#maybe ill do npcs. maybe. at some point

[funnyjokespuns]

ISAT but what if they were furries lineup!

Here it is, at last! I’ve been working on this for a while… a lineup of the cast in my furry au!

The style becomes a little wobbly bc it took forever, but please enjoy! They are specific choices for specific reasons… waow! A reblog will be coming with the individual images, but for now enjoy this! (And just the party under the cut!)

See them cute…

[lockedtowers]

also if we’ve written before and yall wanna be affiliates hmu

[thatdeadaquarius]

Topic: Genshin impact.

au: Sagau.

idea: So what if you had the powers of every character you played as in every game you played and then get isekaid into genshin impact with imposter au. I imagine it goes smth like

Zhongli: “I will have order!”

reader, Who played Roblox as someone who lagged the game (explanation: I’m pretty sure ping is also how time works in games. If you can control the flow of ping you can control the flow of time in games.): “ZA WARUDO!”

Heyyy!! Thanks for waiting for the reply/response from my slow ass :0

So they did clarify what they meant/expand so imma just copy paste that here!

“k now I remember. So basically imma write it here since it’s easier: Basically you don’t have to (but you can) transform into the character that has those set of powers but if you do those powers are enhanced.”

Sun: Reader (”you”/they/them)

Orbit: Headcanons-ish, Light Imposter AU (as in, NOT Yandere/Dark), mild crossover elements bc Shapeshifter Shenanigans™️

Stars: bro idek

Comets & Meteors: Content Warnings: mild cussing, genshin typical mild violence, & Trigger Warnings: none known.

Please comment if I missed any. /gen

☆

so fair warning,, ive never seen jojo bizarre, but i appreciate i come off well-read/watched? LMAO

so im just gonna kinda,, guess? like just cycle thru diff. random media, and im hoping both me and you reading this will have a fun time (as this is a little challenge, but i like it so ill give it a shot, dont kno if its a good one but- 😅)

so to set the scene, of how u got to this point, ykno of running like ur life (maybe?) depends on u running around different teyvat countries,

u thought it was weird everyone knew a little too much about you?? (ofc theyve heard u during gaming, they know u the same way we all know Markiplier, get it?)

then a bunch of NPCs/Vision users/Archons?? were REALLY invested in talking to you, which freaked u out even more

and by the time you saw Zhongli, yknow, just the oldest god in game, making a fast-walk towards you, ykno the retired god who didnt move an inch when an old water god attacked Liyue for a test, is now hurrying to you???

ur logically get so fucking scared sm shits abt to go down, u just start running

it isnt until ur reaching for a ledge and some webbing shoots out of ur arm (from a glitchy little spot on ur arm, where it could be coming out of ur skin, but sometimes its a blue and red bracelet)

it latched onto the nearest building, and thats how u find out u can grapple ur way, literally Spiderman style, out of the harbor

and bro, idk if it would be fun, or confusing and stressful, or maybe both?? to just find out u can use any video game power from any game youve played before as you go running from countries bc for some freaky reason they know too much abt you/are pursuing you-

dUDE- they had small statues of you in like every little section of their cities

u head to Mondstadt and as Venti comes screaming and flying at you (in excitement, but ur freaked), u go to hold a hand up and suddenly ur holding a heavy stone tablet that unleashes some holographic yellow chains that freeze him in place-?? why is this familiar-

oh my god u have the sheikah slate from Breath of the Wild,

and as ur booking it out of there, u manage to get ahold of a sword, and u know exactly how to use it to knock back favonius knights trying to stop you (they are concerned for their god who is just unleashing random powers on ppl, pls let Grandmaster Jean just talk to you Your Majesty-!!)

by the time you teleport ur way to Inazuma, (bc u still have this worlds access to ur player/traveler’s powers), ur trying to find a nice place to stay for a little bit

at least in that sweet spot of the Raiden not noticing/finding you, while things cool down on the main continent, before moving on,

and u get some tools to help fashion just a little shelter, bc u dont have any money/mora rn, and ur able to literally build a house???

a mailbox pops up and thanks you for renting with Tom Nook???? As in Animal Crossing-

and rlly if the BOTW/slate thing didnt clue u into video game powers, then this definitely would tbh lmao

right as u see Yae Miko circling ur house, with an armful of books? ..is she planning to thru them at you??, u get the hell out of dodge before her favorite god can follow along

(she knows ur prefrences in books and got authors/trends to start so youd have plenty to read, and she was making sure it was ur house before politely dropping them off! how was she to know thatd spook their favorite God, Ei?!)

u get to Sumeru and think ur safe, hiding in an abandoned forest watcher outpost (1 person treehouse rlly) when Nahida shows up in ur dreams,

and u just,

walk out of the dream, into reality, and possess a nearby ruin guard so u can sleep in peace, bc she cant access a robot,

that one baffled u as you re-possessed ur own body before realizing-

Five Nights at Freddy’s. 💀

U cant do that forever, so u try Fontaine, hoping Neuvillette/Furina wont rlly give af abt you, plus theyre the latest region, so maybe they have the least exposure to whatever the other archons didnt like abt you??

u get there and are immediately summoned to court, and right as the mekas show up to escort you, jfc they have a mecha army

(meanwhile, theyre thinking, yknow. high profile guest/our god of gods. ofc we need state of the art mekas to escort them, its only polite-)

meanwhile ur cape has now become wings, and a mask covers ur face as you glide and fly ur way over the city in an attempt to get to where u assume Snezhnaya is

it doesnt occur to you the game until ur running out of stamnia and catch ur reflection in the waters of fontaine, Sky: Children of the Light

u hope the Tsaritsa’s dislike for other gods/Celestia doesnt extend to ur otherworldly presence so ur just hoping for the best atp tbh

tbh youd forget what all powers you have, and the absolute chaos ur causing urself as u try to desperately rememeber what games youve played thru ur entire life is NOT helping to reduce confusion when u randomly wake up with elf ears (legend of zelda/botw) or get dragged into another ruin machine when u fall asleep/faint/do smth u guess mimics death lmao- (fnaf) 💀

…

(meanwhile the Tsaritsa does get wind ur coming this way, and just, makes the people have a parade/festival to celebrate you coming,

she did also have to get Pierro/Captaino to physically restrain some of them from going ahead to meet/escort you to the palace, she’d heard how the others scared u off, and was, ironically, hoping the warm welcome would clear things up)

☆

well that was, something. 😃🫠

sorry lil car, that was such a fun idea idk if i did it justice!! i thought itd be too op to include every media youve consumed ever, so i kept it to video games, (which, could u cheat the system if youve played smash bros??)

i hope it was at least a decent read, and sorry im half asleep so i was not v funny this time around, but, again, hope u got smth out of it 😭

</3

on another note, im having my wisdom teeth surgery this friday, send whatever u got my way, prayers, blessings, good vibes, ill take anything im nervous 🙃

have a good week guys!

Safe Travels Lil Car,

💀♒

If you wanna join a taglist, DM me what for! "Pspspsss, please tag me for [All SAGAU posts, Only SAGAU Language AUs, diff fandom, etc.]!"

(If you ever wanna drop, just DM me! "No more taglists/[specifically this AU/fandom] please!")

♡the beloveds♡

@karmawonders / @0rah-s / @randomnatics / @glxssynarvi / @nexylaza / @genshin-impacts-me / @wholesomey-artist / @thedevioussmirk / @the-dumber-scaramouche / @chocogi / @fallen-starr / @areaderofbooks / @devilangel657 / @esthelily / @justinsomniachild / @nanithefuck / @questionotmystopit / @chinuneko / @silvers-tongue

If ur tag doesnt work, pls check ur settings to see if ur a "searchable blog"!! Its not the same as the Ai selling data thing.

[softringing]

There's always been a question that bugs me about sampo. Obviously, there are several, but this one specifically, has to do with his ideologies involving elation.

If sampo cares about people so much and desires to make everyone happy, why did he not take direct action in those 8 years he remained in belebog?

We all know sparkle said sampo has a line that he won't cross, and that line is very clearly not hurting people, well at least the ones who have already been hurt enough.

We see this from sampo's actions in the underworld vs overworld. For some reason, even tho sampo is a scammer and values money, he has never attempted to scam underworlders. In Hook's companion mission, hook's father had a rare mining item that was stolen by an npc named Skipper(?) I believe.

While Skipper was trying to sell this item to sampo, sampo kept insisting that he was selling it at such a low price. His direct words were "Are you sure you want to sell this at this price to me?"

And he kept hesitating until hook and tb found skipper and took the item back. We can see cleary that sampo means no harm to those who are weak but when he's in the overworld, he's known for scamming ppl like Chavez from Anti-Blue Scam Society without much remorse.

From all this, it's clear sampo has never done something to hurt anyone seriously, and to add to this, shields is the name for the belebog currency. Yet, in sampo's idle, we see him holding a different currency.

This pretty much implies that to sampo, belebogian currency would be useless. Although we know he's a scammer, we don't really know why he cares about money so much other than this text we got in game from him

Sampo seems personally tired of doing this :( but says that he has to to feed few mouths which we can take as him trying to help the ppl in the underworld with the money he 'earns'.

So, here we return to my initial question, why didn't sampo directly help ppl of belebog with their disaster if he has so much power?

He is hiding from a certain someone-- as mentioned by @/samposillies, in sampo's LC, the exact same currency he's holding is shown & his eidolon

(money model from @/kittykattz)

If u look really closely into his LC, you can see not only that it's from a POV of a sniper, but also another assasin behind sampo, holding a gun and wearing a foreign attire to belebog. The description also matches that someone's obviously trying to kill him, as told by the sniper himself.

At first, I assumed it was the ipc but their outfits lean towards red rather than plain black. Plus, although it looks like sampo isn't in belebog, there are two posters in the lc on the brick background and you can find these coffee posters in belebog at the location "Backwater pass".

But the thing is, sampo uses the non-belebogian currency (assumed to be Kalevalan currency) to convince the sniper to talk to him.

The lc's name is Eye of the Prey-- and although it's from sniper's POV, Sampo is clearly the Hunter, while the sniper is the prey.

This led me to think that someone from Kalevala is perhaps trying to kill sampo while he was in belebog, which is strange bc the world believed Jarilo-IV did not exist before the astral express saved them. Meaning that whoever is trying to kill sampo probably always knew about his whereabouts hence sampo decided to keep a low profile and decided to help underworlders in such a silent approach.

Not to mention, the currency sampo's holding doesn't have the usual hsr language on it (pointed out by @/samposillies)

(maybe it needs horizontal flipping ill check it later)

Therefore, we can assume sampo didn't help belebogians directly by bringing an end to the stelleron bc he's being chased by someone. and even tho sampo appears non-chalant or calm about it in his lc, maybe he just doesn't want that person to come and specifically show up in belebog.

We don't know why that person's trying to kill sampo but there are lots of reasons, just like the fact that sampo is LITERALLY the 'device' from Kalevala as referenced in his event. He CAN legit create ancient relics,

he laughs it off as a typo BUT HE CAN CLEARLY MAKE THESE RELICS!! GEPARD ALSO MENTIONS IN HIS LINES ABT HIM THAT HE SELLS A NUMBER OF ANCIENT RELICS!!

"ancient" MEANS OLDDD, like really old!! How can a normal person make such things?? Not to mention sampo can make his bombs and is immune to their poison and a MEMORY bubble (in autheirum wars), which had the description of being "abnormal or unusual"!! Only memokeepers can make memory bubbles, and herta has several of them in her space station. So he either stole one or knows how to make one himself!! Sampo also made those items in his pop-up shop event with some materials the tb brought so there's no doubt he's the object that's supposed to 'bring wealth'.

Or could it be that sampo is like Giovanni? He prefers natural endings rather than artificial ones? he's still a masked fool no matter how different his aesthetics are after all... LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU ALL THINK!!

Edit: Here's the flipped image of his money but I still can't read what it's supposed to mean and tried to google translate in Finnish but didn't. Work

[getvalentined]

Decomposition Versus Dissolution: The Breakdown of Bodies in Final Fantasy VII

Warnings for discussion of death, dead bodies, and the desecration thereof, as well as references to digestive and gastrointestinal processes including illness. Features images of dead fictional characters and spoilers for basically the entire Compilation.

This is something I've been chewing on for quite a while, and this post is a bit of a doozy because of detailed examples cited to indicate support for this interpretation. It doesn't work 100% of the time, but it's consistent enough that I'm comfortable personally accepting it as accurate enough, and talking with @skadren about it earlier gave me the impetus to finally organize it well enough to put out into the public sphere. Consider this my personal standard model of Gaian decomposition—if and when we get a better canonical explanation, I'll take it, but for now this works for me, so maybe it'll work for you too!

In the world of Final Fantasy VII, there are four possible outcomes after the death of an animal lifeform:

Decomposition – Organic breakdown of physical remains over time after death, as seen in the real world.

Dissolution – The energetic breakdown of physical remains at the moment of death.

Delayed Dissolution – The sudden energetic breakdown of physical remains at some point after the moment of death, prior to the onset of traditional decomposition.

Rejection – Cases in which the remains neither decompose nor dissolve, physical remains left intact and energetic remains unabsorbed by the Lifestream.

Floral and fungal life appear to be subject only to decomposition, while the outcomes for native microbial and viral lifeforms are unknown. This piece considers all fiends, even those with characteristics similar to floral lifeforms, to be animals, although it's more likely that fiends in-universe comprise their own unique clade on the tree of life.

There's very little information within canonical lore to even directly imply the determining factors for any given outcome, but we can gain insight on these factors by noting when and where a given outcome occurs.

We do have to accept that some instances are based entirely on game mechanics rather than on any lore, as sometimes the field needs to be cleared in order to maintain the gameplay experience, but the fact that we see all of these in cutscenes through the series make it clear that it isn't only a game mechanic.

Based on known instances, prerequisites appear to be as follows:

Decomposition occurs in lifeforms with no or low mako exposure, or with a unique connection to the planet. These remains are able to rot naturally, as that's the most effective way for their remains to feed Gaia's life cycle, helping to "feed" the planet physically as well as energetically. If we consider the reabsorption of living things in terms of digestion, this would be equivalent to consumption of a so-called "whole food." We can assume this is the case based on the existence of livestock within the FF7 universe, and the known canonical instances of this outcome:

• Ifalna – body dissected by Hojo. (source: FF7R)

• Seto – body petrified and intact in Cosmo Canyon (source: OG, FF7R, OTWTAS)

• Aerith Gainsborough – body put to rest in water. (source: OG, AC)

• Dyne – body buried by Dio. (source: FF7R)

• Melphie Kusakabe – body found by Sonon. (source: FF7R)

• Kalm and Nibelheim locals – bodies used in experimentation. (source: OG, BC)

• North Corel and Gongaga locals – bodies buried by other residents. (source: OG, FF7R)

• Wutaian NPCs – bodies found outside Nibel Reactor. (source: FF7R)

• Rhadoran NPCs – bodies buried by Sephiroth. (source: FF7EC)

• Mr. and Mrs. Rhapsodos – bodies buried by Genesis. (source: CCFF7)

• Unnamed Turks – bodies buried by Genesis. (source: CCFF7)

• Most non-fiend animals – The presence of meat makes this pretty obvious. (source: OG, FF7R)

Dissolution occurs in lifeforms with moderate to high mako exposure, presumably due to energetic destabilization at the point of death rendering the remains much easier for the planet to reabsorb. Following the same digestion comparison as above, this is similar to the human body's accelerated processing of refined sugars as compared to raw sugars or whole foods. This also appears to occur based on the will of the planet, but the these cases are extremely rare, with only one known occurrence.

We can assume this is accurate based on the following known instances:

• Grimoire Valentine – body began to dissolve while still alive but actively dying, disintegrating entirely at the moment of death. May be a special case due to cause of death. (source: DCFF7)

• Lazard Deusericus – body dissolved at the moment of death. (source: CCFF7)

• Secondary Project G Subjects – bodies most often seen to dissolve at the moment of death in both gameplay and cutscenes, except in rare cases discussed below. (source: CCFF7, DCFF7)

• Midgar locals – implied by the dramatic lack of corpses following the Sector 7 plate drop. (source: FF7R)

• Shinra employees – implied by the dramatic lack of corpses following Zack's last stand, as well as the presence of equipment but no bodies in Nero's training room. (source: OG, CCFF7, FF7R)

• Various fiends – shown to occur in both gameplay and cutscenes. (source: CCFF7, DCFF7, FF7R, FF7EC)

• Kadaj – body began to dissolve while still alive but actively dying. Dissolution appears to have been based on the will of the planet rather than energetic instability. (source: AC)

Delayed dissolution occurs when the remains have been subject to certain types or levels of energetic corruption, even when paired with high levels of mako exposure. This appears to occur either due to an inability for the planet to reabsorb the remains immediately, or because of a partial rejection from the Lifestream.

Energetic corruption in the world of FF7 is stored in the Void and eventually consumed by Chaos, as shown in Dirge of Cerberus; it's safe to assume that these delays occur due to Chaos being more or less unavailable during the course of known canon, having been removed from its post in the mid-1970s and hosted in Vincent Valentine's body in the early 1980s. This explains the growing pollution of the Lifestream during the course of canon, as the planet's primary filtration system is missing or damaged until after Omega's premature awakening, but the energy in question is still compatible with the Lifestream to a high enough degree to eventually be reabsorbed.

Following the digestion metaphor established earlier, this would be similar to eating heavily processed or partially spoiled food with a damaged gut biome, leading to slow digestion, discomfort, and eventual illness.

These cases are slightly more difficult to confirm, but are proven to occur via cutscenes and narrative in the following instances:

• Zack Fair – body persisted long enough for Cloud to collect himself and leave after a year of catatonia, but neither present at later visits to the location nor indicated in any source to have been recovered following his last stand. Shown to have been "taken" by Angeal, although this may have been strictly thematic. (source: OG, CCFF7)

• Angeal Hewley – confirmed by Hojo's statement via mission brief that his body was not recovered, in spite of having persisted after death in Modeoheim. (source: CCFF7)

• Gillian Hewley – unconfirmed but presumable based on the persistence of her body during the razing of Banora and the delayed dissolution of all primary and some secondary Project G subjects. (source: CCFF7, FF7EC)

• Professor Hojo – as shown in the screenshot at the top of this section. (source: DCFF7)

• Lucrecia Crescent – indicated by her body's persistence even as her energetic remains have been slowly eroded by the Lifestream over time, even after her initial rejection from the Lifestream similar to discussion below. (source: OG, DCFF7)

• Secondary Project G Subjects – most notably a handful of Copies from both Genesis and Angeal. This may be based on their manner of death, as Copies killed in the presence of Sephiroth seem to persist for a time, while those killed elsewhere do not. (source: CCFF7)

• DeepGround SOLDIERS – shown to leave corpses persistently enough for Nero to play with them in order to scare his opponents, but indicated to eventually dissolve based on the presence of damaged gear but lack of corpses in Nero's training room. (source: DCFF7, FF7R)

• Various fiends – shown to occur in gameplay and cutscenes. (source: CCFF7, FF7R, FF7EC)

• Various NPCs – energetically only, shown to be incapable of disseminating into the Lifestream after death due to some polluting action or affect applied during life. Should not be confused with rejection, discussed below, as the energetic remains of these lifeforms will eventually dissolve properly. (source: DCFF7, OTWTAS)

Rejection is the most rare outcome following death, at least with regard to physical bodies; energetic rejection is slightly more common by volume, but only because of one very large group energetically rejected by the Lifestream at a point several thousand years pre-canon.

Rejection is only indicated to occur for one of two reasons:

Incompatibility with the Lifestream itself.

The will of the planet based on necessity.

In cases of incompatibility, it's similar to the concept of mixing oil and water, two materials that will always eventually separate if not subjected to a chemical change to allow incorporation. With regards to the will of the planet, this occurs when the subject in question is integral to the continued functioning of the planet itself, and can't be allowed to remain physically decomposed or to energetically disseminate. To complete the metaphor of consumption and digestion, rejection via incompatibility would be instances of eating materials that can't be digested and should be ejected from the body, while rejection due to planetary processes is similar to swallowing something important and intentionally inducing vomiting in order to reclaim the item in question.

There are only six known cases of complete rejection, and one population-wide case of strictly energetic rejection:

• Jenova – complete rejection, body in usable condition with will intact even thousands of years after death. Remains persist in usable condition even years after destruction of main portion just prior to Meteorfall. Rejection appears to be caused by incompatibility due to extraterrestrial origin, as most individuals with Jenova infection, even severe cases, are eventually capable of dissolution to some degree. (source: OG, AC, FF7R)

• Sephiroth – complete rejection, body mostly intact and will fully intact five years after his death in the Nibelheim Incident, with will remaining energetically active even after final destruction of body. Body also capable of being reconstituted based on force of will. Rejection presumed to be caused by incompatibility due to Jenova's extraterrestrial origins. (source: OG, AC, FF7R, OTWTAS)

• Vincent Valentine – complete rejection, body regenerates and reconstitutes after death on multiple occasions. Originally serving as host to Chaos—a Weapon—the powers bestowed by this role persist even after its consciousness returns to the planet, proven by Vincent's return to form in Chaos' cave following complete physiological destruction during his last stand to stop Omega. This repeated rejection from the Lifestream, both physically and energetically, implies Vincent's position postcanon is that of Chaos' successor, not its container, rendering him integral to planetary processes. (source: OG, AC, DCFF7, OTWTAS)

• Cloud Strife – complete rejection, rejected from the Lifestream and healed of mortal wounds and illness multiple times. Rather than being due to incompatibility based on his S-cell infection, Cloud's rejections being fairly gentle—similar to Vincent's—seems to imply he's integral to planetary processes, presumably due to his unique ability to subdue Sephiroth. (source: OG, AC)

• Nero the Sable – complete rejection, body reconstitutes in the Void upon death while will and energetic remains persist on multiple occasions. Genetic relation to Chaos through use of corrupted mako in his conception presumably lead to him being viewed as equally integral to planetary processes, even if this may not be the case. (source: FF7DC, FF7R)

• Weiss the Immaculate – complete rejection, body persists even after death with will intact in spite of assumptions to the contrary and canonical complete energetic purity. Rejection appears to be due to his position as vessel of Omega, another Weapon, which renders him integral to planetary processes in much the same way as Vincent Valentine. (source: FF7DC)

• The Gi – energetic rejection only, affecting the entire species, although some bodies appear to still be intact in Cosmo Canyon for use in merit trials; possibly reconstituted through force of will, but more likely maintained by locals for cultural reasons. Rejection is due to incompatibility with the Lifestream, as the Gi are extraterrestrial lifeforms much like Jenova. (source: FF7R)

Again, there are instances that go against this interpretation, although those primarily take place in gameplay rather than in cutscenes or narrative, lending credence to the concept that these exceptions are based on game mechanics rather than lore.

If you read this far and this speaks to you, great! I'm glad I was able to shed some light on this particularly confusing fictional subject! If you read this far and this doesn't speak to you, that's also fine! Implications within canon don't necessarily make a particular interpretation the canonical one, after all.

Either way, thank you so much for lending me your time—I hope it was an enjoyable read, if nothing else.

Source Key: OG - Final Fantasy VII (1997) | AC - Advent Children (2005) + Complete (2009) | BC - Before Crisis (2004) | DCFF7 - Dirge of Cerberus (2006) | CCFF7 - Crisis Core (2007) + Reunion (2022) | FF7R - Final Fantasy VII Remake (2020) + Rebirth (2024) | FF7EC - Ever Crisis (2023) | OTWTAS - On The Way To A Smile (2004, 2009)

[bilbob963]

I know I said during the week in my last post but I was bored and kinda wanted to do this…

Sooo, what if Caine is the only one who can allow them to leave but only when the game is complete but…what if it’s not the actual game/ adventures…say that’s just part of the whole process and the actual adventure is them all finding themselves and learning that it’s ok to no be ok and they’re not alone.

Imagine it being like hypnosis therapy. There minds being thrown into a wacky world that represents the brain whilst the body is in a deep sleep and all these adventures, objects, buildings and NPCS are obstacles and lessons like memories, phobias, traumas, dreams, nightmares, child hood. Basically all that stuff that stands out in life. Your character is your players card or something that represents you and there’s other people there with you because end of day your not alone as many people a fighting silent battles with in the mind and soul… there is a lot I could say about this, the mind is a strange place, very familiar but unfamiliar at the same time…

Anyways, getting to the point of this pic…

- Ragatha needs to accept she can’t please everybody, instead she should be doing what makes her happy. She also needs to learn she can’t sugarcoat everything and sometimes you have to be cruel to be kind.

- Jax needs to understand it’s ok to be scared and it’s ok to show that vulnerable side, he also needs to learn that’s it’s ok to feel and show emotions other than hiding behind a fake smile.

- Zooble needs to understand that they’re perfect the way they are. We all get self conscious at one point but end of the day the only thing that matters is you and what makes you happy.

- Gangle needs to let it out, she needs to be heard. This new episode showed how much pain she’s holding in and how she’s struggling. Trying to stay calm whilst under pressure and yet so many thoughts and emotions going through your mind can be tough for anyone, maybe she needs someone to lean on and to tell her she doesn’t have to do this alone…

-Kinger I believe is trapped in his own mind due to a memory illness. Not being able to do nothing to some point where you’re imprisoned in your own head and mind and only certain things can remind you of those happy moments. It’s tormenting, day after day forgetting who you are in and out. What Kinger needs is the whole gang to help get him out that dark pit and in the right environment where he feels comfortable and everybody’s there to remind him who he is and what has. The positive things that help the memory and the emotions. He needs to be around people not pillows.

-Pomni, well gotta say I’m struggling for this one. The first and second episode she showed some social anxiety, not wanting to talk much or interact but yet keeping distant. she also doesn’t like being touched and seems very jumpy and fidgety so let’s say maybe there’s some kind of trauma/abuse like thing. Episode three she mentions a ‘he’ saying she belongs down in hell and saying he was right, bursting into tears but what we also see is her being a shoulder to cry on, someone who’s seems to be in the right place at the right time.

It’s gonna be one of those things where she’s gonna listen and give advice or something positive, the one to tell them it’s ok but who’s gonna be the one to listen to her and tell her it’s ok. Kinger did listen but like she said, soon as he’s back in light hell not remember…

Oookkaay, sorry for another long post. There’s so much to say and yet I haven’t got the brain capacity to word it so I do apologise if it doesn’t make sense or I’ve messed up somewhere. It’s 1:11 am and I need sleep haha these are just my thoughts tho so each to their own…goodnight/ morning or whatever I don’t care …

[shiki-jin]

YOUR CELESTIAL MAJESTY • SAGAU

(part 0 here)

was listening to TruE on loop while writing the last part of this, it's genuinely such a good song ugwvdya

also can you spot the contradiction ;D it's plot relevant i promise

not proofread, dont bully me ill write a thesis on why youre a meanie

—

you had long deleted genshin, since you had other things to do. you had wanted to go back to the game for a while now, now that you were less busy, but there was just one little problem.

it was now taking up nearly triple the amount of space that it was when you uninstalled it. around 300 whole gigabytes.

jesus christ, what phone can even handle this???

your phone, apparently. because as you opened the game to see if maybe a miracle would happen and that if maybe they would just, like, remove half of the things in the game, it just… kinda loaded?

no installing new files, no checking for anything, no nothing…. just an immediate pan to the gates of celestia.

you decided to check if it was the right genshin since this was just way too weird, but countering your judgement, every link you found led you to the same game, leading you to believe it not to be a bootleg or an illegal version.

guess i’ll trust it then.

you clicked on the gates which opened smoothly, and your screen turned white. then, the symbols of the seven elements appeared in gray.

and then the game just… opened. no loading time, once again. no getting stuck on the geo symbol, nothing. nada. just a smooth entrance into what you had to assume to be teyvat — but your surroundings didn't really support that claim.

the grass was brown and just looked off, the sky was gray. a darker shade than, say, mond’s walls, but it was like one of those game crashes.

well, except you could still move around.

you moved your current character around (the traveller? since when were they the only one in your team?) and decided to open the map after not figuring out where you could possibly be.

hold on, this is springvale? since when?

eveything looked dead, like it had been rotting for a century. you tried to ignore it though, and teleported to the inside of mondstadt. surely this was just some glitch, right? one that would fix itself if you teleported?

maybe the world loaded incorrectly, maybe the fact that nothing took time to load meant that it couldn't load, maybe this or that, maybe…

maybe this really was how the game looked normally. you hadn't done any quests though, so you wondered if it could be restored.

you took a screenshot of the your surroundings — the stone, worn down and dirty. the houses which looked to be in a horrible state, and… the npcs, all sickly and pale, like they were starving.

you went to reddit (yes, reddit), and posted the screenshot, asking if it was normal.

you closed the game and decided to take a nap, too tired to really deal with this shit any further.

while you slumbered, people replied to your post.

╰┈➤ lol me too anon, me too

╰┈➤ isn't the game closed or wtv? how'd you get this wtf

╰┈➤ they're trolling

╰┈➤ o makes sense oops

╰┈➤ So we’re all still mourning huh

╰┈➤ jokes aside that's a super impressive edit ngl

you remained unaware of the truth, but you'd find out soon enough.

actually, you'd find out now, apparently…

what the fuck?? why is my bed so hard now?

you groaned and forced your eyes open, seeing a dark, nearly black sky.

the only light was a single star, lingering right above you.

“since when was i outside...?"

a voice spoke to you, answering your question.

“you always have been, have you not? but would you like to head inside, my lord?”

... huh? i recognize that voice...

—

p.s. place your bets on who it is, i’m thinking of one specific character but if there's a fan fav i'll make it them instead since i haven't written anything beyond this point (⁠・⁠_⁠・⁠;⁠)

p.s.s. don't expect updates to this series too quickly, i wish i could write as quick as i think of ideas but sadly that's not the case orz

[martialartslover7]

Headcanon time: I feel like, the Blank Period after Shippuden was kind of a missed opportunity, in my eyes. Look, I get that everything needed to wrap up, but... seriously? We don't even get an emotional, on-screen scenario where Naruto finally becomes Hokage? Maybe after months of him forcing himself to suffer through these accursed Chunin exams (because bureaucracy fucking sucks, but, it is what it is), getting promoted to Jonin, before he can even HOPE to apply as Hokage?

(Image belongs to Ammitastic on DeviantArt)

Another thing, in the Blank Period, I don't care what anyone else tells me, Neji Hyuga, the GOAT, deserved to live, he did not deserve to die so disgracefully in the war, being turned into a wooden pimp cushion. Hence, I will not ever canonically acknowledge his passing.

You know what passing I WILL accept though, in my mind? Hiashi Hyuga. That piece of work actually deserved to go out like that, after everything he did to Hinata, her cousin and her sister (this is a can of worms I will open up another time). And because of his death, the Hyuga clan is left without a leader during the Blank Period. It would have given Hinata something to do, to actually participate in the process, along with Neji, on how they will be resolving this problem with the leadership question, mending the bridges with Hanabi too, outside of just being immediately reduced to a birthing machine. And don't get me wrong, I don't mind Naruto and Hinata getting busy (*wink*), they deserve it, but, the way it was shown off in the anime, came in such a jarring and abrupt way, I thought they would actually give it some time first, because, being an adult, is coming with a lot of unique difficulties, that need to be discussed first. I would have enjoyed some of that "being adults suck" point being discussed from Naruto's and Hinata's POV.

Like, before even having Boruto and Himawari, they could have just settled on enjoying life together for a few years, before the true stress with their jobs and children begin. They are not their families, they should be smarter about this.

Plus, this point is more of a stretch on my end, but, the anime talked about the "Madara Crisis" of sorts, where loyal, mentally ill followers of Madara demanded for the Infinite Tsukuyomi to return, which translated to me, only means: A Madara Crisis story. Like, it's not just nameless NPCs that are affected by this, but also specific shinobi that Naruto & Friends met, in the course of their lives. The Dead Rising geek leaves my body here. For real, imagine, some shinobi, like for instance, Kakashi (in my AU, Guy died fighting Madara, I really don't care what people try to tell me, him getting saved at the last minute just cheapened everything about his violent assault on Madara, sorry, I love Guy too, but if he died, he would have truly become a legend, think of it that way, it's sad, but a far more fitting end to his character), Hanabi, Shino, Tsunade, etc. being hit the worst by this Madara influence, where they would also join these followers, just wanting the emotional scars to close up, as some wounds just never heal, no matter how much time passes, and the 4th Shinobi war also contributed to their problems and emotional states. And they, in the context of a Dead Rising scenario, become Psychopath boss fights, except that, unlike there, you don't kill them. This saga would have given so many side characters a chance to take the lead for a change, and show off, how much progress they had made, coming over from the 4th war, to the Blank Period. I will just leave this here.

That's all for now.

[ganondoodle]

since im currently a slime monster (sick) and cant draw or write anything coherently, heres a short list of more things i came up with for the totk rewrite (botw2 edition) (some things may have been mentioned before already):

more weather types (like fog, storm)

specific enemies tha only spawn in certain weather (so you dont encounter all the enemy types constantly, everywhere)

underwater swimming returns! since im removing the building (so it can shine in its own game, ACTUALLY made for it) and added the hookshot as a main movement option i feel like its reasonable to include it (hookshot underwater like in tp is cool!!)

underground (which is more a rly big cave system, and more unique, with few access points) can be filled with water (creepy! cool!)

zora dungeon is absolutely the ancient water thingy (that serves only as single stupid button press for a nonsensical waterfall thing in canon ?????), its a giant structure in part like an aquedukt (? the roman water thing) and the bossfight is in a mostly empty reservoir (bc those things are freaking scary AND cool+ i know there is one where the ones who built it used old statue heads as foundations so ... what if they used botw sonau ruins similarly?)

bosses dont drop any crafting material (so they wont just have ... duplicates stomp around like its normal) and can be refought via an NPC (sort of like its worked in skyward sword) unsure if i should add a new one (like an ancient shiekah monk that just kinda chills in a special place you have to unlock first) or an existing one (impa? koga?? ngl i kinda like that idea lol .. he has funny dialog to each of them that may or may not be true, if you choose one of his fights he is very touched)

(cant think of more right now, i need to lie down, maybe ill add more later- but feel free to comment or add in tags what you think; and just as a disclaimer, i know its getting more and more involved and complicated, but i still dont think it would have been impossible to do, also this is still something that will never be real anyway, so why worry about how 'possible' it is :) )

[heliza24]

Being a physically disabled Dimension 20 fan breaks my heart sometimes

I’ve been thinking about this since last Wednesday’s episode when we finally got a real scene with Lydia, one of the few physically disabled characters in the entire canon of the show. It was nice, but it was really just a lore dump. An excuse for exposition. A moment for Kristen to look good by expending sympathy/pity. (I’m a little frustrated about how that interaction went down. Extending the help action was nice but patronizingly touching the neck of a full-ass adult without consent was not. It was weird and not something she would have done to a nondisabled character).

I have watched almost all of D20 (still missing a couple of seasons) and as far as I know here’s where our list of canon physically disabled characters stand: Lydia Barkrock, Jan de la Vega (who feels pretty problematic to me, maybe more on that in a later post), one of the Dwarven statues in the temple in The Seven (who is not given the dignity of being brought to life like Asha), and Pete’s coworker in TUC2 who is in exactly one episode and is so unimportant I have forgotten his name. I guess you could make an argument that Gunny is disabled, but I don't feel that Lou or Brennan really talk about him or play him through that lens. So in terms of canon physically disabled PCs-- that leaves us with 0.

We do a bit better with neurodivergent characters and characters with mental health problems; Ayda (my beloved) is very well developed and Adaine is a PC. There have been some openly neurodivergent players, like Omar and Surena, whose characters also read ND to me. But that isn’t labeled or discussed in canon, so it's hard for me to know where to class that. I am going to focus the rest of this post on physical disabilities, since that is my area of lived experience. If another fan wants to write about their perspective of neurodivergence rep in the show, I would love to hear that, and will happily amplify.

There has never been a character with a sensory disability or a limb difference or a chronic illness (not a fantasy one, a real one) on Dimension 20. The only NPCs we have are nondescript, similar wheelchair users. And there has never been a physically disabled player at the table. On the flagship show of Dropout, a company founded on diversity and inclusion. It feels extremely pointed to me.

In fact as far as I can tell there has only been one (1) physically disabled performer on any of Dropout’s shows. (Shout out to Brett, you were great on Dirty Laundry.) Obviously I haven’t seen every episode of everything they have produced. If I have missed someone, please do let me know in the comments/reblogs. But it’s a problem. And Sam Reich even agreed with this criticism when I asked him directly about.

I do really hope they’re working on it, as Sam says. But why has it taken so long?

Dimension 20 has had trans and nonbinary and queer players. It has had players of many different races. I’m not saying that the diversity here is perfect; there should always be more POC in the dome, more queer people. We should keep pushing for that. (And we should also push for performers at the intersections of these identities!) But we’ve seen the ways this diversity has expanded and improved the different seasons, because diverse players create sensitively drawn, diverse player characters. They add details to their PC’s experiences that make them feel rich and alive. I’m thinking about each of Ally’s PC’s incredible capital G gender and Aabria “all my characters (even the stoats) are Black” and how excellent they all are. D20 would not be the show it is without this input.

And yet. And yet.

There are 1,000 interesting and complicated themes to explore around disability. Dealing with access. Dealing with ableism. Dealing with compassion and community care. Dealing with none of it and just being a cool fantasy or sci fi character that happens to be disabled. We don’t get any of it.

I watch my favorite show and I see myself in the ace rep and the female characters. But I don’t see all of me. I see a silent but ever present message: you aren’t quite welcome here.

I have this fantasy that I play in my brain sometimes that someday I’ll get to talk to Brennan in person, like maybe if I buy a VIP ticket and risk Covid to go to a live show or we run into each other on the street or something. I am able to look him in the eye and articulate why he NEEDS to include a physically disabled player in an upcoming season. I reference the ways he’s talked about inclusion and writing diversely on Adventuring Party. Maybe I hand him a handwritten letter, or hell, a printout of this post. And because he really cares about diversity and his shows and his fans he would listen to me, and cast a physically disabled performer in the next season.

But I think that might be giving that nondisabled man (whose work I adore, who I respect so much) too much credit. Because he’s had Jennifer Kretchmer, a physically disabled actual play performer, on adventuring academy to talk about access in gaming. He’s hired disability consultants. He knows about physically disabled people, enough to give us shoutouts as inconsequential npcs. And he still hasn’t thought to include us at the table. In over 20 seasons. None of that other stuff matters if we aren't given a seat at the story telling table, and the agency to craft our own narratives equal to other participants in the game.

When Lydia was telling her story in the last episode, I kept wishing for a prequel, where she is more than a plot delivery device and a kind but unimportant parent. I want to know about her adventures with her adventuring party. I want to see a talented, wheelchair-using actor play out the scene when she decides to put the gem in her chest. I want to hear about what happened after. I want to know how she survived. I want it so badly it hurts.

I am in the process of trying to find new indie actual plays that feature more disabled talent. I am learning how to GM myself so I can tell these kinds of stories. But it’s not the same as being a fan of something. Sometimes I don’t want to have to make my own representation. Sometimes I just want to turn on my favorite tv show, the one that I have cosplayed from and written metas about and loved whole heartedly, and see myself included.

If you’re another disabled or neurodivergent fan I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. If you’re not, I’d love for you to reblog this. I would love for the absence of physical disability in this show to be a topic of fandom conversation, at the very least.

[crushedsweets]

what is jack and toby's relationship like?

oohh ive covered this a few times. i love them.

this post i did on their relationship basically sums it up !! ill do more under the cut

jack helps the proxies so that slenderman lets him stay in the forest as refuge. he doesn't like toby at first, seeing him as too violent, too aggressive, viewing himself even in his monstrous form as more human than toby - which is true, in a sense . toby kills for slenderman. he wouldn't be killing people if not for that, BUT he absolutely finds release in it - he makes a game out of it, he detaches himself from the victims and reflects all he wanted to do to his dad onto them. sometimes he catches himself saying exact phrases his dad screamed back onto them. bro probably called his victims 'npcs' at some point LOLLLL

and jack RARELY EVER does his own killing. he gets a lot of his bodies as a dark web human remains disposer(cuz he gets paid for it too), or from jeff. and it took a while for him to be able to stomach the shit he has to do to survive, so it's rough for him.

jack hates it, jack hates what toby does, but he can see so much in toby that goes beyond that and it fucking sucks and it hurts and jacks prob cried FOR toby before. not in front of him, but anytime jacks confronting his own mortality and humanity, toby is one of the first people that comes to mind each time, and he wants to throw up thinking about it. only nina can rival how emotional jack is LOL

it's kinda weird for toby the way jack treats him - sometimes he gets mad and accuses him of treating toby like some research paper in a book, because he knew jack had a decently privileged upbringing in comparison to himself, and hates the supiroirty complex. jack asks too many questions and is always just trying to grasp whats going on in tobys brain and its fucking infuritating for toby.

but jacks just always fucking there. jack is easily the most present person, always easy to find, usually calm. tim/brian are rarely around, kate is unsettling and hiding away half the time, jeffs a dick, bens unreliable, ninas in love with jeff and has a life seperate from the creeps. even natalie has long periods of time where she just cannot get herself to confront toby because she has her own issues and is struggling to even maintain her job as a waitress. she can't be there half the time.

but jacks never gone. jack rarely tells him to get the fuck out. jacks so welcoming, even if he's an annoying uptight prick who thinks he's better than everyone - and half the time, toby knows jack is. he knows jacks better than everyone else around him and it sucks fucking ASSSSSS being around someone like him, but its also something toby needs really bad

after a year or so of knowing toby jack would be able to comfortably say he loves him, whether its as a friend or a brother or whatever the fuck sort of fucked up shit is going on in these freaks heads . again, jack is INCREDIBLY FUCKING HUMAN hes emotional he loves so hard he hates himself he wants people he wants connection he feels so alone he wants everyone to be there he wants his mom he wants his siblings he wants to read he wants to walk around he wants to cook he wants to breath in fresh air. and toby really does put in some work for that. maybe not correctly, honestly he might fuck it up more often than he gets it right, but who the fuck else is gonna invite jack to go swimming on a random summer night ? how badly he wish he could see tobys face when toby asks to hang out

also this one shot from necroromantics if ur looking for good jack toby content . sorry for stealing tomb. u just get them so much . also sort of in the same vein of this drawing i did ... jack was full of life and empathy and love and joy for so long....... doesn't understand how toby never had any to begin with.

[fadetouchedsilk]

I think something else that kind of puts me off the neve/lucanis thing is the fact that this appears to be the one NPC romance that re-uses the same lock in scene we get as the player?

To the best of my knowledge this isn’t the case with Taash or Harding’s romance scenes, Emmerich & Strife happens mostly off screen so that’s exempt too. But for some reason with Lucanis it’s basically the same scene with Rook model-swapped for Neve.

Like, some of the vitriol towards this ship can definitely just be marked down as garden variety biphobia & the occasional side of character related possessiveness (no judgement we’re all mentally ill I’ve been there lmao) but I’m also just seeing this overwhelming sense of… idk how to explain it exactly, it’s almost like an energy of depressively resigned rejection across platforms? Was the decision to not have this be a unique scene for the player a budget issue/cut content? You can argue him remembering what your favourite dessert is makes it unique but honestly that’s just a few dialogue flags of difference.

It still comes across as a shortcut for the player’s story. Realism in relationships aside, I actually don’t think it’s a bad look for us as consumers to assume we’re going to get a certain level of indulgence here for that reason. I don’t think everyone needs to be falling over themselves to kiss Rook’s feet, but I think it’s okay for our chosen li to be a bit more of a fantasy, yknow?

If it was a given from the start that the npcs were going to pair off, I think it would have been better if this only happened after your romance of choice was locked in, or at least past the point in the game where you would get a lock in scene (correct me if I’m wrong, but those all seem to trigger around the same time for everyone). Because of how the game is paced, we’d get to avoid spending the first 40 hours listening to ambient flirting when we’re exploring, which imo would also help npcs being received. There’s a distinct lack of interpersonal reactivity Veilguard whenever it comes to Rook (genuinely, why is this such a lonely protagonist?) but the relationships between companions seem to chug along nicely. Seems like a bit of a design flaw to have pre-romance flags active but to still be hearing how much your chosen li is apparently into this other person?

I don’t see the same amount of pushback towards the other NPC romances as I do Neve/Lucanis, which honestly looks like it comes down to how his romance specifically was executed & how the narrative likes to prioritize relationships between other people vs. ones with Rook. I don’t expect writers to not have favourites because that’d be hypocritical of me lmao, but I do expect a professional studio to be more adept at either covering it up better or giving your players enough attention to offset it. I haven’t seen anyone reflecting on how comparatively empty Neve’s romance felt to other companions the way I have with Lucanis, so I have to assume it isn’t. But with his route, it just feels extra :/ that one of maybe three scenes we get is just recycled content for his other possible partner.

(Obligatory disclaimer: I see the vision behind the ship and I don’t hate it nor am I jealous, I just feel like with those two characters in particular it should have unfolded much slower than one game would have allowed & also I expect a certain degree of wish fulfillment when it comes to these games, not feeling like the player character is the writers’ afterthought. Hating Neve for this is a bit much because 1. She’s not real and 2. She’s also not responsible for writing decisions so I think taking jabs at the female character involved is kind of a waste of energy [once again I get the jealousy thing, but still.])

[somekindofsentience]

why secret anger is a better tool than secret sadness, or hiding rage under a persona of nurture.

MAJOR SPOILERS FOR: OMORI, DEMON SLAYER AND OSHI NO KO. I WILL BE SPOILING THE LATTER TWO'S MANGA SO BEAR IN MIND THAT WATCHING THE ANIME ONLY WILL NOT PREVENT YOU FROM FURTHER SPOILERS.

WARNING: DISCUSSIONS OF SUICIDE, GRIEF, LOSS AND MENTAL ILLNESS

We've all seen the character who has secretly been very sad their entire lives. Fuck, some of us are that character, and maybe have been for a while.

It's relatively easy to hide a sad backstory for a character, and it opens room to give them depth later on. And, unique to side or background characters, it allows the protagonist (and by extension, the reader) to connect further with them, giving the façade of plot and sub-plot depth. Of course, it's perfectly possible to do this well - it's possible to do every trope well - but it's also very possible to do this poorly.

And... it's so boring.

Like come on. Sad woman sad. Very sad. We're all sad, because we've been told to feel sad by the author. How sad.

I believe that there are far more fascinating tropes to explore, with much more depth - and I'd like to talk about one of my favourite forms of this. Hiding inner anger is infinitely more interesting, especially if the character can hide it well.

I've chosen three characters to discuss for this - Mari from OMORI, Ai Hoshino from Oshi No Ko, and Shinobu Kochou from Demon Slayer. I think all three of them perfectly capture the "hidden anger" trope very well, and I'll connect all of them, which allows us to understand the purpose of this character archetype overall.

Mari is an incredibly complex character, one whose complexity is actually very easy to miss. Due to Sunny's unreliable narration, we perceive Mari as perfect, since he blocks out any of her personality which mimics the truth. In Headspace, she's an incredibly default NPC, acting as a pillar for quest clues, healing and saving the game. As a player, you come to see her as some sort of comfort, a recurring symbol in irregular places. This evidently changes when Sunny discovers the truth, and we come to accept what he has done. However, Mari is never properly portrayed in the game - we only see her through the lens of the others - which means a lot of the fandom doesn't quite understand her character, let alone understand the selfish nature of perfectionism. There is nothing in the game that suggests she had external pressure causing her perfectionism (although I personally headcanon this), so we must go off it being internally driven.

Mari is not a tragically sad, or gorgeously happy character. She has been punishing herself with pent-up anger. Imagine you've been practicing something for months, over and over, only to find out your duet partner doesn't care anywhere near as much as you do. No-one cares as much as you do. All those months of practice ultimately mean nothing. Every time you pushed yourself to play the same song on repeat until it drove you insane mean nothing, because of this one moment, one stupid angry moment from your brother.

Despite all this, Mari isn't allowed to be angry, which is why the Truth segments still show her acting in an adult fashion (taking the unused Truth descriptions as canon).

In the photos of the truth, Mari looks like a disappointed mother, telling off Sunny. She says she "isn't finished talking...", like a parent. Mari was fifteen when she died. She had no outlet for this rage at all, no time to be a teenager, when she was the mother figure of the group. Her character trope as the "nurturer" trapped her in a hellish cycle of perfectionism, hiding everything until her absolute breaking point - which lead to her death.

In Oshi no Ko, Ai Hoshino is a perfect mother, perfect idol, perfect person. This seems widely agreed by literally everyone, and the manga follows her son's attempts to avenge her murder, and her daughter's attempts to follow in her footsteps. Although the goals of the children change partway through, when Ruby learns the truth of Ai's death and Aqua loses faith in his scheme... Ai remains a pillar of gold. And yet, we find out during the creation of the movie on Ai's life that people around her suspect she was hiding anger.

While I have perhaps... fallen behind... in my reading of Oshi No Ko, I'm just going to go purely off this panel and the previous chapters to analyse. Forgive me, I completely forgot which character says this, everyone's hair looks the same and I can't tell if it's Akane or the lady that adopted Aqua and Ruby. It's been a while.

Ultimately, Ai Hoshino is confused, and this makes her angry. We know she's never felt love before in her life - not until she had her children - which would be incredibly frustrating. You see everyone around you experience happiness and joy, and yet life keeps reminding you that your childhood was shitty, you work in the most insane industry of all time and you're exhausted. There's some implication that Ai's relationship with Aqua and Ruby's father was complicated, so perhaps that's the reason she's furious.

Regardless, Ai is far more complicated than every character portrays her as, which makes her interesting. As a reader, you smell a rat instantly. Something is off about the way she is glamourised, and you know you're missing a piece of this puzzle.

Shinobu outright states that she's been angry her entire life, at least since Kanae's death. She's been mimicking Kanae's sweet smile as an act of remembrance, but Shinobu is not happy, not calm, not sweet like Kanae was. Now, Shinobu isn't the most nurturing figure - at least not to Tanjirou, and not much to Kanao either - but she still acts in that calm, motherly demeanor, mimicking her older sister. In that way, Shinobu is also a perfectionist - she's just got a standard to match up to.

Shinobu is often mocked in the fandom for being "weak", but I think that's not the right way to understand her character. The fact that she doesn't fight off raw strength alone is symbolic, because it tricks the reader into thinking she's sweet and calm. No-one who is that weak can be full of such rage... right?

Mari and Ai Hoshino have further links due to the way they are portrayed after their death - as perfect. Sunny heavily misconstrues his sister, acting as an unreliable narrator for her personality, and it seems as though no-one will ever know what Ai was truly like inside. Instead, characters remark on their outward traits, which fandoms then fall into... guys. you're literally being trapped by the same trap their families and friends fell into. you're being gaslit by two dead women. please try to look past the silly little mirror they tried to reflect themselves in.

Now, what is the purpose of this archetype? They aren't main characters, and they aren't there as a fake display of depth, so what are they there for? All three of these characters die to further the plot - but more importantly, they act as a catalyst for character change in their sibling or children. Mari's death single-handedly destroys an entire friendship group, but it is also the reason they are brought back together. She alone allows Sunny to forgive himself, and within that, he must accept that she wasn't perfect, just as he isn't. Ai's death ruins Aqua and Ruby, but it gives them goals, something to work toward (symbolised with stars in their eyes). Shinobu's death allows Kanao to step forward and confront Akaza, which changes Kanao as a character, but it also ties up Kanae's subplot neatly.

To the player/reader, their deaths are far more important than their lives, but there is much more to explore in their lives than people understand. This is true complexity, and it's frustrating when it's brushed over in aus or fanfics.

Please, dig deeper. Look harder. Turn these dolls into humans, because they are corpses for a reason.

can you tell i find scary women pretty aggagagahgagsa

song i listened to while writing this: テレパス by Yorushika

The song is very good at capturing loneliness, and rage is quite an isolating emotion. Mari, Ai and Shinobu are all hiding an inner version of themselves, and they took that form to their graves.

[hpowellsmith]

Hello there! I've been wanting to replay the older Baldur's Gate games, and was searching around for mlm NPC romance mods. I saw yours mentioned and found your site with some googling, but it seems the place they were hosted at is gone now (Spellhold Studios). I was wondering if you still have the mods available somewhere? Either way, I hope you have a great day!

OK, this has made go down a modding-community rabbit hole! I hadn't done anything with our Baldur's Gate 2 mods, or looked at them really, since 2015 and I really appreciate it because they're something that brought my wife and I a ton of joy, and they were the first interactive narratives I made.

Links, descriptions, and comments below because it is Long:

I got in touch with folks on the Gibberlings3 forum which is, wonderfully, still going strong, and have given permission for Faren and Nathaniel to be uploaded to the Spellhold Studios GitHub (which has a bunch of other mods too - do check out Adrian, Isra, and Ninde in particular!) to the team maintaining it. That may be a little while as some of the team are ill right now, but once I hear that it's done, I'll post about it here; I've also been pointed to some links where the mods were mirrored. Note that I haven't tested these myself on a current BG2 install, but it is easy to uninstall WeiDU mods if there's a problem.

Faren is a bisexual True Neutral fighter/thief (I can't remember if he's dual-classed or multi-classed) who's easygoing, down-to-earth, and up for partying, with a bit of a checkered past - his adventuring party died in one of the dungeons you can visit in BG2, and since then he's been picking up dodgy jobs, feeling a bit adrift, and trying to get his life back on track. That's where the PC comes in! You can befriend him or romance him (starting with either a casual or more committed tone, then committing further if you want to), and he has a personal quest in which a shady figure from his past wants him to do one last job. He was our third mod, and we'd developed our skills with writing and scope a lot by then. When I play BG2, I play with Faren! You can currently download Faren here. It's the version updated in 2015 with more banters with modded NPCs and the Enhanced Edition characters; there may be compatibility issues installing it with other newer mods but do give it a try.

I found The Luxley Family, which was our second mod, on the GitHub here. From a cursory (rusty) glance it looks like it should be compatible with Enhanced Edition, but the storyline is only for Shadows of Amn and doesn't continue into Throne of Bhaal. Sebastian and Andrei (Chaotic Neutral bard with a custom kit and Lawful Neutral monk respectively) are members of a mysterious, reclusive family who are under a curse. Sebastian's a worldly playwright who's showing his polite but moody teenage cousin Andrei the sights when they bump into the PC. They aren't romanceable, but you can have a fling with Sebastian, who's bisexual, if you let/help him mess up his life sufficiently.

Nathaniel is a Lawful Good gay fighter with a lot of feelings. He was our first mod and I am really proud of the impact he had on a lot of people and even other games back in the day, but if you play, go in expecting a LOT of feelings good and bad, relationship drama, and angst! (There's something very sad about the fact that as teens we could not imagine a D&D setting without homophobia back then; the idea of a knightly order thinking well of gay people just didn't cross our minds. it's extraordinary how much better a lot of things are now, including the queerness in D&D streams, books, and of course Baldur's Gate 3. Interestingly, we didn't include homophobia in the Luxley Family or Faren and I don't remember how conscious that was; maybe we'd become more hopeful by then.) You can download an outdated version of Nathaniel here but I don't think it will be compatible with Enhanced Edition.

Thank you so much for messaging! I didn't realise they weren't able to be downloaded anymore and I am really keen for digital art to be preserved (as well as players getting to smooch hot guys, of course).

(Digression - my wife and I have a couple of almost-finished mods on our computer: a lesbian cleric of Talos which she wrote, and a bi Valygar romance that I wrote. And, if it's among two computers' ago worth of external hard drive storage, the ending for the Luxley Family story. Who knows, maybe one day...)

[hitracks]

BWAH tysm i'm deffo a mr fear kind of guy but it's really so fun :heart_hands emojis: so i'm happy to engage. if i can ask you some questions. ONE what's the outline idea for your funger au and TWO who's your favorite character from og funger. and least fave maybe :] yes

ILL ANSWER 2 FIRST cause it’s easier. My favorite in general is probably Cahara … wonderful bisexual wife guy. I am a terrible no good sucker for found family. Him and the girl make me want to throw up and die. Least favorite, other than Legarde, PROBABLY VALTIEL? Dude he just pisses me off hes such a little asshole. Not even prevalent enough for everyone to know about him either … just get smarter freak. Fellowship would’ve done numbers without you being the strange cisman Incel of the group…

FIRST ONE. OKAY. Outline is really really rough but, it happens BEFORE the current termina festival that you are seeing in game. So while things are still ‘set up’ where in game events or npcs would be around but not to the point where you would get the same endings… Like the ending with Relia ( Olivia’s Sister ) isn’t able to happen because Olivia is not there to trigger that event nor has Relia and her Team gotten to Prehevil ! This also means it’s before the Kaiser ( Legarde / Yellow King ) gets his hands on it completely, so most normal things about the festival are in full swing. Same starting event happens where they are on the train when it stops & they are unable to start it again … I am not entirely sure who I will focus on story wise first, but I have a lot of rough ideas for most of them. Some of the characters ( dsmp ones ) I have turned into Enemies with their likeness :-] some are just beasts and others are more coherent individuals just gone crazy by Rher. For example I am including DreamTeam but they got there a day before the rest of the party, and moonscorching effects already take over them just because the lot of them are susceptible to such …. So the rest of them would run into those three early on and only figure out later that THOSE WERE ACTUAL GUYS!!!! NOT JUST BIG SCARY BEASTS!

ENDING WISEEEE I want to try and do something with the egg & sulfur cultists for a general one … I think it would be interesting to play around with considering Rhers effects branch out like a living creature. Obviously all the B endings as well, which is just where the ‘main’ person survives and the rest of them it is either ambiguous or you kill them. If I have the brain power too I think I could definitely replace like. Relias story line to have something to do with Connor & Karl regarding DreamXD …. I will have to think on it more though. It would be hard to incorporate new gods into the already muddy storyline. Phil needs to be there too or I’m gonna lose my mind ( I like drawing him. )

[ludinusdaleth]

Oh gawd Ludinus absolutely could have been consecuted. He spent a dozen mortal lifetimes enacting a revenge plot on the gods and I for one would love to see a reality where he dies in this fight and the Hells negotiate some sort of power transfer with the gods and Ludinus’s reborn soul regains those memories some decades later. Would he be angry, would he cry? Would he decide to start over??

im sure my friends are SICK of me for mentioning it but i want nothing more than for a pc or important npc in a future campaign to be a luxon variant of ludinus. when you strip literally all of his current body's power and his entire meaning for existence away, what is he? he is a character so tragic because of the sheer potential in him that he wasted for evil thinking he was doing good. what is he without all he wasted? does he feel like a waste?

i also think it would be juicy in the most tragic ways imagineable because imagine being a loved and valued child who has anamnesis one day and your family - at this point a family anywhere in the world, but especially the dynasty - realizes you are ludinus da'leth. imagine the sheer upturn of your life. much like the ruidisborn he has hurt, you must wonder if they were always ill-destined or if society shunned them so they felt cursed? i really want to see the youth who is also the oldest, most evil man in exandria. and what they choose to do. and how they feel now that a definitive answer to their beyond-lifelong question has been decided. and maybe theres no chance to ever change it. or maybe someone else took up the reins of fighting the throne, as recklessly as he.