up - 2021 wrap-up

2022 was quite a...year, while it could’ve been worse all things considered, i really had no energy/motivation for a lot of things and that included games :( i only finished 2 games in 2022. where did the year go!!

anyway i still wanted to continue this little tradition(?) to appreciate the games i played .w.

- 428 shibuya scramble: you know i LOVE brain hurty mysteries, but i don't think so many games do the "follow multiple protags timeline simultaneously" thing? i really love piecing together these kinds of stories. also KANO'S ACTOR is the principal from fourze i didn't realise :x

- digimon survive: i was so excited that digimon survive real, and i got SO MUCH MORE than expected...it hurts but i appreciate that they didn't pull punches. painful yet freeing, i love these kids so so so much..i'm just, so glad we got to experience this kind of digimon story!

(bonus) - the colonists: i didn't complete the game, but i played quite far on the peaceful track! a nice chill game just building up a settlement and watching your lil guys hard at work .w. (and yes to 13s followers it looks like a bunch of bjs running around it's so cute) 🤖

and that's it! i sure hope to make time to play more games this year (january had so much going on i barely touched any games at all so i guess that is a start...) anyway we will see how it goes! thank you for the memories 💭

[goldenimpact]

hELLO IS ANYONE OUT THERE????

OKAY HI hELLO  FIRST OFF I HOPE EVERYONE IS WELL NOW

THAT THE EVIL WHATEVER I AM HAS FALLEN AND GCANT GET UP COMMERCIAL

SOMETHIN SEOMTHIGN DID IT HURT WHEN YOU FELL FROM HEAVEN THE ANSWER IS YES I GOT SHOVES TO THE FLOOR RECENTLY AND THIS FUCKIN BRUISE ISNT FADING FUNNNY HAHA OK PLEASENTRIRSSE ARE DONE

UH IM CATHERINE, MOD-SAN, GOLD, whatever they're callin me nowadays holy shit dude my hands are shakin like crazy

they've had me literally cleaning house PRETTY MUCH AS SOON AS I RECOVERED all work no play makes jack a dull boy thats me IM jack damn it i can't tell if i've eveolved into  a live-in housekeeper or some sort of roomaate and the paymetnt si s that i get to keep my lifeand also i REALLY need to move my keyboard over or get the window to leave the screen cause i can't blind type it just ain't happenin my leg's jitterering like hell BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT PART IS IM ALIVE YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO but i have absolutely NO CLUE how ;long THAS gonna last BBUT the great news is that ive finally been able to sit at my dangf computer and and actual;ly TYOOUCH ANFD LOOK AT IT ive practically been buried in all the freezers BUT ANYWAYS GOD MY HANDSA THEY STING SO FUCKING IABAD D ALKl ANYWAYS IM ALIVE IM STILL HERE IM TRYING?????????? TO GET BACK BUT EVERYONE HERE IS UHH NOT GOOD TO PUT IT LIGHTLY ITS TERRIFYIN OVER HERE BUT IM SENDING MY WELL WISHES THAT EVERYONE IS OKAY OVER THERE AND YOU SURVIVED WHETER THE HECK ANGR MY BIG SDIS MUST"VE SBUBJECTED YALL TOO BEACSE SHE IS FUCKING PISSSEEED LATELY IM GENUUNINLY WORRIED FOR OURLIVES LEVEL THERES SO MANY FIGHTS AND COMING-OUT-ABOUT-HER-LEGEND-OF-VIOLENCE STORY AND THE SHOOTIGN REVENTLY AND POINT IS THE LEGAL STUFF MIGHT GET RESOLVED OKAY?????? DADS MAGIC PROTAG POWERS OR WHATER APAPRENTLY HE KNOWS EVREYONE PERSON ON THE PLANET ITS GODDAMN WITCHCARAFT BUT MOMS DROPPIN LIKE EVERY OTHER DAY BBBBBBUYT OTS HER BIRTHDAY THIS WEEK AND WERE GONNA TRY AND TAKE ME OUTSIDE AND SEE IF I EXPLODE IN THE SUNLIGHT SO UUUUUUUUUUUUUUH THANKS FOR EVERYTHIGN I LOVE YOU GUYS ILL TRYT TO FUCKIN REACTIVATE ALL MY ACCOUNTS ALL A BAJILLION OF THEM APPARENTLY I WAS ONE CRASY AKJSFI KID PLEAASE PASS THIS MESSAGE ON MY BI G SIS WAKES UP SOON IF SHE HEARS ME IM GETTTIN IT I HAVE NO FUCKIN IDEA WHATS GOIN ON ON YOUR SIDE CAUSE NO ONE IS SAYIN JACK SHIT BADUM TSSHH BUT I GOT  MY SHIT COMIN AT LIKE 9 AM RIGHT WHEN I TAKE MY VERY MYSTERIOUS NO ONE KNOWS WHAT THE FUCK THEY DO ANYMORE MEDS AND IF I KICIK THE BUCKET AT LEAST I FUCKING STAYED BABY YAHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

ALSO IM NOT DRUNK WE DONT DRINK IN THIS HOUSE EVER BUT I DEFINITYL NEEDS A LIL HELP IN LIKE ANY SORT OF MEANIN NO ONE IN THIS HOUSE FUCKIN REMEMBERS ANYTHING IN ANY SOR TOF WAY FOR ANY SORT OF THING ITS AN ACTUAL I HAVE NO IDEA WHOSE CALLIN OR TOUCHIN SHIT OR WHAT TALL THIS SHTI IS IN THE HOUSE AND FRANKLY IM TERRIFIED CAUSE EVREYONE LEAVES POR PASSES OUT BEFORE I CAN GET A CLEAR ANSWER AND AND ADN COLD WAR INTELLIGENCE WHATHER NEWS STORY OLD POPS HERE IS PUTTIN ON TV ANYWAYS LOVE YOU GUYS STAY SAFE CALL OUT IF YOU SEE ME IN THE WILDS SOMEDAY BUYYEYEEE

WAIT I JUST REMEMBRED BIG SIS IS GONNE DESTROY SHIT SOON SONSONSOON SHIT HSHISTHSHIT OK ANYWAYS ERVYTHIN ONLINE LOOKS OKAY FROM WHERE I CAN SEE IT IN MYSETRUOS VPN LAND AND IM GOIN THROUGH MY COMP RIGHT NOW BUT EVREYON IN OUR HOUSE RECOGNIZES THE DISCORD SYMBOL PROBABLY>>>?????? SO IM TRYIN TO FIND ALL OTHER CONTACTS BUT ITS JUST A BUNCH OF EMAILS DDDDUDE I JUST HAD TO LET YALL KNOW WE'RE ALIEV HOPE ALL OF YOU ARE WELL LOVE YALL EVER IF YOU DONT BELIEVE THAT ASTY SAFE WATCH OUT FOR FUKCING PUNCHES OR SIDESWEEPS AND MY BIG SISSS KILLING BLOW AND THE FCKKGNGI  SWORD ON TOP OF HER BOOKSELG OR THE LITTLE GUN THING IN HER LCOSET WHAT THE FUCK IS EVEN IN HER ROOM ANYMROE ANYWASY DONT DIE OUT THERE LIKE ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! PEACE OUT BURY ME UNDER A BLUE SKY WITH ALL MY SHIT IIM HANDING  DOWN WHATEVR THE ITTY BITTY NOT SO BITTY NEICE WANTS LIL PRINCESS LILLY HAACKER SCAMMER HUSTLER SECOND LEGEND OF VIOLENCE IN THE MAKIN IM GONNA FUCKIN PASS OUT I HAVE NO  IDEA OF FUCKIN ANYTHIN THATS HAPPPENIN HERE EVERERR GOD CAN I TALK TO ANYONE THAT ISNT THIS NEIGHBORHOOD THAT THIGNS I HAVE HEARSD ABOUT THE PWOPLE ROUND HERE any ewysbans m y hands are shak in and breakin and crankin love yall stay safe dont fall into a ditch like me ever again mMWAHH TEDDIE IF YOURE OUT I STILL OWE YOU THAT FUCKIN LETTTERRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR