#living dead girl dlc

[reaperbabegaming]

I've got some plans for new content come the new year but in order to do that I kind of want to lay a foundation of my content here first.

So I present to you my Master Post series!

I'll be making posts bi-weekly with links to all of my YouTube videos on a particular game.

What better game to start with than When the Night Comes by Lunaris Games

My 2021 run VODs

August Playthrough Pt 1｜Pt 2｜Pt 3｜Pt 4｜Pt 5｜Pt 6

Piper Playthrough (kinda?) Pt 1

WTNC Compilations Pt 1

Living Dead Girl DLC (2022)

Should I play through all the other romance routes too?

[ghostmourner]

More gacha rhythm games need to pull a touhou and become real one purchase games with no gacha and maybe a song expansion DLC. I'm sick and tired of rhythm games losing quality or eosing because they rely on the gacha aspect so strongly

[dawns-beauty]

Okay, to counteract all my complaining, here are some (lore friendly) mods that I just like a lot (no animals, people, weapons/armors, mesh/texture replacers, etc. because there's too many and it gets boring.)

-

Ghosts of the Deathbells: adds a really rare, somber event to picking a deathbell flower.

Falmeroon: adds Snow Elf ruins to some remote edges of the map. I've made an unofficial SE port here.

Snow Whale Bones: adds the remains of Snow Whales in some mountainous areas (iffy canon but sorry they are Cool.)

Windmills of Skyrim: adds windmills with unique, custom-painted sails to farms.

Scarecrows of Skyrim: adds scarecrows to farms.

Scribes of Skyrim: makes books and notes use a variety of typefaces (any fellow Pentiment fans out there?)

The Old Ways-Nordic Religion: adds totems representing the Nordic pantheon around Skyrim. Has patches for the next recommendation.

The Great Towns/Villages series: overhauls the smaller, worldspace towns in a really cool way, includes voice-acted NPCs. Personally, I like Kynesgrove the best because it actually adds to the lore about the Nordic pantheon. For Shor's Stone, I recommend this mod as well.

Redbag's Rorikstead: I like this mod over Great Village's version because the houses have sod roofs and I'm a sucker for sod roofs.

Capital Windhelm Expansion: adds some really thoughtful lore touches (Dunmer refugees outside the walls, an Arena, and a cool vampire quest)

Relic of Dawnstar: adds a Gehenoth skull to the White Hall (requires Cities of the North), inspired by the lore of the Travels game

Environs series: thoughtful additions that makes certain places change over time.

WiZKid's mods: especially Lund's Hut, Lively Farms, Icy Windhelm, Pinewatch, Hall of the Dead Stained Glass Windows, and Pavo's House. Sepolcri is also pretty good but loses immersion points for using celtic cross gravestones. You can pry Lanterns of Skyrim II from my cold, dead hands, though. Lux? Idk her, LoSII is my bestie.

Fancy Sleeping Tree Replacer: the Sleeping Tree is supposed to be a remnant of the sentient trees of the flying city of Umbriel (from the novels.) It should be weird, is what I'm saying, and this mod makes it alien and beautiful.

Unique Culture Riverwood: a mod that gives Riverwood its own style of farmhouse and a little more personality. The author has also made a mod for Falkreath.

Immersive World Encounters: adds more and edits World Encounters, including encountering faction NPCs out and about (ex. the Companions outside of Whiterun doing Companion-y things in the wilderness).

Glorious Doors of Skyrim: adds some really cool doors. 'nuff said.

Redbag's Dragonreach: adds some unique flair to Jarl Ballin's crib.

Cultured Orc Furniture: replaces generic furniture in Orc Strongholds with custom furniture.

Lavinia's Memorial: adds some gifts from her grieving parents to the little girl's grave in Falkreath. Ouch.

Nocturnal Moths: adds moths that spawn around lanterns at night.

Moons and Stars: fixes the positions of the stars and moons, as well as making moon phases consistent.

DK's Realistic Nord Ships: replaces Skyrim's ships with some gorgeous new models.

Morgenstern's Mushroom Circles: adds more fairy rings in the wilderness. Delightful!

Bloodmoon Brodir Grove: makes the grove in Solstheim a little more like it was in the Morrowind DLC. The mod author also has more mods that bring Bloodmoon details and locations to Solstheim.

Ships of the Horizon: does what it says on the tin.

EVG Animation Variance: the whole animation series by Everglaid is nice (haven't tried Traversal yet, but that is some incredible technology) but I especially like this one for the old people animations

jasperthegnome's houses: these are SO cozy and comfy.

Arctic- Frost Effects Redux: makes frost spells have cooler effects (including 3D ice spikes)

Northern Roads- Let Me Guess Someone Stole Your Sweetroads: a plugin that cuts down on Northern Roads, removing all the landscape changes and bridges and just keeping the clutter. Way more compatible than the original mod.

Skyrim Bridges: this is my favorite bridge mod. There are many, but I like this one best.

Edit: forgot two tiny mods in my original post:

Nightcaller Temple Unique Shrine of Mara: replaces the generic shrine with a wooden shrine Erandur carved

Broken Tower Redoubt Unique Shrine of Dibella: similar to the above mod, but Reachmen carved this one.

[fantomette22]

GIRL HELP, now we are both in the club of people whose caring for Miquella reached its FULL form because of the DLC hfgfjgdbh I think what I've lacked this whole time was a coherent idea on what his imperfections and flaws were! Because "well you see Bewitching Branch is kinda fucked up concept" didn't give me enough. And I feel like I've struck gold with the whole thing of him not being able to accept Radahn's character development and nature as a warrior. It is soooooo wrong and reminded me of one of the ways to look at Gehrman.

It took me a few weeks but finally me 🤝 you at having the time of our fandom lives with Miquella now

I KNOW RIGHT?!?!?! Yeah it's quite crazy. We took our sweet time but here we are! 🤝

I mean maybe I wasn't way too much invest in elden ring because of the huge bloodborne brain rot taking all my time too 😂 But also Elden Ring is really a lot to digest! You and I really like details and to care about every lil guys! In Bloodborne even if there's lot of characters it stays limited while in Elden Ring it's just SO enormous O_O there's too much and yeah I didn't got that savage brain rot yet while just playing the game a year ago+

And I knew dlc was coming so I guess I didn't get too much invested either? Or at least it was inconsciently.

So yes during and after the dlc and after digesting everything I somehow really learn like Miquella! We know way more now and idk but it's even more interesting now!

Before dlc I saw him like : poor lil guy tried smt to become a god (pls don't it's gonna be bad) screw up really big time & he's dead now 😔 you tried your best... he was too good for this world rip

But now it's more develop! there's actually a following to that! he didn't just fail big time! for now😰

I said a few weeks ago I was gonna wait to finish the dlc and then speak about Miquella and what I think of everything. Well maybe I will do a separate post later but I think it's finally time.

So let's dive in (warning spoilers shadow of the Erdtree DLC)

I know it's a bit of mess between people thinking "I was right he's the ultimate evil!!! He's like Griffith!" (what 💀)"and people being very mad at other or distraught by it bc now this get shown into their face while they were just happy with Miquella being a kind lil guy, to good or pure for this world... I want to believe many people are actually very middle ground on this but hm yeah smt it's not good and quite extreme.

But if that can help (at least I will try here ) with everything we got I might have an interpretation that I hope, could help out a few people. I can't say I'm right, I'm probably far from it but I appreciate what I deduced and put together a lot! (in my head but still) It made me really like and invest more in Miquella character now! And it make me at peace with what the dlc brought to the table. I can accept that more well now. That made everything have more sense and made Miquella really have a bittersweet/tragic path & ending. And I am ok with that and I think others could be as well.

I like Miquella I think he was mostly good, the kindest between this darker lands. But he needed to changed, to grow to succeed in his goals right? Because he got stuck. But by growing up, discarding parts of himself to be a "better version" of himself that would succeed & become a god is what eventually doomed him in the end :

Miquella discarding part of himself tragedy.

This is just so sad and tragic. But it might be oblivious. He wasn't "strong enough" in his current position/eternal childhood etc So he probably thought that make the sacrifice to become a god would succeed in the end. A necessary sacrifice...that he would be stronger able to finally obtain his goals... But by doing that he loose everything that made him himself... without realising it... he abandoned everything. And the more he abandoned, the more he didn't realised he was loosing himself what he cared about... and how it was a mistake. (I suppose that Marika might have gone through the same thing now...)

Trina realised it at some point. That it was wrong,t hat it wouldn't work anyway perhaps. Is it really worth it? Is it really gonna work? Probably not... But it's too late to go back now. She knew Miquella before everything would probably not approve of what he became... of the dangerosity of what he could be...

That just... sorry it's just so tragic I don't know how to express it sadden me so much...

Bewitching people :

We already knew that he somehow "bewitch people" but it wasn't very explained in base game and really up to interpretations. Now we know more. And it sparks a lot of things...

I completely agree that you know, half mind control people and changed people thoughts and individuality, personality etc hm it's bad. it's no good to control masses. BUT but, I can kinda understand why Miquella did it! And I'm gonna try to explain that now.

Ok, imagine you're Miquella. You're trying to get people to join your cause. Of course like for exemple the crab hunter or farmer have other things to do than join your cause so sure you let them be. But then imagine you talk with smn and then they just hate you and is going to say shit to everyone about you and then they're gonna try kick your ass. Wouldn't it be better, even if that's bad on paper, to bewitching them? make allies your enemies?

You can't reason with some people at time even if you try everything, sadly. You can either go away or fight or ask a competent authority to stop them. But if you had a way for them to magically stop wanting to harm you and become more friendly / on your side wouldn't you use it?

Like it's bad but I can understand why Miq did it. But of course forcing people who were neutral bc you think "you're better" is hm... not great too... but it's not clear how much it happened and what went though he's mind. He probably thought it was a good thing. But no but can we blame him for trying to have better world?

And it's still not clear how his mind age but I do think he still have lot of quality/default of what any child mind have. He probably didn't see the wrong of everyone becoming allies and use kindness not violence to it. A child mind (mostly) is innocence, optimistic etc I do think he lost a lot by discarding parts but it has it's backsides. An adult would be more incline to find solution and act accordingly to treat but loose a lot of "childhood good sides" as well. it's quite complicated but nothing is perfect in this. You wanna agin smt you loose another you can't have everything and life's not black & white.

Also about Mogh. Yes he's not fuck up like that! But I understand why Miq bewitching him. Hm Mohg, maybe would have just kill Miquella to get his amazing blood for whatever purpose with the formless mother anyway. So of course Miquella did that to try to gain a potential ally that in other case is very dangerous for him. But still I think Miquella had to improvise after Mogh took him and then when the cocoon didn't work. Yeah I still think Mogh has a LOT of issues. He's not a saint and I don't think it went well with Miquella's plan to have been taken by him.

Radahn thoughts:

I mean I'm still a bit like : wu wut what but why??!!?!? confusion

But it's a bit better now XD I swear if the devs originally had another idea I'm gonna be mad! But it can maybe made a bit of sense. I don't really have much thoughts bc I'm still confuse about it but I think understand the point.

Radahn, when younger, was probably all the noble qualities that had Godfrey.

And Miq was probably like : When Godfrey was Elden Lord it was the golden age everything was great! Nothing was wrong! The lands between had stability. Radahn have the potentiel to be like Godfrey!

Also Radahn : Let's conquer and make war like lord Godrey!!!!!!!!!!!

I mean yeah everything was great between stability and war 😅 so jkefjf help like I can understand ou need smn to fight of ennemies just in case but Miquella that's not gonna work. Like at some point there's pb. Like who you consider anomy.. should you reprimand everyone?? Like Marika and her cycle of violence?! dzbkdsfbhkbhkld

Also I wonder if the great runes didn't made many demigods "change" as well. It gave them more power and maybe it screw their mind too. (And when Miquella great runes break the bewitching spells stop so..... before he got the runes maybe he never used that. And maybe that's why Radahn changed so much too) Power really does change people hm?

So anyway sorry idk if I succeed to organise everything coherently XD I tried. So yes I think Miquella is nuanced but was mostly good because of many conditions and he tried to fix everything but loses everything in the end... by discarding who he really was... a necessary sacrifice, that would ultimately fail...

I got very emotional after beating the final boss and going one last time to Trina. I really cried a lot. Because it's freaking sad. All the sacrifices in vain... they deserved so much but the world was cruel.

And even if we did nothing. What change? Nothing. He never came back in the lands between if we finish the main game. Did you abandoned everything Miquella? Did it not work out? Or like should we blame the poor devs. Idk it's very confusing now. The lands between still a mess, the lands of shadow too. He never came back...

The only ray of hope is us, the tarnished to try to make a better world for everyone. The one they couldn't make themselves...

(Ok so hope make sense 😅 and maybe it will put everything in a new light for people and give them a hand! I got way more invested and happy! Even if that's sad. I started to imaging little story and headcanons about his childhood I would never have before... it's confusing but if I am right the devs succeed! good job)

[malwaredykes]

ok. finished honest hearts. most of my inventory is plants and mushroom and Soups And Potions And Elixirs made from said plants and mushrooms. which is excellent.

the salt-upon-wounds confrontation was Tchruly garbo like. first of all they lit up ole josh before anyone even had the chance to say anything LOL that wasnt like Bad necessarily just rly funny. like yeah we can negotiate before anything breaks out *the camera pans to Jotchua Grams lifeless body on the pavement* but um second of all what the hell was that dialogue. "grrrr im gonna kill you" "[speech 75] no thats stupid. dont" "umm okei :) but i'll be back >:(" *runs away* Like. man. listen. throughout the entire dlc i Did Not want to be fighting all those white legs lol. i didnt know those people. you know i generally hate the Hostile By Default Irredeemable Canon Fodder Raiders crap and in this case its just especially egregious to me, with them being a Tribe and with me being some random ass normie strolling into the area getting instructed by the local white saviors. like, okay, since i Was getting involved, then if anyone deserved to Feel The Judgment Of Mine fall upon them it was in fact salt-upon-wounds with his track record of being a horrible fucking person. so i had to fight my way through all those white legs only for the Problem Guy to be like "Hm Okay. Deal. You Leave Forever And I Get To Live. Sounds Good. Sucker" like. fuck no. youre dead. this is for waking clouds husband how DARE you make my bald queen SAD

which btw i did encourage cloud to get mad at daniel for hiding that from her. like yeah girl dont take this shit from him. youre allowed to feel angry. who does he think he is. making decisions for the sorrows like youre all children. be mad at him. chase him out. tell him to never show his stinky mug around these parts. If You Want. ahh but then the ending slides said she forgave him.... well i suppose i have to respect her choice... but... cloud honey if you ever wanna team up and chase daniels stinky mug far away just give me a call

i also encouraged follows-chalk to go out there and experience the world outside... i really hated how he felt obligated to ask joshua permission, and how joshua was like Well 🥺 I wont tell him what to do but 🥺 Is it wise... I just worry about my foolish little lamb 🥺... like. Shut Uuuupppp.... chalk is an adult. i think. either way what do You know. jotchua. last time you ventured into The Civilized Lands (lol) you were a fucked up genocide army general so forgive me for thinking you might not have the most objective and up to date outlook here. Anyway. chalk come hang out sometime. come to the lucky 38. youll meet my epic swag friends and family. LOL bit of an aside but (mostly so i dont become insane because of the dlcs writing) i like to imagine that most of the time chalk expresses incredulity about some Civilized World Concept like gambling (-_-) or big dams or big weapons, hes literally fucking with you. like hes joking around. he used to mess with daniel and jotchua like that and now hes doing it with you. like Wow... How Strange... You Say It Is Called A... "Window".... 😂😂😂...

loving how the ending slides barely mentioned joshua also. like wtf happened to him. who knows. damn maybe he did die and i didnt even notice. im sorry jotchua. may your soul quickly find its way to NOWHERE lol #owned

final verdict: waking-cloud and follows-chalk are great, joshua graham is an extremely funny character, daniel is nothing to me, the area is cool, the plot is dumb as hell, the whole thing is racist, the quests are boring. 3/10

[qettleqorn]

Aburame: Tattoo Shop AU | DLC This is basically an additional addon to @kankuroplease's own AU. So thank her for all the good content she brings!

The Family

Occupationally Speaking. Many within the Aburame Family have taken to working with the dead as morticians or as hitmen. Usually though they'll work in teams where one is the hitmen and the other the mortician.

Some within the family have even gone to use their knowledge of insects to help expedite the process of getting rid of the bodies. Though it does help that they collectively own quite a few crematories and some graveyards too.

Also. They run a few of the garbage disposal places. Basically they are where you go to when you need to get rid of something.

Since the family makes it's living off the dead. Many find it to be creepy. Since ya know- death.

They work with both the Uchiha and Hyuga, they are a neutral ground kind of family as no matter what happens. They ofc will always be there waiting to take the dead. By their own hands or gifted.

Sometimes if the pay is good enough they'll even help smuggle things- people to wherever they're needed to be.

There are different syndicates of the family. Approximately six, they try to confuse the law by doing this and if one needs to go down they can easily replace it with another branch head.

Amongst the clan these branches are known by. Bikōchū, Kidaichū, Kikaichū, Kochū, Rinkaichū, and Shōkaichū.

The Aburame numbers always seem to stay the same amongst the gang. It isn't really obvious how many people they may or may not have.

Public schooling for the kids. Most don't even know the Aburame are in charge since they have those syndicates and what not. Though some of the higher ups kids do go to private schools. But most of the time it's all public.

The Crew

Shibi Aburame

Another childhood friend of Mikoto's but she didn't need to kick his butt for them to become cool.

Use to be a hitter but after having Shino he decided he rather work with disposing of the bodies instead of making the hits himself. Keeps him closer to home and gives him a cover up.

Met his girl in school too. Makes the off handed joke to Fugaku that he didn't need his ass kicked to know he found the one he liked. He just needed a ear full.

His wife does know of the business, he tries to make sure she and their children stay out of it. But unluckily for him Shino has joined them after seeing his adoptive brother and his father tending to a work incident.

Shino Aburame

Is going to college to become an entomologist. But is also trying to partake in the family business because he hates to see father and brother suffer alone.

In addition the way the family uses insects to decompose of the bodies gives him the ability to study them much more closely. (Shibi breathes a sigh of relief that his son is just as weird about bugs as his mother is.)

Torune Aburame

As his father, Shikuro, is often locked up for one reason or another. Torune has taken to staying with Shino's family. Unofficially adopted by them basically.

His side job is being a tattoo tech for one of his cousins. But disposal is his primary source of income when he isn't sleeping on Shibi's couch- much like his father tries to do when he isn't locked away.

Shikuro Aburame

Is alive and well in this. But is locked up and keeps getting locked up. He's practically the family fall man after an incident with his adoptive brother having thrown him under the bus.

Muta Aburame

Far off distant cousin to Tatsuma and Torune. Muta is also Torune's hand in crime as the two often are partnered up.

When he isn't working with Torune, Muta is often tending to his silk worms. He often uses them for craft works.

Tatsuma Aburame

Personal guard to the current family head Takeo.

Chews a lot of bubble gum. Uses a cigar case to carry his gum packs.

Yōji Aburame

Best marksmen out of the main family.

Takeo Aburame | Oc

Has been in charge of the family since he was fifteen. Inherited the position from his Aunt.

Wishes to pass on the title to his son already but knows he would get bored if he didn't keep it. He's far too use to the excitement the job brings and as much as he enjoys making teapots in his spare time. He finds that life in charge more fulfilling.

[loremaster]

rain code dlc thoughts

watched em all (spoilers obviously)

desuhiko:

can't believe this guy literally tried flirting with a child. he has gone unchecked for too long. we need to beat him up

enyne is good. i would love to see her in a cool thief outfit

not worth $5

fubuki:

the interactions between the detectives were cute. but i wish she'd gotten a chance to shine more on her own

it was kind of aggravating how slow they solved the mystery though. all that wondering about what the numbers could possibly mean... y'all the die was right there

not worth $5

halara:

kind of a shame that this one was the only actual investigative one. it was great!!! i liked the mystery setup and i liked figuring out how the culprit pulled it off even if the identity of the culprit was obvious the moment he showed up

"Good girl, Sugar" lololololol

good to know halara can be bought with cats instead of shien. love that yakou's totally onto their shit

and the cat they have a picture of is REAL!!! IT'S NOT A RANDOM JPG FROM THE INTERNET (WHICH I HAD ASSUMED)

worth $5

vivia:

i love how before it came out we were all like "please... one conversation with yakou... even just a mention of him would be okay" and then we got hit with a flaming rainbow fist #LoveWins

vivia all like "i wish i had something in this world to care about" and yakou literally forcing open the doors to his cold dead heart in response

the way he keeps flashing back to all the little things yakou has done to care for him... vivia you can't deny the truth anymore. you can't run from these gay thoughts

fellas is it gay to be another man's reason for living? (only if you share an umbrella)

for those who don't know, sharing an umbrella is like the most romantic thing you can do in japan. the only way this could have been more explicitly textually gay is if one of them pointed out how beautiful the moon was.

where's my Melt amv

'i'll enjoy the scenery along the way' *yakou seductively swaying his hips back and forth* HELLO???????????????????????

i hope after that is when vivia finally agrees to that dinner date

honestly up until now i've been very attached to the idea of vivia being head over heels for yakou the whole time and yakou not ever really noticing but now???? my god. this chief really can bisexual

speaking of bi i'm also not opposed to the idea of vivia/ryo... them both being like 'i'm interested in you' 'i'm interested in you too' oh are you now? hmmmm...

and they were both ghosts (oh my god they were ghosts)

I was saying to my friends while we were playing it that it makes sense the first suicide was 5 years ago, before the blank week incident... because otherwise she wouldn't have been a ghost at all, just a walking corpse

loved that line btw. 'all humans are just walking corpses' good news vivia, you're among peers here in kanai ward

worth $5. i mean technically since vivia/yakou dlcs are bundled together (gaaaay) it only cost $2.50 so it's extra worth it.

the amount of fanfiction that will inevitably come out of this is worth way more than $5

yakou:

his hips still do the little wiggle even as a zombie. can't slay the sashay away <3

him thinking of all the other detectives.... UUU....

yuma's flashback is from ch5 after yakou's already dead (but clearly there's still enough of him left...)

desuhiko's... is it from the dlc? idk. he said "i won't cause any problems" and then went on to cause many problems

halara's scene from the dlc is clearly a moment that made a big impression on yakou LMFAO... i mean if halara nightmare sat in MY chair it would make an impression on me too :flushed:

fubuki's i'm pretty sure is from ch.4 as yakou is dying on the floor?? he must have felt so bad, hearing her cry so much while he was fading away and couldn't do anything about it... his last moments UUUUUU

vivia gets the FUCKING aforementioned umbrella scene. sad wet cat man. learning to accept kindness and finding something (someone) worth living for... the exact moment vivia falls in love with him lmfao. and this is the moment that sticks out in yakou's zombie brain. seeing someone in need and actually being able to reach out and help them (for once). ;_;

and then SHE!!!!!!! SHEEEEEEEEEE

i shrieked when i saw her

mad she STILL doesn't have a name but oh man. i love her. i mean i already loved her when i saw the labcoat + turtleneck combo but the GLASSESSSSSS. and her VOICE AARGGGHHH they picked the perfect va for her

She must've given him the glasses while she was still alive, since he's the one wearing them in The Photo. good call, he looks naked without them

and now we really understand why yakou is as pitifully broke as he is, because he can't bring himself to make the corrupt choice that screws over innocent people for the sake of money. love that for him. he suffers so much for the sake of his city

very funny that he couldn't recognize his childhood friend (i'm assuming she recognized him immediately from across the room lmao). love the idea that she's trans. they're t4t your honor

she asked the most useless man to be her bodyguard but we all know who's protecting whom lmao

i feel like she must have been the one who proposed to him. or at least knowingly coaxed him into it haha

AND THE BADGE... UUUUUU.... and her ghost led him to it.... she had such an important job to do...

need to see vivia talk to her now. ghost 2 ghost communication. yakou simp 2 yakou simp

i think she would tell yakou to go kiss that goth boy silly

and most importantly... the medicine. the research... her dream lives on... i thought it was stupid that makoto literally cancelled everything about the homunculus research - sure they didn't need to make any more but how about research into alternate diets? or uv protection beyond like. sunscreen. WHAT ABOUT HER RESEARCH MAKOTO. PLEASE

so the existence of a possible cure for zombie homunculus begs the question... what's next for yakou? we thought his story was done but turns out it's far from yakouver, bitches. he's coming back one way or another.

what will he do with this magical macguffin - bring it to somewhere they can analyze it and duplicate it, or just take the pill himself? how complete is this untested theoretical cure? will yakou Come Back Wrong? is he gonna struggle to speak? (though that'd be a waste of kaiji tang)... is he gonna struggle with the urge to, you know, eat human flesh? i think that would be pretty hot cool

of course there's the chance it won't work at all. or will just straight up kill him, speedrun to reuniting with dead wife

definitely worth $5. or $2.50.

but at the same time since it actually does continue the main plot of rain code in an interesting way (or hint at it) i think they should bundle it with the main game instead of vivia's dlc

i mean if i had it my way they'd ALL be free but... i get it. they gotta gauge popularity somehow (and pay the devs/vas for extra work)

anyway. i should be working on homework but no. this game has absolutely ruined me

[onyx-archer]

A Timey-Whimey (Shit)Storm: A Critical Look at Life is Strange 1's Ending.

It's been a hot minute since I did one of these essay type posts, and I know that the title is may suggest some kind of dislike of the game or something, and incite the ire of fans, but at least hear me out a little before getting mad. I actually enjoy these games, along with the comics, so I'm coming at this from a place of love. I especially have a soft spot for the original Life is Strange, I've just had this on my mind for a while.

Obviously, there will be spoilers for "Life is Strange," but I will also briefly cover spoilers from the Life is Strange comic series, and a brief, albeit minor spoiler of Life is Strange 2's 5th episode, and some stuff from Life is Strange: True Colors' "Wavelengths" DLC. If that ain't your bag, then you've been warned. All of it will be under the cut anyway. Before that though, I have some other house keeping to get out of the way.

I want to make it abundantly clear up front what my stance on the game being covered is, so there's no room for misunderstanding. I quite like the original Life is Strange. It's probably my favorite game of it's type (narrative adventure game in the Telltale style). I don't like Before the Storm or Life is Strange 2 though, but both of those will eventually get their own posts. I do like True Colors though.

I also want to make it clear that I am 100% on the side of "Pricefield," but I'm not really making this post from the place of a Pricefield bias or whatever, so I want to head that off at the pass.

With that, the rest is under the cut. Again, hella spoilers inbound, you've been warned.

Life is Strange is the kind of game that I have a pretty lukewarm opinion of genre wise, but manages to keep me engaged through the way it unfolds. I'm not especially fond of the narrative adventure game genre that was popularized with Season 1 of Telltale's The Walking Dead, despite having played quite a few of them. I like a few, sure, but it's generally not something I'm fond of. If not for the fact that Chloe's character design appealed to me (you'd know why if you've seen my original characters), I'd have never even touched it.

I have fond memories of playing the original Life is Strange with my best friend back when it was still being released, and how we'd actually hash out our thoughts on what decisions made the most sense in the moment while playing. I initially remember hating the ending of the original making my choices feel meaningless (as by the time "Polarized" came out, my friend and I weren't able to play together due to us living in 2 different cities at the time), and it was only after letting it marinate for a while that I came to the conclusion that I liked one of the two possible endings, and disliked the other.

I'm (rather obviously) on team "Bae," as far as the endings to the original are concerned. To me, this is the only ending that actually makes sense unless you want to argue that the whole point of the story is some fatalist, deterministic experience at it's core (which I've certainly seen argued multiple times), but I don't think that ideology is even remotely interesting to think about, and is flawed as hell. That's beside the point though. The part of this post that is dedicated to the first game is, primarily, about the reason why that ending is the only one that makes sense to me.

Throughout the game, Max (and by extension, we, the players) use her time travel powers to ultimately solve a few puzzles, and to otherwise scope out minor multiple decisions we make during the story. The moment we see Max use her powers for the first time is when Chloe (whom she doesn't recognize at the time) is shot in the girl's washroom at Blackwell. However, before she does this, she sees the vision of the Storm, and is jolted awake by it in the middle of class.

From here, the game tries to heavily imply that Max using her powers to save Chloe from being shot is what ultimately made the Storm come to pass, and drops mentions of the concept of Chaos Theory multiple times. I'm not going to bother explain what that means, but it does at least make some kind of sense. Max using her powers can alter the course of things, and create an untold amount of diverging timelines. We see this obviously through the "Bay" ending, as Chloe's death happens, and no storm comes. This is clearly to enforce the idea that Chloe not dying does something that causes the storm.

However, where this concept begins to eat shit like a skateboarder failing to bail properly from a bad Tre Flip is when Max goes back in time via a photo for the first time. She prevents the death of another person, Chloe's father, William. As we all know, this action has the consequence of Chloe eventually getting into a car accident and becoming quadriplegic, and is doomed to die when her respiratory system gives out due to the nature of the injury.

Now, this specific timeline brings with it questions, and the game doesn't really bother to answer them, despite it being a big hole in the whole "Chloe's death prevents the storm" idea.

The main question is "why didn't William not dying yield a storm?" If the idea of preventing a person from dying has far reaching consequences, and can lead to a storm, then why did William's survival not lead to a storm? Wouldn't that be a bigger shift to the "natural order of things" that Max saving Chloe did?

The cop-out answers I've heard to this are things like "she wouldn't have done it if she didn't save Chloe first to begin with" and "she didn't over-use her powers during the period of William's accident, so the storm wouldn't have been bad." I've even heard the idea that Chloe's accident is the universe saying "fuck you" to Max saving William, and while that is certainly believable, it ultimately makes you wonder "why are the dead whales even a thing in the 'William Lives' timeline?"

The second time I was left wondering is "in the timeline where Max is taken to the Dark Room, Chloe is very dead, so how is it that the storm happens at all if Chloe's survival is the reason it happens?"

Naturally, people will say "the act of saving Chloe sets things into motion, so it's too late to stop the storm by that point." It's here where I call bullshit, because it then makes you ask the question I brought up earlier: "why didn't the timeline where William lives have a storm after he was saved?" If the universe is pissed that Chloe lived, then her dying should prevent the storm, right? But if the universe is pissed at her living, then why isn't it pissed about William cheating death due to Max's intervention?

If it was just the timelines where William died but Chloe lived, I'd be like "alright, sure, Chloe cheating death caused the problem." But Willian's death being prevented doesn't do the same, so it's inconsistent reasoning at best.

Again, by the logic of the "Chloe being alive causes the storm" viewpoint, William should lead to that happening 5 years prior if he survives the day he's supposed to die, but that doesn't happen. If the storm is caused by Chloe being alive, then what does it matter which day she dies, so long as she dies before the storm is scheduled to happen? Unless you want to argue some divine punishment is occurring via a pissed off God, which would make the whole thing feel worse, then there is no logical consistency with the idea of "Chloe Alive = Storm, but William Alive =/= Storm."

It's by this logic that I think that the storm is tied to Max using her powers, rather than specifically the act of saving Chloe. This is then later reinforced, at least in part, by the sequel comics. Now, I know people will argue aren't canon, but they offer a look into a post "Bae" ending, and answer some questions about it in an official capacity, even if it's just meant to be a single view as to what could happen.

In those comics, Max's powers are tied to the storm, and are tied to her flickering between different realities, which lead her to a universe where Chloe and Rachel are alive and in LA for 2 years. She is later forced to confront another storm, and is able to prevent it from doing any damage, and then uses it to power a leap back to her original reality, albeit with the help of a guy who has the power to travel between dimensions, Tristian.

So in short, official media confirms that the powers are connected to the storm, and not necessarily Chloe's life. Max first uses her powers to save Chloe, sure, but the storm isn't linked to Chloe's fate by itself.

However, this is merely part of the justification I have for what I ultimately think is the "better" ending. The other is a simple question: how do they know that Max preventing herself from saving Chloe will stop the storm

Yes, we as the player, the outsider looking in, know that Max preventing herself from saving Chloe will lead to a Storm-less timeline, but in the scene where they decide that is what they have to do to stop the storm from happening, Max says that she caused the storm, and basically says it's due to her fucking with time. So how do they come to the conclusion her using her powers, the thing that caused the storm in the first place, to fix one more thing suddenly prevent the storm? Why would she even think that's a good idea when the consequences of her meddling with time are literally barreling toward Arcadia Bay?

In short, the metatextual element of this scene causes the internal logic of the choice to make no sense. If the use of powers causes the storm, then why would they even think using them again would fix things? If it's Chloe being alive, then William being alive should have done the same thing.

Basically, I think the issue with the ending isn't inherently the choice itself, but the logic for why the characters would even think a Hail Mary play like "go back in time and prevent yourself from saving Chloe in the first place" would even remotely work, given that they have two running ideas of the cause of the storm, and only one of them actually makes sense outside of a passing thought.

The issue with the "Bay" ending is that it leaves you with questions that have no good answers, but the "Bae" ending's questions are easier to answer.

In the "Bay" ending, if the photo jump is to the past where Max knows she can rewind time, even if only barely, then what's stopping that Max from abusing her rewind anyway? If the powers are the cause of the storm, then leaving her with the knowledge of it even being a thing is dangerous for the week leading up to Post-Photo-Jump Max's return, where that Max knows to not abuse her powers. Heck, if past-Max doesn't know of the rewind yet, and Photo-Jump Max knows that, then she can still save Chloe, and past her wouldn't know about the idea of time travel, so she'd not abuse the ability. Sure, there'd likely still be some kind of repercussions for messing with things, but it'd be significantly lessened if her powers are the cause of the storm, and not Chloe surviving.

So again, if Chloe's death has to be the thing that prevents the storm, why didn't saving William cause a storm? Why didn't Chloe dying to Jefferson at the end of Episode 4 stop the storm? If it's not Max's abuse of her powers that causes the storm, then what's stopping her from abusing the power in a Chloe-less world? We know thanks to the comics that she retains the ability to time travel after the week is done. Hell, if the "leaks" of an alleged Max-focused sequel game being in development are true, then it also confirms Max keeps her powers in a more concrete way than the comics did, so what's stopping her from abusing them outside of a sense of grief over losing Chloe?

I ask those questions because the act of letting Arcadia Bay get destroyed in the "Bae" ending doesn't highlight the issues with explaining how the storm came to be in the first place, and it ultimately could be either Chloe surviving when she should have died, or a consequence of Max abusing her powers during the week. It ultimately says "this is the cost of saving your friend. You made this bed, now lay in it."

The "Bae" ending reinforces the idea that Max shouldn't mess with time, and it shows the active consequences of doing so. It actively makes the "your choices will have consequences" thing the game shoves in your face at the beginning of every episode actively mean something, but in a way that isn't inherently obvious from the jump. From a metatextual standpoint, it's honestly really smart to have the idea of "choices and their consequences" be more of a theme rather than just a mechanic. Max ultimately has to live with the fact that her selfish desire to save her friend cost hundreds of people their lives, and she's not the only one who knows about that burden, because Chloe will have to spend a long time coming to terms with the fact that Max chose her over the lives of others when push came to shove. It ultimately feels like the journey meant something in the long term.

Conversely, the "Bay" ending just leaves me like "so there's no real consequences for anything, because this is how things would have played out if Max didn't have powers." Sure, Max has to live knowing her friend is dead because she wasn't allowed to save her, but she'd at least live knowing she did it for the greater good. It tries to say "this is the right choice" but fumbles because it ultimately just leaves people like me poking holes in the time travel logic. So long as she doesn't try to prevent someone's death again, she's free to use and abuse her powers however she wants. It doesn't reinforce the idea of "messing with things has consequences," it just lets Max have the ultimate do-over, where the only consequence that matters is her best friend is dead. She has to live knowing she let her friend die. At most, it's a tragic thing that will affect a few people, and that's it. To me, it just feels incredibly hollow.

Even if you like the "Bay" ending, I think you have to admit that the "Bae" ending has the time travel feel less problematic from a narrative logic standpoint. It, at the very least, doesn't require the answer to the question of "what caused the storm in the first place?" unlike the "Bay" ending, where it's left up in the air if it was Max's powers or Chloe's life that was behind it. From here, I'm going to basically go into some minor points as to why I think the "Bae" ending makes the most sense as the "canon" one for the series after the first game. These are not as important to the broader point, but still. If you wanna dip from the post now (assuming you made it this far) then cool, hope to see you when I talk about why I hate Before The Storm, cause that may interest people.

Some people like to suggest that the "Bay" ending has more potential for expansion, but I strongly disagree. That ending's future story potential, at least as far as Max is concerned, is just "Max has to learn to deal with the grief of losing her best friend" and otherwise has no real direction. If she meets Steph or something in a future game, for example, it ultimately will be a bit awkward for Max, and that's it. In the "Bae" ending, there's actual potential for drama if Max interacts with a former resident of Arcadia Bay, knowing she let it burn for the sake of one girl.

We can see how each ending effects David via the 5th Episode of Life is Strange 2. We know that regardless of Chloe's fate (at least as far as the two timelines that branch off from the first game's ending are concerned), David ends up in Away. David and Joyce split in the timeline where Chloe dies, and obviously Joyce died in the storm in the timeline where Chloe lives. We see how this effects David, but even then, there's more of a story to be told with Chloe surviving vs dying, at least in my view. Chloe and David being able to set aside their past issues and becoming the family Joyce had longed for them to become is a far more interesting story than David trying to reconnect with Joyce after Chloe's death split them apart. I'm not trying to suggest David is a great character or anything, but it's notable that Chloe and David's relationship is more interesting to explore in a post-Storm world, because he actually has a reason to become a better person in a Joyce-less world vs a Chloe-less one. It ultimately makes more sense for him to end up in Away because of Joyce's death rather than Chloe's. We see he really wants to be there for Chloe when he saves Max from the Dark Room, and we see how much Chloe's death affects him in that timeline, so I'm not saying he wouldn't relocate because of it if she died in the bathroom... but the drastic change he undergoes between Life is Strange and Life is Strange 2 really only makes sense in a world where he lost Joyce, and has to be better for Chloe's sake.

Steph is another character where it only makes sense to have Arcadia Bay get demolished, rather than have Chloe die. Sure, Steph is a very emotional character at her core, and runs from things that make her uncomfortable, no matter how good her life is going outside of that... but I honestly think it makes more sense for her to run from the past in a world where her hometown got levelled, because she'd have some kind of survivor's guilt because of the fact that she lived and her mom didn't. Yeah, she could still have survivor's guilt after learning both Chloe and Rachel died, but I'd argue it'd make more sense that she'd be running from Mikey in a world where the scars of Arcadia Bay run deep, rather than what happened to Chloe and Rachel. What reason would she have to avoid Mikey, her best friend, in a world where she doesn't have to feel bad that Mikey's family (presumably) died in the storm? In a world where her survivor's guilt would make talking to others from Arcadia Bay more painful and awkward for her? You could argue that, yeah, Chloe's death could hit her hard because they were good friends, and that because of Chloe being friends with Mikey too, that she'd avoid Mikey for that... but I just think it's more believable that she'd cut herself off from her past in a world where Arcadia Bay was destroyed.

Either way, this post and the time it took to write it got away from me, and I may have to refine it later when I eventually turn these essay type posts I've made into videos. For now though, hopefully this was an interesting read, and hopefully I've conveyed my views on the ending of Life is Strange's first entry at least somewhat succinctly.

[shingetsu-online]

☆*WELCOME TO MY SPECIAL HELL*☆

☆ Hello, I'm Hugh. I'm a person who draws and plays videogames for fun, with a keen interest in analysis and psychology, and I enjoy the process of modding video game consoles. Welcome to my blog, shingetsu-online! ~.^*☆ ☆ text dividers by @cafekitsune ☆

☆*^.~ABOUT THE DUDE IN CHARGE~.^*☆

☆ My name is Hugh, though I also go by Mr. Crescendo, Shingetsu, & Hyuu. My pronouns are He/Him, and I am a transmasc agender demiboy who is gay, cinthean, demiromantic, & a sex-repulsed asexual. I'm 13 years old, so do please try to keep my boundaries in mind! I'm part of a system, and my headmates may pop up on here and make posts of their own. If you want to refer to us collectively, call us the Blue Raspberry Collective or the Moonjelly Hivemind. I am WaningCrescendo on A03, though I haven't posted anything on there yet! Please do not repost my art without permission or credit.

☆*^.~INTERESTS / FANDOMS~.^*☆

☆ My major hyperfixations are in blue & bold text, so I'll post about them more often than others.

☆ GHOST TRICK: PHANTOM DETECTIVE (I've beaten the entire game on my 3ds via emulation and it both fixed me and made me worse. Live laugh Inspector Cabanela. It is my absolute favorite game PLEASE play Ghost Trick PLEASE)

☆ HOMESTAR RUNNER (I got into it in 2020 and recently got back into it when playing Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People on my Wii.)

☆ POKEMON (Generations 5, 7, 8, & 9 mostly. I also enjoy the gen 8/9 DLC campaigns. Mostly the games, though I have read a bit of PokeSpe. I do not post about the animes.)

☆ A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS (Both the books & the live-action series adaptation.)

☆ MIITOPIA (Both for Nintendo Switch & 3DS, I've played through the Switch port several times & I recently started the 3DS version!)

☆ ACE ATTORNEY (I've seen playthroughs for the entire main trilogy & the Investigations games, I am currently playing through Apollo Justice, & I have finished The Great Ace Attorney's 3DS English fan-slation, and I am trying to get the Chronicles so I can play Resolve! Don't worry about spoiler for the mainline 6 games & the Investigations games, but I am trying to play TGAA as spoiler-free as possible.)

☆ RHYTHM THIEF (I have played through the entirety of the main story! Also Charlie Vergier is transmasc & anyone who she/her's him is dead to me. /lh)

☆ RHYTHM HEAVEN & WARIOWARE (I classify these 2 together since they are heavily linked together! For Rhythm Heaven, my favorite games are Rhythm Heaven DS & Megamix, and for WarioWare, I like Smooth Moves, Move It!, Touched!, & Gold!)

☆ YOUR TURN TO DIE (I have played up to Chapter 3-1B!)

☆ THE WORLD ENDS WITH YOU (I have NEO for my Switch, I have seen the anime, and I have the original DS game via emulation!)

☆ NINTENDO CONSOLE MODDING & HOMEBREW (I have watched so many videos on 3ds modding & Homebrew applications. I have modded my New 3DS XL and I am open to any questions concerning the process! I am trying to make a custom theme for it!)

☆ COOKIE RUN (Both Kingdom & OvenBreak!)

☆ TOMODACHI LIFE (I have the game for my 3DS! I am a firm Tomodachi Life Switch Port believer!!)

☆ NEEDY GIRL OVERDOSE/NEEDY STREAMER OVERLOAD (I have seen playthroughs!)

☆ GUILTY GEAR (I don't post much about it anymore, sadly. I just really like Bedman.)

☆ SPLATOON (I have 2, Octo Expansion, & 3. I am working on getting the DLCs soon!)

☆ ONE PIECE (I just watch the anime, & I've been stuck on the Water 7 arc for months now. I know most of the spoilers, so I don't mind.)

☆ PROJECT SEKAI (I haven't played since November or so, I just post about Wonderlands X Showtime & RuiKasa a lot. It's just mostly Tsukasa Tenma.)

☆ ALIEN STAGE (Nothing much to say, I've seen up to Round 6 & I just really like Luka's Sweet Dream cover & Hyuna in general. Oh yeah & IvanTill.)

☆ HAIKYUU!! (My friend dragged me into the Haikyuu!! hellhole. I'm very early in the show, & I mainly just dub over it with my friends for fun.)

☆ SUPER MARIO BROS. SERIES (I pretty much grew up on NSMBWii. I also like Paper Mario Color Splash, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, & Super Mario 3D World, though I've only seen playthoughs for Color Splash & 3D World. I'm playing Bowser's Inside Story!)

☆ THERE IS NO GAME (I have played Wrong Dimension & the original Construct Jam entry!)

☆*^.~SIDEBLOGS~.^*☆

☆ @hughstace - Ace Attorney blog. (I post a lot about Simon Blackquill, The Apollo Justice Trilogy, as well as BlackBright.)

☆ @koopsttyd - Paper Mario: TTYD blog. (May potentially be used for other Paper Mario games as well!)

☆ @6switcher - Rhythm Heaven series blog. (Lots of lockstep and Rhythm Heaven DS/Fever posts on there!)

☆ @raymondyaoi - Animal Crossing blog. (Usually ACNH/ACNL.)

☆ @jotchuakiryu - The World Ends With You blog. (Lots of JoshNeku.)

☆ @gayboy-from-diamond-city - WarioWare series blog. (Sadly not very active.)

☆ Other blogs not listed here are VERY inactive or they're personal.

☆*^.~THINGS TO KNOW~.^*☆

☆ Hey!! Here are some things to be aware of when interacting with me, so keep these in mind if you can!!

☆ I have a poor memory, but I'll try my best to remember things like when to use tone indicators or people's preferred pronouns.

☆ Please do not send me any interactions regarding/revolving around Friday Night Funkin'. It is incredibly triggering for me, and I would prefer it if you do NOT talk to me about it.

☆ Please don't send weird asks. Seriously, please be normal about this. I'm a freaking minor.

☆ Please don't advertise stuff in my inbox either. It's become a huge problem and it bothers me a lot.

☆ I block people freely, meaning that if they post a lot of something I'm uncomfortable with, I'll block them.

☆ Although I'm a sex-repulsed ace, I make sexual jokes from time to time, but it's usually just something like "that's what she said", penis jokes, or something similar.

☆ I have poor anger management, and I snap easily, so be wary.

☆ I try to avoid mention of politics as much as I can.

☆ I'm protective of headcanons so much to the point where it gets annoying FAST. That being said, most headcanons of mine align with my own identity, such as Crispin from Pokemon being gay and transmasc. However, I'm NOT going to attack people because my headcanons don't align with theirs and vice versa.

☆ That being said, I post a lot of shippy stuff, mostly revolving around said headcanons.

☆ I ship OC x Canon. Don't like it? Feel free to block me and move on.

☆ I'm in a system, and occasionally, one of my headmates will post on here instead of their own blog / our system blog, so if something seems different with me, just know that it's one of my headmates posting or goofing off.

☆*^.~DNI LIST~.^*☆

☆ If you apply to any of the below, please don't interact with me or any of my posts.

☆ Basic DNI criteria.

☆ Queerphobic people, including aphobes, TERFs, or SWERFs, as well as truscum or transmed people.

☆ NSFW/Minors DNI/NSFT blogs.

☆ People who think cringe culture is normal.

☆ Proshippers/Comshippers/"Anti-Antis".

☆ Zionists/People who support Israel.

☆ Conservatives & supporters of Elon Musk.

☆ Anyone who I block. Don't try & find a way around it.

☆*^.~TAG LIST~.^*☆

☆ Information on the tags I use on my posts.

☆ #shingetsu online - My general posting tag, all of the posts I make myself are tagged with this, but reblogs don't.

☆ #ask hugh - Like the one above, but this one's for asks.

☆ #hugh art tag - Tag I use for my artwork.

☆ #hugh oc tag - Posts that involve my OCs / Original Characters.

☆ #hugh's horrible hall of fame - Posts that involve me that I deem important. Usually it's just shenanigans.

☆ #i think my money is gay - Posts with Jay Eazy. It's usually just Megaman memes.

☆ #theatre of pain - Video posts, usually tagged this way for saving/archival purposes.

☆ #fav - My favorites tag. It's either important stuff or just funny stuff.

☆ #funnies - Memes / funny videos that I like.

☆ #save - Usually important stuff / references.

☆ #musik - Posts with music / that are music centered.

☆ #chefboy - Posts that include Crispin from Pokemon.

☆ #toothpaste boy - Posts that include Drayton from Pokemon.

☆*^.~USERBOX TIME!!!!~.^*☆

[tobiasdrake]

That was sweet. Now back to the much more dismal present.

We're back to the burning question: Stabilized homunculus who's cracked the secret of curing ferals? Ghost coming to comfort Yakou in his low comprehension? Or the hallucination of a memory Yakou will never let go of?

That's a heartening thing to say. Did you crack the secret of stabilizing the defective homunculi?

There is a cure. We're probably going to use up the entire sample on Yakou as a bittersweet moment, like her greatest research was to give him a second chance at life.

But even if that's the case, the fact that she managed to do it means it can be done. Much like Real Yuma's ramen shop, it shows the value of crowdsourcing the homunculi's problems outside of just Makoto.

If stabilizing homunculi is possible, then even if Yakou uses the entire sample, it means someone else might crack this code again. It's proof-of-concept that the code can be cracked.

I am so happy right now. We can cure Yakou. We can cure the Theater Girls. We can cure Shachi. And the Priest. We can shove Huesca in a pit. We can cure Tetra's dad!

I mean, after it's reinvented, of course. I'm sure there's only going to be enough in that thing for Yakou.

Yep. One pill. Which is just kicking the can down the road; Yakou will be fine until his next death and then he's right back in this situation.

But it's proof of concept. First thing he should do as soon as he regains his mental faculties is go straight to Makoto and tell him it can be done. We need to restart homunculus research, and pore over his wife's notes extensively. Maybe take samples of Yakou's blood for testing.

T_T This is such a sweet conclusion, both for Yakou's journey and for the story as a whole.

And there she goes confusing me again. I do not know what you mean by that. Is she saying to go dig up her corpse if he can't un-feral?

It's not like he can die and join her in the afterlife. She's already got a Yakou with her in the afterlife. This one's trapped here forever.

All the same, this is such a great ending. Emotionally powerful and satisfyingly interesting all at once.

"Hard man seeks revenge because his woman was fridged" is a character archetype I generally loathe. But it works so well for Yakou. Partly because it's not what solely defines his character; There are plenty of other facets to him as well. Like most of Kodaka's characters, he's a complicated guy.

But also because of the leg-work that this DLC did to make his wife out as more than just a nice lady who died so we can be mad about it. I've seen more than a few attempts at trying to convince the audience to be emotionally invested in the dead spouse but this is the first one that's ever worked for me.

I think it's because most of the time, the dead wife winds up characterized like this saintly figure who was perfect and demure and wifely in all the "right ways", such that she never feels like her own character and comes off more like the emotional crowbar that she is. But Kodaka sat down at his computer and just hammered out a concise tale about two people who enjoy each other's company and find they have some shared interests.

With characters like these, it often winds up feeling like they were just spinning their wheels living Insert Idyllic Life and waiting for the story to start. Things won't get interesting until she dies. Sorry, but her life is the price of admission for this cool story, I guess.

But with Yakou and his wife, it's like. No. No, this was the story. A whirlwind romance besieged by assassins and gene research, that was the story of their life. The Yakou we meet when we step off that train is a broken man because, for him, the story catastrophically ended. For him, there is nothing left to tell.

...if only she had a fucking name. Come on, Kodaka! Really!? I'm shilling this love story you wrote so hard and it's between Yakou and... Amaterasu Researcher. God fucking dammit, even when you're on the ball, I want to shake you violently for the choices you make.

[drea-ms]

BLAME IT ON THE BLACK STAR CHOI SAEYOUNG

리카. you know that what you had with the red headed hacker was complicated, both of you held secrets. He has a secret twin brother who he hasn't seen in forever and you were the god daughter of the "dead girl" who lived in this apartment, with a mission; find a way out of this hell.

warnings. heavy angst. religious trauma (reader). implied that the readers related to v but not talked much. reader is the god daughter of v n rika. death. suicide mentions but not much??? less of an x reader but more of reader hating anything religious. religion talk. talk about gods. kinda spoilers for rikas behind story dlc. reader is black star by radiohead coded. open ending. grammar mistakes. readers a former follower n believer of mint eye. she also has mint eyes like saeran.

Fucked. That's how you've been feeling the entire time. That stupid plan you made may be given up at this point, there was no way out of this one, especially when you fell in love with the red head. Everything was going the way you hadn't planned. You hate when something's don't go your way.

You don't know how long it's been since you left the empire known as Mint Eye and went to her apartment. You knew who was behind this, you knew who lead you here and you still went to the location, knowing what was going on. You heard about him through her, how weak he was, how he was useless to her but useful for her empire, she made him know his place. A nobody but a somebody, the same way she did to you. You were no stranger to the man with white hair and faded pink tips, Saeran Choi was Rika's right hand man of course. Though, he was a stranger to the one pulling the strings behind the scenes, You.

The same person, who made sure people followed her rules, made her put people in their place, mere mortals against their own god, trying to follow her wicked ways of life, that was you. And before leaving, you felt proud about that. Now, you're not sure. You would've said something if it weren't with the fact that that you hated the punishment if you spoke out. you hated your godmother. You wanted to curse her out and hurt her.

But you knew your place, you were a former believer of the religious cult your godmother and her sister made, the cult where she tortured your godfather to the point where he was blind, the same cult where you knew saeyoungs brother was being held. God mother, huh? you hated that word, she wasn't your godmother, nor was she your savior who helped you.

she was a horrible, horrible woman who wanted more power. You gave that to her. That makes you as horrible as her, doesn't it? such a shame, you always thought you were a hero. guess not.

You don't know how long it's been since you were told to go inside her apartment by saeran, you wouldn't blame him though, he didn't even know what you look like, let alone know who you were, rika was adamant on keeping you two apart, she knew that if you two were to partner up, her plan would be screwed over. But you do know that the stupid red head, known as 707, was making you go insane. You knew you liked him in a romantic way, but he made you feel like you had more than a crush on him.

Each second you stay here longer than intended was sickening, the way the RFA believed your godfather about how he was away on business trip was disgusting, because you know where he was, of course you did, you always keep a tab on all the members of Mint Eye, you were their shadow, their secret weapon, at least while you were brainwashed. Now you were a girl stuck in a apartment with a bomb inside it and the guy you liked, no, love, inside with you. Ignoring you since he came in. You wanted to leave this forsaken place more than ever.

If you were more naive, you would've prayed to the the gods above, hell, you would've prayed to your savior about saving you again. but you knew you far from saving, once thinking that those who didn't follow mint eye were a disgrace. Nobodies who had nothing to live for. Yearning for someone to save them from their own hell. Thinking that once they die, the gods would see them as disgraces and send them to the unthinkable.

Now you were a disgrace upon the gods, the gods who didn't want to save you, they wanted you to suffer the same way new members of that cult did. The minty eyes you had were never letting you forget how much of a monster you were at Mint Eye each time you looked at the damn mirror.

"Are you done staring? You've been looking at me like you want to spill your secrets." saeyoung Luciel says to you, snapping you out your hour long daze, his face looking at you with a concerned yet not really caring look. You turn to the window that was closest to you and look outside before speaking, "Sorry, zoned out for a while.....It's just...." you say, stopping your sentence before looking at the man infront of you, the couch never felt more uncomfortable than this moment right now.

"Just what? I'm not a mind reader, tell me what's troubling you." he says, this time he was worried for you, you've been zoning out more often, he knew that this was hard for you too. But in order to keep you safe, he had to stay as far away from you.

You wanted to tell saeyoung 707 about what was clawing your mind, but you know you couldn't, you'll let time do it for you. Let him know about everything.

Even though he'll hate you more than he does right now.

But for now?

"It's nothing. Just finish your work, i need some noise right now, the silence is bothering me a lot" a small smile appears on your face. A genuine one. Not one of those fake ones you used to put on while with Mint eye.

Just for right now at least

You'll blame it on the Black Star at night.

The same black star where Choi Saeyoung was blaming himself to.

val speaks!!!!! i felt like writing angst tonight, also might make a part two dunno yet, it's like 1 am as i'm writing this and i just finished editing what i can. on a serious note, this was mostly inspired by an oc i made like 3 ish years ago abt mm and decided to write about, except as a x reader rather than an oc.. please please please tell if there are any mistakes in this post!!! i'm like so tired to fix the grammar mistakes as of rn

[nomatopeya]

sharing my theories on the Side Order DLC, share yours too!

references to neurons/brain parts -references to body parts forming

references to hivemind/clone-like structures -so much dead ocean life (the "snowy" environment you can see on the trailer is called marine snow which is waste, dead skin, and other organic particulate that floats in the water column)

speaking of marine waste marine waste also makes a huge similarity to the name marina

it makes sense that the octoling is a mute brown hair color, almost gray, like a combination of pearl and marina's hair colours

I saw a comment that said this could be about marina's brain but i doubt it

im so in with the theory that marina tried getting order in place but has gone a little insane

because in the trailer there is a huge flash of a lot of images and the ones where pearl and marina are in the same photos are specifically blurried. the blurry photo of Off the Hook has Marina's head mostly out of frame, to me it seems to indicate a loss of identity or existentialism

and then you have the image of pearl in full quality looking down at you

and where's marina?? the only unblurred picture of marina we got was her singing but glitchy indicating something is wrong

are we gonna have to save marina

again the huge references to neurons/brain parts hint a lot that this will be a mindfuck for sure

pressumably an inkling giving the pointy parts? Giving the shadow of the shirt, it looks a lot like agent 4's agent outfit or maybe im reaching because i want her back and it would mke sense to have her back giving its located on the inkopolis square where she had her missions run

anybody else notice that theres another person in this elevator, as in shes being escorted trough an elevator?? the octoling is either looking at her own reflection or looking outside Bringing back the huge references to neurons and brain parts: was this poor octoling's brain messed with? she is being escorted, again not alone, presumably with someone that knows what's going on and is guiding her to some facility My guesses: This is agent 8 and she's gotten enrolled with another facility again my girl will never find peace

This is a clone similar to agent 8 and we get to see what was of agent 8's "siblings" (remember my points 1, 2, and 3? could this be the inside of the mind of a sanitized octoling, living in an endless reverie?)

Following up the clone theory: These two placed in line, placed in Order Marina tried making a clone? marina tried making a child? pearlina child real??/hj Marina is deffinetely NOT okay, and im really intrigued about that

[simplegenius042]

Fallout Casting for Megumi Fushiguccicakes for Jujutsu Kaisen Abridged react fic

"I like gigantic, heaving sophistication. Sopping wet tenderness! And a big! Fat!! Gaping sense of compassion!!!" - Megumi Fushiguro, Episode 5 JJK Abridged (by The Schmuck Squad).

Reasons To Why I Believe These Characters Should Be Casted listed below the cut:

Katja (a scavenger who joins Elrand on his journey in Fallout simply because he asked, leaving the Followers of the Apocalypse which she had tagged along with, is enthusiastic with her blades) -> She's got the sarcasm. I feel it in my bones.

Finidy Mona (my Fallout 2 Chosen One OC, faceclaim Jessica Alba) -> She looks for personality in a relationship and not to mention got skills that make her one of the strongest characters (if only she applied those skills though).

Alph Dolen (my Fallout 3 Lone Wanderer OC, faceclaim Sam Blackensee) -> He's got daddy issues.

Rose of Sharon Cassidy/"Cass" (a caravan owner from Fallout New Vegas before the Van Graffs and the Crimson Caravan worked together to destroy it, Cass drunk her sorrows away at an NCR Mojave outpost, until Ryder showed up to get her contract, though managed to barter her way into getting Cass to give up her caravan name but ensuring she still gets the opportunity to start again. Impressed, Cass journeys with Ryder to New Vegas to find Benny, and Ryder helps her find justice and learn to live. Has a heart condition inherited by her father, John Cassidy) -> Cass has a father who abandoned her, like Toji did to Megumi, and her sarcasm bites.

Danse (from Fallout 4, a loyal Paladin in Maxson's chapter of the Brotherhood of Steel, helps Nate get onboard the Prydwen and meet Maxson, a capable ally who warms up to Nate, despite his xenophobic beliefs, has a crisis after finding out his entire life has been a lie when discovering he was a synth the whole time and the group who gave him purpose have turned their back on him. Nate though doesn't give up on him and gets him out of the BoS without being killed, and gives him a place amongst the Minutemen, which Danse was greatly appreciative and grateful for. It's a long journey, but he is letting go of the hatred he had towards others and himself) -> Danse's sarcasm would probably be confusing. Also man understands the importance of BROtherhood, coming from the Brotherhood of Steel. Spends more time getting stronger to avenge his teammates than looking to get hitched.

Miria (from Fallout 2, Finidy's wife after both were caught in the act by Miria's father, Grisham, causing a shotgun wedding, and throughout their journey together they become closer and Miria becomes a rather cool fighter, unlike in canon but the mods are impressive) -> Perhaps the least "Megumi" like person here, but she would call someone out for being stupid probably (she's had to deal with Davin after all).

Sarah Lyons (from Fallout 3, the daughter of Elder Owyn Lyons, she leads the Lyons' Pride out into the ruins of DC to fight against the Super Mutant threat. There she happens upon Alph and Amata while they're pinned down by Super Mutant forces, and bring them both to the GNR station. Alph and Sarah get close and become good friends with each other, and supports him both when the Enclave take over Project Purity and during his ghoulification (especially when he's hunting down the Enclave remnants) -> She's badass and understands the "bro" in "Brotherhood of Steel". She also has a dad, so she's "daughter material".

Bitter-Root (from Fallout New Vegas, he was adopted by Major Dhatri after the massacre of the Great Khans at Bitter Springs, became an NCR First Recon Sergeant. Has negative views of the Great Khans) -> Not only is he "son material" as Dhatri has proven, but like how Megumi doesn't like the Zen'in Clan, Bitter-Root doesn't like the Great Khans (though he should really tone it down). His biological parents also weren't great according to him.

Kasumi Nakano (a girl who ran away from home in the Fallout 4 Far Harbor DLC after believing that she may be a synth, she makes her way to Acadia where DiMA took her in, and is the reason Nate and Nick go to the island in the first place. By helping Kasumi come to terms with her assumed synthhood, this is in turn helps him with his own struggles of humanity and synthhood) -> Kasumi's origins are unknown to herself as Megumi's is to him. Both I guess want to reject that side of themselves (Kasumi and her possible synth origins and Megumi's ties to the Zen'in clan)?

Davin (from Fallout 2, the son of Grisham and brother to Miria, after the latter joins Finidy on her journey after marriage, Grisham forces Davin to do something useful with his life, and Davin joins the Enclave going about. Eventually, he helps Finidy and her entourage get inside the oilrig base and guide them through it as well) -> Talented but lazy with his full potential.

Follows-Chalk (a Dead Horses' scout-in-training from the Fallout New Vegas Honest Hearts DLC, Follows-Chalk accompanies Ryder through the Zion valley and helps her meet Joshua Graham) -> Has a reluctant role model in Joshua Graham (just like Megumi kind of has a reluctant role model in Gojo though from different POV).

Remember, for the alternative option, REBLOG and put in the tags WHO else from the Fallout franchise should be Abridged!Megumi and WHY you think they'd better suit the role.

I've also created and will continue to update (until the polling is done) a Master List for the poll results of the casted winners. You can find it right here.

You can find my Fallout OC profiles Master List right here, which also includes a link to the original post where I pitched my react fic idea. Anyway, hope you enjoyed, chow!

[inposterumcumgaudio]

nick lightbearer!

Sorry for the delay. Ever have computer problems? Happened to me.

Anyway, Nick Lightbearer. Nick's pretty well explored in the canon as well, but I got a few things in my pocket for him.

The bobby outside his house who tells you Nick is not seeing any visitors was originally supposed to let you in the front foyer. Inside that room is a viewing window that you could watch Nick be sad and pathetic through. Girls have scratched messages of possessive adoration on the glass. In a normal playthrough, you'd see the other side of this window with metal shutters over it when you meet Nick in the living room.

There's also a custom (possibly jailbroken, judging by the sparks?) Compliment Machine in there.

It has messages particular to visiting Nick.

"En - chan - té!"

"Do come in. Mr. Lightbearer has been expecting you."

"Do you have a warrant?"

"I am sorry, Mr. Lightbearer is indisposed. Please come back tomorrow."

"I assure you she has not been here, nor has she ever been here. Mr. Lightbearer doesn't even know your wife."

"Mr. Lightbearer apologizes for missing tea Sunday night, but he was very sick. He knows you cooked his favorite. Of course he still loves you, you are his mother."

"Mr. Lightbearer is not seeing anyone, except Miss Boyle. Are you Miss Boyle? No? Then go away."

"Mr. Lightbearer will be delighted to see you. This way to the living room, if you please."

"Please be gentle. Mr. Lightbearer has a bad back."

"Please leave it on the console. Mr. Lightbearer said to tell you that you are his favorite fan."

"Please leave the food on the kitchen table, you may keep the change."

"Please leave the wine on the coffee table, you may keep the change."

"You've arrived on a rather special night, it's one of the master's affairs."

Speaking of Miss Boyle, when Sally visits Nick's house in her playthrough, it's after Arthur has already visited and Nick has electrocuted himself in the tub. People make a lot of the fact that Sally hears him snoring in her playthrough, particularly given the context of Nick's DLC. But consider that Sally also thinks Col. Lawrence - man already on death's door and who definitely is dead when we visit the MacLears next in Ollie's act - is only unconscious too after using the pituitary extractor on him. Unlike Col. Lawrence (who Sally needs to think is only unconscious for her own peace of mind), I think Sally only assumes Nick is still alive because fully clothed and asleep in a full bathtub is not an out-of-the-ordinary way to find him to her experience. In fact, she even says beforehand that's how she expects to find him.

"He'd never part with it. On the other hand, he's passed out half the time I come by. I'll just sneak in while he's sleeping. Where did I leave the keycard he gave me?"

I do go out of my way to point out Sally's character flaws because people seem really struggle with the whole "three moderately terrible people" aspect of the game, but to her credit, I highly doubt she ever dated Nick. For one thing, she only dates men who can do something for her and while Nick is rich and famous, he can't really give her anything she couldn't get herself or from someone who'd be less work. For another, the most profitable relationship for her to have with him is as a drug dealer.

I also think that Nick was probably married for a lot of the last fifteen years. Not that that's a problem for Sally, but Nick is also said to consider himself a poet. Which suggests to me that this is a guy who would like to be a romanticized and idealized version of himself (which is part of why he gets married so frequently) but falls short of that because he is painfully human (which dovetails nicely with the whole Dante's Inferno theme of his DLC). And once you've failed to meet that ideal, why should you bother trying at all? So Nick gets married in the hopes that he can be the guy he sings about being in his songs (and maybe it's to girls who are just as deluded about how they can have this the fairytale other girls failed to achieve), acts like an asshole rockstar at the first opportunity with whatever girl offers, and then gets divorced. Rinse, repeat.

Petunia might have been the only one he actually loved because she's the only one of his ex-wives we ever see him thinking about. And maybe that makes a lot of sense. She seems practical and not given to the fantasy of him. Which, we don't know if that's how it started, but I have to think that since she's got 90% of his earnings, past, present, and future in the divorce (meaning none of his other exes collected first), she was level-headed and even-keeled throughout the relationship.

This is probably what also appeals to him about Virgil. Nick needs handlers, people to keep his shit together.

You know what though? A thing I find really compelling about the lore here is that Virgil is said to write all of Nick's songs. Nick was writing the Make Believes' songs himself before Virgil's management (when Nick is said to have "sold out") and those songs are... not so good, if testimony re: "The Unicorn Song" is anything to go by. Perfectly listenable and appeals to the doped-up masses, but perhaps drecky on closer inspection. The lyrics to the songs we have access to are quite clever and are subversive of the culture of Wellington Wells. So maybe Nick sold out, but the songs were better for it, too much sitar aside.

And it bears out too, with "I Have Seen Everything", a song that Nick presumably writes himself. It's a nice song, I like it, but the lyrics are repetitive and simple compared to "Dead of Winter" or "Out of the Blue". Kinda reads like an amateur poem. Rhyming "anything" with "not a thing"? Lyrical genius right there.

A thing I like to think about is that the art book tells us that Wellies value signage because they are so forgetful. Communication is mostly done through notes sent through pneumatic tubes rather than telephone conversations that could be quickly forgotten... When Wellies need or want to remember something, they dedicate that to record so they can refer back to it. And so, in the fact that his music's been so popular and pressed on vinyl, Nick Lightbearer and the Make Believes are going to be some of the few townspeople who will be remembered beyond the fall of Wellington Wells. And maybe that's kinda beautiful or maybe it speaks to the whole bread and circuses of it all.

[lore-gore]

Putting this all into one post

My Little Nightmares au:

Endless Nightmares

It takes place in an alternate dimension called the Nowhere. Children are suddenly transported there in the dead of night. They will eventually either die or become a monster. Some will be collected by The Ferryman and taken to The Maw, others manage to evade him. All of this is the Flesh Walls doing, using The Transmission to carry out its goals. Even the landscape has been warped by The Transmission, becoming large like most of the monsters who roam it. (So the kids are regular sized.) It used to be like our dimension, until The Transmission corrupted it and its residents. Eventually it ran out of victims, thus the kidnappings.

Enter Six. Six has amnesia, and has no memory of her life before. But she knows this isn't home, and is determined to find a way back.

The first chapter is the DLC. Six replaces RK. But at the end, instead of being turned into a nome, The Lady tries to separate her soul from her body. However she only succeeds in separating a fragment of her soul. This fragment of her soul becomes Dark Six. (The Glitching Remains and Shadow Kids aka Masked Remains were also created from fragments of children's souls, although those children are usually long dead.) Because she is missing a piece of her soul, she experiences extreme bouts of hunger that worsened over time. (The reason she ate the Nome is because her hunger had worsened to the point that only something living could satiate it. Not that she didn't feel guilty.) In the ending scene, instead of finding a sausage, she finds a lighter.

The second chapter is Little Nightmares 1. It is the exact same, no changes. (She was brought to the starting point by the Nomes after she passed out. The post credit cutscene in the DLC is like a moment of consciousness, what she sees while being dragged in the foreground out of sight by the Nomes.)

The third chapter is Little Nightmares 2. (Six ended up in The Wilderness after accidentally teleporting through the tv on the shore where the boat dropped her off.) Six takes Mono's place, and Mono takes Six's place. (The reason she decides to help him is because unlike in The Maw, where she had to focus on escaping, this was an ideal moment to team up.) Instead of the Six finding her raincoat scene, it's Mono finding his paper bag. (He wasn't wearing it in the beginning. Without the bag he looks like Runaway Kid in Mono's clothes.) Mono's Glitching Remains lead her to the tower, so she can free him. Instead of taking off the hat during The Thin Man death scene, Six pulls down her hood. Monster Mono looks like Monster Six but with Mono's clothes. The reason the room contains stuff from The Maw is because The Transmission was taunting Six. Six defeats Monster Mono, but instead of him returning to normal, he dies. (She had to kill him as it was the only way to save them both.) Six escapes the tower. Cue secret ending scene. When Six is thrown out of the tv during this scene, her hood falls back over her head. Dark Six turns toward the picture of The Maw, indicating where she came from. Her hunger, which had been satisfied the entire time because she had eaten The Lady, returns.

Also, the girl in the portrait is not The Lady's daughter. Rather she is a random child who became The Lady's temporary favorite; a pet. It's similar to Mono and The Hunter, being viewed as merely a pet. (He escaped because he knew he would be killed the moment The Hunter got tired of him.)

The Shadow Kids are the soul fragments of past favorites of The Lady (who she would kill after they were "disobedient"), which is why they act and look different than the other Glitched Remains.

The picture of a girl in a raincoat is a picture of a different kid, a sheet covering it signifying their loss of favor. (The headless statues are also of past favorites, destroyed in a fit of rage.)

Oh, and the piece of a dress that looks like Flashlight Girl's, the kid in the cage that looks like her, and the Nome shadow that looks like her were from different kids, she was killed by the Leeches.

The Nomes were runaway children who weren't strong enough to resist The Transmission.

Most of the kids on The Maw had already given up. Six was in a trance when she first gained and used The Lady's powers, and while by the time she snapped out of it it was too late and she was already on The Ferry, she still wouldn't have managed to save all of them had she actually snapped out of it in time. They had already accepted their fate. Opening their cages wasn't going to change that.

The Transmission tried turning Six but she was able to not only resist it but traverse it, due to The Lady's powers. Mono was also able to resist it for the most part, only turning once trapped inside The Signal Tower, which made it harder to do so.

The Thin Man works for The Flesh Walls. (He is also not Mono.)

Six knows all of this, and pieces it together throughout the story.

Six named the monsters. The only one she didn't name was Mono, as they told each other their name and age (9 for Six and 10 for Mono) in between the beach scene and the building scene. (Watch the gameplay, you'll understand what I mean.)

Six has a very similar personality to Ellie. She's a chaotic, violent, feral gay who cusses a lot.

Also she's autistic because I like neurodivergent characters and no one can stop me.

Oh and she's ambidextrous.

Temporary Little Nightmares 3 au details based on new trailor:

The mirrors were originally created by the Flesh Walls, but turned against them. They were weak at first, only able to taunt The Lady and tarnish her vanity. Eventually they gained enough power to weaken The Lady. In the new game, they are able to be used to teleport by Six. She is the only one able to do so as they believe she could rid this world of the evil plaguing it. (So she takes Low's scenes with the mirror.)

Six replaces Alone, save for the mirror scenes. She meets Low after she wakes up next to the broken mirror, with him approaching her similar to how she approached Mono. (After the ending cutscene, she satisfied The Hunger, maybe with a fish, because you can eat a fish in the original Little Nightmares. She was then lured to the mirror and transported to the starting point.) She finds the wrench sticking up right outside the crumbling brick wall she has to break down. The wrench just kinda disappears when she stores it because video game logic.

She feeds The Hunger during time skips. (The first time happened after they introduced themselves, with Low telling her that he had been in The Nowhere for about a year, making him 11, after which Six quickly whispered in Low's ear what The Hunger was and what had caused it.)

Some other things about the world:

The Necropolis is not actually a desert but a beach. The sand just looks orange because it is the golden hour: the hour before the sun sets. That's why there are fishing nets and other things, as it used to specialize in that before The Monster Baby came along. The ferry Six and Low start in was in a shipyard, although the repairs were never finished.

The Maw used to be some sort of floating restaurant or cruise ship, but was warped by The Transmission into the strange shape it is today. Instead of emerging once every year, it emerges almost every day. The ferry comes and picks up The Guests who are left, and those who are not become part of the next feast.

[w98pops]

How did Wendy get her courier job? 👀 If its not a spoiler for your story (if it is give me any headcanons/lore you want to instead)

The Nashes adopted her! Well, kinda.

By the time she met them Wendy was 5 years out of the Legion, so she wasn't really helpless. She was a pretty good hunter and a decent fisherman (still is) and survived mostly by hiding and hunting. With NCR influence spreading across the Mojave it became really really hard for a person to live independently without being claimed a raider and a squatter and getting shot (even if youre just a random homeless teenage girl), so she kinda moved into more close spaced area aka. started to just steal shit from people and live in their attics. That's how she met Nashes :)

They let her Wendy and employed her! She really liked her job & Johnson and Ruby. I like to think she reminded them of their son 😭.

Also she didn't deliver the package to the Divide in my canon. Wendy did walk the Lonesome Road™ but Ulysses called for her for different reason. I'm thinking about 'the sins of a father' type deal, but it can't be ALL about Aletus being a fucking dick. Or can! I'm still thinking about it, but one thing i know for sure: she knew Ulysses before the Divide and he did too.

Thats the only DLC that my Courier was a part of. With all respect, Old World Blues sucked ass (i hate the PENIS VAGINA CUM jokes that both OWB and Fallout 2 are build upon. It's just not funny and it's hard to focus on what little serious lore the campaign has with these annoying ass robots screaming about penises all the time 😭 Im sorry OWB fans I really tried to like this DLC) and I refuse to believe Honest Hearts are real. Dead Money is much fun but it would be really uncharacteristic for Wendy to try and believe the Sierra Madre stuff. She's a very simple person and she doesn't care about money :)

Also yeah Wendy totally kept in contact with Nashes post-canon and even frequently left little Sharky with them! He totally thought they were his real grandparents until he was 15.

A small small detail I just can't resist telling about!!! In his courier au, Aletus found this self-porktrait of wendy in Nashes' house. After he killed them. Because that how justice looks in the eyes of an unjust man.