#like i more or less know what major choices to pick but it seems most of the normal dialogue choices are just as important

[sundimus]

ouuuuggghhh the “get a good skateboard rating” trophy is busting my balls i played through the game 3 times and the highest rating i got was 78%

[meanbossart]

Lore Ask Compilation: "Every Other Question Is About The Drow's Dick" edition

Oh I LOVE Minthara, her dialogue is absolutely fascinating and in my opinion some of the best written In the game. Experiencing her in my Evil Durge playthrough without having been spoiled to her companion scenes prior was great - the amount of depth they managed to add to her, without it at all feeling forced or rushed, and considering how much less time she gets to develop at our side is really well done. While nearly everyone's quests had me immersed, she was one of the few characters who really made me pause and think about the things she had to say to me, what she truly meant by them, and what they meant for me as an avatar doing an evil run.

We have a lot of characters in this game that are meant to be full of wisdom and experience, who are meant to be the ones who say the right thing at the right time that inspires us to make the correct choices, but I don't think either Halsin or Jaheira (and I love Jaheira) made me feel like I knew so little about life quite as Minthara did.

And, of course, she's absolutely hysterical. 10/10 I wish she had a proper companion quest past being rescued but I understand why she doesn't.

[MORE ASKS UNDER THE CUT]

It doesn't connect to the urethra since the slit in on top, so he nuts and pisses normal.

Also you 100% are not sorry, stop lying to me.

Man, I thought a lot about this one because I play so fast and loose with the content the game gives us that I'm positive there must be SOMETHING I'm completely disregarding, but I couldn't think of anything! I've chosen to pick slightly less obvious interpretations to some lines and text but nothing that completely deviates from canon, I don't think. If anyone has noticed something I neglected to mention, feel free to let me know - not because I want to revise it, but just because I'm curious!

For the second part of the question, not really. Larian did a great job of giving us plenty of room to play around in the dark urge's background, I think I'm yet to see something that I find to truly "not fit" in the ample freedom they've given us. I have my preferences, of course - I'm shocked to find that most dark urge's are NOT big hulking beasts, for example - in fact that seems to be the minority by far, but I realize that I have my... Uh... Biases.

You can see a cute little divot through the fabric if you look closely LOL

And nah, I think his penis has seen enough sharp points for a lifetime.

Well.

Unless someone decided to add some bite-marks to it.

HMMM, I... Don't think so.

He didn't cry as a baby, he didn't cry as a child (and this isn't something I just decided on now - this is a major reason why his foster drow mother even kept him around) he didn't really cry growing up or at any point during the campaign. I think he is capable of it - sadness in him just tends to be far more confusing a feeling than anything else.

He will have emotional moments in ANE, whether or not that will culminate in crying is something you will have to wait to find out LOL

Astarion has noticed this and just took it as a character trait - the drow doesn't cry, he just gets confused, angry, frustrated or simply bottles it up. While he can be demanding of his emotional maturity, he isn't going to try and dictate how he should experience his own feelings. If it did happen it would definitely catch him majorly off-guard, perhaps even shift the perception he has of him to a certain extent.

Oh my god you just know they All managed to be utterly quiet about it for as long as humanly (and unhumanly) possible until like, I don't even know, halfway through the Shadow-cursed lands where one day Karlach finally turns back to the group around the campfire after a half-nude drow has strut past and she's like "SO

"DOES ANYONE KNOWS WHY HIS DICK HAS A SNATCH"

And Wyll is like :0... Karlach you can't just ask people that.

And then she pointedly turns to Astarion and starts trying to interrogate him on how it works while Gale covers his ears and Shadowheart is like:

This is gonna blow you guys backwards but he does not do those things in front of people and thinks its rude if you do.

HMMM Mostly physically but it's a little subtle. He really enjoys interacting with Astarion's (and previously Orin's) hands - kissing, holding, caressing. Touching hair and faces as well. He can engage in more overt physical affection but usually Astarion has to be the one to initiate.

A disarmingly earnest proclamation of love and adoration here and there as well - he isn't shy in the slightest to tell people how he feels about them, he just isn't constantly reminding them of it unless inspiration strikes.

Most of all I think he expects his loved-ones to see his care for them in his tendency to go out of his way to help them achieve their goals.

He went with them to the Shadow-cursed lands but I never helped him fix the curse, so he stayed behind when the gang went onwards to the city. DU Drow didn't really like him so it was good-riddance as far as he was concerned.

If he had come along and propositioned him during act 3 - uh, you know the really mean rejection line you have as a choice during that dialogue? Yeah, that one lmao.

Alas, DU drow is just monogamous. He could entertain group-sex with a partner for fun at the most, but not ever a third person in the relationship. And In my personal interpretation (but by all means - everyone else have fun with their poly arrangements!) of Astarion and his delivery of the "this is about Halsin" line, I also thought he was lying about being comfortable with it, so I write him as monogamous as well.

Nothing. Nada. Not a thing. Say what you'd like about Bhaal but he sure knows how sculpt them out of his murder-meat.

(Thank you!!!)

[once-upon-an-animation]

Alright PJO fandom. Let’s clear the air on something real quick.

So if you’ve watched the PJO premiere, I’m sure one of the major changes you noticed was Gabe, and how toned down his behavior is compared to the books. There is also a clear change in the dynamic between Gabe and Sally, with Sally being more assertive and snarky with him.

The fandom seems pretty split on this change. Some people hate it and feel that a dark yet important aspect of the narrative has been lost, some people are neutral about it and are wondering if the whole Poker Player Statue bit is getting removed, and some people welcome this change, saying that Sally is more cool, strong, and badass now, and that showing a woman staying in abusive relationship in hopes of protecting her kid is not okay for current audiences.

To the people who are saying that Sally is more cool, badass, and strong now…

…FUCK YOU.

And here’s why.

I cannot even begin to describe how awful and disgusting it is to imply that book-Sally was weaker, less cool, and less strong because she struggled to stand up to her abuser, struggled to balance the need to leave an abusive relationship and the desire to protect her kid, and found herself making difficult choices in an abusive household. I am baffled that people think that this is an okay thing to say in the year of 2023, going on to 2024.

Are all of you shitting me right now? Are you seriously fixing your fingers to imply that book-Sally is inferior to show-Sally because her story reflects an ugly truth about how hard it is for mothers to stand up to their abusers while trying to look out for their children? Are you all fucking joking?

I have never felt so angry to see so many people diminish what book-Sally went through, and claim that it would be bad to depict something like that on TV. I know what Sally goes through is triggering and not fun to watch, but it is the very fact that her story reflects an ugly truth about what many wives go through that I think her struggle with an abusive husband is so fucking important!

Yes, we don’t want to encourage victims to stay in abusive relationships. Yes, we don’t want to make women feel like the only way to be a good, loving mother is to endure bad situations for your kids. Yes, we want to make it clear to mothers that they, under no circumstances, are obligated to endure an abuser. HOWEVER, the ugly and unfortunate reality is that many mothers have such a strong desire to protect their kids that they will find themselves making this unfortunate choice, and that is not a truth we should shy away from. A depiction of difficult choices that victims feel like they have to make is not necessarily an endorsement of that choice, but rather, a realistic reflection of what people go through.

And I will be DAMNED if I sit here quietly and watch so many of you tread into victim-blamey territory, or imply that book-Sally is somehow inferior because she struggled with the courage to leave and accept the risk of Percy not having Gabe’s protective smell. I literally saw a comment on Reddit where someone was trying to defend the change, and they typed out the sentence “You know what’s not badass? Staying in an abusive relationship.”

As if most abuse victims have the full freedom, resources, and support to just pick up and leave whenever. As if every choice that an abuse victim makes isn’t being made in the context of danger, pressure, stress, anxiety, depression, fatigue, and so much more. As if an abused woman’s top priority should be to look “badass” instead of trying to take care of herself.

I am a proud Book-Sally defender, and I will happily fight anyone who dares to imply she isn’t as strong or badass as show-Sally because standing up to her abuser wasn’t easy for her. I am extremely disappointed in this fandom for this ugly language regarding book-Sally in comparison to show-Sally.

And quite frankly? All of you can kiss my ass.

[birdmitosis]

I've mentioned it before, but Voice of the Cold fascinates me and I really keep wanting to pick at his character until I figure him out better, so this is my attempt to do that. (Pretty long essay under the cut!)

There are a few things about Cold's character that really stand out to me, and it's because he's very much a contradictory person. This isn't true of all the Voices; some of them are them all the way through, though there are some others who break out of what you'd expect from them (Contrarian and Paranoid being the most obvious examples, but also Hero, Smitten, and Skeptic IMO). Cold, though. All the way through, he is consistent, but what he is is consistently… odd. "Stop feeling anything" is basically his motto, and honestly a lot of his dialogue circles that concept. He makes it clear that he thinks the best thing, the only logical thing to do in fact, is to just stop feeling what their physical body feels and to stop feeling emotion while they're at it. The former, at least, he does seem 100% on top of, not at all bothered by anything physical that ever happens while he's present -- whether it's having their heart ripped out, their ankle snapped and twisted, or being drowned or burned to death. But even with physical sensation, there's something odd about Cold. For someone who's like "stop feeling what it feels" about the body, Cold's response to The Grey trying to kill them is consistent across both chapters, no matter you choices to get there or your choices while there:

(IMO, Cold sounds noticeably more interested in response to The Drowned Grey; I personally think this might be explained by the fact that he at least theoretically understands what the process of burning to death should feel like, as he explains to the others that the pain will stop when they don't have nerves anymore, but he has no equivalent words of wisdom about the drowning experience.) Following on from this is the way Cold responds to The Razor, where he gets a tone that is… not unique but rare for him:

These are, as near as I can tell, the three times in the game when Cold registers interest in the sensations of having a physical form. They're in response to immensely unpleasant sensations, or at least what Cold imagines to be such, and it seems like the less he can imagine it, the more intrigued he is: He sort of knows about what the body goes through when burning to death, he seems unfamiliar with what it would feel like when drowning but could probably imagine it at least a little, and the Razor just fucking exploding due to blades twisting from under her skin and erupting out until the only thing left of her is her heart is something that a human being (or rather a bird person) could not ever actually experience themself and could probably barely even imagine. So he can tune into what his body is feeling, or he would like to be able to at least in certain circumstances. (Negative ones! Cold please!!) So let's veer away from physical sensation into feeling emotion. Because Cold is imo fascinating in this respect. Cold is a complete contradiction when it comes to emotional shit. It is wild and I absolutely love it actually? He says he doesn't feel emotions and repeatedly advises that the best thing is to stop feeling emotions, particularly in The Moment of Clarity but also in The Grey chapters.

(I'll return to that last screenshot later…) He's not emotionless, though. He has an understated emotional effect, might not feel emotions as strongly naturally as others, and he's very good at letting go of something when, for example, a preference he states doesn't happen or an action he tries to take doesn't work, but… Remember how I said above that the tone he gets in response to The Razor is "not unique but rare for him"? Well, the other time he does it, I first interpreted as being about him anticipating violence. But I don't think that's quite it. I think that of two major times he gets that tone of voice, one is in response to imagining a physical sensation, but the other is in response to the threat/promise of an emotional one:

This clip is a bit longer than the others (like 30 seconds instead of 5-10 seconds), but you can see what I mean, right? When Smitten is just threatening violence or killing them again, Cold is completely blasé about it in his usual way; it's the "I'll make you feel what I feel if it's the last thing I do" part that seems to make Cold suddenly get… intense. (Which is an emotion in and of itself, or at least is inherently a, well, an intensifier of an emotion, so like. Again, Cold please.) But while that's the most obvious, notable moment, there are a lot of moments where it's obvious that Cold… does feel things, if again in an understated way.

(Thank you so much to @butwhosgonnafindhim for the last two screenshots, from this amazing post which shows even more interesting context!) There are also so many times he talks (quite negatively!) about some things being boring, implying that he does feel boredom, and/or something that isn't boredom when there's a new experience:

…And also too many times for me to share screenshots where he's just not letting comments from the other characters pass unremarked-on, needling them if not outright goading them, totally unnecessarily; this is most obvious in The Burned Grey chapter with The Smitten, but also with both Paranoid and Cheated if you choose to jump into the abyss with The Wraith. The thing is, Cold is also inconsistent when it comes to the other characters in a way that really interests me. He needles them, talks about not listening to them (though I want to revisit this in a minute), if you choose to reassure the Voices in front of the mirror if he's there, he even says "You don't have to comfort them." (Sorry I can't find a screenshot of this, I've been looking for ages!) But over and over again in various routes, he also repeatedly tries to advise the characters on how not to be broken down by physical or emotional pain:

(I also noted in another post that in The Wraith route he straight-up says, as shown above, "let's throw the Narrator into a place that never ends and see what that does to him" but then if Paranoid is the other Voice with them and they go with Paranoid's plan to toss yourself into the abyss, when Paranoid gets elated that it worked Cold just has to chime in with a comment basically implying it's silly to prefer this outcome over any other:

Which I like in and of itself but he also does stuff like this kind of a lot as you can see.) (And also thank you for these screenshots, @phospolipid-bilayer!) (And can I also just make a small aside that there are fascinating implications in the phrasing of "if you can tolerate joy"?) I want to wrap this up before it goes on too much longer, but there are three last things I want to cover quickly that I think are other fascinating facets of his character. First, very quickly, I would like to note that Cold is both espousing an absolutely useful way of dealing with horrific situations if you can actually manage it, but is also advising it far beyond the point where it's useful and the usefulness of his approach is limited even in the very specific circumstances that the Protagonist and the Voices are in.

It's not just Hunted and Contrarian making some vague note about a shared experience you can't remember, though; consistently, Cold underestimates threats and is as likely to suggest a course of action that will get you killed as one that won't. Try to kill The Spectre, let The Spectre possess you and let her leave, let The Spectre possess you and stab yourself, just let The Wraith possess you and see what happens… half of those end in death, and in The Razor and The Grey chapters, his advice in the end boils down to "we're going to die, just accept it." While his lack of feeling can be of great use to push through situations, it's not so helpful when he isn't placing any value on survival at all, and that's only not a disastrous trait for him to have because everyone's trapped in a place where death doesn't stick. And now let's look back at The Moment of Clarity. All the Voices in The Moment of Clarity are shattered. This is obvious all throughout the chapter, where they're confused and have for the most part given up; they've been broken down and while they certainly aren't numb the way Cold talks about, they've been numbed and worn down in a lot of ways. It's most obvious in the mirror scene at the end of the chapter, how none of them are afraid anymore of what feels to them like the end in a very final way. But Cold doesn't seem very different, not through the chapter and not in front of the mirror. Right? He's never bothered by the mirror (IIRC he's the only one!) and he's always talking about how the other Voices need to stop feeling. But I think he is, actually. I think he broke too, and I think Cold breaking takes the form of him actually shutting out the other Voices. His trauma response in The Moment of Clarity is the most subtle, but I think it proves that he usually does care -- in The Moment of Clarity, by the time you come back to yourself and everyone is there (and has been there many, many, many times already), he just can't anymore.

Nowhere else in the game is he quite like this. In front of the mirror every other time, he either tells the Protagonist that they don't need to reassure the other Voices, or if the Protagonist decides to tell the Voices it's the end for them he tells the Protag that he wouldn't have told them Voices that/would have kept that to himself. When the mirror is actually approached, where the other Voices usually have some fearful dialogue, I'm pretty sure Cold is always silent. This lack of care, this level of coldness, is actually unusual for him, and is specifically associated with the one chapter where all the Voices have been traumatized and broken down. And I think that actually says a lot about him. (And that line about thinking he was special is also unique, only coming up if you don't do anything and let the world unravel in The Moment of Clarity chapter... I'm not sure what to make of that one, though.) Finally... just... what?

(I said we'd return to that screenshot! 🥳) But you all see what I'm getting at here, right? The former makes the most immediate sense, at least to me. The Voices are shards of the Long Quiet, and I theorize that they're sort of the equivalent of how the Princess changes completely; the Long Quiet can't change the way the Shifting Mound can, but has a part of her in them, so when her perception of them starts to change them a piece just breaks off instead. Whatever is happening, though, the Voices sprang into being the way they are, defined by their descriptions. It makes sense, then, that Cold has always been the way that he is; he comes into being in a very specific way and with a very specific identity and personality. But the latter... That has some potentially interesting implications. It's the "trust me" at the end; it makes it sound like he has experience with this, doesn't it? So is he simply talking about what the Protagonist went through when he was created, implying that this is how he was created (or how he sees it)? Or is he acknowledging that he is in fact trying to stop his own feelings, because he wants to, because there's something about them that makes him want them to stop? That would potentially work with the rest of this analysis, with Cold's inconsistencies and subtle shows of emotion (and, uh, occasional less subtle ones). Including him talking about "tolerating joy." (And even The Wraith's choice of words: "you think you are numb" but "you are hopeless and paranoid.") TL;DR... There's a lot to this particular Voice, and hopefully actually writing all this out will quiet my brain down some!

[burst-of-iridescent]

Aang was indeed a bad father. It's way past time we stopped making excuses for him.

An all too common defense for Aang is the fact that he's a monk and is not well-versed in how parenting looks. Yeah! No shit! But do you know who is well-versed? Katara! They talk as if Aang is a single parent like Toph but he is not. Katara's been on Aang's side since the day they met, always stood up for him, always complimented him.

Is this really the thanks she gets? Are they really that disinterested in explaining Katara's side of the story? As if her not getting a statue wasn't insulting enough.

Another major flaw in this defense is that Aang is not just a monk. He's the avatar. This means, part of mastering all elements also means embodying all of the ideologies based on said elements. That includes elements/ideologies completely opposite of his own. His daughter's crack about Aang "cutting and running when things get tough" shows that he's learned absolutely nothing.

We never truly see him master all the elements, he just gets them and, more or less, calls it a day. I'm even beginning to doubt that he's truly mastered his default airbending and he just got his tattoos prematurely because the monks were impressed with his scooter invention.

Zuko got the privilege of understanding the ideologies of other nations, allowing him to grow, and unlearn any toxic masculinity lessons through them, and would blow a gasket if he ever saw a kid get mistreated by a parent in any way. Is it really any wonder why Zuko is the more popular character and the most requested choice for Katara, in comparison to Aang?

using the "but he was a monk!" argument to excuse aang's bad parenting is fucking baffling to me. even leaving aside that aang did have a father figure (or are we collectively ignoring monk gyatso?), i don't think you need to witness fatherhood in action to understand that showing preferential treatment to one of your children is a messed up thing to do. that seems like the kind of thing that should be common sense, especially when you're best friends with the guy who's walking proof of what happens when you play favourites with your kids.

truthfully, i also don't fully agree with katara being able to compensate for aang's supposed lack of knowledge. while i do believe katara was a good mother, and i don't think it was her responsibility to teach her own husband how to be a good parent, i have my doubts about how much, if ever, katara called aang out on his behaviour towards bumi and kya. if their relationship in atla was any indication, i suspect katara very much turned a blind eye (or at most tried to gently suggest that aang pay more attention to bumi and kya) to aang's flaws in this area, as she (unfortunately) does in most others. that's one of the reasons i was never able to get onboard with kat.aang, because katara is the only one of the gaang who is never able to meaningfully challenge aang, even when he desperately needs it. (the only time i recall her trying to push him to do something he doesn't want is in sozin's comet when the fate of the literal world depended upon it. not a good omen, methinks.)

the katara we knew in atla might not have idly sat by while aang favored his airbending child over the others, but the seeds for who she turns out to be in lok are already planted. it's not a stretch to see how katara's blind faith in aang, and her unwillingness to confront his flaws, could have easily led her down the path to the woman who would fail to stop her husband from neglecting two of their children.

it's no surprise that aang in lok is repeating all the same mistakes he did in atla, because his character arc came to a screeching halt at the start of book 3 and was never picked back up again. how are we meant to believe that aang ever became the avatar (yknow, the embodiment of all four nations in one) when he was still, at the very end of the show, prioritizing the values of one nation over the others?

truly the shocker of the century that people might prefer katara to be with a character who had a believable arc with well-written development and a satisfying conclusion, instead of the narrative equivalent of a brick wall.

[jq37]

Are we sure Sandralynn wasn't cursed with like. Shit taste?

It's def a real mixed bag, though I think besides Bobby it's more just wild choices than straight up bad choices.

Bobby Dawn: Regular Freak. Liar, Frumpy, Wrong. Cheated on his wife and then ruined another woman's life over it. This is not a a ranking so I'm not giving him a score but I almost wish it was so I could give him a comically low number. Actually, there aren't any rules here. I still can. Negative infinity and kick rocks. If I was Sandra Lynn's friend I would be *begging* for her to love herself (or at least have a better sense of self preservation) and RUN GIRL.

Gilear Faeth: Gilear was a successful, hot elf before his loser energy kicked in because of his curse. Wasn't he like a diplomat or something? Like, Gilear now is a loveable loser but Gilear then was probably kind of a catch. And hell, Fabian's mom likes loser Gilear and she's a pretty hot commodity herself. As Sandra Lynn's friend I would be doing cartwheels if she moved on from Bobby to be with Gilear. 1000% improvement. And, for what it's worth, so is loser Gilear. Most guys would be frankly.

Gorthalax: Def seems a bit reactionary to go from a cleric of Sol to one of Sol's fallen angels turned devils. But Gorthalax is a nice guy from what we've seen and as a devil of gluttony he prob can conjure up some killer date night food. I think that if I could get over the shock of him being a MAJOR DEVIL, as Sandra Lynn's friend, I could warm to the idea. And he's not Bobby Dawn so instant improvement. However, as there was infidelity involved this would be another GIRL WHAT? reaction from me. But again, less about the guy himself, more about the decision to cheat.

Jawbone: OK so the thing about Jawbone is that I think he's great and a super good person and he's Brennan's semi-self insert so of course I love him. But he would also be an insane person to know IRL. Like, the stories he tells so casually. I think I'd be like, uh are you sure about this one? But he seems to have at least mostly chilled out now that he's working with kids and I think he's a really great guy. There's maybe a risk of contracting Lycanthropy but I'm sure they're using whatever protection you use for that. Solid guy as long as you're cool with his past.

Garthy: When Garthy was introduced, 80% of the fandom was instantly thirsting over them so objectively, "Garthy is hot" is a pretty mainstream opinion. And even if you (like myself) were in the 20% of people not thirsting over them, they're still very clearly a good person between raising Ayda and being super into self care (I loved the scene with them and Mercer's char in PoL). Also they're just really cool conceptually. So again, very normal person for Sandra Lynn to wanna hook up with. The problem, once again, is the infidelity. Especially because Jawbone was willing to have an open relationship! He closed the relationship for her! She took an L here for no reason!

So, to recap: shitty guy, good guy (who was cursed), devil (who is a good guy* and also an affair partner), good guy (with a wild past), and hot pirate (who is a good person* and also an affair partner).

*I don't remember if they knew Sandra Lynn was in a relationship when they were hooking up with her and am not factoring that into my judgement.

Besides Bobby Dawn, the rest of her choices were pretty OK (unless I'm forgetting stuff). Wild and with no obvious connecting thread--she absolutely has a rogue's gallery to rival Batman's--but it seems like the problems she had with relationships came down more to stuff other than, "She picked an objectively bad guy."

She really has the most inconsistent taste ever. I can't even begin to categorize what her type is. Gilear and Garthy should never been on any list together besides, "NPCs with G names."

[oh-its-souichi]

Marry part 4

Sakuna x reader

Im so stoked on the idea I started writing for part 5 I just rushed through this

Warning- same crazy stuff man

You woke up in his soft bed, comfortable warmth surrounding you. In the wives' hall, it was cold, and water leaked through the walls. In Sakunas' room, it was warm, and everything was lush. The only sound was the crackling of the fire. Not the hush of the other women and the scurrying of feet.

You had spent a majority of your time sleeping, the sickness your injuries gave you rocked your body, and it was only recently that your body was able to rejoice. The silence was nice, for awhile but once you spent more time awake you noticed no one came to visit, and sometimes, your maid would bring out food. It wasn't often, though, and you found yourself hungry most of the time.

Your maid told you she was working with someone else now, but things were changing in the temple. She said Sakuna was rarely there, and when he was, he didn't react to their presence. She said it made her feel scared. You nodded and wished you could give her more information, but you knew nothing. You were vaulted away more secluded than before.

You didnt know what day it was at this point or if it was day or night, there was no windows but you felt safer this way. Death didnt seem so close.

Rising from your bed, you stretched your arms and legs, pushing your feet into the plushy carpet. You made your way to the bathroom and ran the warm water. You only had a few pairs of clothes, so you chose to lounge around in a long satin robe. It was black and extremely comfortable. You stripped it off and slipped into the water, feeling goosebumps errupt all over your skin when the hot water soaked it. You sunk up to your ears and closed your eyes thinking about falling back asleep. The hot steam on your face and the lull of the fireplace beckoned you, you were tempted as there was nothing else to do. Your mind wandered from your maid, to your father and then to the injuries you had obtained from the wife in red. You found yourself replaying certain incidents and no matter how hard you tried to stray away, everything ended back at him. Sakuna.

Suddenly, a foreign sensation came over your body, like fingers dancing acrossed your skin. You eyes flew open, and the first thing you saw was teeth, they were formed into a wicked smile. You followed them down to his chin, then his neck to his body. You saw two of his arms plunged into the water. His hands grabbing at your body. "My wife" he purred. You stared up at him keeping half of your face submerged in the water. A shield of sorts. "Ive never seen you like this" he said, his voice was shockingly human sounding and deep like a drum. You sat under the pressure of his gaze not sure what to do. He mapped one of his hands up your stomach and to hand picking it up and bringing it out of the water. The cold air stung your skin but wuickly subsided when you felt his lips connect to your hand. He kissed it over and over again before bringjng it to the side of his face. He closed his eyes and hummed. "You'll never leave this place. You die and rot down here the rest of time." Your heart thumped at his sing song voice. Your mind wanted to whiz out of sontrol but you stayed numb. "Answer me" he said and you say his red eyes open. You popped your head out of the water "I understand." You said. You furrowed his eyebrows and a pained expression came over his face.

"Are you happy about it"

"Yes"

He was acting different, and it was giving you whiplash.

"Good, no, that you have a choice," he laughed, but you heard the danger in his voice, and it made the world around you feel less and less real. His eyes lapped over you hungrier and hungrier until you felt the first of his left arm slide around your back and rip you up out of the water. He pressed his lips to yours, and you felt like he was eating you alive. You tried to kiss him back, but the ferocity overwhelmed you. He pulled you closer and closer. So close, it hurt. His crushing strength made your bones ache. Your breath locked itself in your chest. You groaned in pain, but that seemed to encourage him as you felt his arms loop underneath your body and lift you out of the bath. The cold air made you gasp. He kept his lips to yours, and you felt him smile. "dont worry, you won't be cold for long," he whispered. He walked you out into the bedroom and gently laid you down on the bed. Your heart picked up as he stared down at you. He started to disrobe, and every part of you rejected it. You weren't ready for what you knew he wanted to do. Your voice ached to protest, but nothing came out. His robe dropped to the ground, and your eyes widened at his hulking form. He was all muscle and weapon of a man, curse, a whatever he was. He came forward his hand wrapping itself around your neck. He squeezed lightly but started to tighten his grip. Frightened, your hands flew up and grabbed onto his wrists. You dug your nails into his skin, and he hissed in reply.

"You dare hurt your husband?" He said, his voice deadly. You looked down at him and locked your eyes to his. At first, you only saw rage, but that melted away into sorrow. "Perhaps I've been too rough." He sighed. Slowly, he leaned forward and wrapped all of his arms around you. His weight made your chest lock up, and once again, you were fighting to breathe. You didn't dare speak, though. The fear of the tides turning with any word you said kept your mouth shut. "Things are different now," he muttered. Your heart slammed in your chest, a fear like you felt the day he killed his other wives clawed up your throat. "Why are thing different now" he rushed popping his head up and gripping onto your shoulders. He stared you in the eyes with one of the angriest expressions you had ever seen. His eyebrows were knitted together and his eyes sharp. You rationalized quickly with yourself and opene your mouth to speak "it-it-its" you stammered. "Its not, my husband, my love" you said. With each word your confidence built and you reminded yourself of the position you were in. The comfort and seclusion had numbed you of the danger at hand, this game of survival.

His expression relaxed, and you felt like a snake wrapping around its kill. "Im so grateful for what you've given me Ive not had the words to say it." You snaked your arms around his shoulders and brought your fingertips softly up and down his back. His eyes relaxed, and he searched your face.

[devsgames]

Dragon's Dogma Primer + Tips

I've been spending tons of time with Dragon's Dogma 2. I loved the first game and was shocked they chose to make a sequel. Legitimately Dragon's Dogma is like, the only franchise that actually has the power to make me genuinely enjoy video games again like when I was a kid.

I also noticed that a lot of people new to the franchise have picked it up this time around and are bumping their heads against it, which is great! Now I'll actually have people to talk to about Dragon's Dogma :')

I wanted to write a little primer and 'beginners tips' to help people learn how to approach the series. Here's some pointers:

Dragon's Dogma gets a lot of comparisons to Dark Souls. I wouldn't say it's because it's a hard game, but it does expect you to approach it on its own terms and won't make many concessions to you if you try to fight it.

DD is a management game masquerading as an open-world RPG. What it expects of you is to move slowly and take your time. It wants you to plan your journey, anticipate challenges, pace yourself, and prepare accordingly. You'll find much less friction if you keep this in mind.

'Fast Travel' as a concept is hard to come by in DD, and you will find yourself walking most places. The ability to instantly teleport yourself anywhere is limited to Ferrystones and Portcrystals, which are both in very limited supply. DD2 has Oxcarts from major settlements, but these are also imperfect by-design as they are time-dependent and prone to attacks, which may leave you stranded. Remember: DD is by and large about preparation and long journeys. Try shortening your routes by exploring for shortcuts, or treating every trip like an opportunity to explore a new area on the way.

DD LOVES rare and consumable items. Some of the best and most useful items in the game are often unique and can only be used once or in a limited capacity. This helps make the items feel more exclusive, while also encouraging you to be doubly sure of your intention before using them. If an item seems like it could be rare, it probably is.

Explore everywhere. In my opinion, DD's level design is unmatched in terms of open-world games. There are things hidden absolutely everywhere in every nook and cranny. If you comb every location you will constantly find new things, and it goes out of its way to ensure exploration is rewarded. I don't think any video game does open world exploration quite as good as DD does.

The quest design is cryptic (and often questionable) and likes to challenge you. The game will say 'find [x] item' and not tell you where it is. Sometimes pawn knowledge may help, but expect to find it through exploring the world and digging around hidden corners. While some quests let you know where to go, don't always expect it.

Some side quests are gated by story progression and will become locked off when advancing the story. Make sure you finish all your side quests before advancing the story!

Don't jump in and accept every quest you see, as some quests are timed and some quests require a lot of preparation. For example, in DD1 escort quests involved escorting someone across the whole world. Read a quest carefully and know the terms before accepting it.

Timed quests are a thing, and usually act as a way to keep you on your toes and force you to prove your ability to adapt to changing circumstances. Expect to receive timed quests at any given moment, and adapt accordingly. They can be stressful.

New Game + is a major part of the game in the DD franchise. Things will happen in the game that will block you out of content. You will fail quests, make choices that block future content, consume items you didn't mean to, etc. NG+ is where you get to experience these all again, so don't worry too much if you weren't able to do it the first time around.

Per above, I personally avoid Googling stuff about the game or quests before doing them. Usually there are things you are going to miss, and reading about them sometimes feels worse than just discovering them later does!

There are two types of saves: "Hard" saves which occur when sleeping at an inn, and "Soft" saves done manually or via auto-save. Sometimes it's prudent to rest at an Inn before attempting major quest beats in case something goes awry.

DD loves consequences for your actions, and while every NPC in the game can be killed it is rarely ever worth it. In DD1, killing an NPC means they're gone forever, which can lock you out of new quests or progression and rewards related to that character. In DD2 there are resources costs to resurrect someone, which mitigates it slightly but still makes it not worth it.

'Forgeries' are a very cool mechanic that allow you to pay an NPC to make a copy of an item. The copy usually just looks identical, but this often allows you to keep quest items for yourself and turn in the forgery to a quest NPC. As with anything else, sometimes this may have future consequences!

Without spoiling anything: DD loves to radically change the open world. Watch out!

The Vocation system is worth exploring. For a cheap fee you can try out every class and find what works best for you, so if you start as a Fighter and hate being a Fighter you're never locked into it.

Levelling a vocation allows you to unlock passive abilities called 'augments' that can carry over between classes, and can help build your favourite vocation further.

Some Vocations have mobility skills (Levitate and Double-Vault). If you like exploring everywhere these are absolutely essential because they let you reach places some classes cannot.

Combining materials makes new items. Experiment to find new recipes.

In DD1 combining items often makes them heavier. In DD2 combining items often makes them lighter.

Every character in the game has an 'affinity' towards you, that changes with how you treat them. This has implications.

Anyway I'm just glad people are finally playing and talking about the franchise. Hope you have fun! :)

[amysubmits]

Hi Amy, this is not related to d/s but a question about female orgasm. I have been with my boyfriend for awhile now and I haven’t been able to orgasm during sex. Never during penetration, never from oral sex. Most of the time the sex lasts more than 30 minutes so I don’t think it’s the lack of duration. I’ve only been able to orgasm with a vibrator. I have read that the majority of women cannot orgasm from penetration alone but I can’t seem to orgasm at all unless I use a vibrator. Is this normal?

Hey Anon,

This is mostly from reading the book Come As You Are, by Emily Nagoski. But my understanding is that society as created this really narrow ideal for what we think women's genitalia should look like, how they should orgasm, what makes them horny, how often they want sex, how often or easily they orgasm, etc etc etc. And that the reality is that ALL of these things are highly varied. And while some may be more common than others, none are 'unhealthy' unless they cause some sort of significant problem. So, my answer would be that I can't begin to guess who common your experience is, but even if it is less common, it isn't inherently bad. Like you said, a lot of women can't orgasm from penetration alone and that's not inherently good or bad, though we may have chosen to be able to orgasm that way if we could pick...we can't pick. I'd think that your situation may be quite similar in that it's okay if you would prefer to be able to orgasm in other ways...that's a valid feeling to have. But it doesn't make your body abnormal or bad or wrong, it's just a variation of human, I would think. Another thing I learned in that book though, is that headspace is a HUUUUGE part of sex. I mean, I knew before reading that book that it mattered a lot. But after reading it, I almost feel like it is perhaps the #1 factor for a lot of people. She refers to it as 'context' but it's basically the situation leading up to sex and how it impacts headspace/mood/sexuality. It talked about how for a lot of people the focus on trying to orgasm reduces their odds of being able to orgasm significantly, and how performance anxiety is super common, etc. Basically that anything that doesn't help us relax, can make it hard to fully enjoy sex and/or orgasm. Orgasms come much easier when we are as relaxed as possible. So if you find yourself feeling anxious or pressured about wanting to orgasm without a vibrator, that might be part of why it's so hard...and it might be possible that if you can eventually have less pressure or anxiety around orgasming in other ways, that your body may just surprise you and let it happen. But it's also possible that it won't happen, your body may just not orgasm from those things, and that's okay too. I think of it as a really individual choice kinda thing. If you want to attempt to work on orgasming in other ways, you certainly can keep trying and I'd encourage you to maybe read that book and learn about context to see if you can change the context to see if it changes how your body responds to the sexual things you've done before. But also, if that doesn't sound like a good time and you'd rather just do what you already know works and you're having fun as is? Then there's absolutely nothing wrong with just using vibrators anytime you want to orgasm. And/or just not worrying about orgasming and not using a vibrator if you have fun without the orgasm piece. At the end of the day, whatever makes you happy and your partner happy is good! I think it's human nature to want to be 'normal' but it's mostly a made up concept and I think the more important question is if you and your partner are enjoying your sex life thoroughly. If so, then who cares if it's normal/common or not, right? :)

[muffant]

I got an adorable idea!

What if the animatronics in security breach played D&D! Now I'm not talking about the characters inside a fantasy realm I'm thinking what if a person left a players hand book at the pizza Plex and the gang devoured that shit up!

Id like to think Freddy would be a support roll, more the type to help the party indirectly. He feels like the most inclined to spell casting. Id put him as the type to do Wizard, Cleric, Paladin, or even Druid! Id say hed likely stick to the races in the players hand book, probably a human main. He's very into playing a character, even if that character is the same sweet person each time.

Chica is your major roleplay player, she would be all about getting into the mind of her character and really selling it. She plays any race, and class, and often is the one to pick her class race combo last so she has something to go off of, as a challenge. When she does choose you know my girl is Bard all the way. She's also the only one to actually read the history of the races and really get into the D&d lore.

Roxy likes playing a modified monk, (in fact as a over all rule they play with a lot of table rules!) or a rogue, she usually doesnt pick any other class, as well as loving being an elf. She's a little less on the roleplay side (but can't help but bounce off of the others when needed) she's more of a combat centric player. She loves winning encounters, loving puzzles, anything. She's likely to be the one min maxing her character. Which has lead to some fun experiences when Chica asks about how she became a Cleric, Paladin, Druid multi class.

Monty is exclusively a fighter dragonborn. He loves being allowed to smash shit up and have no *real* repercussions. However he's not actually combat driven, he's a roleplay player similar to Chica, only he expresses he can make 101 characters with out needing to change the mechanics of said character. It's scary how calm Monty can be when he's in the role. (Said calmness started to carry over to work life too!) That doesn't stop a burst or two which thankfully only results in a pouty gator. Monty loves exploring the worlds, it's his favourite thing. To picture landscapes and worlds completely different from his own. And then be able to interact with those worlds.

Sun and Moon are the DMs! Sun is a story focused DM, he loves crafting a narrative, playing NPCs, and developing the world's of his story. He's the one usually in the spot light for a majority of the time. The rest of the time is Moon. Moon is a challenge focus dm. He loves crafting riddles, puzzles, combats, and difficult choices at the party. When ever it's moons turn to take over the table all the lights go out and dark red ambient lighting fills the room. Moons challenges are to be feared as Moon takes death in the game as a real and possible thing. While Sun tries to avoid it happening all together. Funnily enough Moon doesn't like improf, he has his encounters planned almost to the T, including alternative paths the party takes, INCLUDING DEATH OUTCOMES. He is meticulous. Sun on the other hand has a half ass idea of what the session will be about related to the over arching story, have a few bullet points of required information, a few bullet points of optional information and just goes from there. He has a party who eagerly love to make their own decisions and discuss where to go and what to do.

I like to imagine that while one is running the work for the day, the other is planning out their portion of the session, always able to communicate and keep track of details together. While Sun is playing Moon is taking notes, more for himself really.

They play once a week on Sundays, seeing as that's their only day off. They play 6 hour sessions usually and go on many tangents. But they enjoy playing so much, after all its the closest thing they get to freedom.

Edit: I FORGOT DJ!!! Of course he would be allowed to play!! And the little DJ dudes too idk what their called. DJ seems like the kind of player to sit back and watch everything happen, communication is a bit hard but he's still included. I think he would play a bard (very classic) just so he could have an excuse to play sound boards during the game. Speaking of which they definitely play games in the west arcade, with DJ helping set the ambience with music and sound effects. I like to think he secretly downloaded files like leaves russling to add to it. DJ likes to work on theme songs for each character. He simply enjoys being included even if it's limited.

[waltwhitmansbeard]

an interesting pattern i’ve noticed in the 2+ years i’ve been in the cr fandom, something i’m seeing pick up again with the premiere of tlovm s3, is the way that perc’ahlia shippers seem incapable of talking about their own ship without shit-talking another ship in the process. totally get having an otp and loving to see them happy and in love or whatever, but when i think about the ships i love most, i never think about them in the context of other ships. i never feel the urge to compare them to other couples, and i never feel like victory or schadenfreude when another couple is “suffering” or whatever. i ship my ships and that’s that. of all the major cr canon or canon-adjacent ships—perc’ahlia, vaxleth, pikelan, shadowgast, beauyasha, fjorester, imodna, callowmoore, dorym, whatever the hell fearne/chet is called—i really only see perc’ahlia shippers post about their ship while dragging another for being more dramatic or less happy or not as successful or whatever the perceived flaw is. and i find this phenomenon interesting. i joined the cr fandom years after c1 ended, so idk what the rhetoric was like while that show was airing. as i watched, i assumed vaxleth was the predominant fandom ship, bc it was my otp and yanno bias, but then i started interacting with the fandom (current day) and quickly came to see that perc’ahlia takes up much more of the fandom discourse than vaxleth does (at least pre-orbification). maybe that’s a change that’s happened over time, idk. doesn’t bother me, i ship both of them and am happy to write and talk about vaxleth with the ppl who care. but also many posts i see about perc’ahlia come with this weird smug arrogance* that seems to come from nowhere, like there’s this urge to “prove” something, but i don’t know what and i don’t know to whom. it’s just very odd, and as someone who likes percy, vex, and their relationship, it makes me reluctant to engage with that ship in fandom spaces, bc quite frankly, it’s annoying. i don’t ever wanna have to prove my ships of choice are better or more interesting or more romantic or whatever than another ship, and tbh, to me, if you can’t talk about why you love your otp without shit-talking someone else’s, it belies a lack of anything genuinely interesting about your otp to engage with.**

*i shouldn’t have to say this, but this is the internet, so i will: obviously this is not ALL perc’ahlia posts or ALL ppl who make those posts. this is just a pattern i’ve noticed in quite a few posts that i’ve seen here in tumblr.

**and i don’t think that’s true! i think perc’ahlia is deeply interesting, and romantic, and funny, and worth talking about!! so i find it weird that so often that can’t happen without having someone else’s name in your mouth.

[lanawinterscigarettes]

put on your records and regret me (Whittaker! Master x reader, Dhawan! Doctor x reader)

Summary: after a long and less than healthy relationship with the Master, you find yourself searching for love in the arms of another

Warnings: cheating, Master and reader have a pretty toxic relationship (Master's controlling, possessive, doesn't think reader deserves bodily autonomy, etc.), reader doesn't really have a good basis for what a healthy relationship looks like so they just go along with it, ending could be seen as somewhat bittersweet (Doctor and reader end up happy but Master doesn't, and it's pretty obvious)

A/N: another song based fic because I cannot and will not be stopped (this time based on high infidelity by taylor swift) I hope you enjoy the pain </3

You didn't think when you first started your affair with the Doctor that she'd find out. Not if you told your lies well enough. Not if you were careful. Clearly, you underestimated the Master and what she was capable of.

She would always find out. It didn't matter what you did or how well you thought you'd covered up your tracks. Sooner or later she'd find out what you were hiding.

After all, she was nothing if not persistent. The only reason she hadn't figured it out sooner was the blind hope she had. The delusion that you still loved her when you didn't.

Maybe a part of you still did, but not the way you had before. You didn't love her nearly as much when you first met. But then you figured it's easier to love someone before you find out who they really are.

The Master vowed to give you everything, and yet all of her promises were empty. You made plans, and they fell through. You gave so much, and in return she took it all and left very little behind.

She didn't know how to give when it came to love, only take. So she did just that until there was nothing left, and kept taking even after.

It really shouldn't have come as a shock when you started becoming more and more withdrawn. You loved her, you really did, but what good was a person's love if they didn't receive any back?

And yet, still you stayed. You'd been cut off from your friends and family, and she would threaten anyone who so much as looked at you for too long, so there was nowhere for you to go. You had no choice but to stay there with her, forever.

Until he came along; the Doctor. He took all of your darkest gray skies and swept the clouds away, repainting them as the most vibrant shades of blue.

He actually took the time to get to know you, the real you, and not the version of you that you had been manipulated and molded into by The Master so long ago. It was like a breath of fresh air after spending so long being trapped in a house full of smoke.

If she wasn't so self obsessed, she might've noticed the change in your personality sooner, but the Master rarely paid attention to things that weren't based on or around her.

You used to find it to be an endearing trait, a slight character flaw, but after being around someone so selfless like the Doctor for as long as you did you couldn't stand going back to thinking that way. In fact, there were a lot of things you couldn't stand going back to.

The curfews, the jealousy, the possession over you, the randomly picked fights- none of those things seemed like the fairytale you once thought them to be. The Doctor had taken off your rose colored glasses and finally exposed the Master to you for who she really was; a major walking red flag.

All of this was completely unbeknownst to the very problem herself, of course. She had just assumed you were growing so distant and moody because you were upset with her for all the times she threatened to handcuff you to your bedpost if you tried to leave.

I mean, honestly, what was she supposed to do? Sit down and talk it out like a normal person would? Actually acknowledge your feelings and take them into account? As if.

She finally got wise as to what was going on when she was going over the TARDIS travel logs one day and saw several trips that she didn't remember taking. She never bothered to shut the TARDIS off whenever she left you alone with it, as she figured you were much too ignorant to know how to fly it and much too fearful of her to try.

It was her constant underestimation of you that helped you get away with doing so much. Of course you weren't trying to escape that one time when you ran off into a random alien marketplace. You were just scared of some of the locals, you would never try to actually get away from her.

One or two crash landings would have been one thing, but multiple trips to the same star systems back to back? That gave her reason to be suspicious.

She also noted how any possible crashes had repairs done to them almost immediately after they took place, another thing that was definitely unusual as she never let you learn how to do maintenance on the TARDIS, either.

Knowing how to fix anything wrong with it was just a few steps away from being able to fly it, and that led to the possibility of you leaving her.

The Master frowned slightly, her brow furrowing in a mix of confusion and annoyance as she studied the repairs that had been done. They were far too advanced for some silly human like you to do, at least not by yourself.

In fact, the only person who could be possibly repair it so well was someone who knew their way around a TARDIS. Someone who was well knowledgeable in Gallifrean technology. Someone like...

Her nostrils flared with anger as the hand resting on one of the control panel's several knobs tightened into a fist, clutching it harshly in the center of her palm. The TARDIS let out a beep in response, almost as if to tell her to loosen her grip, but she ignored it.

It was all starting to make sense now. How could she have not seen it before? Of course it was him that was behind all of the weird things that were going on.

The Doctor was the only one other than her that could possibly teach you how to do repairs on the TARDIS, as well as fly it. She also happened to know that he often frequented the star systems you'd been traveling to in your spare time.

It was just then that she realized she hadn't heard from you in a good three hours. She'd dropped you off on some random planet so she could spend some time alone in the TARDIS, as she was custom to do when you got too aggravating.

You'd usually send her a distress signal on the small communicator she gave you after just thirty minutes, begging and pleading with her to come pick you up again. And yet, nothing. There were no new messages on her end.

It made her think; if you'd been taught how to fly and fix the TARDIS by the Doctor, it wouldn't be too much of a leap to assume he'd taught you how to message his own TARDIS.

The Master felt her blood go from boiling hot with rage to running ice cold in fear. How could she be so stupid? She was so focused on keeping you with her physically that she hadn't even bothered to make you want to stay.

She quickly pulled up the tracking information for the communicator, relieved to see it pinpointed you as still being on the same planet she left you on. Maybe if she hurried she could catch you before it was too late.

The TARDIS was put into overdrive as she flew it back to the planet where she'd left you, nearly crashing as she was too caught up on the thoughts of getting you back to worry about parking correctly.

Tree branches reached out, scratching at her limbs and snagging her coat as she ran through the woods, calling out your name. When she finally reached the field where she last saw you, she half expected for you to be there, waiting for her like you always were.

You'd jump up and run into her arms, and she would apologize over and over again for all the ways that she'd managed to hurt you. But you weren't there.

The Master fell to her knees, her chest aching as her eyes darted around the empty field, trying to find you.

A glimmer of something reflecting off the rays of the sun caught her eye, and she felt her heart break in two as she realized it was the communicator. It had been ditched on purpose, left there as a red herring so she wouldn't spend time trying to find out where you'd actually gone.

A strangled cry of sorrow and frustration tore from her throat as she felt her eyes become wet with tears. She looked up at the sky and bitterly shouted for it to bring you back, someone, anyone.

Nothing happened, just like she'd expected. She thought with time she could learn how to show her love to you in a healthy, unburdening sort of way, but apparently she was wrong.

You were gone now, lost in the love of another, of her worst friend, of her best enemy. And as much as she wanted to hate you, she couldn't.

After all, you couldn't be blamed for leaving, as she knew she'd run away from her own self, if only she could.

felt like gifting y'all some angst today <3

Likes < reblogs | comments are greatly appreciated <3

Main masterlist | Doctor Who masterlist | wanna be added to my taglist?

🏷 taglist: @theonetruepotato87 @sessa23

[yourqueenb]

So I finally took the player survey. It took me a while to complete because I ended up writing a lot more than I intended to 💀 But I wanna comment on a few things that stood out to me here…

I found this question in particular interesting because global traits were not something I had ever considered, but they could potentially mitigate the issues they have with the constant rigid, innocent, and socially/intellectually inept MCs. At least we could pick how we want to play our MCs, right? However, I find the 3 example traits they were able to come up with concerning, especially given that the majority of their players are women and the fact that we’ve been asking them to give us MCs outside of those boxes. Anyway, I’m curious to know what everybody else put for this. I think I selected 2 or 3, can’t remember which.

I also wanna know what everybody put for the questions under number 9 because to me a lot of them seemed to be related to changing the app’s interface or adding monetizable features. And things like that aren’t really important at all imo. (Or at least not as important as the story development and gameplay changes they need to make). I actually like the interface the way it is and would rather they not clutter it with all of the extras they mentioned.

I was also gonna put what I wrote in the additional feedback box here in case anyone was interested, but some of it got deleted from the original draft of this post. So I’ll just put a few of the major points I touched on below:

“Additionally, we should have the option to opt in or opt out of the appearance of hookups, ending stories in romantic relationships, and romancing certain characters, especially if a book is not classified as erotica or does not have a content warning. Unwanted sexual propositions and descriptions of sexually charged situations can be uncomfortable or even triggering to read, even if the characters aren’t real! For example, the “I’m in a dark mood” scene with Ethan in Open Heart book 3 and the hookup options in Laws of Attraction book 1. Players who have little to no romance points with one character and the majority or all of their romance points with another should not be getting propositioned by or receiving romantic dialogue and narration from/about the former so late in a series. And either less sexually charged lead ins before scenes or the choice to opt in to hookups outside of the main romance(s) from the beginning should be incorporated into the stories. Additionally, if choice is going to be taken away by only offering one LI option, we should at least have the choice to be single by the end of the book. Not all romances have to end in relationships!”

“Outside of romances with love interests, there needs to be a lot more care and development given to MCs. Players spend the most time with and are in the heads of the main characters; yet, it often feels like they’re the least important parts of the stories and experience the least growth. We also rarely see MCs with character trait combinations outside of innocent, incompetent, and new to their field/interest or (occasionally) mildly competent, brash, and uncouth. There should be more diversity in set traits, the choices we can make to shape our characters, and dialogue options/how our characters can react in certain situations. In game personality tests (like in TE and PM) or some kind of point system might help with this issue as well.”

“Lastly, if you don’t listen to any other feedback, please (for the love of all that is holy) retire the new MC body sprites that appear in Unbridled, Hot Shot, Guarded, etc. With flat torsos and legs and disproportionate arms/oversized heads in comparison to the lower bodies, they are very unflattering and unsettling to look at. And what makes them worse are the ghastly pale, sickly looking skin tones. Skin coloring is something you guys never mastered as the Black MCs (with the exception of 1 or 2) have always appeared ashy and as if they were given white/gray undertones - not to mention the minimal hairstyle options and straight roots on textured styles - which is quite irritating and offensive. However, now all of the MCs have skin tone issues in certain books. So players are only left with options that are painful to look at and difficult to enjoy customizing and playing as. MCs with richer skin tones, more flattering hairstyles options, curvier body types, fuller lips/noses, and more unique facial features in general would make gameplay a much more enjoyable and immersive experience.”

[revalentinee]

Pokemon Legends Z-A: Starter Prediction (but it's actually about more than that)

Since the announcement of this surprisingly early return to Kalos, there's been a lot of speculation regarding the starters. Following the trend of Legends: Arceus, we're expecting the starters to be ones from other regions. Snivy and Piplup seem like really likely choices given their inspirations, with things more up in the air for the fire starter. However, I have a different Idea.

The starters for Legends: Z-A will be...

...Chespin, Fennekin and Froakie, the same starters pokemon X and Y had.

Why, you may ask? A couple reasons, or rather, one main one...

Mega Evolution will be making its grand return in ZA. When this feature was first introduced, it was a way to breathe new life into old designs, without having to commit to a new evolution-even accessiable to pokemon who already had a three-stage line. This idea for rejuvinating old pokemon has stuck around, but not in the same way.

Gen 7 decided to leave Megas as they were and brought along Regional Variants. Generation 8 cut megas entirely, but brought the variants back alongside new evolutions of those variants and Gigantamax Forms. Legends: Arceus continued the variant + evo angle, including the starters...

...and then, gen 9 only gave only two old pokemon variants, with Paradox Pokemon taking up the majority of the "revamp old designs" idea as well as the small amount of so-called "convergent" pokemon, or regional fakes. Quite a few old pokemon even got straight-up normal evolutions.

My point is, when Game Freak makes a new way to rejuvenate old designs, the old way is reduced or not used at all...could the same not be true when bringing back an old idea? To put it bluntly, The Kalos Starters will receive Mega Evolutions.

-Lack of Kalos Megas. Out of all the pokemon introduced in XY, only Diancie received a Mega Evolution. The reasoning apparently being to let these pokemon stand on their own first, but it's been long enough, hasn't it? Especially for these three.

A few reasons to back up why this could be the case:

-Limited Scope. Legends: ZA is stated to be taking place entirely within Lumiose City. and while we know little of the specifics, one big city as opposed to an entire region leaves a lot less room for possible regional variants. All the more likely the old gimmick will take most if not complete focus.

-Starter Saturation. Assuming Legends: ZA beings back all previous mega evolutions, both the kanto and hoenn sets of starters will be bouncing around Lumiose. With the Kalos starters included as well, that's three sets of starters for one game. Legends Arceus only had two, and as shown with that game's 240-ish amount of pokemon, Legends will likely have a more limited pokedex than the main series. Feels like too much to throw in a fourth set.

-Galarian Precedent. The Base game for Pokemon Sword and Shield did not give its starters Gigantamax forms, but the DLC for it did. It's likely the same idea, but for megas, was intended for whatever XY followup was scrapped back in the early 2010s.

-Once isn't a trend. Some might site Legend Arceus' use of other starters as a trope of the "Legends" series, but Legends Arceus was only one game. We have no idea how much or how little of that game's ideas will continue into this one.

And well...They're in one game! The complete set of Kalos starters only had one set of games to enjoy being those starters, while starters of previous and later generations had multiple sets, or at least DLC continuation, to be >your< first partner in. I think they need another shot while not competing with pokemon that have had more chances to be picked, like snivy or piplup.

And...yeah, as someone who loves regional variants, speculated on what variants of other starters could look like and even somewhat preferts variants to mega evolution as a concept...I might be a little bummed if this prediction comes true. But the more I thought about it, the more likely this seemed, and the true Kalos starters frankly deserve getting what the kanto and hoenn starters got. Besides...

look at him face :)

[unbidden-yidden-deactivated20240]

Did you convert Conservative? If you did, what was that experience like for you? I'm in the process of converting Reform, and I really enjoy Reform theology - but the openness in both practice and in the conversion path leave me feeling a little unmoored. I'm starting to wonder if more concrete guidelines might work better for me. I'm happy to hear any thoughts you have to share, either privately or publically (or not at all, if that's where you're at)

Hi there,

Yes, I did convert Conservative! I'm happy to talk about my experiences if you have specific questions for me. :)

Personally, while I find the idea of choosing what is meaningful out of the whole buffet of Jewish observance to be a compelling approach, I found that one of the major issues I had with it is that I wasn't taught enough of the details of traditional observance to know what I was (or wasn't) choosing. (The other major issue is that it didn't satisfactorily address the point of commandedness under this rubric, but that's less relevant to what you raised here.) I honestly felt like I would need to become a full-fledged Torah scholar, learned in Talmud and practical halacha in order to feel like I understood what I was choosing and why, and to make meaningful choices.

A good example of this is: assuming you keep kosher, how long do you wait between eating meat then dairy, or dairy then meat? Some say six hours for dairy after meat, some say one hour, some say three hours, and some say there's not really a need to wait, as long as you clearly differentiate: clear the table, clean your mouth out, say birkat hamazon, and perhaps even shift to a new space. And then for meat after dairy, most say an hour, and some say the differentiation method. But some say six hours for "hard" cheeses! There's a lot to consider. Personally, I hold by six hours for dairy after meat, and even frequently will only eat meat for dinner and then wait until morning to have dairy again. I genuinely prefer sleeping in between. Why? Partially practical reasons: I have a dairy kitchen only and will only eat vegetarian/pescaterian out, so eating meat is a Big Deal for me and doesn't come up much. But it's also at least as much because I think it helps me to take very seriously the idea that the meal I just ate involved taking a life. This is a nonstandard (although not totally unprecedented) stringency that is meaningful to me, but I was only able to ground that practice in halacha by learning the details of why we wait. [Here is an excellent breakdown of this question for the curious. This is aimed at kids, but it's an excellent breakdown for anyone of any age.]

I think ultimately, there could be a strong and extremely learned frum Reform contingent, if the meaningfulness barometer was taken seriously and backed up by significant learning. I've met a few folks like this, actually! But it is far from the norm and is countercultural in most Reform spaces (for a number of reasons.) There's nothing wrong with choosing nonstandard and liberal practices as being the most meaningful for you as an individual, but for that to be a real choice, you need to understand what you're deviating from or discarding, and why.

That was probably one of the biggest reasons that particular theological construct didn't work for me personally.

All that said, I think the Conservative movement suffers from a similar problem: most of the Conservative Jews I know also pick and choose observance (yes, including me) but it's framed differently (to the extent it's framed at all.) Namely, it seems to be coming from a place of either: (a) you are slowly picking up mitzvot over time and haven't gotten to [x] thing yet, (b) you know what you're doing is against halacha and you've decided you don't care right now, or (c) you don't find that particular mitzvah meaningful, so you kinda just table it in favor of other mitzvot. The learning might be there for the practical halacha, but there is a notable lack of clarity around the underpinning theology (in other words, the "why") of people's natural continuums of observance.

My admittedly limited experiences of Orthodoxy assumes you will want to fulfill a mitzvah if you have appropriately learned and internalized that piece of Torah; but even if you don't, well, do it anyway. Or, at least, understand that you have an obligation to do it even if you choose not to. There's definitely a little bit of this within the more traditional parts of the Conservative movement as well.

Each of these movements has their strengths and weaknesses, so I encourage everyone to learn the viewpoints and practices of each branch if possible, and then make your own choices in the fullness of time.

[ohm-myy-god]

Hello Edna and Harvey fans & all interested parties, here I present to you my made up fan-lore for Edna’s mom (and her dynamics with other characters and all that). Also featuring some supplemental artwork.

Warning in advance it’s very long, but it’s split into sections and has pictures so hopefully it’s bearable. Have fun…

Sketch page from May 2022

So this is my character for Edna’s mom, her name is Ana. 

My main idea for her was that, in contrast to Mattis’s sort of helpless attitude about parenting, she was the more assertive parent. Not necessarily mean or strict, but she had more self confidence and experience working with children, and overall gave the impression that she “knew what she was doing”, at least from her husband's perspective. 

This leads into her passing being not only a major blow for her family for obvious reasons, but also because Mattis wasn’t ready to be a single parent and never really adapted to the role. He was very stressed all the time and part of that came from feeling extremely inferior in his capabilities of being a father, with pressure from his neighbor/friend who seemed to have the most perfectly behaved kid(s) (ah yes the perfect family nothing to see here), and from his belief that his wife would’ve made a better single parent than him. That’s not necessarily the truth, as it would’ve been hard for anyone, but that was his perception of it. 

I’ll now go into outlining her individual personality and her relationship with her family:

Physical description:

Appearance Timeline:

(Note on her Birth Year: My whole e&h timeline is based around the assumption that Brich Aus takes place in 2008; so Edna was born in ~1990 and Mattis was born in ~1957, give or take a year. This also therefore means Mattis and anyone his age is a boomer (heartbreaking).) 

Name- Ana is a name I picked for no specific reason. I don’t know why I used that spelling instead of Anna but I did, and I’m used to it now, but if you prefer Anna it also works. 

I didn’t pick a maiden name yet, so for now she only exists as Ana Konrad. DOCTOR Konrad actually but we’ll get to that. 

Appearance- Ana looks very much like her daughter; they have the same eyes and complexion and hair (albeit different styles). I think the more “realistic” you try to make Edna and Harvey the more confusing it gets, so yeah their purple hair is genetic and natural and not specific to Edna (I mean it’s not like she could dye it in the hospital anyway). I just think of it as regular dark hair in their universe. 

Personality:

In terms of personality, Ana was very goal-oriented. She was calmer and more collected than Edna, but just as determined to do whatever she set her mind to. She liked reading and writing more than Edna, but much like Edna she was always rather lonely no matter how outgoing she was. Their circumstances were different, but both Edna and her mom were kind of socially outcast growing up.

I’ll go more into her time at school in a later section, but when going to Uni her choice was to study psychology, and eventually be a child psychiatrist. Which might seem random but LISTEN… I think the idea of her being a psychiatrist with a completely different mindset from Marcel’s is a fun one, and it sorta adds to the tragedy of “man, if only someone could’ve stopped this” when it comes to how Mattis bought into Marcel’s ideology. And it adds another layer as to why Mattis trusts in unstable hypothetical science so much more than himself or his own daughter. And overall, I think she is a “strong-headed professional” just by personality, and being a doctor makes her seem far more impressive or competent than Mattis (especially from his perspective). 

As a kid, Ana loved climbing trees. She and Mattis spent a lot of time there as kids. She also loved to sing and dance, things she probably did less and less as she got older. 

Being that they lived next to a church in a small town, it seems to be that the Konrads were at least a bit religious (and in the audio book they mention Edna threw a Bible in the basement fireplace). I haven’t really thought about how that might play into their lives, but I like the angle that Mattis became more religious / started going to church after his wife died. (Edna meanwhile is not religious—too many arbitrary rules for her.)

Relationship with neighbors:

Ana was definitely more suspicious of Marcel when they first moved next to him than her husband was. Not that she assumed he was evil or anything, but she was a bit worried about how he was parenting his kids. Ana found the kids’ behavior more concerning than “exemplary”. But she chalked it up to Marcel having a hard time adjusting after his wife left and didn’t really investigate; she wasn’t around for the whole “we should brainwash kids to make them behave better” era, that happened later. She probably just vaguely distrusted him. 

I like to imagine she hung out with Ruben if the neighbors came over too. Kind of like how Mattis would end up “babysitting” Edna and Alfred later on a lot, maybe she’d play cards with him or something and inadvertently create a more positive experience than anything Marcel ever did. Ruben needs someone in his life looking out for him…unfortunately this arrangement didn’t last long. 

Relationship with Edna’s dad:

Ana and Mattis were childhood sweethearts; I imagine they met in high school and started dating near the end of it, so maybe the final year before university. But they were friends before that too. 

Basically, their dynamic as kids was “trouble maker” and “kid who gets good grades but is also a trouble maker”. I like the idea that in contrast to his adult personality, Mattis was a lot more like Edna as a kid; he was still always a bit timid, but he had a rebellious phase where he wanted to stick it to the authorities and lash out more. At this point in his adolescence, he got into trouble a lot, and it wasn’t until Uni that he really changed himself around. (However, ironically, instead of being able to sympathize with his daughter when she started acting out later, he could only envision all the bad things that might happen to her as a consequence of her behavior and it made him all the more stressed to find a way to “fix” her.) 

Ana, however, wasn’t quite so rebellious and did well at school. She felt the same way on the inside, though, and the two found kinship in wanting to “run away from it all” and escape pressure from family/peers. They would hang out on tree branches and throw rocks at people they didn’t like, but Ana still avoided anything that might get her in serious trouble. 

But basically, dumb kids doing shenanigans. Ana didn’t think Mattis was particularly smart for vandalizing property and getting detention, but she also didn’t think less of him for it. Perhaps she had the “oh I can fix him” mindset, but mostly she was admiring his dedication. 

But when it was time to go to university they decided to break up, since they’d be moving apart. They were sad about it, but they both moved along and figured they’d never see eachother again.

…That was, until they met again sort of randomly as adults years later.

This was probably 4 or more years after they’d started Uni; Ana was still in school and was a bit too busy for a serious relationship but they stuck together anyway and ended up dating again. This ended up working out, and they eventually got married. (Apparently it isn’t that uncommon to marry even while pursuing a doctorate, but I haven’t picked what year they got married. Shrug)

(Note about psychiatric education lmao- from what I can tell, it takes at least 6 years of medical school and an additional 5 years of full-time employment to become board-certified psychiatrist. Assuming Ana started university when she was 18, she was at least 30 when she got her doctor's degree.) 

(Also, I can imagine being a woman pursuing a doctorate in the 80s wasn’t that common or easy, and I thought about her just being a psychologist instead since that takes half the amount of time. However have you considered the THEMATIC PARALLELS the IRONY of it all… Edna’s mom was a doctor and it’s funnier that way.) 

Mattis and his wife would definitely be at odds sometimes because of the difference in their personalities. I think the dynamic would provide interesting conflict & they’d work it out. 

Parenting:

So I suppose the big question is, how would Ana have affected Edna’s life had she lived longer?

I think the loss of her mother contributed heavily to Edna’s childhood rebelliousness. Not that she wouldn’t have had behavioral issues or struggled with making friends anyway, but I think she became so dependent on her own subconscious / on Harvey as a result of loneliness; evidence from the comic can back this up. In the comic, Edna is very withdrawn and more timid pre-Harvey, and Harvey’s eventual personality seems to be highly influenced by Freya - Edna’s close friend who coped with her own struggles by rebelling instead of following all the rules. Seeing as both girls also had a missing mother figure (again, WHO DOESN'T IN THIS SERIES), I don’t think it’s a stretch to imagine Edna started feeling alone in the world when her mother passed. 

But tangent aside, I don’t think Ana would’ve necessarily had an easier time with Edna than Mattis, but with the crucial difference that she wouldn't have been so easily influenced by others opinion on her parenting (eg Marcel). Anyone has insecurities, but listening to someone else basically say “your kid should get brainwashed” and thinking “mmmm maybe” is a very concerning state of mind. 

Ana would have been frustrated and would have got impatient. She would have wanted Edna to “act normal” but she might have been more adept at figuring out WHY she was acting out. But meanwhile, I also think that being a doctor, there would have been tension in the fact that Ana saw “patients” and her daughter as entirely separate; thinking, Edna couldn’t be as mentally ill as the people she worked with…there must be a different answer…

But as a little kid, Edna got along just fine with her mom. They played together and did puzzles and ran in the sprinklers and mud and everything like that. Maybe even played with stuffed animals pretending that they could talk. 

Rip 💀

So: death. For the record I think the trope of “main character’s mom died” isn’t very intriguing or creative (and I mean. Do you know any e&h characters with a mom? any of them? Exactly.) However, it isn’t even brought up by Edna in the game at all, and the “show not tell” aspect is a bit cool at least. (It isn’t even until the “yo mama” joke in the 2nd game that Edna is pointed out as an orphan. Her memory got washed and all so she didn’t even think of her mom when looking through her old house.) And if we were to ignore poki’s character profile website, yes, it’s also equally as plausible that Edna’s mom left rather than died. BUT personally I prefer this version because I already wrote this whole thing lol (and anyway, I think Marcel’s wife for sure left him, and we don’t want to get too repetitive). 

But how did she die??…I haven’t really picked an answer to that. 

If we’re looking for story parallels, medical malpractice or even being MURDERED might work, but I just don’t really know. Maybe it’s a let-down, but I’m indecisive, sorry  🤷 

Ana became sort of idolized in death by Mattis especially, since Edna couldn't properly remember her as time went on. 

Bit of a tangent, but I think a lot of self doubt and insecurity and general depression contributed to Mattis being lost about parenting—with the fact that Edna was intentionally acting out, fighting against something she saw as intrinsically opposed to her. In the 1st tempomorph Edna “sees” through Harvey that her dad is betraying her and eating ice cream with Alfred- this is her imagination, but it shows her perception of her father as a kid, that he wasn’t looking out for her. I think it’s clear Mattis cared about his daughter but he was just unable to rise above his own insecurities and be there for her. (I also think he went a teensy bit off-the-rails when the Murder happened and that’s partially why he pleaded guilty. Guy broke down). After all, his wife wouldn’t have ever let Edna act so uncontrollably if she were alive, would she?  

That’s it

Thanks for reading all that if you did!! Hope reading about shit I made up was entertaining. I might do this again with other characters for funsies at some point in the distant future, we’ll see. 

She isn’t even a character I spend too much time thinking about, so I figured this would be a good way to practice organizing my thoughts. And draw her some more since it’d been a while. It was fun.

Let me know your thoughts/impressions of her…

& goodbye 👋 

Bonus- sketches from May 2022