#like the cc was already great but the lighting just makes the character feel SO alive and immersed in the environment

[lavellane]

never in my life have i ever exited a dragon age character creator menu only to discover that my oc is even HOTTER than she was in cc

[modelbus]

can i request a reader (with sbi and also separate) who’s rich rich like she was born with a gold spoon and whenever she gives them gifts or treats them food they feel bad BAHAHAHA but it's just readers love language

can this be a drabble or whatever you can do :DD

I got your other message saying you wanted headcannons, so here you go! No wilbur for obvious reasons.

Included: Cc!Tommy, Cc!Phil, Cc!Techno, + all of them (platonic)

Rich Reader Headcannons

Tommy

Unapologetic about using your money.

He cares at first, and even when you say you’re paying he’ll order cheap things from restaurants, but after you give him the go ahead he will be a menace

Expect to lose all your money to Legos, his one true addiction.

“I could stream building this one, but this one would look so good in my room…” Tommy mumbles, squinting at two Lego boxes. You’re starting to regret letting him talk you into stopping by the store for what he said would be a quick visit.

It’s been two hours.

“Just get them both, Tom.” You finally sigh.

He lights up, no better than a kid on Christmas Day. “Fuck yeah!”

He’s money conscious, and will still note the price of things, but after he gets used to it he’s fine with you paying.

Doesnt blink twice at gifts.

You get this man anything and he will GOBBLE it up. Give him an Apple Watch? Great, his forever, he’s already wearing it. Give him a toothpick? He’s using it, perfect.

Won’t ask you to pay, and is very willing if you don’t want to, but let’s be real you always do pay.

He’ll say “thank you” at least. Five days later, maybe, when he finally remembers, but he says it!!

Talks you into buying things that you don’t need.

”I mean, you have the money. Y’know. Just saying.”

Phil

This man hates it, change my mind.

It’s a competition to see who can pay first with this man, and he does it out of pure spite.

Actually, he does it because he wants you to feel normal and not like you have to pay because you’re rich.

“I have the money, Phil!” You insist, holding your card.

“And I don’t care. I already gave them my card, I’m paying.”

When you make a stupid financial decision and buy a $1,000 lightsaber (blame Tommy), he just kinda sighs at you.

If you approach him for financial advice, he will genuinely tell you helpful things as if you weren’t incredibly rich.

He accepts your gifts, but always makes sure to somehow give you one in return.

maybe not of equal value… he isn’t as rich as you… but of equal love <3

Techno

Have you SEEN this man’s setup? He is in NO POSITION to decline gifts.

Will secretly be desperately in need of literally anything and just. Wont get it. So you end up buying it for him…

You order him food online to have it delivered to him and man just won’t say thank you. He’s rather awkwardly send you a photo of the food on his desk, entirely eaten.

Or he’ll just drop a photo of his new setup in discord for you.

He will “anonymously” acknowledge you when he streams/records a video on his new gear though.

“And if you’ve noticed this video came much faster than normal, it’s because of a new PC which runs at light speed.” He zooms into the face of his Minecraft character. “It’s not a toaster guys! Praise the rich gods!”

He literally can’t afford to buy you gifts in return.

Well he COULD but that man sees the shipping and is horrified.

His gifts in return are those photos of whatever you give him.

Techno genuinely is VERY appreciative though!! Like you are practically saving this man’s life by buying him shit.

He won’t ask for anything, you’ve just got to use your gut instinct to figure out what to give him.

All

Having all three to spend money on is a DREAM for you.

Phil forces Tommy to say “thank you” every single time. Repeatedly.

Techno sends his photos in the group discord, and Tommy will jokingly rage that he didn’t get a new PC or something that Techno did.

Paying when you all go to eat is a competition of speed between you and Phil. He started getting sneaky and approaching the waiter/waitress before they even brought the bill.

So you had to compromise and agree to give your cards to the waiter and let them pick a card at random.

(you win most times because you’ve got a fancy ass card)

For your birthday they tend to kidnap you from your bed and take you to do a surprise so you can’t find a way to pay or something 😭

They’re all in awe of your house, meaning you love having them over!!

Best vlogs occur at your house, let’s be honest

[goingbuggy]

I WAS THE ONE WHO SENDED YOU THIS

https://www.tumblr.com/goingbuggy/761553750450126848/i-need-you-to-drop-everything-i-have-to-tell-you

Sorry I didn’t think I sounded so aggressive. I was just really into it and I’m happy the person who tagged it was found!

I wanted to say thank you for answering and I love your theory and I still believe in this

I also could not stop myself and send this to someone else on twitter

Because I love both of your the most

They pointed out that shanks eyes being covered by shadows is always when he feels distant or displeased at something

(@homospike on twitter. I send it in the CC https://curiouscat.live/doctorstretcho/post/1362830222) here

Thank you and again I’m so sory I sounded like I demanded answers

Don't apologize for getting excited! I love it, and you didn't come across as aggressive at all. Moreso, I'm just a bit disappointed in myself for not having all the answers you're looking for.

Yes, Oda does consistently toy with shadows when it comes to Shanks-related panels, which I love; the sun is a vital symbol in One Piece, so Shanks and his connection to shadow adds good contrast with interesting implications. The closer a light source is to an object, the bigger the shadow will be, so to me, it makes sense that he is so often covered in shadow. Shanks is the person closest to Luffy who still blocks his path.

Oda likes playing into Shanks' enigmatic intrigue, and shadows are the easiest visual to trigger that sense of mystery. For a lot of people, this seems to signal evil intentions, but I disagree. I believe the shadows signify a sense of balance. Like yin and yang, Shanks and Luffy have a certain duality which allows them to coexist in harmony. Luffy paves the way in chaos, and Shanks navigates the fallout by virtue of his restraint and control. They need each other; Luffy's natural butterfly effect on the world often requires Shanks' intervention as a form of damage control, like how he stopped Kaido before Marineford and Greenbull after Wano. There is no one without the other.

I think their narratives reflect this too. Luffy quite literally exists because of Shanks. Without Shanks' sacrifice, Luffy would have either drowned or been eaten alive. Not only that, but Shanks is the source of a lot of Luffy's pirate aspirations; his existence is also linked to Shanks in a figurative sense. With Shanks, we only have bits and pieces to clue us in, but I believe the same goes for his character. Shanks exists to facilitate the "new era," and Luffy is at the forefront of that era, charging headfirst so that others may follow. They each owe their life purpose to one another.

These two consistently circle around each other, so it makes sense that their twin narratives function the same way. We already have an idea of how their relationship will conclude, after all; just like in the very first chapter, Luffy will give Shanks his hat back, this time as a man who has grown into a "great pirate." And not just any pirate, but the king of all pirates. They finish where they started, having changed anew. A hero's journey. A perfect circle.

[nyaawn]

Adding to my previous 'Graphical Update and Derplander's face' post now that the benchmark has been updated, and overall it's an improvement. Rejoice user of hyur face#5, your WoL won't suddenly turn into old man anymore!

It's rather hard to take pic with similar light for ver1.1 because they had revamped their lighting placement big time, especially the indoor one. But hoo-boy ain't it look good. It register multiple light sources now? Making things like his collar and ears cast subtler shadows from different angle. They fix the fading facial hair and eyebrow too. Nice.

While face#5 regain its youthful visage, players who DO want their WoL to age can look to face#7, which retain its middle-aged-man look from previous benchmark, that stubble come complete with nasolabial folds, wrinkles, lines and all intact. Heck, you can argue that it look even more rugged now.

(note: When the first DT benchmark released I was on break from playing XIV and didn't have access to in-game Character Creator, so I used EW benchmark for comparison pics on my previous post and the updated ones above. They were captured on PC and labeled from patch 6.0. Since then I had subbed again, so part of pics below was taken from current-build CC, captured on PS5 and labeled from patch 6.5. I thought it wouldn't differ much, but 6.0's shadow is much darker compared to current (6.5) build. Huh. Is it because of different hardware? Different setting? Benchmark fault? Idk)

Yep. Same face structure, different direction. One brings youth, one brings the age. Two-toned echoes tumbling through update.... Well, anyway, they did a good job distinguishing face#7 from #5 with this graphic update. And it's nice to have more options. People who like this face type (and it feels almost every male hyur player use this one) but want 20s or youthful 30-something WoL can go with face#5. Those who don't mind 40s or 30-something-who-spend-too-much-of-his-life-standing-one-millimeter-from-blazing-inferno-or-toxic-fumes-AoE-too-keep-his-uptime-resulting-in-rough-skin WoL can go with face#7. That's me and I'm happy with this update. I just wish we can turn that stubble on and off without need of fanta($$), like every other facial hair options... But I guess that ship has sailed.

Looking at updated benchmark cutscene itself, there's improved lighting but all in all the change is minimal imo. And I'm sad to say that villain-esque eyeliner I mentioned in previous post is still there. Not as thick as previous, but still appear anytime I use hairstyle with bangs that drop shade on his eyes. Sigh maybe I should use that new DT hair afterall...? But ngl I don't really like it...

Don't get me wrong, it's great! ....It just doesn't compliment this face type.. On my previous post I wrote about how they add highlight to this face#7's forehead, and in theory I understand why they did it. But in practice and with this hair, I found it make his forehead distractingly bright and plastic-like and flat compared to the rest of his face that's carefully detailed and contoured. It looks odd, is what it is. That bright forehead also highlight (hurhur) how the front hair and roots don't have shadow at all, and my brain can't help thinking how wrong it look like every time I put this hair on him. Also I deliberately capture the above pic with indoor lighting, because in outdoor that forehead shine like lighthouse, good lord @_@. Being a Warrior of Light doesn't mean you have to become literal sun, dude.

So yeah that's my main wrinkle with this expansion, his hair and forehead. (first world problem) (while a throng of BLM and AST have a meltdown out there (*´・ｖ・). Tho I do feel pretty miffed right now regarding how they replace many gap closer with no-damage skill. Like, I can't surprise enemy by poking their head from above while laughing maniacally anymore?? HOW DARE YOU--- but this aimless rambling post already hella long without those rants. I'll keep it for another time..)

[disadsfam]

The Very Long "All About Sumire's Design" Post

Based off of this twitter post, this will be getting divided into different sections. This is focused around her multi-Warrior of Light timeline, and not her solo-WoL timeline.

Appearance Since I got into FFXIV via a friend who showed me race options first, I had already decided early on I wanted an Au Ra and I wanted a Raen. Other than that, blank slate. Sumire was a character who went through a couple of drafts. I generally tend to make characters based on my, personal, ideal look - which includes red hair. I dunno if its because of the CC's awful lighting or what, but the combinations of the features I usually like in a character just didn't make a finished product that I liked. So with that planned scrapped, I went to thinking of other things...

So then I decided, if Raen are supposed to be East Asian, let me go with making a yamato nadeshiko combined with some of my idealized features. Black hair and slightly lighter skintone from the yamato nadeshiko; red eyes, freckles, and flat chest from my personal tastes. That finally made an acceptable passing character.

As I played more I developed her more as an individual character with my friend group, and then was introduced to mods and decided on a few little slight changes. Gave Sumire some limbal rings to make her red eyes POP, and then went with some scale mods for iridescent scales - the scales in particular feel the MOST right for her. And then I gave her the long ass hair I always envisioned for her. So over the two years I played the game her "final" look only happened in the last few months. XD

Personality This was kind of pre-established, but shifted as I figured out what she was about. Bubbly, happy genki girl out to make friends was the start, but also with a dangerous edge. That would later grow to the bubbly, happy genki girl thing to be a facade and the dangerous edge to be reality. Makes sense, she's a ninja. Granted, the genki girl thing isn't a complete lie. She does genuinely enjoy adventuring and seeing and experiencing new things, but when it comes to people she's a little less... open.

A lot of the reason for the why on this came with interactions with my friends as I developed the character. There were some times where I felt like she just didn't get on with everyone else like they all did with each other, and I just incorporated that into her character. She wasn't a super trusting person and has much higher walls in comparison to everyone else. Developing her backstory also further developed her personality - gave her reasons as to why she's so on guard and so reluctant to form genuine bonds with other people. Animals, at the very least, do not lie.

The adventuring spirit she has that gets her into all sidequests is usually a result of curiosity or self-service, with very few being acts of genuine altruism. Children in need tend to be the only quests she undergoes out of a sense of inherent goodness. The rest are really because she's amused, curious, or wants the reward. Also why she's HYPER-competitive, to the point it does interfere with both her relationships with other people and a reflection on her self-worth. She has an intense NEED to the best the absolute best. At everything. She hates losing, enjoys grinding challenging foes into the dirt and humiliating them, and dismisses anyone she doesn't particular find interesting. All the more reason why she instantly connected with Zenos.

Shadowbringers established the start of a very important shift of her personality. Becoming more of a mom friend as she realized from Stormblood she valued her co-WoLs/fellow Scions, and coming to terms with the fact that she is NOT this great altruistic hero everyone thinks she is, and she doesn't need to be nor should she feel obligated to be.

Backstory This was and still is the most slowgoing part of her continuing development. While everyone else in my friend group had some ideas of the characters and what they were about, Sumire was brand spanking new for me and had nothing. It doesn't help that I take character development incredibly slowly.

Originally she started out as a standard Raen, born somewhere in the Far East and so on. Didn't think too hard on it, maybe even Sui-no-Sato itself. Post-ARR hearing about Doma I was like, sweet she's Doman, let's go with that. Getting into Stormblood I realized that personality wise she took a lot more from the Azim Steppe than Sui-no-Sato and went hmmm. And that's established her being half-Xaela. Around this period in time I was also revitalizing my love for Mongolia history, and I insisted if Sumire was going to be part Xaela it would be with one of the more horse associated groups. I refused Goro because... Listen, I just can't okay. But Noykin, Noykin was good and fit with her animal loving side, as well as gave a valid excuse to my giving her a love for horsebirds. :p This also allowed me to develop her parents and her relationship with them a bit more. As well as come up with her precise origins - a village called Iga-no-sato. I could go on a whole tangent about this place and have meant to, but I'm not going to start here. Suffice it to say, it IS a ninja and samurai village.

My friend and I decided that she would have a brother too. One of his characters needed a sister and guardian and I was happy to let Sumire be that gal. It added another interesting dynamic to her story, the fact that she was, at the very least, someone's hero on purpose. She knew what it was like to be bullied and wouldn't stand by and watch other kids to do it to someone who was "different."

All these factors combined gave me a really interesting background for her. Her mother, a Raen samurai on business from Hingashi, fell in love with a Xaela Noykin who ventured to Doma to sell horses. The settled in Doma, though her Raen mother frequently returned to Iga-no-Sato and Hingashi. The Imperial occupation of Doma then happened, and feeling unsafe, her mother and father would travel to Iga-no-sato where Sumire would be born. They spent the first year of her life there before finally returning to Doma in the hopes of gathering clientele for the village. As Sumire grew up tho, her Xaela tendency showed strong and she was prone to mischief and starting fights - this came to a head when she was around ten and was severely beaten by Imperial soldiers, spared only because her mother and father intervened. This was the incident that told her parents they could not remain in Doma, and they made plans to travel to the Steppe.

Before the move, Sumire encountered a young Viera boy who was being beaten by other children. Having suffered a severe beating herself for being "different" she intervened and dished out a whooping and snarling to the kids, and brought home a brother. Her parents were confused, but accepted the new addition readily, and soon they were off to the Steppe. Which brought its own set of issues.

Personality wise, Sumire fit in with the Steppe, but her horns were strange even for a Raen, nor did she share the physical strength of her fellow Au Ra. On top of this she also still felt the need to protect her brother, and her brother in turn felt the need to protect her. Eventually, Sumire realized she couldn't focus on raw strength, and used her dexterity and speed to get ahead. And got ahead she did, to the point where her mother thought she might be too savage for even the Steppe. So she arranged to have that savagery controlled by sending her back to Iga-no-Sato. Her brother came along too.

Even at the village, where she began formally training as a ninja and samurai, she was "hard" to manage. She was then sent to Eorzea to help Oboro and Tsubame's mission in Limsa, in the hopes that cooperation with an allied village might tame her a bit. Instead she went and became a hero of Eorzea. Silently the village just... let her go, though they'll occasionally send a message or a request to her.

[sleepypuffpastry]

okay so puffy talked abt the general lore of the dsmp being kinda on a stand still due to several factors, and she mentioned how she wants to take tubbos advice and just log on and see what happens while she plays and I have OPINIONS ON THIS.

AND THIS IS NO NEG TO ANYONE

Okay so basically, yes. It is seriously and very very important for the ccs to have fun with the lore, and to not be too focused on it, as the dsmp is also supposed to be a server of friends having fun and these moments especially are important for character building as you cannot built a character entirely on tragedy. we need the highs to appreciate the lows and the ccs doing their characters highs through streams on the dsmp where they have fun and are mostly themselves is the best way to do it in this media.

but I think some ppl on the dsmp may have gotten the issue that they made it hard for themselves to get and stay in character. not because of the quality of their acting, dear lord no, but because of the expectations. It feels like theres this... direct weird on and off switch for some creators in regards to lore. either they have to be serious and act in character or they get to be silly and out of character, but that's just not true.

the reason the dsmp is great is because the ccs can be silly and stupid but we still know these actions are apart of their character. our expectations aren't the 4k HD mods and shaders pre recorded lore videos (even if i love these too), our expectations are in character consistency and already existing plot points getting resolved at SOME point.

yes to all of this. while the circumstances are more difficult this season because the characters are supposed to be on high-alert and worried about a serial killer on the loose with the added issue of that storyline not progressing for months now, it doesn't mean that the CCs can't have fun on the server.

but its stuff like disregarding your character's development and previous lore for the sake of content thats really driving season 4 to the shitter.

like you can have fun on the server, no one's saying you can't. like if want to just come onto the server with ur friends to hang out and do stupid shit, then great! if you don't want it to be considered lore, then fine! but if you are going to fuck around on the server AND call it lore (or very obviously make it lore), then we would like some character and story consistency 😭 else what even is the point of following the story if the CCs don't care to keep it consistent.

season 1, 2, and hell even most of the active parts of season 3 did a GREAT job of - letting CCs fuck around on the server without major story implications or disregarding the pre-established story.

and mid-to-late season 1 did the BEST at having characters do collaborative light-hearted character-building streams. because like you mentioned, that too is very important for a story.

[foxx-queen]

inquisition prologue

I think a lot of people were disappointed with the fact that inquisition was the only game that didn't have a 'prologue', because we didn't have time to get to know our character before they were thrust into saving the world. IIRC, the writers said they didn't have a proper origin prologue because there wasn't time? which I guess makes sense seeing as they tried to do a Lot with inquisition, regardless of if they did it well. but I was thinking about how they could've done a small prologue and! here's how I think they could've done it without creating new origin areas.

while the immediate explosion of the temple of sacred ashes in the menu is a cool visual, I feel like they missed out on a big opportunity by blowing up the conclave immediately. I think they make the same mistake with redcliffe, as in they bring us to a place we already know and have explored in dao, but don't let us explore it, or see how it's changed. it's like they wanted to be nostalgic but didn't really follow through?

so I would change that. selecting a new game takes you into selecting your gender, race and class, along with the chance to import a dragon age keep save. depending on what you select, character creation loads with a different background screen: a fancier interior for the noble humans (perhaps even inside the temple), a small tent for a dalish elf, a larger tent for the qunari, a cart of lyrium for the dwarves, and a group of mages for the circle mage. this also means the cc is in normal lighting rather than the watery green light in the fade.

once the cc is done, you get to explore the small location you start in. by speaking to the people within that area you can develop how your character acts, and you also get to know these people we're told we have connections to. if you're a mage, you can talk to the other rebel mages, about their fears for the conclave and whether it'll work and being around so many templars. let us meet the representative fiona sent in her place, and let them talk about fiona, so that the player gets a picture of her before in hushed whispers (I know she's in da comics/books, but not everyone has read those). if you’re a human noble, you get the chance to talk to other nobles and talk about your family, and decide earlier on whether your character is devout or not. show us that free marcher nobles are considered ‘quaint’ or w/e rather than simply saying it. if you’re a qunari, you get to talk to more of your mercenary company. personally i loved the sound of the valo-kas mercenaries! its also a big deal to show us a group of qunari outside the qun that we don’t have to fight, so it would’ve been great to get to know them and what its like living as a free tal-vashoth, especially sonciering that the mage rebellion ‘started’ in kirkwall and there’d been qunari there too. theres a bit of extra dialogue if you’re a mage, considering the tensions and the fact that you’re free and have always governed yourself, which is exactly what the mages are asking for. if you’re a dwarf, you get insight into being in the carta. we’re told the cadash are a ‘ruthless dwarven crime family’, so this would be an opportunity to actually show us that and what being part of a surface crime family means as a dwarf. it could show us how they’re ruthless, or if that’s just rumours spread by people who don’t want someone else controlling the lyrium trade (the chantry). if you’re an elf, perhaps you’re seperate from the rest. maybe you’re able to talk to elven servants brought along by the nobles, or have conversations with elven mages about what its actually outside templar control. youre probably advised to avoid nobles and templars, and mistaken for a servant more than once. 

as you exit the small starting area, a cutscene occurs that shows divine justinia and her entourage walking through the crowds and up the steps into the temple of sacred ashes. i dont care about the chantry personally, but to me there was this massive disconnect as a player when we’re constantly being told about the beloved divine and how its a tragedy that she died, and then we meet her in the fade and everyone recognises her. because we’d never met her before, even though its supposed to be this big moment, i was like?? who is this random old woman why is everyone shook. you also get to see how many people are there, because again we’re told that so many people died at the conclave, but we never see that. even when we arrive at the destroyed temple, there’s only a few crispy bodies around. so instead we see the hundreds gathered for this attempt at peace, so what comes later has a greater impact than the sad dialogue wheel ‘all those people... dead’. 

the cutscene ends with one of your ‘origin’ friends / someone you’ve already spoken to directing you into the temple. if you’re a noble, someone jokes that you should go ahead and get a good seat. if you’re qunari, you’re sent to stand guard over where the noble you’re guarding will sit. if you’re a dwarf, you’re told that one of your contacts has asked you to supply a templar with lyrium, as they’ve run out, so you slip in a side / servants entrance. if you’re a mage, fiona’s representative asks you to go ahead and keep an eye on the divine, to make sure the templars don’t try to speak to her before the peace talks begin. if you’re an elf, you decide to slip in a side / servants entrance to keep your distance from the main crowd. this gives the player a small opportunity to see the inside the temple, so while we can’t explore it as much as we did in origins, we’re able to see some changes. this is something i really wanted to know, because the temple in origins has a very spooky vibe, and we can assume the chantry changed a lot of things to make it more modern andrastian. at a certain point, a cutscene occurs where the player looks up at a statue of andraste, and the camera pans up towards the roof of the temple, and then out of it. we see a sweeping view of the temple and all the people gathered which pulls back to show the people still approaching, much like the original menu screen. the title dragon age: inquisition appears, remains on the screen for a moment as the game saves, and the explosion occurs. 

the dust settles, and the camera follows survivors / soldiers looking up to see the ruins of the temple, and the breach. it follows them through the ruins of the temple, providing a contrast to what we saw earlier, so that the scale of the disaster is much more apparent. the survivors reach the fade rift, the player character falls out of it, and the screen fades to black. while unconscious, the player character experiences flashes of running through the fade, and the glowing figure near the rift. from there its basically the same, except when we reach the temple with cassandra, varric and solas, we’re arriving having seen it previously bustling with people, and so the destruction has far more impact. 

anyways, its not a perfect prologue by any means, and much shorter than origins still, but it would’ve been enough to let us experience our character’s origin, while still retaining the mystery of what happened. it also would explain, at least in retrospect, why it was the player character who stumbled upon the plot. 

[mcyt-peach]

hi peach!! saw that requests are open :>can i request for cc!quackity x gn!reader? mostly based on his fnaf security breach stream. reader’s with him supporting but reader’s usually not that great with horror (a gentle soul, bless them) although she surprises him by teasing that he’s getting scared lmao. maybe also cussing in front of him for the first time and he’s worried and hyped at the same time?

playing fnaf security breach with quackity

⋆｡˚ summary: you join quacity in streaming the new Five Nights at Freddy's game despite you being a scaredy cat

⋆｡˚ pairing: cc!quackity x gn!reader

⋆｡˚ warnings: swearing, mentions of jumpscares and horror, mentions of drugs

⋆｡˚ note: I absolutely loved Quackity's FNAF stream this was so fun to write! I hope I got your vision down correctly but I wasn't sure if reader was with him in person or on stream so I hope what I did was ok :)

when Quackity invited you to join him on his stream of the new Five Nights At Freddy's game you were shocked, to say the least

you? the person who can’t even get through a children's’ haunted house without screaming in fear?

still, you had heard the game was popular and you could never say no to Quackity, so you agreed

he set up a comfy chair for you next to his and started up his stream

you greeted chat as he booted up the game but you were surprised to see he had already started

“Wait, you already started?”

“Well, I had to learn the controls to start with. Plus, chat said I wasn’t allowed to get scared and if you were here screaming at every jumpscare I wouldn’t have been so brave.”

“Ooooh I see, you just didn’t want me to see you be a big baby huh!” you smiled poking his cheek to emphasize your point

“What!?!? Do you see this chat!? They’re the biggest scaredy cat and they're calling me scared!”

after getting the stream set, Quackity began the daycare section of the game

watching the Sun character jump into the ball pit filled you with dread and Quackity’s yelp of fear when he grabbed Gregory made you jump in your seat

“See! You got scared just like me, who's the scaredy cat now Q?”

Quackity only rolled his eyes with a smile and moved on

once the lights turned off in the daycare you were screwed

the darkness on screen and the Moon animatronic lurking around the play structures did little to calm your nerves

Quackity would notice you getting closer and closer to him and tried not to let his blush show when you curled your fingers into the sleeve of his hoodie

he would definitely try his best to joke around and keep you from being scared, comparing Moon’s voice to yoda and talking about Bad and Skeppy doing drugs

even though he thinks it’s funny when you get scared he absolutely loves hearing you laugh and knowing he makes you comfortable

still, one jumpscare from Moon while trying to restart the generators and you had your head buried in his shoulder after screaming

“Quackityyyy that scared the shit out of me!”

in your whining after the jumpscare you forgot your usual self and let a swear slip out

“OOH OOH CHAT DID YOU HEAR THAT! OMG THEY’RE POPPING OFF! CHAT WE’RE POPPING OFF!”

he was never letting you live this down

he eventually calmed down and stopped yelling about you and Bad swearing and doing drugs (in his terrible British accent of course)

muting the mic, he turns to you and makes sure you’re ok, even offering to end stream if you don’t want to play anymore

the rest of the stream was spent with the two of you cracking jokes and screaming when scared and making fun of each other for said screams

when the stream ends, Q would offer to keep the lights on while you sleep, even if it wakes him up

but once you’re wrapped up in his arms under the blankets, you feel as safe and secure as can be

[overthinkingfandom]

Cards on the Table - Breaking down the tactics in L'manburg Independence

/rp /dsmp

Much has been said in the fandom about L'manburg's independence. It is, after all, arguably the most important moment in DSMP's history, as the rest of the story wouldn't have existed without it. 

In light of the recent anniversary of it, yes I know I’m late, I wanted to throw my hat in the ring and add something to the discussion surrounding it. However, as the morality of the situation has been discussed to death I'll be taking a slightly different approach to it. 

Due to the nature of the DSMP's medium, the story has many unique quirks. One of those quirks is how realistic the tactics used in the story's portrayal of politics are. The independence conflict is a great example of it. While on the surface things seem to be rather simplistic in nature, there's a lot more going on that’s less obvious.

Both Wilbur and Dream are brilliant politicians who get to show both their strengths and weaknesses in dealing with an equally skilled opponent in this encounter. There’s actually quite a bit to go into, despite their interactions being so short.

When most people think about the L'manburg's independence, they think about the moment the declaration has been written up and the subsequent declaration of war. While this moment is certainly iconic, it's not really all that impactful in the grand scheme of things. Both declarations are the culmination of decisions that have been made beforehand. It's the moment when those decisions were made that really influenced things.

Conveniently, Wilbur and Dream only hold a single conversation about L'manburg before the declarations are drawn up, so we don’t need to look far in order to figure out where those decisions were formed. 

Wilbur has been working on L’manburg, collecting materials and building the wall surrounding it, for almost an hour when he spots Dream lurking. “Get [Dream] into the VC, I need to talk with him. He’s the leader of the other nation, I think we need to have a congress.” (52:44)

Dream: “Hello?”

Wilbur: “Hello Dream. Welcome to our great nation of L’manburg.”

Dream: “L’manburg?”

Wilbur: “Yes. We are seceding from Dream SMP. This is our own server now. This area, just this part [between the walls of L’manburg], is our server.”

Wilbur doesn’t waste any time before getting right down to business and talking about the matter at hand. However, the way he speaks about it here and in the rest of the conversation is fairly interesting. Wilbur is talking about L’manburg as if it’s something which already exists. They are seceding. This is their land. This conversation is merely a courtesy to give Dream a formal notice of their separation.

Yet, a bit later Wilbur shows he knows they need Dream’s acknowledgement in order for L’manburg to be its own entity. Independence is not a concrete thing that can just be taken or created on one person’s whim, after all. It only exists when the people with power agree it exists. 

Wilbur: “Dream, basically all we want from you is just acknowledgement that we are an independent nation now. That’s all we need.” (56:20)

So if Wilbur knows they aren’t independent yet, why is he talking like that? 

It’s because he’s using a salesman technique called an Assumptive Close. Instead of posing it as a question and putting the choice of agreeing or disagreeing in Dream’s hands, Wilbur acts as if it’s already true and leaves the burden of challenging his claims on Dream’s shoulders. He even moves on to ask secondary questions on how Dream feels about having embassies in his land (and notably he frames it as a question, unlike how he frames the topic of L’manburg’s independence) as if L’manburg is already a political entity. 

Wilbur: “Dream, I’ve got a proposition for you. How do you feel about having Tommy’s land being an embassy? Like it’s an enclave in your own land.” (59:01)

Wilbur’s use of this technique has an interesting side effect in that it signals to Dream Wilbur is taking a non-compromising position in this negotiation. In essence saying “L’manburg is independent, take it or leave it.” 

A non-compromising position is the game theory term for when someone goes, "I'm going to do that, this is going to happen and nothing can dissuade me from this course of action." It's a strong tactic which forces everyone to react to that person's position, reducing the others' options into a binary of either accepting that position or rejecting it. 

This is a very common tactic and various manifestations of it can be seen all over history and media. From Martin Luther who refused to recant or compromise with his famous words of “Here I stand, I cannot do otherwise” to groups who cultivate a "with us or against us" mentality to heroic characters who say they would die before giving in to whatever Evil the story focuses on.

This is the situation Dream is facing here. He can either accept Wilbur's assertion that L'manburg is an independent entity by either encouraging them or even doing nothing, or he can reject Wilbur's assertion by acting against it.

As we all know, he ended up choosing the second option but what were his considerations for doing so?

For that we would need to know what his goal was here, something we don't really get a sense of from his conversation with Wilbur. However, he ends up stating what it was in a later conversation with Skeppy. 

(Emphasis added by me and wasn’t part of the original dialogue.)

“Everyone can build wherever they want. [L’manburg] just decided to say that they get to determine where they can build and we can’t and we said well no, you can’t do that. And that’s what the whole war was over.” (31:44)

“[L’manburg] can’t tell us that we can’t go in their land. That’s all we wanted to say. That they’re not independent, they are a part of the Dream Team SMP. They’re just a delusional, small part." (34:26)

Dream lies a lot, so just because he says something doesn't mean it's necessarily true. However, this seems to be genuine. Dream has no problem telling Skeppy “we burned down their houses and blew up the whole land.” (32:36) later on in the conversation, so we can rule out that he's trying to paint himself in a better light, and there aren't really any other reasons for him to lie to Skeppy here about this. 

When looking at Dream's options with his goal we can see the choice is pretty much a no-brainer. 

Accepting is a total lose scenario for him. Not only will it fail to fulfill his goals, it would actively encourage the sort of behavior he doesn't want to happen, as Wilbur would set a precedent that so long as someone insisted hard enough and implied Dream is a bad person he would fold in negotiations and give them what they want.

Rejecting gets him far closer to his goal of railing against L’manburg’s exclusion. Going to war means he has to invest much more effort and resources into his reaction than if he just accepted as well as deal with the risks any war has, however the sheer difference in ability between Dream's side and Wilbur's side make the risk minimal. 

Going to a war he’s pretty sure he can win VS encouraging the sort of thing he disapproves of, isn’t really a hard choice.

This is actually the result of a mistake on Wilbur's part. CC!Wilbur called his character naive (37:49) and he's not wrong. Wilbur has a tendency to act as he wishes and not take into account that people might disagree or retaliate. We see it with him saying they could just ignore the Americans (1:51:17) or during the elections when he told Quackity his scheme and got blindsided by Quackity deciding to run against him. 

Historically, non-compromising positions worked best when the person who used it made sure rejection would be more costly than acceptance in one way or the other. In essence, narrowing down the options for others even more and leaving them only with acceptance. 

Wilbur may have managed to wipe off the table all other options and put pressure on Dream to accept with his use of Assumptive Close, but he didn't do anything to prevent Dream from rejecting. In fact, it seems like Wilbur didn't even consider it as a valid possibility as he outright dismissed it when Dream brought it up as an option.

Dream: “What happens if the rest of the server decides to take over your land?”

Wilbur: “They can’t. It’s literally not how servers- Dream you’re supposed to be smart man, that’s not how servers work. You can’t just take over another person’s server.” (54:33)

But, you may be asking, if it was better for Dream to go to war against L'manburg rather than grant them independence, why did he end up giving into their desire for independence in the war? Wouldn't it have been better if he just saved everyone the trouble and gave it to them when they asked for it the first time? Or maybe Dream’s obsession with Tommy and his discs is just that strong?

We can find the answer to all those questions at Punz’ video where he shows the behind the scenes of the independence war, including some of the planning which went into it from the Dream Team’s side of the war. Specifically, this quote:

Dream: “[The L’manburgians] are never gonna give up. So then in the end the resolution will probably just be, we won but they can think whatever they want, we’re just going to ignore them because they’re essentially like- You want to think you’re independent? You’re not, you’re still part of the SMP, but if you want to think you’re independent, you can.” (9:04)

“They’re never gonna give up.”

Whether it’s true or not doesn’t matter, as this is what Dream thinks and so this is what dictates his actions. Perhaps he’s overestimating his opponents here, or maybe he’s talking about how even if L’manburg is defeated this time they would try again for independence in the future. In either case, it’s clear Dream thinks the best case scenario for him - completely preventing people from fighting for L'manburg's independence - is impossible. 

So, he tries for the second best case. If he can’t prevent L’manburg, he’s going to allow it but only under Dream’s terms. That’s what his “they can think whatever they want” line is all about. He intends on giving them token independence here, something which would satisfy them but wouldn't pose a real threat. Which is exactly what he ends up offering them during the bow duel.

Dream: “Let me just clarify: if you win, we grant L’Manburg independence.”

Tommy: “Alright.”

Dream: “But we recognize it still as a part of the Dream Team SMP.”

Wilbur: “That’s fine, that’s a fine condition.” (40:54)

The token independence thing didn’t work out so well for him. L'manburg quickly grew to be seen as an entity separate from Greater Dream SMP by everyone, and so Dream was forced to concede and treat it as one as well. 

However, despite this part of his plan failing, overall the independence war was a glowing success for Dream. 

By giving L'manburg independence after winning the war, Dream sent a very clear message. L'manburg only gets to be independent so long as they stay on Dream's good side. If they don't adhere to the terms Dream sets out for them? He can and will kick their asses, as the war so aptly demonstrated.

This message is received loud and clear. During his entire presidency Wilbur went out of his way to treat Dream with respect and try not to piss him off. Something he clearly demonstrates a number of times, like when he asked if he should call Dream “king Dream” (59:08) or during the railway skirmish (24:16).

In fact, it can be argued that this message lasted all the way up to Tubbo's presidency. Unlike Quackity, who was perfectly fine with starting a fight with Dream, Tubbo knew first hand what a war against Dream looks like. He knew that they could not win a war against him, especially in their weakened state at the time, and that influenced his decision. 

As Dream once said: "L'manburg can be independent but it can't be free."

[lazyliars]

/rp

Before I get into it, I want to state that is EXPLICITLY an analysis of the Characters, and is not intended to touch on how the cc’s played them in a meta sense unless specifically stated otherwise.

Also, this is technically a part two to my other post, which took a more in depth look at Techno and Phil’s reactions to Tommy’s death. It’s not necessary when reading this post, but I don’t address their reactions here.

So. The question must be asked.

Are we [the Syndicate] the baddies?

Yes.

The End.

 Why are the Syndicate the baddies?

They got damn logo is a wither skull.

The End.

That's not how this works.

Yeah, yeah. You’re right.

The Syndicate's goals as an organization are not inherently bad. They seem to have good intentions behind them, and the focus on the freedom of it's individual group members is important to remember when talking about it; It is not a government. There is no hierarchical power system. No one is forced to do anything against their will, or surrender any of their rights or power to remain a member. It is not a government.

I also want to address Techno and Phil backing Ranboo into a corner – I see them getting a lot of flack for this, but I personally do not think it is relevant to the greater discussion, or necessarily representative of any contradictions within the organization. It was clearly played for laughs, and after they back off they clarify to Ranboo that they won't force him. Then later when Phil and Ranboo are alone, Ranboo feels safe enough to express that he felt like he was pressured into it, and Phil assures him he is allowed to leave whenever he wants; He is not being forced to do anything, and he is not being coerced or blackmailed.

None of the Syndicate members have done any wrongs against each other in the context of the Syndicate, OR gone against any of the Syndicate's core principles.

That, said, holy shit are they the baddies.

Listen, there's trying to telegraph a meaning or message to the audience and then there's having your logo be wither skulls on blackstone. That is straight out of the skit I keep referencing, seriously.

Okay, but, they laughed at it! It was played as a joke, just like the Ranboo thing!

The Ranboo thing was improv, the Syndicate's headquarters were planned – the artistic choices that they made reflect on what role they want the build and the organization inhabiting it to play in the future storylines.

Wither Skulls kind of have some CONNOTATIONS. Techno is an English major, I don't think he chose the most threatening imagery possible on accident, and then joked about the way people would interpret it just to stir the pot. This reads as hugely intentional.

And beyond that, the jokes they make during this part aren't “haha yeah, we look bad but we're actually good!” they're “you can tell by looking at these that we're the good guys wink wink, this is good guy stuff right here :)” It is a joke about how they are definitely not the good guys. This isn't even a case of unreliable narrators, this is one step down from flat out saying the meta intent.

But okay, I hear you, I'm talking about things that haven't happened yet. The Syndicate hasn't used any Withers, they could be an aesthetic choice.  Lets look at what they do in practice.

So, they barge into private property, assess Snowchester's right to continue existing based entirely on their own ideals of what Freedom is, and then only once Tubbo assures them that they have no standing leader do they grant the place their approval to, and I gotta stress this part, continue existing.

 In my Quackity meta, I already talked about how Government in the context of a M1necraft RP cannot be compared to IRL Governments on a one-to-one scale. They don't serve the same purposes or have the same type of power. What I didn't talk about was Agency in the context of m1necraft governments.

In an irl government, if you are born into one, you can't really leave without committing a massive overhaul on your life, which can be expensive and difficult, if not impossible for many people. Even in a “benevolent” government, the simple physicality of where you were born can prevent you from leaving it easily.

The same hurdles do not exist in the Dream SMP. People who join M1necraft governments choose to. They want to, either at the beginning when they form one, or later on when they join up. So far, no Government has just Sprung Up and forced the current residents of an area to become dependent on them, except maybe the Eggpire, who's status as a government is... shakey.

And even when people want to leave or separate from the government, they have been historically able to do so without any trouble or any effort from said governments to stop them. Jack Manifold emancipated from Manberg. Fundy and Quackity both left to start new nations. In all cases they were allowed to do so without any attempts on the part of the governments to stop them, either through force, or institutions preventing them from doing so.

The most anyone has lost when leaving a government is their house, which is still usually their property anyway, and is something that is easily rebuilt elsewhere and is inconvenient to move anyway.

The only exceptions to this might be Schlatt exiling Wilbur and Tommy - but even then, they weren’t trying to leave, they were trying to get back in, and of course the original L’manberg revolution, where Dream attempted to force L’manberg back into the Dream SMP, which wasn’t even a government at that point in time.

I don’t consider Phil’s house arrest an example of a government forcing someone to stay a citizen - that was treated less as a matter of a citizen wanting to leave the country and more as a threat to national security. Still pretty fucked up, but it’s a different issue.

What I'm saying is, If Tubbo wants to create a government out in the middle of nowhere, threatening no one, forcing no one to join either through force or desperation, and allowing people to join willingly because they want to, then he should be allowed to do that.

The Irony of the Syndicate, a group of people consisting of some of the richest, strongest people on the server, going around and enforcing 'Freedom' that entails no one person having more power than any other, is absurd. 

It shows an extreme lack of self-awareness and/or self-righteousness, as they seem to think that they deserve to be the ones who decide what constitutes a government.

Snowchester is a small independent nation - they shouldn’t have to live in fear of being obliterated if they don’t walk on eggshells to meet an arbitrary standard decided by people who’s only authority on the matter COMES FROM THEIR PERSONAL POWER. No one elected them! No one chose them! They were not “approved” by the server at large to enact this kind of law.

The Syndicate are not a government, but they are an unsupervised power structure exerting their ideals on a land that did not ask for them. Like, These people have invented an actual Authoritarian-Anarchist faction. How the hell did they manage this?????

Back on topic.

Tubbo shows them the crater left by his nukes. The reaction is oddly positive – the nukes are fine by the morals of the Syndicate, apparently. I'd argue that they come across as more impressed than anything else; they seem to respect Tubbo for having gotten ahold of “real” power.

(There's a few good memes out there about “We can excuse nuclear weaponry, but we draw the line at Government!”)

So. By the Syndicate's standards: A single person or group of acceptably equal persons with weapons of mass-destruction are only worth “keeping an eye on” because they might provoke other people.

Like, I consider Project Dreamcatcher to be one of, if not the most morally ambiguous thing Tubbo has ever done, largely because it was all on his own initiative. He holds some culpability for The Butcher Army and Phil's house arrest, but they weren't his ideas and he was mostly following Quackity at that point.

And Phil tells Tubbo, IMMEDIATELY AFTER SEEING THE NUCLEAR CRATER:

“Looks like you've reformed a little bit Tubbo, I'm proud.”

And it's fine. Crimes against nature? Fine. A sign of healing in fact!! Tubbo is having a sweeeelll time and he definitely didn't make these nukes specifically in fear of being attacked by these exact people! Tubbo is doing great. Tubbo is doing fine. Tubbo. is. FINE.

Anyway.

I don't think this presentation of the Syndicate was an accident. Looking at the greater lore of SMP right now, after the Egg is done, their list of enemies is slim, and considering that they seem solely invested in taking down governments, that leaves maybe Snowchester, Kinoko Kingdom, and Eret and the greater Dream SMP.

Snowchester has not been shown to be corrupt, evil, or have any intent to go down that route. The most ambiguous thing they've done is, again, is the nukes. Other than that, it's pretty much your average cottagecore snow village.

Kinoko is presented in an even more morally 'good' light, Karl having founded it specifically for his Time-travel library purposes, which are currently being treated by the narrative as a selfless act, if not downright heroic.

Eret is also a fairly 'good' aligned character atm. He's been on that redemption grind since the og betrayal, and doesn't seem keen on backtracking. He's actively tried to leverage his position as king to make things better, and hasn't been quiet about that. He was also 'validated' by Tommy*, a character who has been described both by his allies and enemies as “the hero,” so take that as you will.

What I'm getting at is, all of the current potential enemies for the Syndicate aside from the Egg, are currently being cast as 'good,' and if they were to be attacked, they would undoubtedly have the moral high-ground, unless something drastically changed.

The only potential shakeups I can think of is are a Dream escape and/or a Wilbur revival, both of which could draw the Syndicate's attention and ire, depending on how things go. That said, it's just as likely that either or both of them would join the Syndicate – Dream still has that favor, and Phil and Techno both seemed to think Wilbur would've agreed with their blowing up L'manberg.

Both of those characters are currently **villains – the fact that they're both prime candidates for the Syndicate is a huge indication of the direction it's going to go as the plot moves forward.

((*I know some people are gonna come at me for painting Tommy as the “deciding factor” of what is morally good, so lemme just stop you there. I'm not talking about Tommy somehow having the 'right' to decide who is and isn't good, and definitely not the right to decide who should and shouldn't be king. I'm saying that Tommy, a character who the narrative treats as, if not a good person, then a person who is trying to be good, was in support of Eret, a character who has also been trying to be good.

Eret doesn't gain the moral highground because Tommy said so, he gets it because a character who the narrative treats as trying to do better, acknowledged Eret's earnest attempts at doing the same.

**I'm referring to Wilbur here as a villain because Tommy seemed convinced he would be if he were to be brought back. There is always the possibility that he's wrong.))

So, to summarize this: I read the Syndicate as being intentionally positioned as future antagonists, if not outright villains of a future arc. They are NOT a Government but their goals are contradictory with their means, and it is important to keep in mind that they plan to enforce their own brand of freedom on people who did not grant them either the authority or permission to do so.

So, uh. Can you tell I loved these streams? They were seriously so good. I kept switching between Ranboo and Techno's POV's trying to keep up with everything. I still have to watch Niki's!

All in all, I'm super, super excited for whats coming next, egg stuff, Syndicate stuff, Tommy stuff, all of it.

[reporterleroux]

That's absolutely fine don't worry about it!

I have been craving some platonic Ranboo storys as of late so here we go!

Basically the reader is the sibling of Ranboo (they are younger by at least 3/4 years) and they are also good friends with both Tommy and Tubbo, the reader has never been in any way shape or form introduced in any of Ranboo's streams because he didn't want them on the internet. The reader comes with him to the Uk to meet Tubbo and Tommy and they just have a lot of fun, one day while Tubbo, Tommy and Ranboo are streaming the reader comes into the room and Ranboo just starts kinda freaking out trying to keep them out of frame, Tommy and Tubbo look at each other freaked out and the Reader starts crying because they have no idea what was going on. Tubbo ends up stoping the stream early with the chat going a million miles a minute because ender boy has a sibling?!

In the end the gang explaines that the reader can't just barge into the room while they are streaming and the four of them end up watching a movie.

🦋

Wow ok I'm sososososososososososo sorry about the time on this, I got unmotivated for ages then I was busy with family now it's restarted school and all that shit, but hopefully I'll start making a comeback :D

Characters: cc!Ranboo (brother) cc!Tubbo (friend) cc!Tommy (friend)

A/N: trying this to the best of my ability, I've not written something like this in a little while

You walked out of Tubbos kitchen, a normal day for you now that you're spending 4 months here with your brother, Ranboo and his friends. About 2 months have passed already and you don't wanna go home, here was much better than home, apart from the food. Thing is, you're only 14. If you were to stay here you'd have to find an education nearby, and your end of school exams were near, so it's best not to risk, or atleast for now. "Mornin shortie." Ranboo called to you as he walked in. You sighed, you were alot taller than average for your age, but not even close to Ranboos height. We'll see who's laughing in a few years. "Mornin." You replied back. He walked past you to the fridge while you pulled out a bowl for him, he was bound to go for some form of cereal. "Tommy coming up today?" You asked your brother. He had become your best friend now aswell, along with Tubbo plus a few others, and it felt great. "Tubbo told me he's gonna message or call him when he wakes up, so about 20 minutes after that he'll probably be here, so yes, he is." You nodded at him and made your way into the main room, which is where the computer sat that they both (and Tommy) have streamed from at some point in these last 2 months. You sat down and began your breakfast, while scrolling through the messages sent from your friends overnight.

Not much longer a very pissed looking and tired Tubbo walked past you. You were watching the TV at this point, so you saw him going past. He grumbled out a "Good Morning." As he walked past, and you replied the same. "Sleep well?" You asked, making sure he did, well, sleep well. He let out a tired groan and lifted a middle finger as he walked into the kitchen, which Ranboo was still in for some reason, and you raised your hands in the air as he walked out. The boys came back and sat with you, Tubbo now in more of a better mood. Tubbo messaged Tommy about being awake, like Ranboo said, and Tommy was instantly on his way.

The day had gone by and people were now doing their own things. Ranboo was streaming with Tubbo and Tommy in the back and you in a different room. You didn't know Ranboo was streaming, because he for some reason didn't tell you. Midway through a game he was streaming, you accidentally walked in. Tommy was first to notice, and shot up out his seat. "Y/N! What the fuck???" He whisper shouted at you. Tommy's sudden movement caught Tubbos eye and he ended by shouting your name which then caused Ranboo to look. They all shot out their seats and surrounded you to push you out the room, which was kinda intimidating and confusing for you, so you started crying. Chat was going faster than lightning by now and it was gonna stop soon. Ranboo pushed you lightly out the room following you behind, with Tommy behind him, you still in tears. Tubbo ran to quickly and adruptly end stream, quickly looking at chat beforehand and seeing them spam stuff like "SIBLINGBOO??" and "GENDER MAN HAS SIBLING????" Before it disappeared when he ended stream. He ended then joined you and the boys outside. Ranboo had taken off his mask and glasses and was talking sternly, but not to agressivley, to you about what just happened. "Y/N. You can't walk in like that. I don't want you on the internet, there's weird people there. Don't do that again." He looked at you for a response, but the only one you could give was light tears from earlier. Ranboo instantly felt some form of guilt after shouting at his sibling, and pulled you in for a hug. He didn't want to make you upset, he just wanted to protect you. The other 2 boys joined in quickly before Ranboo pulled you away to look at him. "Wanna watch a movie maybe, make up for it?" You nodded before you all looked for snacks in the kitchen, but failing and going to the nearby shop to buy them.

A/N: FIRST ONE IN AGES WOO!! it feels so good honestly

Taglist: @bozowrites (send an ask to be added to any list!)

[simplepotatofarmer]

Loyal, I'm back for my post lore ask, would you give me your thoughts? 🙏 - 💡

yes, of course! i love giving my thoughts <3 thank you for asking! <3

first and foremost, let's address the two elephants in the room: cc!techno's tone and style of RPing and the fact that c!techno referred to c!tubbo as a dictator.

as to the first point, again cc!techno has said he's uncomfortable with overly serious things and constant angst is untenable. it'll create burnout in your audience and honestly just isn't good storytelling. luckily they know this! that's why techno is the one who is there with c!dream now. he brings the exact tone shift that's needed.

to the second point, as far as c!techno knows, c!tubbo is a dictator. the two main things that techno knows about tubbo is that he exiled tommy - which techno thought was a bad thing - and not only put techno's best friend, phil, under house arrest but tried to execute techno without a trial. however, techno still expressed that while he's a little suspicious, he thinks snowchester is fine.

now onto the rest! i absolutely loved this stream, cc!techno consistently gives great lore streams, honestly some of the best, if you like that sort of tone.

one of the main takeaways here, is that c!techno is actually scary good at getting information from people in a manner that isn't completely obvious. i've seen people liken him to a cartoon villain and not only do i think that is missing the nuance of his character but i feel it downplays just how competent he is. because he is. he got information from c!dream while giving up next to nothing of value himself; he spoke about tubbo's nukes but never once mentioned phil or niki and even avoided talking about how he knows ranboo. dream was also taking a similar approach and i have no doubt that he's good at it but his disadvantage here is the devastating toll that isolation takes on someone.

but just look at what techno has done for dream already.

we've seen dream and the state he was in prior to this. it was honestly hard to watch, to hear the way his voice cracked, the way he pleaded and cowered. because why wouldn't he? who could blame him?

then techno comes in and one of the first things he does is calm dream down and this stream was truly a continuation of that! yes, he made light of some of it (and one day i'll finally write my post on c!techno and minimization) but he also validated so much of dream's feelings and pain. which is so important! we've never gotten to really see dream's pain nor focused on his feelings. and the few times we have seen it, it's been dismissed. not just by the characters but honestly by a large part of the fandom. techno not only acknowledged what dream has gone through but pointed out a lot of what's happened isn't right. that's needed! that's important! the prison arc is about dream and dream alone, really, and techno is there to reinforce that, not just to the audience but to dream himself, who has spent so long dehumanizing himself in a very 'you want a villain, i'll show you a villain' way.

techno, on the other hand, treats dream in a very human way. he teases him, he hugs him, he makes jokes, he calls dream his friend. he stops dream from self-harming and points out that it's not healthy. he says yes, this isn't okay and yes, you deserve better. but he does so in a way that's light-hearted because that's what dream needs. the prison is dark and heavy and it's been crushing dream. techno, with all his teasing and laughter, manages to take some of that burden.

and it works! dream laughs! he says 'oh my god' in that exasperated way he does when he's trying to hide his amusement and fondness. he's better. not perfect. not healed. but better.

let's also take a moment to appreciate that techno said he and the hypothetical clones could act as a 'meat shield' for dream if they came to torture him again.

two other things stood out to me:

techno bringing up how often betrayal occurs was brilliant because not only was it a self-aware joke about how overplayed that particular plotline/trope is but because techno counts dream as one of the only people who hasn't betrayed him. they might not trust each other at the moment but i have hopes that will change.

c!dream pretty clearly has PTSD. i say this as someone who has PTSD. we've seen signs of it before, with the way he was acting. the self-harm, the outbursts of anger, etc. but now we know he's suffering from poor memory which is another symptom.

also:

PUSSBOY MATTERED TO DREAM AND HIS DEATH AFFECTED DREAM IN A NEGATIVE WAY SUCK IT PEOPLE WHO THOUGHT IT DIDN'T

[anawkwardshit]

I absolutely love what cc!Phil did with L’manberg, with the lore bridge, flag, and greenery; it’s beautiful, and he did a great job that I literally have nothing negative to say about. But I do have some conflicting emotions about it.

The decoration is a great way to memorialize L’manberg, its beauty representing what L’manberg stood for, what its purpose was from the start. Despite it becoming corrupted due to the people running it and choices made, L’manberg still deserves to be remembered as something beautiful, because it was; it should be remembered as such. Phil did a great job capturing this in the tribute he created.

On the other hand, it makes me a little uneasy how easy it was to turn something that was so horrible and traumatizing for many into something that people can look and smile at. Doomsday was a devastating event (look at my post about my comment on Derivakat’s song “Doomsday” previous to this to see my take on it), and the ability to make its aftereffects into something happy and peaceful when L’manberg’s history, along with Doomsday itself, was anything but. It feels like those who will look back upon L’manberg, the people and historians who weren’t there, will never be able to see the horrors that L’manberg and its people suffered; they will only see a beautiful memorial and think the nation was as graceful in its downfall as its rise, when neither are true. The suffering of L’manberg will never be seen but in the people who still live and, eventually, they too will die and leave behind no evidence of that pain. That suffering will be forgotten.

I am fully aware that this is all fake, that cc!Phil did this because he likes doing these types of projects and that everyone on the server, even cc/c!Tommy himself, thinks it’s really cool. Even lore-wise, the thought in the action, as I’ve already said, is appreciated and does feel heartfelt in remembering L’manberg in a good light. I’m simply thinking in lore terms, which makes my words feel a little useless, I suppose.

This isn’t me hating on what cc!Phil did or arguing why it was wrong; far from it, in fact. I’m just someone who feels strongly about L’manberg, and as someone who’s heart aches at the pain the characters and nation has gone through, I’m allowed to feel conflicted about the destruction that was wrought being covered up by pretty decorations that even I still appreciate.

[meimi-haneoka]

Akiho Shinomoto - a manifesto of love

Despite becoming one of my favorite characters in the whole Cardcaptor Sakura franchise (and I would’ve never expected to love a new character this much), I realized I’ve never spent a long post for her, like the ones I did for SyaoSaku or for Tomoyo and Syaoran long time ago.

And there’s a lot to say, because Akiho Shinomoto is actually the first character who has introduced the concepts of evil and child abuse in Cardcaptor Sakura.

Something that wasn’t even remotely conceivable until (almost) 5 years ago.

Often considered boring and weak from the CCS fandom, Akiho actually harbors an immense strength inside of her, which goes mostly unnoticed to everyone, in-story friends included. Let’s see why.

Sentenced to death, for lack of magical powers

Once upon a time, a baby girl was born in a clan of powerful magicians, the most ancient of Europe. Clan members seemed happy and curious about the new entry to the family. They had great expectations about what magic she would develop, as everyone else in that family. At the ripe old age of 1 year and a half / 2 years, the baby girl was expected to show some signs of magic, but she had none. But hey, maybe she would become powerful later, let's pat her head and wait patiently. At that time, the Clan still showed some kind of "attention" for her.

But by the time the girl was around 6/7 years old, no fragment of magic appeared in her. Unacceptable. She's the daughter of two top rank magicians, in a clan of magic prodigies. Yet, she showed none of those gifts. They kept comparing her with some boy, living in a far away country, part of another famous magical clan. The girl suddenly held no more interest for her Clan. They actually started seeing her as a stain on their Clan's pride. Suddenly, the focus was all on how they could surpass the other rival clan. The girl was left all alone. A magicless member of the family is a member who doesn't even deserve being talked to. An interrogatory, at most. Who cares if the little girl wants to socialize, if she wants to play, if she's the only young person in that Clan, already without her parents who died so early on? The only thing this girl was good at was reading books, so all that's she's allowed to do. Not even playing with stuffed animals. For some reason, she's allowed to keep only ONE plushie, which is basically everything to her. But books and dolls can't fill that sinkhole she's already feeling at such young age.

Obsessed with this "anomaly", when she was about 2 years old, the Clan had the baby girl examined by a member of a Magic Association in England, known to be the den of shady magicians. A 8/9 year old bored magic genius, named “Yuna D.”, was her examiner. The boy said "She's like a blank book". The girl grew up, and the situation was still the same. The disapproving stares of her relatives cut the little girl’s heart like a sharp knife. They called her “worthless”, “useless”. They even doubted she could really be the daughter of her powerful parents. So what should they have done? Let the little girl live her life like any other regular human being, or taking literally the words of a BORED, EMOTIONALLY UNDEVELOPED CHILD who literally spat out the first thing that came to his mind?

Although the choice should’ve come easily for any normal human being with a functioning brain, they actually went in the other direction, greedy for power. And so, they decided to treat the girl like a tool, using her to store all kinds of magic for them to use. If she couldn’t be of any help to her clan with her capabilities, they would give her a purpose.

On some kind of altar, halfway between a lab rat and the sacrificing ritual of a sect, the most ancient Magicians of Europe together with the Magic Association performed a dangerous magic on her, which afterwards would take its toll even on the casters: they turned her into a magical artifact, capable of engraving in herself all the magical books she would encounter, transforming her de facto into a book herself. As if this wasn’t horrifying enough, this spell will progressively try to crush her soul and conscience, until it gets destroyed completely. So when the artifact will reach its limit, it will be the death of her, as a human being. Only a shell of her will remain. And judging by what was said later on in the story, they actually hope for her to lose her consciousness completely, so they can make use of her more easily.

Afterwards, they burned the book they took the ritual from, so the procedure would remain in their knowledge only. Greedy till the very last drop.

Once their perfect magical tool was achieved, turning a little girl into some sort of artifact, both the Clan and their accomplices couldn't stop bragging about it. The only positive words Akiho has ever received in her life by her people were after she was turned into a tool.

With a newly found purpose for that stain on their clan’s pride, they sent her away into the world to collect all the magic books she could find and write their powers into her, even though she was still just a child. For reasons still unknown, Yuna D., the boy who involuntarily caused this horrible ritual to happen and basically condemned her to death, offers himself to accompany her. The very first decision he took in his own life. That decision will change forever the course of their life, for both of them.

Rising from the ashes, towards a future of hope

Rehashing Akiho’s past is important to understand her personality and behavior fully. CLAMP, in the Clear Card manga, have portrayed the story of her past in a very peculiar way: it starts as any other fairytale, with light tones and cute designs. But as the story progresses, and the horror ensues, the tone of the tale changes, and so the drawing style too. It becomes serious, and “realistic” (ad opposed to the initial cutesy style). What started as a possible generic fairytale, turned into a real nightmare.

On top of being deprived of the love of her parents ever since she was born, because apparently they died right after, Akiho spent her early childhood in complete solitude. Those magicians who were supposed to be her remaining family were too absorbed into their own greed for power, to consider the needs of a baby girl. Not to mention that they had some kind of disgust for her, for being magicless. She was denied attention, cuddles, conversations, play activities, toys. She was denied love and care. All basic things that contribute to shape the personality and psychology of a person. Akiho grew up with the conviction that she wasn’t worth any of that, because no one gave it to her. One of the complaints I have seen the most about her in the fandom, is how she’s always so apologetic, to the point of becoming obnoxious. If you think about it, one of the most prominent characteristics of her personality is how she continuously apologizes to people, thanks them for any smallest thing, and is always, constantly seeking validation. 

But if you stop for a second to think about her past, you’ll realize with dismay that those are none other than symptoms of the abuse she suffered in the past. She was called “good for nothing” and “useless” by her clan and the Magic Association, and those words carved themselves into her heart, forever scarring it. Akiho grew up believing that she was really worthless and good for nothing just because she couldn’t meet the expectations of her clan, and it’s apparent when we see her considering herself “extremely clumsy”, even though we have afterwards seen that she’s perfectly capable of cooking, sewing, even playing sports. She only needs the dedication of someone who would teach her that.

With a disastrous psychological situation like this, one would naturally wonder how this girl didn’t commit anything extreme yet. Completely alone in the world, deemed useless. Unloved.

Books, books were her first lifeline. The fictional, magical, wonderful worlds depicted in those stories saved her sanity, making her dream about a better life, about friendship, about love. They taught her everything. They gave her the hope that those things existed out there, and maybe one day she would be blessed with them too. The fantastical characters kept her company when no one was there for her (yet). And she loves them viscerally for that, to the point of seeing herself mending damaged books in the future, as a possible occupation. Just like they mended her lacerated heart.

The second lifeline was her meeting with Kaito. Uncharacteristically to him, Kaito showed immediately a kind and interested behavior towards her. This was so shocking, so incredible that Akiho’s first reaction to his introduction was to run away. No one ever addressed her with the intention of having a conversation. No one was ever interested in what she was reading. Even just by this you can get a glimpse of how miserable her life had been till then. Full of psychological issues himself, thanks to the human connection Kaito gradually turned his attentions towards Akiho from contrieved mannerism, to genuine and sincere gestures. Akiho can feel that affection, even if her self-criticism always pushes her to believe that she’s nothing more than “job” to him. It’s something small, but what she’s experiencing with Kaito is her everything, and more than she’s ever had.

The third lifeline is Momo: Akiho doesn’t know, nor remotely imagines she’s actually a living magical creature. But she has been her constant presence ever since she was born. Her connection to her is special, and you can see it in their daily (one-sided, for now) interactions. Akiho talks to Momo, she greets her when she comes back home, she constantly carries her around, she thinks about giving her a little dress as a present. Momo is Akiho’s strength. The love this girl pours into what she believes is just a stuffed animal is incredible. It goes to show Akiho’s immense capacity to love something/someone without expecting anything in return, but actually just enjoying the simple presence and courage they give to her. If you think about it, it’s the very opposite of what she experienced with the only human interactions she’s ever had before Kaito came into the picture. Her aptitude to selfless love is also remarked between the lines in chapter 49, when Akiho is telling Sakura about her relationship with Kaito. Despite all the ugliness she went through, she’s still able to find in herself the strength to overcome all of it, and change her life for the better.

This certainly hasn’t been an easy or quick process, because in the flashbacks of her journey with Kaito we always see her with a pensive/serious look. It must have been extremely hard to start trusting others, when she had no one she could count on in her own home.

Akiho’s capacity to love and rise from the ashes of her terrible past has been so contagious, that it has started to affect Kaito too.  As Momo said in chapter 51, once you’re given the reason to change, no person can ever stay the same. This must have been true for Kaito, but certainly for Akiho too.

I’m absolutely positive that Akiho (and possibly, Kaito too) will be the symbol for one of the most important, beautiful messages in the whole Clear Card Arc: even if your life isn’t perfect, even if your past scarred you in multiple ways, there’s always hope. Hope to turn over a new leaf and change yourself for the better too, in the process. Overcome everything that had you stuck in pain and grief. Achieve what you always wished for.

[thenocturnalmushroom]

A Cozy Night - Touyuki - CCS

Tags: Fluff; Domestic; Domestic Fluff; Self-Indulgent; Established Relationship

Read on AO3

It was almost eleven at night and Yukito still having no desire to go to sleep. He was comfortably sitting under his kotatsu, accompanied by a good show on his laptop, a tin of cookies and some delicious hot tea – a perfect combo to a winter night. His plan was to finish watching the said show that same night, even if he had to stay up until dawn; it was a Friday night and he had no class nor job the next morning so he had no worries regarded his bedtime. Besides, the show was worth the loss of some sleep hours.

The silver-haired boy was completely immersed into the story, anxiously nibbling at a sugar cookie and barely noticing how his body was slowly leaning toward the laptop while his almost unblinking eyes refused to go away from the screen. The first real confront of the main character and the true villain was finally happening, and it was intense. Yukito had been waiting for it for the last seven episodes and he didn’t want to miss even the smallest detail; he was sure that everything about that scene would be important later in the story. His focus was completely stolen by the show and everything else was forgotten for some long, long minutes.

And that was why the boy nearly jumped out of his skin when the bell of his house rang, letting the half-eaten cookie slip from between his fingers.

It took him only a second to recover from the startle. He quickly paused the video and retrieved the cookie from the table, throwing it into his mouth, before heading to the front door, still chewing on the sweet. Being a little past eleven now, Yukito could only think about one single person who would come to visit him this late at night - and it made his heart singing inside his chest.

He hurried to open the door, and there was no surprise when he found Touya waiting outside, his hands shoved into the pockets of his heavy coat and a soft smile touching his lips.

“Hey!”, his boyfriend greeted him so casually, as if he wasn’t clearly freezing in that cold night.

“Touya!”, Yukito exclaimed his name for both the pleasure of saying it and as slight scold. He gave a step aside. “Hurry inside or you’ll end up getting sick!”

Touya wasted no time and complied. While Yukito closed and locked the door again, Touya carefully landed his backpack on the floor right before taking off his shoes, placing them besides his boyfriend’s ones.

“What are you doing here?”, the silver-haired boy asked while helping the other to take out his coat, which was slightly wet from the light snow that was falling outside. “I thought your shift at the restaurant would only end around midnight.”

“Things were too slow today, so my boss decided to close earlier.”, Touya casually passed his hands through his damped hair, shaking it softly. He had strongly regraded not having brought with him an umbrella or at least a bonnet.

Yukito quickly run to the cupboard to fetch a towel for him.

“If you have some spare time, you should have gone home and rested. You’ve been working harder than the usual this week.”, he said, handing the towel to Touya. It wasn't like he wasn't happy to see the other boy. Not at all. The week had been so busy that they had barely had time to meet outside the few classes they share together. However, Yukito couldn’t help but worry about Touya and his health; he would gladly sacrifice some of their time together if that meant that Touya was getting a proper time to rest, recovering all the energy he had spent between classes and all his numerous part-time jobs. He knew his boyfriend was strong, but he was still human.

“I think I can rest here pretty well, can’t I?”, Touya put the towel round his neck and gave a step forward to close even more the already short distance between them. Gently, he touched Yukito’s face, a cold hand on a warm skin, giving to both of them a pleasant shiver. Looking unbothered by the coolness of his boyfriend’s hand, Yukito covered it with his own hand, rubbing his cheek against Touya’s palm as if to lend it some warmth in a tender, affectionate gesture. As tender and affectionate as the smile they both wore on his lips. “Besides, I am home.”

Yukito’s eyes widened for a moment, his face feeling suddenly hot; he wasn’t waiting for a response like that. He felt a bubbling sensation being born inside his stomach and rise through his throat, taking the shape of a soft, cheerful giggle. “Tou-ya, you’re such a sappy!”

“Who are you calling sappy?”, Touya frowned, using the hand he was resting on the other boy’s face to pinch his cheek lightly. He looked annoyed, but Yukito knew it was only a facade; he could see all the softness around his boyfriend’s dark eyes, at the tips of his thin lips, almost imperceptibly turned upwards. And it only made him laugh even more.

Seeing Yukito like this made Touya’s frown melted into the fondest of the smiles. The urge of kissing the silver-haired boy he always feels whenever he sees his face – or thinks about him – only intensified at the that moment and Touya decided to just go for it. He leaned forward, now with both of his hand gingerly cupping Yukito’s face, bringing him closer and closer and closer, so ready to taste his lips once again, always so soft and sweet.

But the kiss never came.

“No! No! No! Rest first, kisses second!”, Yukito declared and ,with an unexpected quick movement, he turned his boyfriend around before putting his hand on his back to gently lead him to the living room.

“Yuki, what the…”

“You go rest and I’ll make some sandwiches and pour some tea for us. You can kiss me as much as you want later.”

“Fine.”, Touya agreed in defeat. It wasn’t exactly what he had planned, but it sounded good enough for him.

--

Touya took a place at the kotatsu, finishing drying his hair while listening Yukito in the kitchen preparing their snacks. He thought about offering some help to his boyfriend, but he quickly dismissed the idea; Yukito had insisted so much to him to take a rest that the boy would, for sure, kicked him out of the kitchen in no time. Without much to do, he stared at the laptop over the table, finding a paused image of what looked like an intense fight scene on its screen, and started trying to guess what this show was about.

It didn’t take much time for Touya to start feeling bored. He started darting looks at the open door, as if doing so Yukito would hurry up and come back to keep him company. He had been craving his boyfriend presence during that entire hectic week; they had had so little time to spend together these past days and Touya was eager to compensate for the lost time, for all the hugs and kisses and smiles they wasn’t able to share throughout the week.

A few more minutes had passed and Touya decided that being scolded and kicked out of the kitchen by Yukito would worth it.

However, none of it came to him.

“Ah, Toya! Great timing!”, exclaimed Yukito, his hands holding a tray piled up with half dozen  sandwiches. Resting over the sink top, another tray was waiting to be picked up, this one carrying two mugs and a steaming teapot. The sweet essence of the tea was hanging on the air, hitting Toya’s noise with the fresh smell of peaches and mint. “Can you pick the other tray, please?”

Carrying a tray each, Touya and Yukito came back to the living room and, without any waste of time, they set the table for their almost-midnight snack, sitting shoulder to shoulder under the heat of the kotatsu. Touya asked about the movie on the laptop screen and Yukito gladly talked all about it while they were eating, making sure to avoid any greater spoilers.

“That show sounds pretty cool.”, Touya said, between a bite and another. If he were being honest, he wasn’t sure if the plot of the show actually sounded that great or if it was Yukito’s enthusiasm about it that picked up his interest on it.

“If you want to, we can watch it together! I wouldn’t mind rewatching the previous episodes with you.”, his smile was so warm, so cozy when he made the offer that Touya found himself completely unable to answer anything but yes.

“Sure! Do you wanna start right now?” and the silver-haired boy didn’t need any other word to draw his laptop closer and click back on the very first episode of the series.

Rewatching the show was still pretty fun, but having Touya by his side was the best part of it. And it wasn’t only because now he had someone to share his thoughts about it. Having Touya’s arm around him, involving his body with his warmth, his scent, his strong but gentle presence, filled Yukito’s heart with the coziest of the feelings.

He felt whole. He felt safe.

He felt at home.

The same could be told about Touya. The boy could feel all the tiredness of the week melting away, leaving his shoulders lighter and his chest full of warmness and the sweetest peace. He nestled his boyfriend comfortably into his arms and rested his cheek on the top of his head, breathing slowly, absorbing Yukito’s presence and letting it impregnate his lungs, his heart, his whole being.

It was like magic; something fantastic and hard to describe, but so easy to feel – to get immerse in.

Yukito was his safe place and Touya always does his best to be the same to Yukito.

In their small, quiet world, Touya could finally feel truly relaxed, leaving all the stress and exhaustion from that long, long week behind and embrace the serenity of the moment. He allowed his body to go limp and his eyelids to get heavier and heavier, giving in to a sweet sleepiness state.

“I think we should go sleep.”, Yukito suggested, a hint of laughter in his voice. “We can watch the rest of the show tomorrow.”

Touya yawned. “Good idea.”

The taller boyfriend unwrapped his arms from around the other to stretch his body a bit, letting the silver-haired boy free to lean toward and close his laptop. But, before he could do anything else, such as get up and start cleaning up the table, Touya enlaced his waist once again, keeping him close to himself.

“Hey, don’t think I forgot about the kisses you’ve promised me!”, Touya smiled and cupped Yukito’s face with one of his hands, his thumb tenderly stroking his boyfriend’s cheek.

Yukito’s eyes lighted up like a moon finally appearing from behind a thick layer of clouds; so bright, so beautiful, so powerful against the darkness. Toya nearly lost his breath when he smiled back at him, the same smile that made him fall in love so many years ago. Sweet and vibrant. So sincere and genuine, coming from his core and growing until it blossom into his lips.

Those warm, soft lips that Touya was dying to kiss. So, that was what he did it.

Toya leaned forward and kissed Yukito exactly the way he was waiting for the whole day: slowly and affectionate, enjoying every single second of it. There was no hurry; they had all the time in the world - their private world. They could just allowed themselves to get lost in each other’s touch, to dive in each other’s warmth, in the sweetness of the other’s mouth. To Yukito, Touya’s lips had always tasted like peaches, but, somehow, they tasted especially sweet that night; he wondered if the tea they had had earlier would have something to do with that. Coincidentally, Touya found Yukito’s lips softer than ever, more tempting than ever.

“Satisfied?”, Yukito asked with a soft giggle when their lips parted. Even with their mouths parted, they kept their faces close, forehead to forehead, the tip of their noses softly brushing to the other in a loving gesture, while their bodies followed the example and still tangled in an embrace so tight that one could feel the other’s heart beating fast against their own.

“Not quite. I could have a dozen more of it, but I’m so tired right now that I think I’ll save them for tomorrow.”, as to emphasize his words, Touya closed his eyes and let his head slowly slip until it found the curve of Yukito’s neck, resting there with a content sigh. He could feel his boyfriend’s body shaking in a quiet laughter.

Yukito landed a gentle kiss on the top of Touya’s head, whispering against his dark strands: “They will be waiting for you in the morning.”

Hearing those words, Touya smiled and released the weight of his tired body over Yukito’s. Caught by surprise, the silver-haired boy’s body easily gave in with the sudden extra weight and lay down on his back with his boyfriend on his top, making both boys laugh.

Touya rested his head on Yukito’s chest and hugged his wait, while Yukito wrapped his arms around his shoulder, using one of his hands to stroke Touya’s hair in the most tender way, giving his boyfriend some pleasant goosebumps.

“We should go to bed, you know? Or we’re gonna catch a cold.”, Yukito said, but made no effort to get up or made his boyfriend to do so.

“We’ll be fine. We have the kotatsu and each other to keep ourselves warm the whole night.”, Touya’s voice was heavy with sleep, getting lower and lower with every word he said. Yukito only answer was a soft giggle and another kiss on his head.

They both felt so comfortable, so in peace resting in each other’s arms. They let the pounding of the other’s heart be their lullaby, leading them to a sweet slumber.

“Tou-ya~!”, Yukito called him with what was left of his consciousness.

“Hm?”

“Love you.”

Touya smiled to himself. “I love you, too.”

[xoxo-ren-xoxo]

Just a small thing that you can definitely ignore if you want and I know this might be bad to say or even selfish but I just.. miss the old Schlatt? not the one who's now doing this content and making hurtful jokes just for money. because every day I'm losing more and more hope that off camera, he's a genuine person?

Or I just want him to improve and become better? I don't know, I know I might be selfish for being like that and I do recognise that parasocial relationships do exist and he is merely a stranger to me but I just want him to become better and to be better. curse me and my heart where I just want the best for everyone, even if I don't know them. c': I think I miss the old Schlatt - because I feel like even this persona he has is not doing him any good?

This might be a thought but you know when you look at someone and you can just see or feel that their mindset is affecting them - especially when it's affecting them negatively? I noticed that with him. Again, I know I'm a mere stranger and I don't know anything about him but even with strangers you can notice this? When he was on a break from that sort of content while he was moving, on the update "I'm Back" video he had a better energy? But when he started to embrace that persona again, his energy is just becoming worse and worse. the only times his energy was better again was when he had the moments with Jambo?

I don't know. I'm just going on a ramble at this point but I just wish he became better?

This is the exact reason I still watch the guy! I completely get where you're coming from, and it can be hard to have these sorts of conversations without speculating about what goes on 'behind the scenes' (something we know Schlatt is uncomfortable with and is possibly one of the reasons he puts on such a contrary persona).

I agree that his content has taken a downturn lately. But I don't think it's the fault of the persona, I think it's the fault of him misusing the persona. Of course he can do whatever he wants, I don't really care cause if he decides he wants to keep being a bastard then that's his problem and I'll stop watching cause that content isn't for me. However, I have some ideas about why the more recent videos have been 'worse':

His heart isn't in it. Jackbox games are fun and all but they aren't the kind of content Schlatt likes to make. In my opinion. His old channel had videoessays, but he's said before that they don't make enough money for him to keep doing that. I think he likes the little slice of life videos more because they're easy and because they're fun. I think the Wii videos were great, well-structured and good examples of well-done satire, but I feel he got a bit bored of it so he tried jackbox, which just isn't the same.

The satire doesn't work with jackbox videos. In the Wii videos it's just him and the game and some props. He plays his character and clearly makes fun of the kind of person he's portraying, or he just makes fun of himself, which is cool too lol. For example in the Wii fishing video, he plays the character of a misogynistic guy who loves fishing and hates his wife. Then proceeds to be terrible at the game and get angry to the point of making himself look like a fool. That's why we laugh! We laugh at the dumbass he's portraying. And obviously this is the same for most of the bits he does. The classic one being the gay Catholic patriot. The unexpected clash of traits makes it funny. With the jackbox vids you don't really get that. It's him and some friends. And yeah, they make fun of themselves and each other, but it has the unwanted side effect of being easy to turn into something that starts to make fun of other people, such as minorities or victims of tragedy, which isn't okay.

Mans is just trying to get a rise out of people. We all know this. The last video was purposefully offensive to try to scare the dream stans away. Which was dumb, and he shouldn't have done it, but I get why he did it. With everything that's happened recently, I'm sure Schlatt doesn't want to be associated with that sort of fanbase. Unfortunately, he went the wrong way about scaring them off.

Moving, the entire thing with lunch club and cmc, getting a cat, and Connor moving in, all while making near-weekly videos, two podcasts, and being on streams. That's a lot to think about, which is probably another reason for the lazier content and falling back on 'easy' jokes that often turn out offensive.

What I'm saying is that I feel he's in a rut. He hit a dead end, tried to fix things, then fell off and made a shitty video as an attempt for controversy. If I'm right, then I feel that he's gonna take a bit of a break (he's already taken a pretty long break if you look at how long it's been since the last video on his main channel) and come back when he's actually ready to do some better content.

The video was bad, and I get why people don't feel comfortable watching him anymore. I've made my peace with it and I'm hoping for some better content soon. But not too soon!

Lots of his friends have spoken about the whole thing, and the general consensus is that yeah, it was bad. I think Connor talked about him and Schlatt seeing a kid watching The Video and Schlatt having this 'oh shit' moment? I might be wrong, if anyone has a link to the clip or stream where Connor talks about this lmk. But regardless, I think mans is taking a break and sorting himself out. There are also rumours he might stream soon but idk idk.

I feel that off-camera he's a completely different person. Minx said she sees it that way, Ty also said he's very respectful and chill off-camera. So I don't think he's a bad person (I don't think he's racist or anti-Semetic, he fucked up but I highly doubt he believes that shit irl and I think claiming that he does is just performative and kinda weird. I understand microagressions are also very bad and can be used by racists/be racist but on their own they do not make you a racist especially if it's poor taste jokes that went too far etc).

You're right though, he definitely wanted to make money. That didn't really work out for him though (if you look at the stats on The Video, it performed terribly) so I doubt it's a mistake he would make again.

For now, if you want to see better content that (I think) reflects Schlatt in a better light (aka he's still doing a bit but he's much more chill and less of a bastard about it) I recommend the chuckle sandwich podcast and sleep deprived podcast. He's on OTK streams a lot too but that sorta thing isn't really for me.

Also stan connoreatspants bringing us Jambo content all the time. 🙌

Idk if that was helpful, but it's more a gesture of solidarity since I agree with and feel everything you're saying. Of course, this is all speculation, please don't spread this as fact because I don't know Schlatt any better than you do. He's just a comfort CC and guy I think is kinda neat when he's not doing dumb shit.

Sorry for the long post. Also, you can disregard the shit I said about racism if you want cause I'm not qualified to talk about it really. There are good points for calling someone a racist for jokes like the ones in the video, but I feel like the rest of the factors should be looked at too since this is a complicated situation. Again, just my opinion, please no hate. If you have a complaint DM me or send an ask. I'm open to hearing other povs.

Have a nice day !