#listen listen listen you HAVE GOT! TO WATCH THE CUTSCENES FOR THIS MAN

[shapeshiftinterest]

song: the fizzith

Look at the insane cutscenes of this game i played today

[dustandthought]

PINKERTON'S FAVORITE WHORE

He Paid to Be Betrayed

I can’t stop thinking about that girl. That shot from the credits — where the Pinkertons approach her with a casual smile, while she’s servicing another client. I’m absolutely sure Charles had been with her more than once, not just during that mission in the Valentine saloon. We’re not shown everything, right? We don’t see how the gang members spend their downtime, when they go into town, who they spend it with.

I’m almost certain Charles wasn’t the only one. Half the guys in the gang clearly had a thing for whores. And that woman — that prostitute — I’m sure she was one of the people who gave information to the Pinkertons. Maybe even about Charles himself, though he managed to leave Beecher’s Hope. In the end, she definitely helped lead them to John.

Working girls don’t care what they get paid for — whether it’s to spread their legs or spill someone’s secrets. Especially if they get paid twice as much. And her clients — even Charles — couldn’t really hide their identity from her. Sure, he’s the quiet type, but if you watch that saloon scene before the cutscene triggers, you can clearly see him talking nonstop to the girls — his mouth never stops moving. We don’t hear any of it, but his lips are constantly moving, like he’s deep in conversation. Javier, by comparison, barely moves his mouth.

Prostitutes aren’t stupid. They take mental notes on their clients — who they are, how much they’re worth, and whether there’s more to gain than just cash. So here’s what I’m thinking… I once read this crackpot theory that Charles was the real rat in the gang. Probably a joke, because the arguments were like: “He drinks coffee. Dutch drinks coffee. Boom — traitor.” Seriously.

But my theory? The girls — the prostitutes — were the real rats. Or at least, they played a way bigger role than anyone realizes. Maybe that sounds even more insane, because I’ve got no hard evidence — except for that one frame in the credits, where she’s clearly giving information to the agents. Maybe not directly about John, but about Charles and Javier? Very likely. And if so, all she did was pass along what the guys themselves told her — in drunken confidence, far too trusting of their smugly satisfied, rented companion for the night.

Where the Gang Fell Apart

We only see things through Arthur’s eyes, but we have no idea what the others are doing. Dutch told them to blend in, act like civilized workers, and find ways to make an honest living. But he didn’t tell them to get black-out drunk, hire whores, and start bar fights. And yet that’s exactly what they did — so recklessly it borders on stupidity. When you’re that drunk, you don’t care who’s listening or what you’re saying.

There’s even a line in a conversation between O’Driscoll members, where they say Colm ordered them not to mess with whores until their job was done. And honestly? He was right. A drunk man whose dick is doing the thinking is no friend to his own brain. And yes — scientific studies confirm that sexual hormones impair both cognitive and physical performance. Aroused men are less rational, more impulsive, and their coordination drops. (This is a bit of a tangent, but it fits.)

So, is it possible that one of the biggest reasons behind the gang’s constant failures wasn’t just Dutch’s madness or Micah’s betrayal — but the reckless, indulgent lifestyle of its men? I’m not blaming them for wanting to satisfy basic urges. But, seriously — showing up as a group of four (Arthur, Javier, Charles, Bill) at the saloon, all of them among the most wanted criminals in the country, openly using their real names, and then starting a fight?

That’s not just carelessness. That’s self-destruction.

[amostimprobabledream]

The Captains Play Stardew Valley!

I have Stardew on the brain. These are very silly.

Shunsui Kyoraku:

He never knows where the fuck his animals are because he "doesn't believe" in fencing them in. He also forgets to water his crops so he struggles in the first year because he's always broke af - not an experience he has in his real life.

He loves the whimsy of the game, especially when it comes to finding little secrets like Secret Woods or getting to Ginger Island. He reacts like a five-year-old being presented candy, it's the cutest thing. Also, he's in Stardrop Saloon almost as much as Shane is.

He never does the same thing per day, he'll have a wander down to the bottom of the map one day, mosey into town the next, explore the beach another…he's one of those people who takes "comfy game" at face value and plays in a way that's so leisurely that it's actually quite frustrating to watch. The urge to backseat game is often very hard to resist.

Favourite villager: All the women. All of them. From Jas to Evelyn, he loves every lady. Even the witch, he thinks he could fix her. He desperately wants Marnie to dump Lewis and find a man who appreciates her and feels bad for Sandy stuck by herself in Calico Desert.

Soi Fong:

Naturally, she got a cat when given the option and listening to it meow at her fills her heart with glee, but she pretends she doesn't care. She becomes offended if any of her animals give her eggs/milk/etc that aren't gold star or higher.

She absolutely hates Lewis for his terrible management and keeps asking why you can't vote to remove him as Mayor when he's so blatantly incompetent. A mystery for us all. She's also absolutely flabbergasted that Lewis is dating Marnie on the sly. She also dislikes Pierre for claiming her produce as his own.

She likes fighting monsters, when she managed to get to the desert she was thrilled at there being tougher monsters in there - she changed her tune pretty quickly when she got ganged up on by three serpents and lost some valuable treasure. She pouted about that all evening.

Favourite villager: Abigail - her tomboy attitude reminds her of someone…

Rose Otoribayashi:

Rose thinks the game is adorable at first but he quickly starts learning some of the lore and is surprised by how dark this seemingly cutesy farming simulator can get at times.

He absolutely loves the music in the games and has even tried writing songs with them as inspiration. Sometimes he just plays the game soley to wander about and vibe with whatever music is playing in the background.

He enjoys combing the beach and the tide pools or pulling up flowers and giving them to villagers. He does finish the mines but he doesn't visit them unless he has to because of a quest, he finds them gloomy and not fun to look at.

Favourite villager: This is an easy one, he's SUCH an Elliot stan. He calls him his "digital twin".

Unohana Retsu:

She completes the mines and skull cavern with ease. She can't intimidate the characters in the game with her avatar so she gets to back it up with her sword instead. Seeing the joy on her face at cutting down enemy after enemy makes you wonder if you gave her the right game.

That said, she also enjoys the cosier aspect of it - tending to her crops and animals comes quite easy to her and she's never bored by it. When confronted with cutscenes for the games she tends to be firm but fair in her advice.

She rarely faints but she likes checking in at the hospital because it reminds her of Fourth Division, so she has a lot of friendship points with Harvey and Maru especially.

Favourite villager: Harvey but also Marlon. Duality queen.

Shinji Hirako:

He has the WORST fucking luck in the mines - when he sets up bombs they explode in his face, he can never find enemies when there's a quest to do them, etc. Yet then every so often his crops will get visited by a fairy and suddenly be fully mature just when he needs them to, or he'll catch a rare fish by mistake.

He pretends to be disinterested, but he's a liar. Shinji LOVES, and I mean LOVES the tea about the villagers - when Caroline mentions she used to like to take walks by the Wizard's Tower he nearly spat out his coffee. And he actually shrieked when he found Marnie and Lewis in the bushes together - you ran into the room because you thought the idiot had stubbed his toe or something. He ships the villagers together unless he's the one courting them.

He cracks you up during the cutscenes because he says the most hilarious things in response to the villager's antics with a straight face. He goes for Lewis' jugular EVERY TIME.

Favourite villager: He likes most of them, but he has a thing for Haley - she was rude to him when he first talked to her and he developed a bit of a crush.

Byakuya Kuchiki:

It took a LONG time to persuade Mr. Uppitypants to play, but once he does he's DETERMINED to stick to a firm schedule. Too bad that's not quite how it works - he's terrible at the fishing game and it takes him forever to get the correct ones for the community centre. He buys them from the merchant whenever possible.

Spring is his favourite season because of the cherry trees. He waters his crops and checks on the animals diligently, every day, and with a complete straight face. He doesn't like being poor so his Farmer starts making bank QUICKLY.

Gets SUPER competitive during seasonal events, especially the Flower Dance. He's still salty about Abigail beating him in the Egg Race in the first year and has lowkey disliked her since then.

Favourite villager: Penny, he likes her genteel, shy nature. Reminds him a tiny bit of his wife.

Komamura Sajin:

Oh my god, he absolutely LOVES this game. Looking after animals is his absolute jam and he quickly turns his farm very profitable. He's just disappointed you can't take your dog on walks with you in the village and thinks all of them should appreciate its cuteness.

He dislikes the fishing game, not because he's bad at it but he doesn't like removing them from their home just to lounge about in your backpack, but Sajin is also duty-bound to restore that damn community centre, so…sacrifices must be made.

Also he's overjoyed when he learns you can speak to animals in the game and always goes to check the forest in case there's a new furry critter to talk to. He also befriends Krobus and the Dwarf very quickly, since he can relate to being different to everyone around him.

Favourite villager: Linus, he appreciates a guy who is in-tune with nature and just wants to live peacefully among the animals. He also is indignant when people judge the Farmer for digging through the trash, so you know, kindred spirits.

Lisa Yadomaru:

Lisa has married every bachelor and bachelorette in the game at least once - she has the save files to prove it. She says she likes to explore all the game's options but that's not true, she just wanted to know who has the spiciest lines of dialogue as your spouse.

She hates having to check the animals and crops every day so she uses sprinklers to maximum efficiency and getting the automatic feeder is a godsend. She does still like to pet them and see the cute little heart icons, though. Lisa isn't immune to cute pixellated animals.

She finds the mines kind of boring but her insatiable curiosity compels her to get to the bottom anyway, and she loves finding new clothing items to dress her character in - every time she loads the game her Farmer has some kind of new fit on.

Favourite villager: She was very upset when you told her you can't marry Sandy - Lisa calls her "desert wife". She's also fond of Maru, who reminds her slightly of Nanao.

Kensei Muguruma:

Kensei gets a horse ridiculously early on because the slow walking pace of the Farmer drives him insane, especially when he passes out just before he reaches his farm, so he goes out of his way to get a stable as soon as possible. The horse stays his favourite animal throughout the game because it goes home by itself.

The fishing game nearly made him fling the controller out of the window - especially when he had to get an octopus. You were seriously concerned he was going to straight-up snap your game in half.

He tunes into Queen of Sauce EVERY time, even when it's a re-run "just in case I missed it". He has actually tried to cook some of the recipes in the game and some of them were actually quite tasty! (He declined to attempt the Strange Bun, though.)

Favourite villager: Robin, he likes building new stuff on the farm and he finds Sebastian's cynicism refreshing in a game with mostly upbeat characters. He constantly grumbles how Demetrius isn't good enough for them.

Hitsugaya Toshiro:

He protested when you first got him to play - he's not a kid! But eventually he gave in to shut you up and soon enough he found himself drawn in, especially at the notion of it being passed down from his grandfather.

He likes unlocking things as he goes through the community centre and gets this satisfied little smirk every time he completes a bundle, even if it's an easy one. He's actually a little disappointed when he finally finishes it and doesn't have much reason to go anymore.

Hitsugaya tries to do everything so "you can't accuse him of not playing right", but he gets so salty if he has a bad time in the mine or spends ages fishing and doesn't get the right thing - then he yells at you for teasing him when he pouts. Favourite villager: Surprisingly, he's fond of Sam, he appreciates how hard he tries to stay upbeat and look after his little brother, it reminds him of when he was a kid and protecting Hinamori.

Zaraki Kenpachi:

He spends almost all of his time in the mines - as soon as he learns you can fight monsters in the game that's all he does. He's passed out in there MULTIPLE times, to the point where he was too broke to collapse anymore. Luckily he also made money quickly because he found a lot of gemstones down there.

Can never remember any of the character's names so he gives them nicknames - Evelyn and George are "the old people", Harvey is "Glasses", Haley and Sam are both "Blondie", etc.

He gets very aggravated when anybody he wants to sell to isn't there, especially when it's Clint, who he doesn't like and swears at a lot. Funnily enough he doesn't curse Marnie out the same way, even if he really wants a cow and she's too busy staring at her microwave.

Favourite villager: Marlon, he likes a man who knows his way around dangerous weapons. But unsurprisingly…he also has a soft spot for Jas.

Mayuri Kurotsuchi:

Another person it took ages to convince, but he finds it intruiging despite the simplicity of it. Mayuri isn't really interested in the villagers and instead immediately dives into all the supernatural/weird shit - he visits the Wizard's Tower every day and ends up getting the Sewers pretty early too.

He's a completionist at heart so he gets very determined about filling up the community centre quickly and gets pissy when you point out unless the merchant has a red cabbage he's unlikely to get it done by the first year.

Rarely does to any of the seasonal festivities, but he does always go to Spirit's Eve - he likes the aesthetic.

Favourite villager: He finds Krobus the most interesting and would probably invite him to live on the farm if forced to pick a spouse, but for human characters it's the Wizard.

Ukitake Juushiro:

Mr. Conflict Averse King hates it when he walks in on a cutscene that requires him to pick a side, he hates upsetting any of the villagers. He reaches ten hearts with people because he unfailingly responds in a way that will max out their affections.

He befriends Linus SO quickly because he feels bad for him. He also wishes he could help with all the problems and disapproves of the bad parenting present in the game, especially Pam and Demetrius. Shane's cutscenes involving his alcoholism made him so sad as well.

It takes him forever to get through the mines, the button mashing is hard for him and the frantic pace of Skull Cavern and the desert is enough to give the man heart palpitations.

Favourite villager: Vincent and Jas, obviously. He's got such a soft spot for little kids and his heart breaks at Jas' backstory.

[nishitanis-left-nut]

at the beginning mitsu mentions how ichiban always holds back and lets whoever hes fighting land hits on purpose, and ichiban explains that its to keep things "fair," and mitsu responds with "i know how you fight hard when you wanna"

so i assumed ichiban was a beast like kiryu but just had his own moral code that just so happened to make him look weaker than he actually is, and i still think that but i also feel like by now they shouldve given us a scene of him either letting loose or showed us a glimpse of how strong he actually is?

the fight with majima and saejima would've been a great chance for that, in the last cutscene before arakawa and daigo come in they could've had a moment where ichi makes majima falter or takes saejima by surprise or something, and have them quickly and wordlessly acknowledge his strength by taking a stance and getting ready to "take things seriously" before getting interrupted by arakawa- and before you say "but nishitanis-left-nut, thats what happened in the scene" listen- what i mean is specifically ichiban getting a good hit in on either of the jimas and THAT being the catalyst for the shift in the fight

ichibans party is important to the overall plot and what not but i really feel like the game doesnt prioritize him as the protagonist in a lot of the cutscenes? you couldve gone into that fight with any combination of ichibans friends so why not give the final blow in the fight to him in the cut scene right after you win so that the victory does something for ichibans character? but it just hard cuts to majima wiping some blood from his mouth and then arakawa walks in before him and saejima can lock in

i get ichiban isn't kiryu but i thought they were setting him up to be an equally competent fighter that just so happened to enjoy fighting in his own way, and that involved getting his ass handed to him on purpose, kind of like a mix of what majima and kiryu get out of fighting and how they view it i mean look at him he does the majima pose and everything (im taking out the screenshots of him doing the majima pose cuz tumblr keeps saying this post needs a warning which no it doesn't????? the only thing i can think of that would warrant that is that hes shirtless in the picture but like its extremely sfw???)

YEA I DELETED THE PICTURES AND THE CONTENT WARNING WENT AWAY WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE WAS JUST STANDING THERE SHIRTLESS-

"the fact we havent had a scene where ichi "lets loose" in canon yet tho kind of makes me question how strong he actually is without his party. which isnt really a problem if thats what they were going for but i just wasn't really expecting this, especially with how mitsu talked about him at the start"

alright so uh, ive had this draft for a while and now that ive played a bit more by "let loose" i didnt mean i wanted to see him just senselessly beat up a man and have to be forcibly stopped from bashing his head in. he also got his ass handed to him by kiryu so we still havent really gotten a glimpse of how strong he supposedly is. under all the smiles and cheesy one liners ichibans a lose cannon with a really short fuse which is a pretty cool concept if they keep exploring it honestly

idk the action cut scenes in this game are also kinda weird, i think the most memorable so far for me were actually the ones in the fight with sawashiro after he kills the seiryu clan patriarch, him just fuking being so overtly dramatic through the whole thing was really fun to watch (also the majima and saejima combo attacks cuz theyre silly and theyre them)

"all of my ranting about this game so far can just be boiled down to "its different and not the type of different i was expecting so im having a hard time liking it" and thats real stressful"

again ive had this draft for a while, i really need to learn to just give things time to settle in cuz im having fun with it now (this development definitely had nothing to do with kiryu, trust) and im really hyped to keep playing and get a better grip on ichis personality cuz so far he still feels like a shonen protag, but theres bits and pieces here and there of Something Else and thats neat

[biggie-chcese]

ranking rain code lets plays on how much i enjoy/would recommend them

hi did you know i am incredibly autistic about this game and have watched, in full, several lets plays of it? and im still going? haha yeah im normal. anyway here goes... all lets plays ive watched from best to worst:

#1 Highest recommendation: JustOneGamr. ESPECIALLY for people who are going in blind. im so serious. it's the best way to experience as much of the game as possible without playing it yourself. They go through all of the content, side quests, gumshoe gabs, profiles, DLC, and even most of the flavor text. it's also a no commentary run, which i personally see as a massive boon because they aren't influencing your opinions of the game

#2: Pixel Partners. they've got real good vibes and they actually do the side quests. it's also fun to listen to their theories and see their reactions. they're one of the few who dont spend their time complaining and give more valid constructive criticisms than others. they also have the funniest reaction to the chapter 5 reveal

#3: JohnAwesome. his humor sometimes isn't particularly for me but boy is his lets play enjoyable. also has lots of positive vibes and is generally pretty entertaining. i dont remember if he does side quests but im pretty sure he does. he will easily make chapter 4 even more gut wrenching thanks to a very specific kind of incompetence on his part, which in hindsight is really funny

#4: NyanCave. they're pretty fun and also have great vibes! i like their chemistry a lot. they have some pretty good theories and good jokes, but they will spend a lot of time on responding to chat donations. this is fine like get that bag kings but if you're impatient like me it might get annoying after a while lol. it's especially bad in chapter 5, where the tension dies because of their waifu fight donations

#5: NicoB. I was never really a NicoB fan because he's a bit too loud and high energy for me, but his rain code lets play is still pretty good! he seems to have fun playing the game and even has a few good jokes. i think he does the side quests which is a plus but i could be misremembering. i still quote "and now back to yuma crackhead" to this day so there's that

#6: Faz Faz. This another no commentary run but for people who are in a rush. they go through the game as quickly as possible. frankly, i think these kinds of lets plays are not as good as the ones that go through the sidequests, but hey, it's there if you just want the main plot and gumshoe gabs

#7: Save Data. I don't recommend this one to people experiencing rain code for the first time because they will talk over the cutscenes and dialogue and that will get annoying. they also complain quite a bit about the same things over and over which can also get tiresome (im sorry guys i do Not care about graphics as much as you do). however, they're really funny and it's good for a second or third experience of the game. "this city..." is a highly prevalent vocal stim for me thanks to them. they will shit on on the game often though, so if you really love rain code and dont want to hear that, then avoid this one lol. but you do get to see my art at the end of their vids! that's pretty cool!

#8: Rat Attack. i straight up don't recommend this one. it's easily the worst one i've seen and that's sad because i really love their pngtuber avatars. they're not finished with the game yet and that's probably because they spend so much time ranting and yapping about everything else, or just concocting the most baffling theories known to man and spending wayyy too much time on them. you will also hear a lot of unfunny halara gender jokes sorry. sometimes they are funny in other ways but it's honestly not worth it unless you're like me and keep watching out of obsession for the game.

that's all the ones ive watched in full (so far)! here's a couple others i haven't seen in full but have seen small parts of:

Weeby Newz - she's got some fun reactions from what ive seen and is pretty funny too. i have only really watched her play chapters 4 and 5 though, so i cant give a full opinion. i dont care for yakou fathero as a concept though and she seems pretty heavy on that, but if you like that you may enjoy her let's play. i may go back and finish it soon!

CurtStreamy - genuinely very funny from what ive seen though in chapter 5 his whole crew has a pretty fundamental misunderstanding of makoto's character, which can be a little irritating. either way, most of it is great but his live chat sucks. i still need to watch the rest in full to form a full opinion

CrystAAHHL - ohhh she did Not like this game lmao. she is a based makoto enjoyer though. i only watched the highlight reel though i think watching her full streams would just make me tired. i personally dont like watching lets plays if the person playing isnt having any fun

JazzyGuns - unfinished but she is really funny and has good vibes. if you can cope with her probably never finishing the game then go for it

khee chu - im still in the process of watching this one in full but it's fun so far. i will say CHECK OUT KHEE'S MERCH AND SHINIGAMI X JUNKO ART!!! THE ART IS RLY CUTE!!!!

and that's everything! there's other lesser known ones out there but im just one guy i cant watch em all despite how determined i am to do so </3 above all else i want people to get the game but like, yknow, some folks dont got $60 to spend on a game lol. anyway have fun and happy watching!

[fictionfixations]

Thoughts on Madoka Magica Magia Exedra

bear with me ive only seen the main anime though my memory is very rusty and like just yesterday I started getting into magia record (anime, idk how accurate it is) but im only like... halfway-ish there??

tbh i didnt think turn based games were for me because idk man strategy??? im too dumb for that

and then i got like REALLY into hsr 💀

i saw like snippets of this game being played during early access by someone who was into magia record and they said there wasnt really any point to playing when at the moment it was just redoing old story and i get that but also part of it for me is just i like watching characters battle

its why i played like the jjk gacha game and the solo leveling game i already knew the story i was just there for the combat, though i can also understand on the other hand repeating stuff youve already seen before getting very boring

'A-Q' huh? like Q-B if i think on how Kyubey (i think im butchering the pselling) is pronounced

i was wondering why he (?? is it a he?? or like an it?) was green

i feel like i suddenly just remembered this show has horror elements like not that ive seen anything rn im just like gonna be hella on edge over stuff thats prob not a big deal i just should not be playing this so late LMFAO

wish there was a log feature that let you reread dialogue because i read fast so i tap fast but then sometimes i want to reread it cause i miss something (i know this means i should slow down but patience? haha whats that)

this game has way too many moments where the screen turns white my eyes hate me

i find it stating what characters roles are nice

also im surprised at how unlaggy its been on my end though im worried itll only get worse as it updates more and more

i think im gonna skip the story (except for stuff ive never seen before)

HEYY ITS THE MAGIA RECORD PPL AYOOOO

MORE

my one thing is is that in battle its so pixelated (so as not to be such a drain on my phone) that i actually am struggling to read whats on the side of the character icons

so game plan on who i want on my team (usually based on whose my favorite even if the team doesnt fully work with each other)

uhh idk i like sana and homura? i might be misremembering names or something

can music during exploration not be so ominous 😭😭😭

OH YOU CAN PAUSE THE CUTSCENES thank you for making screnshots easier

madoka pov

oh i forgot to take a screenshot i was waiting if her hands would go up again but no

cause so madoka had her hands up and it appeared on the sides of the screen like we were seeing what madoka was seeing and i thought it was cool its just not as clear in a screenshot without

you can only pause cutscenes in the story it seems

oh my god i was so scared it was gonna suddenly crash one md uring the pulling it froze for one terrifying second

yipee fan girl

how pretty

you can choose now whether to play the story you unlock or to not

i like that if you defeat the boss the battle ends even if there are remaining enemies

theres no beating the boss then getting absolutely annihilated by the remaining enemies and having to redo the entire thing (listen yknow in hsr that enemy that duplicates itself if you hit it i hate it so much 😭😭)

IT CRASHED i.... 💀💀💀💀💀my phones hot but its not burning hot so thats new (usually when stuff crashes on me its like hella hot)

oh it started me back where i left off

it crashed while it was entering a boss fight btw lmfao

ult animations are cool i swear i want like a compilation of everyone's

OH DAMN THAT DID A LOT OF DAMAGE it just took off 1/4 of the boss hp all in one go wtf DAMNNNN

i mean i think it was because i was also using a lot of everyones ults right before like buffs and debuffs and stuff but like SHEESH

im like so tense every time that mami death scene boutta happen anytime now dude

the zoom when new floors unlock is so awkward 😭

i think im gonna stop here and continue playing over time (i was gonna say like play it offline but like ???? im not streaming LMFAO i think i just picked up the terminology)

i wanted to end when she died (or completed the picture) but im sleepy

[mulders-too-large-shirt]

s4 episode 23 "demons" thoughts

we’re back!! and i appreciate the TW in advance about the sensitive content in this episode from a few followers. thank you very much for the warning! 🙏

but i’m excited to see what is going on today, and i’m sure it’ll be a doozy. let us read the episode description... now how do these agents keep getting involved in crimes that they didn’t commit??

must be CSM. i suspect him always. saves time.

(author's note post episode: woah.... so much happened... i have many questions... and i love mulder and scully very very very much <3)

anyway! let us begin!

okay, yes, i recall after watching the last episode, the beginning of this one started playing, and it was super creepy, and here we are again. very blurry, and it looks like stuff is on fire and warped.

yes, the garbled voices and samantha yelling to mulder as i had accidentally previewed before….. everything is flashing and weird sounding… i do not care for this.

despite being a grown man, when mulder looks in the mirror he sees himself as a child. must be a fever dream. 

they see their parents fighting??? mrs. mulder is saying something about “her baby”….

cutscene to a sweaty mulder on the floor!!! and not on the bed.

A BED?! where is he?? this is not his home!!

and his white shirt is covered in BLOOD??? he doesn’t seem to realize this at first!!!!

so he calls scully!!!! at 4:50 on the morning!!! awww poor girl was dead asleep... but she wakes up <3

he’s in a motel room in rhode island?!?!?!? he doesn’t know how tf he got there and whose blood is on him!!!!!

didn't he spend time in rhode island as a kid...

oh i’m invested…….. how does a guy get in this situation…. and what is scully going to do about it?????

whose blood is it!!!!

(cheering at gillian anderson in the intro)

NOW WHO PUT MY BOY IN THIS SITUATION!!!!!

at 6:15 AM scully is pulling into the rhode island motel. THAT is EFFICIENT!!! oh i know she was flooring it to get there so quickly. also it’s april now btw

she is, indeed, going very fast. 

his motel door is open…..  and the shower is running…. she’s yelling to him

(something very domestic about yelling to someone while they’re in the shower; it makes my heart melt a lil)

but what is less domestic is when he mumbles that he “can’t get warm”, and when she pulls the curtain open he’s curled up, shivering as he sits in steaming hot water!!! 

oh sopping wet poor meow meow…. what has been done to you???

she quickly deduces that he is in shock (medical doctor moment!!!) and turns off the water. she tells him to get dry and gets a blanket, and he emerges with just a towel wrapped around his waist, which is a shocking display of vulnerability- but we can unpack that later 

she’s absolutely shifting into doctor mode (perhaps my favorite mode of hers) as she asks him if he feels nauseous or dizzy and wraps him in a blanket, looking into his eyes, tilting his chin to glance at every angle of his face 

oh shit this is SERIOUS. she pulled out the “track my finger” and “do you know what day it is”, like this is going DOWN. i mean i KNEW it was going down with the bloody shirt and the curled up grown man in the shower. but a doctor is not playing around when they ask you what day it is.

the last thing remembers was talking to her on friday!!! and it’s sunday!!! and he was in his apartment!!! so how tf did he get here???

but he packed a change of clothes… or maybe someone ELSE did?? is it a red herring?? did someone kidnap him???

she quickly finds his gun and TWO ROUNDS HAVE BEEN FIRED???? WHAT!!!

(okay, i knew that was going to happen because i read the episode description, but it’s still wild!!!)

he doesn’t remember anything at all… and she sits down to explain he needs to go to the hospital now

“possibly the early stages of encephalitis”, she says, and oh man, i don’t even want to google that 

(but i did. eugh...)

“if this is an aneurysm, it can drop you in a second” <- she is telling him to listen tf up and GO TO A HOSPITAL NOOOOOOOOOW!!!

OHHHH HE FINDS SOMEONE NAMED AMY’S KEYS!!! WHO IS AMY?????

so he drove here and checked into the motel on saturday…. and there is a car is filled with blood in the parking lot!!!!! with a registration citing amy and david.

oh my GOD he won’t go to the hospital DUDE WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK??? YOU COULD LITERALLY DIE AT ANY SECOND, WHAT GOOD ARE YOU GOING TO BE IN AN INVESTIGATION WHERE YOU’RE BARELY EVEN THERE??? WHY DON’T YOU THINK SCULLY CAN HANDLE IT ON HER OWN?? GODDAMN IT, LET HER TAKE CARE OF IT, I’M SICK OF YOUR BULLSHIT, YOU ARE JUST GOING TO BE A HINDRANCE TO ANY PROPER INVESTIGATION, YOU PISS ME OFF.

okay.

there are tons of photos with faces cut out??? carefully cut out by some guy who is dripping blood onto them. which is... unpleasant.

ohhhh they show up at amy and david’s house and the housekeeper doesn’t know where they are… this is not an auspicious sign. he asks to look at a painting?? maybe he went to the place in the painting before???

he knows this house… but he doesn’t know why. it’s the house amy grew up in and it’s ALL SHE PAINTS???? which is absolutely wild. they go into a room where she’s painted it over and over and over countless times. i mean, i appreciate, having a muse but this was just next level dedication.

it’s near his old summer house!!!! see, i knew rhode island would be relevant. 

scully is driving him around in his big leather jacket. they find the house, which is very much falling apart, BUT HE WINCES AND GRABS HIS HEAD!!!! OH GOD!!!

he’s getting visions from childhood of his parents screaming about orders, and it not just being him, and YOUNG CSM (!!!) it must be from when they learned samantha was going to be taken as insurance that his father wouldn't expose the project, and it caused his parents to divorce 

he wakes up on the ground with scully over him (ohhhhh…….) and she carefully props him up. and it was “some kind of clonic event” 

my heart does flips when she is doctoring. but don't worry about that.

“i feel… really… good right now” <- LMAOOOOO actually the funniest possible thing you could say after such an event happening 

but he proceeds ahead with investigating the house

ohhh the score is spooooky and suspenseful… oh my god, scully finds someone with a gunshot wound in her heart!!!!!!!!!!! it must be amy!!! and her husband who is dead nearby!!!!!

then who tf was the guy cutting out the pictures!!!!

the cops have arrived, and they want to speak to mulder, but scully says she refuses “to believe that you had any part in this” (and that’s what a bestie is for)

the detective is clearly not believing that the first time mulder saw the victims was when he walked into their house with their keys that he somehow had. which yeah. okay, it does look bad. but listen. sometimes things look bad that aren’t in reality.

scully refuses to let them take him down to the station!!! he is getting his ass to the hospital NOW!! even if the police take him, okay??? he is going there.

YEAH, YOU TELL THEM!!!!!

and scully wants to take a look at the bodies. she tells mulder do NOT say anything else to the cops. somehow i don’t think he will follow this advice.

scully has her doctorly gear on and oh. she’s snipping something from amy’s head. oh god. hole. in her head. not from gun. whewwww.

NASTY. NASTY BAD. shoutout props team, i repeat as my grounding mantra. do you think the actors ever gagged filming this stuff?

that was a lot. she wants two examinations on her and to know WHY they died. 

head. hole. not good. 

mulder has a bandage on his arm indicating he must have been discharged from the hospital, and his he's laying his head on the table as detective curtis brings him a paper bag. mulder looks very sad.

at first i thought the detective was bringing him lunch, which would be a surprisingly thoughtful gesture, and perhaps indicate a shred of humanity in him. but no. he says that what is in the bag reveals that mulder knew the victims AND that they were shot execution style with his weapon!!!

it’s his bloody shirt… the bloody shirt from before. with both of the victim's blood on it!!! 

oh man… he explains that he does not remember but then he gets read his miranda rights…. NOOOOOOOOOO MY BOY

he has his hands cuffed and is in the bright orange jumpsuit :( free him!!!

but scully comes in and says she’s going to get him out of there!!!! “you’re a doctor, not a lawyer, scully” <- mulder, heed my words: do not doubt her power.

wow… times have changed. scully had to explain what ketamine was to detective curtis. because it was in amy’s blood. had it aired today, we would not need such a disclaimer.

he's baffled because ketamine is a veterinary drug and hey, mulder? why the hell do you know that.

(ohhhh, he probably learned it in mind school back in oxford. i was wondering if he was the kind of rich where he had horses, and therefore knew about their treatments)

detective curtis sucks. they find k in mulder and he doesn’t even give a damn. rude as hell.

(he does that gesture with his head that means “let’s talk away from the others”) "scully, you don’t have to do this” <- LIKE SHE WOULD EVER *NOT* DO THIS???? AND JUST LET HIM SIT IN JAIL????

ohhhhh she straight up tells the detective that he’s jailing an innocent man…. read him for filth!!!!!!

WAIT!!! one of the other cops is the one who was cutting out all of the photos!!!!

he pulls out a gun and fires?? hey man. what's going on.

it takes medical scully .5 seconds to determine that he is dead. and this guy also has that mark on his head that amy had!!!

this officer, now deceased, had become a joke for believing in aliens and other such creatures. scully says that the cutting himself out of the photos speaks to mental illness… and she finds a magazine of abductees with amy on the cover!!!

so both amy and this other officer had a deep puncture wound that went to their brain, and she thinks that they knew each other…

mulder is writhing about on the prison floor, while he recalls CSM and his father arguing, and fleeing to find samantha. and he remembers his mother beating on his father’s chest, yelling “not samantha, not samantha”…. then he shakes on the bars and screams for the guard!!!!!!!

he spent all night demanding to talk to scully!!!! and he just recently shut up!!!! wow!!! that's determination!!!

he’s sitting in the prison cell… “i heard you didn’t get much sleep”, she says when she walks in.

and this make me so emotional. she wants him to be okay SO badly, and they do this thing where they act like everything is totally fine and chill when things couldn’t be worse, and it makes me teary. they're trying to preserve normalcy, but doing so with a grin as if to say, what even is normal anymore? it's part of their whole "saying so much with so little" th

he says he did not kill those people, and she believes him, and she’s gathered enough proof to support that. OKAY DETECTIVE!!!!!

the blood splatter on the shirt doesn’t match the point of entry of the bullets!! so then how did the blood get on there????

scully theory time: amy believed she was an abductee, and perhaps she had contacted mulder. and her repeated house paintings were evidence of the treatment she was undergoing. 

she believes they were suffering from “waxman-geschwind syndrome” (i love that she knows this <3), which leads to vivid dreams 

it is also called dostoyevsky syndrome because he had it!!! fun facts with scully <3

but now he needs to know why he was there and why he didn’t stop the violence with amy and david, because he’s mulder and of course everything is his fault. but also, i don’t blame him, because i would feel the same way if i learned something horrific happened in my presence and i could not recall it.

she has arranged for his arraignment, and scully parks haphazardly in the parking lot of the psychologist’s office where amy was receiving treatment. and they find his car!! covered in dust!!

they go to speak with dr. goldstein, who says he hasn’t met mulder before. 

dr. goldstein uses light and sound to access repressed memories, which sounds evil. “it’s unconventional but it’s not invasive” <- girl what would the FDA say?!?!?

(this show relies an awful lot on repressed memories. how do you even know if you have any of those?)

the doctor insists that he is very ethical and seems deeply offended at their implications that what he does is morally unsound, but scully looks deep into his eyes and said “i know what you do”…. ohhh girl what do you know!!!

OH!! mulder remembers coming here WITH amy!!! so the doctor totally lied to their faces. and scully says he GAVE amy and mulder the ketamine, and whatever else he did started the blackouts and seizures

see, this is interesting, because now we know that ketamine can be useful in medical treatment of mental illness, but clearly dr. goldstein was just playing mad scientist.

she asks why tf he would undergo those treatments, but bam!!! more mulder doubled over in pain, recalling his parents fighting. he falls to his knees

“i’m fine” “no, i’m not going to take that for an answer. you do not belong at work. you need to be somewhere where you can be monitored” <- YES TELL HIM!!!!!!! stop messing around!!!

(everyone cheered)

the height difference here is super visible and it looks almost like a foot between their heads and it’s soooo <3

“you are a danger to yourself and a danger to me” <- OHHHH yes. convince him to do it for your sake if he won't do it for himself.

OHHHH BUT HE DOESN’T WANT THE SYMPTOMS TO STOP!!! he says he’s remembering what happened after his sister was taken away!!

well, maybe we can remember from a hospital bed?

he asks for the car keys and she keeps refusing, and just when i think she’s going to give in and let him have them, she says they can go to his mom's house, “but i’m driving” and that’s right queen you do NOT let that man behind a wheel!!!!!

off to his mother’s house

surprise mulder visit!!! he is barreling right in. she seemed so happy to see him... but this changes.

“you’ve kept things from me, you’ve kept secrets from me” ohhh she asks scully wtf is wrong with him…

HE SAYS THAT TAKING SAMANTHA WASN’T THEIR CHOICE??? he wants to know what happened that night and he doesn’t want scully to hear…. damn, that’s crazy 

so they go in a room and he ACCUSES HIS MOM OF CHEATING ON HIS DAD WITH CSM??? okay, so i thought i was seeing hints of this in the past, but like. they could have just been friends, so i didn’t think that much of it. clearly there was some sort of fondness, the genre of which is yet to be determined.

he’s saying that she betrayed their family to do so, and she SLAPS HIM ACROSS THE FACE!!!

“who is my father?” “what do you want, to kill him again?” <- OH MY FUCKING GOD????

(this is absolutely WILD because we know how much of a momma's boy he is, how he hugs her and tucks her in bed and kisses her forehead and has doted on her ever since her stroke; to hear him say all of this is deeply shocking and indicative of how unwell he is)

she says she won’t answer any more questions and he’s bleeding from the forehead…. 

he snuck out and took the car??????? LEAVING SCULLY IN HIS MOM’S HOUSE?????

what are they supposed to talk about!!!!!!!!

he rolls up to dr. goldstein's office and asks what he did to him. 

“i did nothing wrong” “you put a HOLE in my HEAD” <- medical malpractice lawsuit is loading, but that line delivery killed me

turns out he put a hole in his head to electrically stimulate his brain?? and mulder says to do it again???

absolutely nothing should ever touch your brain imo, but what do i know?

he shoots mulder up with some k and lays him down, straps him into a contraption and turns it on. 

it seems he remembers his mother being choked?? but you can’t tell by who because everything is so distorted. WHO HURT HER??

now goldstein is strapping him down even more, and putting ANOTHER HOLE IN HIS BRAIN (!!!), and it’s reminding me of that terrible drill from scully’s abduction that kept inching closer and closer

when a ton of cops show up to arrest goldstein!!! he leaves behind a bloody seat, but no mulder??? where did he go!!!!!

scully is here now too and goldstein wouldn’t snitch so scully is off to question him. 

HOLY FUCK he won’t answer so she straight up GRABS HIM!!!!! until he says mulder said he was going to “exorcise his demons” 

(she was wild for that one but also entirely understandable. you don't lay hands on him around her and walk away unscathed)

SO HE GOES BACK TO RHODE ISLAND??? where the events of that particular evening that keep being replayed again and again in his head went down.

the house is surrounded by cops, and she explains that the officers must NOT SHOOT, and he needs immediate medical care, and she is going in, so watch tf out.

it’s so so so quiet as she walks in…. she starts to yell his name and he says “leave me alone, scully” (he's out of his mind but could still recognize her voice... something touching there)

she opens the door and he’s in some kind of trance??!

WHAT THE FUCK HE HAS HIS GUN????? near his mouth. oh no. oh no oh no oh no.

(the hallucination cgi that gets cut between these very serious scenes almost makes me giggle)

he turns the gun on scully and says “GO AWAY” oh my fucking god…

“are you going to shoot me, mulder? is that how much this means to you?” (he nods)

he’s not himself he’s not himself he’s not himself he’s not-

she tries to tell him that he’s on powerful drugs, and he doesn’t even know if those memories are his, and this isn’t the way to the Truth, and put down the gun, but then he FIRES TWO SHOTS???

the police are rushing in, and he is still firing!!!!!!!!

he shot them all into the window?? or wall or something??? and he slumps over

and she rests her body on him oh my GOD. oh my GOD.

the vulnerability there of her shielding him with her whole body while he relives his worst memories (that may or may not have actually happened) in a hallucinogenic haze....... her need to heal him... and his need to protect her coming through even though moments before he was ready to kill her......... hold on. we need to think on it.

we end with a scully episode wrap up, which i feel we haven't gotten in a while. she says he was cleared of wrongdoing, but he still has no recollection of what went down that night. and his seizures have subsided. 

“but i’m concerned that this experience will have a lasting effect. agent mulder undertook this treatment hoping to lay claim to his past- that by retrieving memories lost to him, he might finally understand the path he’s on. but if that knowledge remains elusive, and if it’s only by knowing where he’s been that he can hope to understand where he’s going, then i fear agent mulder may lose his course, and the truths he’s seeking from his childhood will continue to evade him… driving him more dangerously forward in impossible pursuit”

(fade to black)

SO WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT.

hold on. there are a MILLION things to unpack here.

this episode really solidified to the utterly batshit lengths he is willing to go to try and reach the truth, to the point beyond self-destruction into like, self nuclear annihilation. like we just need to let that sink in for a second. holy fuck. i mean i KNEW he was haunted and i knew he was tortured and i knew he was going to devote every minute of his life to getting the Truth, but the recklessness with which he does so reached new heights here. he let some guy give him DRUGS and drill into his BRAIN. what the actual fuck bro.

also, what actually happened?? who actually killed those people and put him in their bloody shirt?? it’s left entirely ambiguous. beyond the visuals of CSM, there are no other clues. did the victims end their own lives with his gun after remembering stuff they had suppressed from dr. goldstein’s brain tickler??? or was he poorly framed? and if so by who and how and why??

and also. he thinks his dad might not be his dad???? can you IMAGINE him knowing that it is CSM’s blood in his veins??? holy FUCK bro. his mother seemed DEEPLY offended so i don’t feel like that is actually the case but you never know with these things. i'm going to assume those were the drugs talking because we know how much he loves his momma, but for that chilling thought to even enter his head, god, the turmoil and self-loathing it must have produced.

and scully… this was a mulder episode, but it also really was her episode. her doctoring, her sleuthing- she gets him out of trouble that someone worked overtime to get him into by discounting all of the evidence carefully constructed against him- her putting her foot down and saying get to the hospital, i'm not going to stand by and let this keep happening, and then putting herself in front of the gun for him, risking it all to try and bring him back from the brink. her covering him with her own body, holding him down, being there for him as he witnessed his demons dancing in from of him.

her grabbing goldstein by the neck, saying she will not lose anything else, not after so much has been taken from her; dammit she’ll grab what she has left and sink her claws in, and help who gets between her and her loved ones, be it a shitty detective or a grand murder conspiracy, because she’ll calculate the most efficient way to tear everything to the ground and then hold steady in the ruins

wow. need to sleep on this one for sure. it went absolutely CRAZY. but again, s4! it’s so dark! where is the laughter??

so, what do i think after approximately 24 hours have passed since i watched this episode? i enjoyed it! my mutual phoebe pointed out how scully is the one who is in charge here, which is a big change from her loss of autonomy that characterizes the rest of the season. and i have to agree. it felt good to watch her in her element, be it solving crime or diagnosing niche psychological conditions or putting her life on the line for mulder. again, it was centered on his demons, but were these not also scully's demons? watching someone she loves lose who they are under the influence of something that cannot be controlled? and the realization that he was desperate enough to consider such a thing an option in the first place? watching her best friend suffer- is that not also a form of torture?

it was nice to see him tortured for a change. it's been a while! and it's so interesting to watch.

so i liked the episode, but i probably wouldn't get down with a casual rewatch. again, a bit too heavy for kicking my feet up and relaxing. but i thought it was very interesting, a fascinating look into both of their characters, and as a whump addict i am deeply pleased.

[andmaybegayer]

Last Monday of the Tuesday 2025-01-26

Got waylaid by situations, sorry. It will happen again.

Listening

The entirety of the BADBADNOTGOOD album BBNG2

Ya like jazz? Ya like big spooky electronic jazz? BBNG2 has it for you.

Reading

Working my way through Pale Fire by Nabokov. It's a very funny book, and also very odd. I can see why they call it perhaps the first hypertext!

The poem itself is 1000 lines in rhyming couplets with Vladimir "I Just Learned English And I'm Using The Whole Thing" Nabokov flair. It's very pleasing to read out loud.

Still working my way through the notes. The eBook I bought lacks the index so I had to pirate a copy for that. RIP Nabokov you would have loved Homestuck.

Watching

We had Megalopolis at Bad Movie Night. This movie is not good and a lot of it is straightforwardly shit but some of its failure modes are interesting.

This movie vacillates between looking pretty good and looking totally dogshit. I don't know if Coppola was trying to be like ooh what if I use an old fashioned looking rear projection technique for this elevator scene because Movies nah dog. It looks like garbage. A lot of this movie looks like it was a PS3 game cutscene, both in texture and in thoughtfulness of framing.

"Average man thinks about Rome every day" factoid actually a statistical error, References Coppola, who lives on a wine farm and thinks about Rome every twenty milliseconds, was an outlier adn should not have been counted. Seriously man so much of this movie is making a reference to a cool thing that Coppola has seen. Getting Adam Driver to deliver To Be Or Not To Be is so fucking tryhard.

Unfortunately when you write about utopias you put yourself in a very vulnerable position where you are saying not just that I think this way of living is good, but that everyone else should as well. This movie has some lines that would get you the Liberal award in Disco Elysium in two seconds flat. Adam Driver stands up at the end to give a huge speech about how we have to have a serious debate about the future. I pregamed this one with Metropolis (1927) and it also suffers from this. Yes Fritz I know you didn't know that the great war was gonna get a sequel but you can't just make a movie that's like "Communism is cool. But watch out!"

Look okay I hate big name actors in movies now. If you're going to sell your wine farm and spend one hundred million dollars making your thing, maybe don't spend so much money on candles Giancarlo Esposito. This is a thing that sucked about Cats as well. There's so many Guys in this movie and at no point did I ever want to call a guy by anything other than their real human name. I don't care if your name is Fundi that is Laurence Fucking Fishburne. Maybe get some normal actors, you have 100 million dollars, surely you can find some.

It's so funny to set a story about building fucking anything in New York City, The City That Hasn't Built Shit In 80 Years.

Playing

I've finished most of the major sidequests of Cyberpunk but I'm now doing Phantom Liberty and man the opening of Phantom Liberty is slick. I love it when a game makes you feel urgency even though there isn't any. It's one of my favourite video game tricks. Busy trying not to eat shit as I approach the crashed spaceship of the president of the New United States of America.

They finally put some good outfits in the game but they're all hidden inside Phantom Liberty! I walked up to the first clothing vendor in Dogtown and bought like half their stock. There's zany skintight leotards and cool helmets and bizzare transparent blazers oh my! Where is this shit in the main game.

Making

Spent a while debugging cursed filament on my printer, which was frustrating.

Ongoing design of small coffee table. Throwing away a lot of half-assed CAD models.

Tools and Equipment

If you have to use a mouse in a very confined space, you really should consider a trackball. Trackpads are all good and well but there's a reason why so many CAD platforms in workshops have a trackball superglued to an piece of sheet steel. One of my other projects is a lapboard for my HTPC setup and I have basically settled on "slotted in commodity trackball" as the ideal way to handle mouse input here.

[oldxenomorph]

i finished act 3 last night and phhhwoah. oh my god. oh my god.

but first, thoughts about the end of act 2.

finally met lord inquisitor xavier calcazar.

being questioned by him was legit a terrifying experience. the most nervous i'd ever been playing a game. stop asking me questions, man. in fact, leave me alone.

(which is what the inquisition should feel like. sometimes i think it's hard to get across just how terrifying the inquisition is and this game does a really good job at that. heinrix's presence is already unsettling, but you can still influence him and even he is subject to being surveilled by his boss. me, my retinue, and everyone on my ship is being watched by the lord inquisitor.)

i don't trust this fool. not one bit.

act 3 happened so fast, i completed it in around two days and i don't think i'm ever getting over just how good/horrifying this experience was.

I WAS NOT AWARE THAT THE ENTIRETY OF ACT 3 TAKES PLACE IN COMMORAGH.

aesthetically, commoragh was made especially for me in a government lab.

the team i took: kibella, yrliet, abelard, pasqal, and argenta.

getting worm shoved into in my brain that made me violently sick and hallucinate being on trial by the inquisition? owlcat have you been looking into my brain?

there really was a point where the moment i was alone, without weapons, without armor, sick as all hell, i was like "oh my god i'm never getting out here. i and my retinue really are going to die here."

i was literally so close to actually crying listening to kibella in the anatomical opera and then talking to her again when we were safe in the shrieker's pit. my love was so traumatized and there was nothing i could do. last time i felt this helpless and distraught was during priority: thessia in me3.

(hearing her stumble over her prayers really made me put down my controller and put my head in my hands.)

however, i did chose the taint/distortion option when talking to her. i really want that heretic romance ending for her. please, she is the love of my life, i need her at my side forever.

tervanitas as also made for me in a government lab. traps him under a highball glass and studies him.

this was probably the most heretical i've been all game. i did the quest where you side with the chaos gods to sabotage commoragh. (which, the cutscene where you unleash chaos into the arena and throughout commoragh was so satisfying. every daemon from every one of the ruinous powers just floods the screen.)

which, i also summoned again to vaporize tervanitas and the haemonucli as a sacrifice. sorry, man. i still think you're neat and will find some use for you.

i recruited marazhai. i'm afraid he is growing on me.

especially since our first real interaction you can grab him by the throat and remind him of his place and he enjoys every second it. maybe i will enjoy having him in my retinue.

both argenta's reveal about theodora and achilleas's off-screen fate were. hm. i'll have to think about some more, but i don't necessarily like the writing for these two instances.

i'm glad ulfar and i also do not trust the lord inquisitor. (also, very cool to actually see a wh40k property do something interesting with omophagea.)

i know it's technically more lore accurate to not forgive yrliet because the majority of humans in wh40k have been indoctrinated into the imperial cult and thus believe that all xenos are bad. but i have mass effect brain and am trying to see things from yrliet's perspective. in the end, i forgave yrliet because her desperation to find out what happened to crudarach was also used against her. (also the reveal of crudarach's fate? insanely fucked up and horrifying. it only made me want to help her more.)

also, love that we got an actual harlequin and that they talk in poetry/riddles. oh nocturne of oblivion we’re really in it now. and thanks for helping me escape.

and then i started act 4 but stopped just after everyone talked to me.

my love kibellah is so strong for enduring commoragh with me, i immediately kissed her when we got back.

also, did not expect jae actually being a former guardsman. genuinely surprised to get some guardsman lore. (i really appreciate this game's take on the imperium, i think having it set on the fringes of the imperium allows for it to explore all these topics and issues.)

[goldensunset]

as with any thing i’m obsessed with i often daydream about what i personally would do if i got the chance to remake pla and make any changes i wanted

some things include:

•better graphics of course and like just bigger areas obv

•*gestures to both of volo’s designs* Something ahout those! lol

•also i’d remove his evil laughter at the celestica ruins lol. don’t give it away boy!!!!!! or at least turn it into a simple, moderately off putting chuckle

•make a Bad Ending cutscene for if you lose to volo. or at the very least a cut to black and a concerning sound effect of some sort and a game over

•otherwise i really can’t think of how i’d top his fight lol it was soooo good

•i would. change his dialogue right beforehand to make it a little more natural and logical. maybe even have him intimidatingly approach you as if he were trying to grab the plates from you until your lead pokémon jumps out to protect you. ik it would never happen like that in this series but like please it would be so good

•this is a big one- i’d make it so you really aren’t allowed to access any base camps in the wilds during the red sky exile sequence. giving you access to most things you had in jubilife anyway, plus you being allowed underneath the banner of the galaxy team, kinda cheapened it. me personally i will always choose not to use those during that part and only do things at cogita’s place. it would be suuuuper cool if like the guys at the camps like threatened you if you tried to approach!

•i think all wild pokémon should’ve taken on an aggressive nature during the red sky part. or more alphas. or like in my fantasy if you make one of them angry you start getting Chased all the way across the map, baby!!! like you’ve got a horde going after you! like it’s actively terrifying. either that or everyone gets a timid disposition because Nature is being Abnormal and they’re scared. k but like imagine the strange lightning suddenly coming down around you at random and striking random pokémon around you and they go insane. you never know when it’s gonna happen. watch out for that level 3 bidoof man!!!

•would’ve made the frenzied nobles a lil more Frenzied outside their battles. i’d love to be just wandering around the map and see them in the distance, visibly aggressively stomping around, and oh no is that thing coming this way? oh it better not be— like i want that thang to be Violent

•i know voice acting is never going to happen bc of being able to name your character etc and i get it but also like they could do it persona style right??? change the spoken dialogue ever so slightly from the text to be more generic and just use pronouns and such. listen we deserve to hear volo go insane

•find a way to fit the distortion world into the plot. no listen i don’t care how but just do it

•also make the stone portal a whole cave system like in the original gen 4! we deserve a dramatic ascent up the mountain. with!!! the mount coronet theme playing the whole time!!!!!

•i would’ve liked to battle volo more often throughout the story! but in a casual way such as not to build up suspicion for him or anything

•just uhhh. have the overworld music play more often and get interrupted by less stuff lol. also if at all possible do it sv style and have different battle tracks for each area that don’t break the immersion. no but like i know they’ve gotta be loyal to the sinnoh wild encounter theme ik…

might think of more later. but like this is what the inside of my brain looks like. no hate to the game as it is of course the entire reason i have so many thoughts like this is because i love it way too much. these are my fantasies

[catboygirljoker]

actually one more. Eraqus w/ 1, 5, 12, and 18 ok thanks i hope these all are fun ones 👍

did you know Eraqus is pronounced "era-kwus" in japanese? ever since i learned that im always tempted to pronounce it that way LOL. also it's an anagram of "square" (and very nearly just "square" backwards). anyway character ask game :3

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

ive only played 3 and watched DR once each so i feel like i wont have a very in-depth answer skldjhflsjdf but . i think he's really interesting! i like the development of his character over the course of the games and of his life. seeing how he used to be bright-eyed and idealistic, how that curdled over time into seriousness and dogmatism, how that opened the door for xehanort to manipulate and destroy the lives of his apprentices....i like when characters change, i like when they get worse, i like when they make mistakes.

also his character design fucks. that man ages like a fine wine. who said that. looking around sweating

idk about dislike. i wasn't super big on him in BbS but in general i feel that the game's writing has problems, i imagine owed largely to hardware limitations and to them trying to do something very ambitious by putting three stories in one game. now that ive gotten to see him in other games and i have a more complete picture of his character, i like him a lot more.

5. What's the first song that comes to mind when you think about them?

ughghGHGMGM song about believing youre always going to be with this person and that youre both going to pursue your dreams. only for life to get complicated and in the way. one person still putting in the work for a constructive idea of the future while the other makes bad decision after bad decision. (who's who? tee hee.) fast car by tracy chapman.

(id love to have a better/less basic answer than that but thats what ive got. LOL.)

12. What's a headcanon you have for this character?

uhmm. DR-era Eraqus (lol) doesnt know how to cook many things but the things he does know how to cook are super fancy. he was a "blueblood". kid grew up rich. he makes like, really fluffy omelets in a special square pan he brought from home. barely knows how to boil noodles but he can make a hollandaise. he's self-aware enough to be a little sheepish about liking caviar but is surprised when his classmates dont know youre supposed to eat it with a mother-of-pearl spoon.

18. How about a relationship they have in canon with another character that you admire?

[gesturing helplessly at DR-era xehaqus] i mean. like. listen, im not big into shipping, i know that this subtext is entirely unintentional, but...i didnt really care about eraqus or xehanort before i played 3, and i was just immediately struck by how gay they are for each other. i was NOT looking for that energy from eraqus or xehanort and it bowled me over. their first brief cutscene together in 3 contains more homoeroticism than all of DDD combined. and Riku and Sora co-wield a rainbow heart-shaped keyblade in that game.

even if you dont read their relationship as romantic... theyre each other's better halves. you cant have one without the other. they come as a set. it's expected by everyone around them. i feel like one could do some really interesting stuff with exploring how the traumatic events of DR, and the years to come, changed both of them so much that they couldn't be described that way anymore.

and i also dont really know what other answer i could give lmao. i like his relatonships with the wayfinder trio, i think they're interesting and add to the story and to each of the characters involved, but i definitely wouldn't say i "admire" them when he failed all of them pretty badly.

[lulu2992]

Deleted dialog from Far Cry 3’s main story

In this series of posts, I’m sharing all the unreleased content (minus a few duplicates) I found in the oasisstrings text file, even when it wasn’t very interesting, so we have a comprehensive list of the lines that were cut in each Far Cry 3 story mission.

On a side note, the document never says which character is speaking, so every time you see names, it’s either because the corresponding audio files were available and I know who the speaker is, or because the context made it easy to guess their identity.

Part 2: The Social Club

In oasisstrings, this mission is the second one. Maybe it’s a coincidence, or maybe Jason was going to relive this moment after losing consciousness and before waking up in Amanaki.

The beginning of the mission is identical to what we see in the game, but there used to be a few more lines here and there. For example, here’s a longer version of the moment Jason is at the bar to get drinks. The deleted lines are bolded:

Fuck beer. What's the drink here in Bangkok?

The Mai Tai!

Forget it. Let's do sambuca shots!

[mumbled]…five, six… seven!

Girlfriend troubles?

She told you?

You know, Jason, Liza is a keeper.

I have shots!

Now that, right there, is what I'm talking about!

Let's have those shots. Hey baby.

Hang on, hang on. Hang… on.

Here we go! Lady!

Watch it, watch it, watch it, don't spill it, don't spill it!

That's my girl, Liza!

Take it, take it.

To what? To what? To what?

Uh, to my brother Riley for getting his pilot's license! Where the hell is that motherfucker?

Where the hell is that motherfucker?

To my father's black card and my black card. Whoooo!

That's what I'm talking about!

[laughing] Yeah!

God, I haven't done sambuca since I was twenty years old!

I'll get them.

While looking for Riley, it seems Jason was going to overhear this interaction:

Hi baby.

Hey. What you got for me?

Sit down.

Niiiice.

Wanna continue?

I wish. But not tonight.

See you again soon.

He would also make this comment about his girlfriend...

Man, I hope Liza gets here soon. She's always working.

...as well as come across an inaccessible area of the club, I assume:

Private section.

Go away.

You can't go in.

Turn around. Members only.

After speaking with Doug and finally finding Riley (and Keith), the friends go dancing, but a fight breaks out and they run to the elevator. This scene used to be longer too, and all the unreleased lines are bolded below:

[cheering on the DJ] Woo, woo, woo, DJ, c'mon!

Whoa, look at the lights!

Hot music, huh babe.

Did you see that?!

[PAIN]What the fuck?

Jason! No! Let me go, let me go!

Hey, hey, hey!

No, Riley!

Fine, fine, it's fine!

You like that? This is my kinda club! Hahaha!

Come on, let's go!

Everybody's gotta go. I called the cops.

Jason, back door!

Eat that!

Guys, we gotta bail!

We gotta bail!

This way! Let's go!

The cops are coming. We better get out of here!

Come on Jason!

Open up!

We'll get you!

These guys won't give up!

Yeah!

Room service!

Dead hooker in room 11.

Call it, call it, call it!

Come on!

Come on, come on, come on, hold the door!

Yo Jason, get in, get in!

Riley, stay close!

Watch out, Riley!

Yes, I know, I know!

Close! Close! Close!

The conversation between Doug and the friends in the elevator is identical to the in-game version. However, probably after this, there were a few lines from Liza:

Jason, let's go!

We're going to get arrested!

We've got to get out of here!

What're you doing? Come on!

You can listen to them here.

Then, we have what looks like the group’s arrival on the Rook Islands. We see glimpses of this in the introduction and the video in Hoyt’s compound (mission “All In”), but it appears it could have been a cutscene:

I'm king of the world.

Oh please, pfff.

Hmm, no reception here.

Uh yeah, cause we're in the middle of the ocean.

Hey Liza, get me one with pepperoni!

Hey, check this out! Looks like somebody's house!

They don't care about keeping shit clean around here. Before he died, he probably prayed for a satellite dish.

Let's check it out.

Let's go!

Hey! Check this out! Watch this.

Yeah, he's not coming to my pilot ceremony next month. Shocker, right?

Dude, you know your brother's always doing his own shit, right? Don't worry about it.

Ahahaha, yeah!

Nice!

Yeah baby!

No coconut for you.

Noo. No coconut for you!

Hey, hey I thought Doug said there weren't people on the island. Guys.

There they are, get them!

Everybody run!

Help!

Let go of me!

Get them in the truck!

Fuck you!

Then, in the document, there are the lines from the in-game video, but since each line in oasisstrings is linked to a sound file, it means all the dialog listed above is indeed from a different and longer version of the scene, which was cut.

[thejellyfaerie]

What are your headcanon voices for all the skeith husbands? (Skarl, Hagan, Malkus, Gordos, and any others you like)

I'm gonna have to put this under a read more because I prattled on for just a bit longer than I meant to hskdjfh

I love Skarl and Hagan's canon voices from N:TDF. If I had different voices for them in my head before, they don't matter because these ones have permanently overwritten them. We'll likely never get another voice acted piece of Neopets media with Fred Tatasciore and Dwight Schultz voicing the two and it kills me each time I think about it. I'm thankful for the amount of Skarl dialogue and cutscenes we got with him in them, but it's a shame that Hagan got ONE cutscene with dialogue and that was it. I don't know if it's because the team decided that one cutscene that was the first non-news introduction of King Hagan to some Neopets players was all anyone needed*, or if Dwight Schultz was somehow a really expensive guy to get and they were adamant about getting him to be Hagan's VA but it was so costly that they could only get him for a small number of lines. If I ever come across a huge sum of money, I won't say anything, but y'all will know (-cough cough- 5 minute long animated and fully voice acted short of Skarl and Hagan. -cough-) (Fun Fact: I've mentioned it before on this blog but both Fred Tatasciore and Dwight Schultz have voiced Dingodile in the Crash Bandicoot franchise [you could include them both voicing Nemesis Orcs here but they're separate beings and not different instances of the same singular character], and these two have been cast in the same piece of media 44 times! Including but not limited to: Chowder, Invader Zim, Yakuza, MadWorld, and Lego Dimensions.)

I have thought before about "What if something voice acted with well-known VAs were possible again but they couldn't get the TDF cast back?" and while I didn't look into voice actors for every character, I feel like JB Blanc would be a good choice for Skarl (his Kingpin voice from TASM2), both because he could do a voice that isn't exactly like the one Fred Tatasciore did but it's still very close IMO. Especially if you consider they both did Nemesis Olog voices in Middle-earth: Shadow of War. And because it would be amusing to no end for me that King Skarl and Saxton Hale from Team Fortress 2 would share a voice actor.

While still in the realm of N:TDF... going into watching clips a year back, I had known Keith Ferguson voiced Gordos, but at some point, my brain mixed up him with Keith Silverstein, so when I heard Gordos' voice, I was caught pretty off-guard. It's not a bad voice! It's just so far off from what I had in my head by that point that even after listening to his canon voice multiple times, I just can't unstick Keith Silverstein's "MaleCondescending" voice from Skyrim as my headcanon Gordos voice, regardless of if it fits the character or not. ("Do you get to the Money District very often? Oh, what am I saying - of course you don't.")

Malkus Vile: Doug Stone. Listen to him as the Junkyard Man from Pluto or Akio Kawazu from Paranoia Agent (this one is quite a bit longer.) If it were just a lil' bit deeper than these examples, it would be perfect.

Bigsby Shadington: Jacksepticeye. There's just something that when I look at him, I fully expect to hear Seán's voice coming out of that mouth.

Commander Flint: Jon St. John as Axe from DOTA 2.

I'd like to include more like Snargan, but no joke, I've been at this for a few hours because as soon as I get into sifting around voice actors and roles on BTVA and watching clips on Youtube to listen to scenes or even seeking out full episodes of shows to find a character, it's over. I only stopped to get up and make food lmao

(*Small tangent: Does TNT hate Hagan or something? It feels like they made him during the development of TDF for game purposes, introduced him on the site, made a few flash games, and then dropped him. To be fair, quite a lot of site NPCs were made and then immediately forgotten about after they were used for a plot or a flash game, but compared to some of the other land rulers like Princess Amira or King Kelpbeard, Hagan's been pretty neglected on account of not being given much of a speaking role in just about anything post-TDF and any inclusion in a plot comic has been... redrawing him in the background with the same pose and expression multiple times. How many words has he spoken in TVW, anyways?)

[nishitanis-left-nut]

yakuza 6. first and foremost, it didnt count the continues but i only died once. you know how on the way to that one boss fight we had to jump across platforms because there was the sea bellow? yea i walked off a platform cuz i wanted to see what would happen. i died is what happened.

THE KIDS AT THE ORPHANAGE NEVER SAW HIM AGAIN-

i usually add pictures of the stuff and scenes i talk about but i was too busy whipping tears off my face during the last chapter and i dont really feel like watching the cutscenes back any time soon cuz i dont wanna cry again, also sorry if i ramble more than usual

i thought the whole "kiryu is daigos mom" thing was just the fandom talking about them endearingly since to me they saw each other as brothers and unofficial kyodai, but that letter broke me. i think the only other times ive cried that hard during one of these games was probably when kiryu got stabbed in kiwami 2, and in 0 with nishiki and majima and then in kiwami with the majima saga and nishikis death (talking about nishikis death- was that ghost of him at new serena really necessary they had to render a whole ass shot of his corpse for that and all for what just to break my heart all over again?? monsters)

and this game hurts for so many reasons all at once that i dont even know how to talk about it?? kiryus such a tragic character and watching him grow older and throw everything away lose everything is a special type of hurt. his stubbornness and self sacrificing nature and belief that he doesnt deserve anything or worse that he ruins everything he touches DO YOU SEE WHY I CANT FIND HOW TO TALK ABOUT HIM-

haruka being just like him also hurts my soul, she had no reason to leave morning glory the same way kiryu had no real reason to fake his own death at the end but they still did. they care so much about the people in their lives that they would rather make themselves suffer than feel like an "inconvenience", even when the people theyre supposedly inconveniencing are screaming in their faces that they love them and would gladly help carry the weight of whatever their carrying ten times over

and yea kiryu DIDNT have any good reason to leave. thats still something that bothers me or maybe i missed something since, again, i was bawling my eyes out. hes not the only one who revealed the secret, nagumo and the others were right there with him hell he wasnt even the one to get the boat out of the water so why was he the only one threatened??? why did he suggest faking his own death (aside from a weak attempt to hold himself accountable for... existing)? like i get because of his influence they would want to make sure that him specifically keeps his mouth shut but????????

a part of me kind of feels like if Date wasnt such a push over and didnt have kiryu on a pedestal he mightve had a shot at talking him down from a lot of things through the games. he couldve put his foot down and threatened to tell everyone the truth or to arrest him or at the VERY least refuse to play along, he couldve punched some sense into him he couldve done anything else instead of just indulging him through the years

then again... kiryu is a man. let me kind of elaborate on that cuz im not sure what i mean myself. kiryu IS masculinity, hes everything any man with a good head on his shoulders should look up to (hell its affected me in my daily life too, in a positive way) but hes also very much the macho ideal in some ways, which is to say, you shouldnt actually want to BE like him. his stubbornness is part of that, not listening to reason because "he knows best" and refusing help left and right when he needs it the most (i still stand on that if he'd let Majima come down to okinawa with him the orphanage wouldnt have gotten destroyed and Rikiya probably wouldnt have died)

im assuming kiryu found out kiyomi wasnt really dead later on but that fight mustve fuked him up pretty bad and solidified it in his head that "he ruins everything" and doesnt deserve a chance at a normal life since sooner or later the tojo always come knocking at his door

i find him really relatable in these later games bc of a phew things honestly, and thats kind of helped me figure out some shit about myself. kiryu is someone who lives for the people in his life. him and majima are driven by love and loyalty, almost to their own undoing. their mental state and principles are so crucial to the games as a whole that i sometimes forget how dense the "crime drama" parts of the games actually are and how theyre supposed to be the main thing (as i saw someone mention here recently about yakuza 3: "someone put obligatory fighting in my dad simulator 3000")

this was more rambly and incoherent than usual, i really dont know how to go about talking about this game. I think playthrough-wise i had more fun with yakuza 5 but kiryus story kind of "ends" in this one. i know theres the kiryu gaiden and then infinite wealth but you get what i mean, this chapter of his life is over and hes never getting it back. i dont play a lot of games but the ones i have always seem to have a mostly "happy ending" so how yakuza 6 made me feel was definitely a welcomed first. kiryus such an amazing character and im real grateful to the studio for treating him and the franchise with respect honestly (although i have my own personal qualms about how the games have shifted over the years but its not things that "ruin" them for me by far so eh)

im excited to finally get to ichiban though, i knew i was gonna love him and so far yea i was right. ill most likely make a post about him when ive played a phew more hours. the silly.

[cramathonn]

Pompey died, cried, and hated becoming a ethereal

SPOILERS FOR THE 1.2 STORY QUEST AHEAD!!

He did

He hated it

Like, listen

That man looked so pained, like obviously physically, did you see how unnaturally his arms bent? But the look he gave Caesar as he pushed her away

That MILISECOND glance he gave her

It was pain, it was distaste at himself, disappointment that he was becoming an Ethereal

That man died being betrayed, didn't get the chance to be treated and saved because of the sabotage Lucius planed and had people watch him as he turned into an Ethereal

I am in shambles

My dear sweet Pompey, Hoyo did you so dirty... You deserved so much better

I need to make fix it x readers like, y'all have NO IDEA how HYPED I was, believing he was going to be playable, in love with his design

And them BOOM death

IN FRONT OF ME

TWICE

HE GOT BACKSTABBED IN THE COMIC CUTSCENE

AAND THEN IN AN ACTUALLY 3D CUTSCENE

Like, please Hoyo, that is targeted harassment agains me and my fellow Pompey enjoyers

I hope they pull a HSR and make dead characters playable, because I need him in my team

But yeah, he did

He totally cried when no one was there

Not of sadness, no, but of pure and sheer fustration. Frustration that his right hand betrayed him, frustration that he didn't see it sooner and frustration because he was going to become a monster due to how hopeful and forgiving he was towards Lucius

That

That just hurts me so much... My sweet old man Ily sm and I would fuck you even as a monster because gyatt dayum, that etheral design bangs, I would so let Ethereal Pompey ruin my insides, y'all have no idea

[daitranscripts]

Cole Cutscene: Warm Approval

Look For Cole

Cole Masterpost

The PC looks for Cole above the Tavern, but he isn’t there. They find him sitting outside, overlooking the medical tents.

PC: What are you doing?

Cole: Listening.

A woman walks past.

Cole: Eyes rough, jangling armor hurts my ears, back aching, fingers too clumsy for knots.

She tends to an injured soldier.

Cole: Wind cool like Aunt Eloise’s pond. Lips scalded as I sip, warmth blossoms, first kiss in the barn, what was his name?

She speaks to a nearby Chantry sister.

Cole: Tin jangle as the blood spills. Pierre’s wrapped body on the wagon to the chantry. Five more minutes. My fault.

1 - Dialogue options:

Investigate: Do you hear everything? [2]

General: Can you help her? [3] +Cole slightly approves

General: What was that? [4]

General: Don’t harm her. [5] +Cole slightly approves

2 - Investigate: Do you hear everything? PC: Can you listen to anyone’s mind like you did hers? Cole: No. They have to need me. Pain, fear, sadness, guilt, anger, hurt. Things I can fix. [back to 1]

3 - General: Can you help her? PC: Can you do something for her? Cole: Yes. [6]

4 - General: What was that? PC: could almost see what had happened to her. Cole: Yes. PC: Is that what it’s like for you? Cole: Yes. [6]

5 - General: Don’t harm her. PC: I don’t want to see her hurt. Cole: She already is. [6]

6 - Scene continues.

Cole appears below, near the woman.

Cole: It’s okay. Nothing you did mattered.

Healer: What? Who are you?

Cole: They lie there, and sometimes they die, just like Pierre. You can’t save them.

Healer: I don’t… I don’t know who you are…

Cole: Wait, that didn’t work. Let me try again. You’ll forget me in a minute.

The PC joins them.

7 - Dialogue options:

Investigate: Wait, what? [8]

General: [Wait and watch.] [9]

General: No, don’t do that. [10]

8 - Investigate: Wait, what? PC: What are you going to do? Cole: Make her forget me. Then do it again, the right way. [back to 7]

9 - General: [Wait and watch.] Cole: You can’t save all of them. Healer: What? Cole: Like Pierre getting sick after you snuck out to Aunt Eloise’s pond. You want it to be your fault, so there’s a reason and it’s not so frightening. But there’s no reason. Pierre just got sick. The soldier was never going to live. It wasn’t your fault.

There’s a moment with a bit of magic.

Cole: Better.

She walks away.

Dialogue options:

General: Nice work. [11] +Cole slightly approves

General: They don’t remember you? [12]

11 - General: Nice work. PC: She doesn’t blame herself anymore? Cole: Not as much. It was bouncing around inside her, closing up into a ball of wrong. Now it’s open. She’ll get it out. PC: Well done. [13] ㅤㅤ ㅤ 12 - General: They don’t remember you? PC: So you walk into their lives, make them feel better, and they just forget you? Cole: Yes. It’s better to help and then be gone. If I stay, it can be frightening. PC: For you or for them? Cole: Yes. [13] ㅤㅤ ㅤ 13 - Scene continues. ㅤㅤ ㅤ Cole: Thank you for letting me help her. It’s not how a person would do it… But it helped. That’s what matters. Scene ends.

10 - General: No, don’t do that. PC: Cole, stop. Healer: Inquisitor? Your Worship, what are you doing here? Is this… man… with you? PC: Yes. Sorry to trouble you. Cole: How do I do it right, if I’ve done it wrong and I can’t make her forget?

Dialogue options:

General: Just talk to her, Cole. [14]

General: Apologize, Cole. [15]

General: It’s not your fault, healer. [16]

14 - General: Just talk to her, Cole. PC: Don’t root around inside her head. Treat her like a normal person. Healer: Your Worship, is there… do you need something of me? Cole: You were sad. Healer: Of course I was sad. A man died because I couldn’t save him. Cole: It wasn’t your fault. Cole: You could work until you fell over, and you still wouldn’t save everyone. Healer: Thank you for saying that. Excuse me, Your Worship. [17]

15 - General: Apologize, Cole. PC: You hurt her feelings, Cole. Just tell her you’re sorry. Cole: I’m sorry. You were sad. I wanted to help. Healer: You can’t help… not unless you can bring that soldier back from the dead. Cole: It wasn’t your fault. Cole: You could work until you fell over, and you still wouldn’t save everyone. Healer: Thank you for saying that. Excuse me, Your Worship. [17]

16 - General: It’s not your fault, healer. PC: I hear you’ve had some bad news. Healer: I’m sorry, Your Worship. It was my fault. I was tired, and I thought I could take a few minutes to rest… PC: You can’t save everyone. This wasn’t your fault. Healer: Yes, Your Worship. Thank you. [17]

17 - Scene continues.

She walks away.

Cole: She’s not better.

Dialogue options:

General: This isn’t about her. [18]

General: She will be. [19] +Cole slightly approves

18 - General: This isn’t about her. PC: What’s important is that you tried, and that you didn’t disappear when it didn’t work. Cole: I wanted to. She was hurting. PC: You did everything you could to help… just like she did. It wasn’t your fault. [20]

19 - General: She will be. PC: She needs time to work through it. Cole: If I’d done it right, it would have worked faster. PC: Then you have time to work through it, too. [20]

20 - Scene continues.

Cole: I don’t understand. But thank you for trying to help. Scene ends.