#maybe it’s bc it takes so long??? or the game mechanics and how I’m bad at blocking

[kingdomhearts-and-soriku-trash]

Okay so change of plans since I’m impatient for some reason and fear how long this will take. I’m going to load the save I made before I did the final battles with Ansem, and I’m going to try and finish him and technically finish a whole run of KH 1.

Whenever I actually have the patience and time for it, I’ll finish this current run of KH 1 since I do wanna redo it, but at the same time I don’t😭.

[ctommyisnt]

I cannot find the original ask game post fam and determine who’s already asked what so let’s just go with 5 or 24

Hi!!! Trust me I could barely find it either (and who knows if this is the one you were talking about) but I’ll answer both because I can’t help it

5. How do you translate the world of Minecraft to fit into your fanfics when you keep the original setting?

THIS is actually one of my favorite things to do; worldbuilding in general is probably one of my favorite hobbies. I once created an au that was about tommyinnit waking up in an alpha world and has to survive. As he explored he slowly helps the world ‘update’ in a sense, either by encouraging or freeing spirits (his friends, this wasn’t fleshed out as much) or just by surviving. It culminated in him going to the end in a later update and talking to Phil (the end) and Kristin (the world) in a very ‘end poem esque’ conversation. The mechanics of Minecraft being thrown into a real life adjacent world is SO INTERESTING!! I have ideas for probably everything. The dragon, enchanting, animal mechanics, everything. The visuals I have of a Minecraft world in my head are magical and I’m really trying to learn how to paint bc I want to put it on paper SO BAD. Trust me I could rant about this forever especially if I had specific questions. I want to write that fic idea (maybe with Tommy, maybe with someone else since that interest has mostly died down) someday if I can, but I think just the idea of being a player, being love, because the world loves you, is such a magical concept that I wish would be explored world. I also have really fun apocalypse theories for Minecraft because wouldn’t that be so cool (THE BONES. THE FUCKING BONES)

Also I highly reccomend reading Minecraft: the island. It was written by the same guy who wrote World War Z and it fantastically explores the idea of a normal person ending up in Minecraft in ways that feel just so realistic. Hilarious read.

24. What work would you like to talk more about

Oooh that’s hard. I only have one ‘real’ wip rn (shoutout @thesentientmango your a real king) bc with real life everything else has taken a back burner, but I have like six main wips from when I was in the dsmp fandom that I hold close to my heart. But also another one based on the song For the Departed by Shayfer James.

It’s about grian who used to be a watcher but ran away to escape that life once he formed connections with people (evo) and has been in hiding in hermitcraft. One day the watchers fine him, but sensing his desperation they offer him a choice. Either he comes with them, back to his family, or he can stay here with these humans, but he must take part in the watchers and their stories that they will do with his friends (which Grian is well aware what the watchers can and will do). He goes with the second, condemning his friends to torture, because he can’t stand to leave them behind and join the watchers. This begins the life series and every winner gets to keep a much clearer memory of the games (the games are like a fever dream during and after). And then scar wins, and finds out what Grian did, and the watchers find out scar knows, and offer him the same choice Grian did. Wonder what scar took huh

Anyways I probably shouldn’t have ranted about that au bc this post is LONG but I can’t help it. The song is revolutionary I highly recommend and let me know what you think of my aus (wow I ranted about two in one post crazy)

[clowningaroundmars]

Fuck it

Burners hcs

Chuck my beloved 🩵

-Chuck’s anxiety spikes out of control sometimes and so he’s often up and at ‘em even at like 4am just mechanically coding well into the morning just bc he can’t sleep. Other Burners have TRIED to help him fall asleep and they’ve had varying levels of success but no one really knows how to combat Chuck’s insomnia for sure

-Older Chuck smokes weed like a chimney and you cannot convince me otherwise, that boi self medicates like his life depends on it. His whole room be dank as hell

-Messy af room btw, but there is def a method to his madness. Wires and car parts EVERYWHERE tho and also scraps of cloth that he cuts and sews shittily for his LARPing stuff. He still loves it tho

-I love the hcs floating around that he can be very assertive when he wants to be, and likes to take control every now and then :) I’ll leave it at that for now :)

-Chuck tried making a racing game for the Burners, and he got so far as figuring out how to model everyone’s cars but eventually gave up on that passion project after the race in Blonde Thunder. Even just being behind a virtual wheel was too distressing for him LOL

-He’s canonically a cyborg and spends time looking up, downloading, modifying random codes for his own internal wiring. He “mods” himself sometimes and as anxious as he can be, he’s very confident in his programming skills and trying out sketchy codes on himself

-That being said, he’s kinda insecure about being part-robot. No one but him and maybe Mike knows exactly how much of him is metal, and how much of him is organic. He keeps that info to himself bc of self-doubt. Who knows how the rest of the Burners will treat him if they knew? It’s bad enough that he doesn’t know how to drive!

-Besides programming, Chuck actually does try to take up a bunch of other hobbies like learning to play a guitar, a keyboard, trying to improve his sewing skills so he doesn’t just make messy stitches on LARPing costumes, painting, doodling etc etc but like Mike always says “sometimes being a Burner can get in the way of personal stuff”

-PIERCED CHUCK PROPAGANDA!!! I definitely buy into it!! Chuck may hate getting tattoos but this dude gets pierced up later on, I JUST KNOW IT. He has a cool collection of piercings on his ears (daith, triple helix, industrial, orbital etc etc) as well as tongue piercings and… other piercings 😏

-I truly believe that Chuck ran away to MC first— before Mike— and then they met up again there when Chuck heard about a “cadet who saved an apartment full of ppl”

-He ran away in the 1st place after believing that he “lost” Mike when Mike got promoted from being a jr cadet to a full cadet. They hung out together a lot less after that and Chuck couldn’t ignore the evil he was finding as he was training to be part of R&D… so he dipped, terrified and lonely

-Jacob “adopted” Chuck immediately after taking pity on him. One could only watch a scrawny blonde kid stumble around Motorcity and get picked on for so long lol

-That makes Chuck Thee Original Burner!! Fight me about it

-Chris P. confirmed that Chuck knew about cars even while living up in Deluxe, often bragging about how well he’d drive if he ever got in one. It was Chuck who introduced the concept of cars and driving to Mike in the 1st place when they were younger

-Chuck is JUST AS protective of Mike as Mike is of the Burners, that’s his childhood friend!

Mike 💚

-Has his cadet days drilled into his bones unfortunately, this poor guy always does his bed up military style, wakes up at 6am SHARP every single day and works out first thing in the morning. Still, the routine helps a lot and it’s one of the only habits he appreciates from his past

-Has nightmares not too often but… when they hit, they hit bad. Sometimes he just decides not to sleep at all and just joins Chuck on a couch somewhere

-I truly believe he has ADHD!! I’m integrating that into my belief system fuck it

-Bc of that, he often forgets to take care of himself. And not even in the bad I’m-gonna-do-this-dangerous-thing-that-might-kill-me kinda way (well most of the time) but the oops-I-forgot-to-eat-and-it’s-been-8-hrs-since-my-last-meal kinda way. Chuck definitely helps remind him to eat and take breaks, otherwise Mike’s gonna jump into another hours-long errand run across Motorcity without even eating a peanut

-Mike’s super grateful for Chuck, they’re opposites in the way where they complete each other. Chuck eats CONSTANTLY and likes to nap often, Mike basically paces himself on Chuck’s schedule when he’s feeling all out of wack and can’t take care of himself. Chuck happily bosses Mike around and makes him do some self care when this happens

-Older Mike might have some reservations about drugs n shit (good ol Deluxe conditioning in his skull) but he’s not an asshole to other ppl about it. That being said, this mf smokes cigs like a chimney and loves them. Cigarettes are the only thing he smokes, he doesn’t like being not-sober bc it makes him feel like he’s out of control (and the Terras drugging him in “Mayhem Night” didn’t help with that either lol)

-Where Chuck’s room is messy and chaotic, Mike’s room is scarily perfect. He stress cleans so ofc his room is gonna look pristine! Neatly folded sheets and shoes all in a straight line near the door, clothes all hung up perfectly in his closet just like in his cadet days. Not a wrinkle or a spot to be seen anywhere

-Likes to garden as a stress-reliever as well. Mike’s gotta use his hands and get his body moving or else he’ll Explode. He joins Jacob in his supermarket or just does chores around the garage whenever he can

-Burners know that the neater the hideout looks, the worse Mike’s mental health is tho. It sucks, they’re still figuring out how to help calm him down sometimes

-Funny, but for a guy who’s so sunny and upbeat all the time, Mike fuckin LOVES scary dark music. Grindcore and black metal are his top fave genres, much to Chuck’s chagrin. Chuck doesn’t hate metal, it’s just that listening to terrifying hardcore music while Mike’s doing donuts mid-air in Mutt after going 325mph absolutely doesn’t help calm his nerves

-Mike is… not very good with emotional stuff. He’s also shown in the show to be a lil short-sighted and DUMB as hell when it comes to taking social cues (the employee at the refinery acting weird and CLEARLY reading from a cue card in “The Duke of Detroit Presents…”, Chuck’s personality doing a total 180 IMMEDIATELY after Julie brings in the Kaneco booster… like Mike why in gods name would you miss those obvious signs) and it’s probably bc he was trained to be emotionally stunted as a military boy. He still tries his best tho <3

Dutch 💜

-Chuck and Dutch are the bestest buds aside from Chuck n Mike, don’t @ me. They work on the Burners’ cars all the time, how could they not be! Dutch is always giving Chuck props on wiring and upgrading the cars and Chuck thinks that Dutch’s designs and mechanical skills are godly

-Dutch eventually takes their art off the paper and walls and moves onto tattooing after seeing so many Motorcitizens rocking cool art on their arms. They start just like any other teen tho: shitty stick n pokes

-Eventually, the other Burners want tattoos on themselves too (well not Chuck cuz he’s a weenie LOL) and Dutch is more than happy to provide. Even Mike asks for one, much to everyone’s surprise. Julie gets a couple tiny ones where she can easily hide it from her dad. And everyone gets a Burner tat, absolutely

-Ok yeah I also integrate “Dutch is an enby” into my belief system. Sue me. He doesn’t believe in the concept of gender, just goes by he/they for convenience but I really think he doesn’t give a single fuck about it all otherwise

-They start learning from Tennie after going steady in their relationship, and they bring back all the sweet Cabler’s knowledge into the Burners’ car upgrades

-Claire and Dutch start chatting about fashion one day while Julie runs off and leaves them to hang out. After that, Dutch is much more mindful of his wardrobe and even hits her up sometimes to swap fashion ideas and tips

-They love customizing like, everything ever that they can get their hands on. Dutch’s room is for sure the most tricked-out one in the hideout, complete with custom furniture, decked out wall of lights (that Chuck helped program to feature Dutch’s art on it) and more art on the walls than anywhere else in the garage. It’s Dutch’s own slice of heaven

-Older Dutch also partakes in the smoking of the zaza, so him and Chuck just chill out in their lil weed corner outside (bc Mike and Julie hate the smell so no smoking indoors!) just puffing on blunts and showing off new bowls and bongs that they recently bought

-Dutch goes to Chuck to figure out how to establish a private non-traceable line so he can call his family every now and then without alerting Kane grunts. He updates them about stuff (and privately tells Dar about Tennie lol)

-Dutch picked up ROTH’s body after a battle against the Kane bots, intending on studying the metal polymer stuff Kaneco makes to use on the Burners’ cars. But then ROTH woke up, the battle completely wiping his intended functional coding and shocking the hell out of Dutch. But ROTH didn’t attack, and then slowly but surely everyone got used to having a floating Kanebot cluelessly wandering around the base. Dutch decided to paint the bot so he doesn’t keep surprising everyone LOL

Julie 💛

-She’s a weeb idgaf if everyone else thinks so too, it’s my hc now. She pirates and downloads shitty old anime onto drives with Chuck’s help and brings them up to Deluxe so she can watch them in secrecy

-Julie has a room in Deluxe ofc but she also has one built for her down in Motorcity as well. She thinks that the room that she has freedom to decorate and customize is way more “her”. She’s got anime figurines, posters that Dutch painted for her (featuring her fave anime characters ofc), plushies practically spilling out from the shelves, and she’s so happy that she gets to have a room where she can really be free!

-Julie pops the collar of her vest, inspired by Mike

-Idk what kinda music is allowed in Deluxe (probably nOT MUCH) but anyways Julie discovers pop and techno in Motorcity and literally cannot shut up about it afterwards. The other Burners do not really share her enthusiasm for Kpop but they try to be supportive nonetheless

-Jules is oddly enthusiastic about music in general. How could she not be, after hearing only pleasant elevator music all her life? She obsesses over playlists and makes ALL the playlists for the Burners

-She’s the sentimental one for sure. She hoards more stuff in her room in MC than in Deluxe but either way, wherever she makes a space for herself, it’ll always be filled with photos and doodles and lil gifts she receives from other ppl. Even 9Lives has a couple toy charms dangling from mirrors and compartments lol

-Julie loves makeup and painting nails, something she got from Claire. She tried to hide it away from the Burners to “fit in” and then immediately blew that cover once Dutch broke out the nail polish and started to paint their nails one day. After that, she teams up with them to paint everyone’s nails and does cute designs

-She DID know about Mike before formally meeting him after he defected. Ofc, she’s always been observant even tho Kane always tried to hide her away from the public. After Mike ran away to MC, Julie watched it all go down from her dad’s security cams and followed him down there. She has to pretend she doesn’t even know much about Mike, despite having access to his files

-Mike and Julie are The Shippers and wingmen of the group FOR SURE. I know this is kinda canon but idc, you can’t convince me they don’t get together and gossip about other ppl’s relationships all the time. Mike only knows about other ppl having crushes just bc of how observant Jules is

-Julie’s stolen cop car isn’t from Deluxe, it’s from a junkyard in Motorcity. Cops were disbanded in MC a while ago— courtesy of the gangs lol— so that meant easy pickings for Julie

Texas ❤️

-Born and raised in Motorcity (confirmed by creator), Texas helped run his family’s automotive business fixing up cars from junkyards and selling them/their parts (mostly to the Duke lbr). He was the only Burner who had a car even before the Burners formed

-He was The Ride before Mike and Chuck finally built up Mutt and got her running properly, but his car wasn’t Stronghorn just yet, just a custom car cobbled up from various other car parts that he borrowed from his dad

-I truly do believe Texas has a huge family with like a million siblings and that’s why he’s able to get away for long periods of time and do crazy stuff with the Burners all the time

-Potential angst right there… maybe. Cuz he doesn’t get enough attention at home being one of like… 7 or 8 kids or something 😅

-Chris P. said Texas’ parents are the total opposite of him and are intellectuals. Maybe they’re also from Deluxe (R&D even) and couldn’t see themselves having children safely there after Kane went crazy with power, so they ran away to MC and gave birth to their kids there. For as long as Texas can remember, his dad ran the auto shop and his mother headed the Motorcity development council. His parents are VERY involved in the community but… not very involved with the family

-I LOVE the idea that Texas and his siblings are all named after the states. I feel like Alaska, Iowa, Delaware, Georgia, Arizona, Nevada, Dakota, Nebraska… even Maine are cute names!

-Yknow what… those all sound like girl names lowkey. What if Texas is the ONLY brother in his family which is why he hams up his masculinity so much? Hc accepted. Texas and his 7 sisters, I dig it

-Hear me out. Texas initially taught Dutch the basics of constructing a car, transferring and modifying engines, etc etc but Dutch is a smart cookie and eventually their knowledge surpassed Texas’

-Texas is the movie buff of the group and fucken loves sci-fi, old westerns, martial arts, noir and thriller movies. His room is overflowing with movie memorabilia, posters, and shitty crayon doodles of his movie heroes. Any time he’s got downtime he’s always on his lil VR movie headset goggles rewatching something called “5 Dragons of the West: Journey to the Gold Snake” or something

-Texas, like Julie, doesn’t live in the Burners Hideout since he always just goes home after the end of the day. Only Mike, Dutch, and Chuck live there full-time. Julie has the room she stays in sometimes, Texas crashes on a couch (probably where his workout gear is) if he’s too tired to drive back home

-Mike got his adrenaline junkie habits from riding in Texas’ car before building Mutt

-Older Texas absolutely gets tatted up. AND he starts wearing more muscle shirts to show them off ofc!

-Texas is ridiculously emotionally intelligent, even tho he’s a knucklehead most of the time and I believe it’s bc he’s got a ton of siblings. He’s also one of the middle children too, so he’s capable around lil kids as well

-Texas can’t spell bc he’s dyslexic

-Junior and Texas absolutely have SOME history together. Maybe they even grew up together, as that’s not so far-fetched since ppl might buy cars from Texas’ dad’s shop to enter the competitions in the Mama’s Boys Arena

Jacob 💙

-Obviously The Dad of the group of ragtag kids. Mike and Chuck aren’t the only kids that Jacob’s helped out of the rubble of MC, but they are the only ones who stuck around. Yes, Jacob’s an old crazy coot but he has endless patience and plenty of seaweed casseroles for everyone :)

-Motorcitizens know him as The One Who Helps Orphans, specifically ex-Deluxians since he’s one of the only elders who’s been up in Deluxe and didn’t disappear amongst the Motorcity population yet. In “Off the Rack” there’s a split-second where Jacob’s shown greeting the recent Deluxian defectors at Antonio’s, I feel like he takes responsibility over helping Deluxians integrate into MC

-Bc of that, he’s got some p sweet connects across the city. Jacob’s got doctors and nurses, librarians with info, and resources all on speed dial just for the kiddos

-Jacob was the 1st person to show Mike what a car was irl and showed him how to drive in Sasquatch. It was Mike and Chuck who figured out how to build Mutt in the 1st place tho, and they took lots of inspo from the old car magazines lying around Jacob’s office in the supermarket

-The lil haunted house the Burners built for Halloween for the kids of MC was Jacob’s idea :)

-Doc Hudson and Jacob absolutely hook up after Hudson gets settled in MC, sue me. If you cringe at the idea of two old men bumping uglies, you are weak and will not survive the winter

-MC basically celebrates every holiday with a parade or a giant block party somehow, and the city’s first Pride Parade did not disappoint. Jacob made sure to sign the kids up for a spot in the parade and helped them build the float. It got crashed by Kanebots (of course) but the Burners saved the day (again!)

-Jacob stays away from the Burners’ main living space but still lives close by to check in on them every now and then. But he gives the boys their privacy for the most part

-Jacob DOES have Texas’ parents on speed dial as well. Which he uses to threaten Texas into behaving every now and then, but it’s no use. Everyone knows he never calls anyone’s parents unless it’s an emergency lol

[robo-dino-puppy]

my thoughts on burning shores if anyone was interested (spoilers obvs, also loooooong, so long and rambling, don’t feel like you need to read it lol):

first of all - that final fight with the horus was EPIC. i LOVED the multiple sections that basically take you through all the game mechanics - stealth, ranged, climbing, swimming, platforming - all just really cool. SO AMAZING and FUCKING CREEPY to see a horus crawling/walking around. also props to sam witwer to being a great over-the-top villian lol. the final fight with londra in the head section felt a bit cramped and it took me a few cycles to understand what to do (like it took me too long to realize i could shoot the mines yikes i’m dumb) but once i did i liked the design of it. (although i felt aloy should have been more terrified of the horus waking up? she and seyka seemed pretty chill and jokey throughout the whole thing considering the situation - i feel like she should have been more scared, at least at first?)

second of all, little complaint - the sounds of the waterwing are EXCRUCIATING to me. really, honestly awful. well not from a sound design perspective, they're fine as... sounds... just not sounds i have to listen to frequently. but i'm very sensitive to noise and i have misophonia, so... maybe that's why. i wish it would just stop making noises. so many noises. all the time. in my mind steve (my sunwing) flew off to hang out with some burning shores sunwings and the moment i go back to a sunwing site i will recognize him and override him again and then we will go back to adventuring together and i will abandon the waterwing unless i need one again. also they added a noise to the barrel roll on the sunwing and that is not cool, don't like, i would like steve to be quiet(er) again pls.

third, an issue - i can't complete cauldron theta because every time i kill the bilegut my game crashes. TT-TT i go through the whole fight, aloy says "it's done!" and the game closes and i get an error. i have fought that bastard three times now and i WILL NOT be doing it again until i have reason to believe it’s fixed lol. the rest of the cauldron was pretty cool tho!

other things:

GILDUN! OMG. i loved that whole quest. i felt bad but i listened to all his commentary behind the door before opening it :D i also felt bad because he's so friendly and optimistic and his delving partner was a jerk, and while i didn't want to lie to him i chose the heart option for aloy's response, and i don't think i could choose the others. and he gets a focus and a hug! AHHHHHH it was great. you’re our friend gildun! (i did get him talking on aloy's focus once when i went back to the main game, so i wonder if there will be random comments like that sometimes? v cool)

NORA LOOKOUT ARMOR! holy crap i forgive them for not giving us the banuk sickness eater bc i did not expect to get the lookout. AMAZING. i will have to do a run with her wearing the lookout the whole time. the quen armors are pretty great too (and lots of dyes, but still only four dyes for the oseram armors? like, why? why didn't the oseram armor get the ng+ dye? WHY GUERRILLA)

ZENITH WEAPON! i was ambivalent about this idea before bc i wasn't sure how zenith weapons would work with the others we have, but i honestly love it. i also like the little clinky noise it makes when she puts it on/stows it :D some of the new weapons (like the shredder) in hfw felt kind of ratchet-and-clank-y, which i loved bc i *adored* r&c growing up. the zenith gauntlet also feels a bit like r&c and i’m digging it. now aloy just needs a topiary sprinkler lolololol (just kidding).

ZENITH FACEPAINTS! ok i would not wear these full time but they are honestly beautiful with the gold. also didn't expect these. and some new quen ones and the new valor surge one and the pangaea one. (are there more? i haven’t finished the delver’s trinkets or the aerial vantage points) i have my work cut out for me for my facepaint series!

i'm... not sure how i feel about aloy and seyka. as an ace girl who was hoping (however foolishly and vainly) for at least the choice of ace girl rep in aloy, it didn’t hit for me the way i’m sure they wanted it to. (i realize she still could be ace, just not aro, but to me it didn’t feel like they were telling an ace story, if that makes sense.) and i like seyka but she wasn't as immediately endearing to me as many of the other side characters - altho maybe my opinion will change on a second playthrough.

but i *am* glad that aloy is 1) letting herself be emotional/vulnerable around others 2) is more relaxed and happy after hfw’s whole story and 3) actually voiced aloud how her early life as an outcast impacted her ability to form friendships. (or wait... was that only in the brain flashpoint dialogue, which is the one i picked? idk) so anyway not mad about it even if i wasn’t really feeling it, and i’m happy for the ppl who wanted aloy to be canonically into the ladies. (which imo it always seemed like she was)

the map is beautiful and the clouds are too. the sky in the new map omg!!! the color of the sky/clouds is definitely unique from any of the other areas. it does feel a biiiiiit too bright in places tho. several times the environment or aloy was completely blown out, highlights-wise. i didn’t change any settings on my game or tv from before, so i don’t feel like it’s on my end, but maybe i need to check.

speaking of sky have you flown up into the cloud layer? like it's a small thing i guess but it is BEAUTIFUL, it literally looks like one of the luminist paintings they said they were inspired by, but it's 3d. so, so pretty.

i did feel it was a bit short/fast especially compared to how the frozen wilds felt, but i may have just rushed it bc i was able to sit down and binge and i wanted to avoid spoilers.

why no tallneck? :( the frozen wilds tallneck was so great...

the jurassic park references made me laugh :D

the whole thing londra was doing to the quen, and the conversation with nova, was extra gross and creepy. also i thought we'd get nova as an AI ally like CYAN but oh well.

again the horus fight was amazing 10/10 boss fight v cool. the only thing i would have added was somehow shooting from the waterwing before gliding down to the ground. with two riders one can shoot and one can steer right?

but the side quest with the three waterwings on the island? HHHHHOLY fuck that was annoying. i used practically all my resources to kill those bastards. "weak to fire" my ass. they have like mile-wide aoe attacks and they are FAST and i kept missing their bodies while my ammo was going through their wings... super, super annoying, did not like, 0/10.

i hope they un-mirror the ammo selection, i was constantly picking the wrong arrows lol.

i walked up on some sandpipers on a beach and i scared them off and it was so REAL i just stood there and watched them fly away. and then they landed further down and started doing their little sandpiper-y thing again. SO COOL.

LEGENDARY SPIKE THROWER WITH DRILL SPIKES! thank u gildun i love it and will cherish it forever.

i'm not sure about the aerial vantage points (whatever they're called) bc i haven't finished them yet but the ones i have done are more emotionally along the lines of the original vantage points, so that's cool.

i did the stormbird in the cloud before i had the waterwing override and the stormbird KILLED STEVE so i reloaded a previous save where steve was alive and waited to do that until i was riding a (super-noisy and annoying) waterwing lol.

i am SAD that all our companions have left the main map. :( i mean they didn't do anything besides stand there in the same spots but... they were there...

sylens, ahhhhhh. that final convo made me tear up a little. i wish aloy had said something before she walked away, even a sarcastic "thanks" would have felt better imo. he didn't see her smile and he didn't hear the comment she made later. just considering the real-world stuff with lance reddick, oof.

also, visiting varl’s grave T_T

aaaaaaanyway i personally felt it was *well* worth $20 and i’m sooooooo excited to see what guerrilla does in the future!

[science-lings]

Whoops I’m late to the party but here’s some tropes.

Positive trope! As a traveler Hyrule has a lot of interesting and funny stories to to tell.

Negative Hyrule is a completely ignorant cave boy with the rough intelligent and personality of a 5 year old.

Positive Sky wrapping his sail cloth around someone.

Positive Warriors going full burrito with the near infinite cape he pretends is a scarf.

Negative Time Twilight and Wild’s bonds are treated like they are the only one’s that really matter with the unspoken implication they are the only REAL family.

Positive item trading! One of my favorite trope if rarely seen tropes. Yes Wild show Four your slate and argue over the definition of science. Spinner race time Twilight and Warriors. Let Sky Wild and Wind compare gliding items. Give Hyrule a hookshot! Rings for everyone!

Negative tossing my own take on the Mipha’s Grace is Fairy Bottle With Extra Steps is that we have had some form of Heal by Death in every game except the first. Hyrule has dolls he can find and Legend and Wind even having non fairy items they can purchase to resurrect with. All of them should be aware of the possibility even if only a few have used it. If anything meeting other people who treat dying casually should far more horrific then the simple existence something they can all potentially do.

Positive saying fuck destiny and finding ways to meet again after having to part at the end of the adventure.

You're not late I'm still collecting for the part 2's

Hyrule being a super experienced traveler is so good, this guy has been wandering since he was like eight and he's got a lot of campfire stories. And while I think it's not outrageous to assume that schooling in this era is a little lacking that doesn't mean that he's dumb in any way at all, he's very clever and he knows how to read thank you very much. Maybe he had some education in Calatia. I mean he was smart enough to leave and survive on his own and save his namesake a few times so like.... not stupid.

Any large piece of fabric that the chain owns can and will be used as a blanket. Scarf, sailcloth, cloak, Wind probably has actual sails that he used to have on the king of red lions that he uses to keep the water off of him bc it's more like a tarp than a blanket. Snuggles are inevitable.

While I am a fan of the wolf bloodline, I do get why depictions of it may undermine the importance of found family. I think it's a very valid criticism to point out that it may sometimes put forward the idea that blood family is more valid than an adopted family which could be unsavory, though I doubt that's ever the intention of the authors/ creators. I think that family is a fascinating topic with all these guys who grew up in vastly different but still quite lonely circumstances.

I love it when aspects like items and spells and stories from the other games are shared between the links and utilized to show how vast and different their experiences are. Aside from hookshots, nearly all of them have those bastards.

I mean, anytime people legitimize game mechanics into plot stuff it can be interpreted in different ways so I don't think that 'all of them come back from the dead' is a bad take lol, I think people fixate on Wild specifically with this kind of thing because it is implied he's already died and gone through the whole resurrection thing but more long term, and if that could've just been fixed with a fairy then the entire 100-year sleep just wouldn't have been needed. So it poses the question of if fairies really can bring a link back from the dead. But now I'm rambling...

I'm completely on the side of 'they all meet up in the afterlife as the timelines are assumed to have converged at some point before botw, and it wouldn't mess up the timelines if they just meet up after a few thousand years of waiting. I like the idea that they're watching and rooting for each other. That they've never been alone and there were always some of their brothers watching over them. (I also like to think that Wild caught a glimpse of them when he was placed in the shrine of resurrection)

[my-rights-are-grian-rights]

OC ask game

🎭: 1,8,13

⤴️: 1,8,13

(Pic of dom with chicken nuggets because I like him)

HIIIIII :DD

picking the combinations I actually have to Think About hmm

also I’m putting this whole thing under a readmore because it got So long and rambly

1. Excluding murder, what is the worst thing your OC has ever done?

🎭: this guy has several variants but I’d say the worst non-murder thing it’s done that’s consistent among most of them (or at least what it believes is the worst thing it has done, which is similar but perhaps not the same) is (accidentally) possess the dead body of a close friend. the worst thing it’s done could also be aiding and abetting the leader of a mind control cult. but that doesn’t always happen.

⤴️: well like his job does include assigning and overseeing the punishment (torture) of anyone who does something considered “bad,” no matter the context. also he has people he made deals with so that they kill people for him in exchange for the continuation of their own (or someone else’s, in one special case) life. listen his source material is silly and i think his canon character might be the villain in a season I haven’t read yet

8. Would your OC consider themself evil?

🎭: no, not really! it considers itself selfish, yes, and perhaps too careless about the the lives of others, but it’s not evil.

(it’s got a bleeding heart inside all that porcelain.)

⤴️: if you called him evil he’d be like yeah I’m the devil. lol

13. Who does your OC hate the most?

TUMBLR DELETED MY STUFF. RAH. EVERYTHING AFTER THIS IS REWRITTEN.

anyways

⤴️: questions that made me read 30 more episodes of the source material! I need to diverge him from canon but then ive got a guy who fills a similar niche in a different way already. i do have two hands though I guess. (not like that) anyways idk enough of the lore (source material or. his own lore) to answer that question I think oops

🎭: a big part of what makes this guy so silly and self indulgent for me is the fact that it like. always acts kinda flippant about things no matter the setting. which tbh most of my faves are like that but you know. but anyways!! in general (bc it gets put in different medias in my brain) i think the kinda person it would hate the most is the kind that genuinely doesn’t value like. human life. or like the lives of the ppl around them? idk maybe that’s a bit silly to say but like. in the first thing I ever put it in it got really super attached to a group of ppl (at least partially bc of someone else but shhh) and so like. it had a wholeeee thing about that in my head and so. I think if it met someone who a. had ppl who were close to them and cared about them and b. utterly disregarded or even actively harmed those people then it would. not be happy

it’s silly because it’s the guy who i get to destroy with no consequences! because of the mechanics of how it works! except no it’s gotta have actual stuff to it too. and it’s gotta use the things I’ve decided are true for it and take them to logical conclusions. because that’s how it works

too much commentary in those by the end. oh well!! you wouldn’t talk to me still if you minded me rambling. and rambling

[appreciatingtokrev]

hello, i am happy that you're back and feeling better! ^^

er, i am a bit disappointed but since time had passed, i have realised it was the right move. that is sad but if both parties naturally drift apart, there is always a chance for it to rekindle later on even if it is years on in the future. but moving on does tend to be the less messer route despite it being hard.

i did that too for HSR, all players are probably guilty of that lol. i believe most fans prefer GI over HSR and there is a lot more GI contents on here. i've never played HI so i don't know the fight mechanics 😭

that sound like such a long system ;-; on my end, you could complete a five year degree (like medicine) and be finish before 24/25 or do a three years degree and a master on top before 23/24. at least you still have time to figure things out.

that is true and a part of koko probably died after the fire incident, he probably just needed mikey's approval to join though.

tbh, i just realised his colour palette (outfit/appearance) is really nice too and does contrast xiao's one. maybe, browse online for inspiration? or go to the hair salon and ask the staff? i did that for dying my hair, they said i need to bleach it 4 times where i went lmao.

but i've heard the anime/manga merchandise is pretty cheap in Japan? that is a nice start to your collection and i'm sure the tokrev dolls will be a nice finishing touch when you feel motivated enough. but don't force yourself. i think if she was a kpop fan, i would found it less shocking because they are something else lol. that is a sensible idea and others may mistake it for a bell's bike? if it jingles that loudly and you're walking behind them. i hope you are ready then, styling wigs does seem to be a craft of art in making.

have you found your birthday twin yet? or am i still the closest one? and i actually gave up on makima. the fanart is something else but you can't help but feel intrigued like you said. i dislike her for the same reason. that's great! have you tried taking it to a tailor and get the sleeves shortened? i did it for a blazer and it worked.

ah i’m glad, me too! :) <3

i very much understand. it hurts, but sometimes the right thing to do just isn’t what initially makes you the happiest,, and it’s still for the best.

hm, true. maybe one day lol. rn we see each other maybe twice a year, and go visit a museum together. it’s nice, but certainly not how i pictured my life a few years ago haha. tho i’m content with our relationship the way it is, i think.

understandable understandable lol. i think my pref for genshin does stem from me having played it for longest by far + it being the game that got me into gaming, which both ends in an obvious bias. but hsr has been v fun so far as well! honkai impact fight mechanics are more similar to genshin than to hsr, but the controls for the whole game don’t involve the mouse, only the a, s, d, w, i, j, k, and l keys (if i remember the keys correctly- the point is you only need a keyboard to play) lol. makes it easier to play it in class.....

okay tbh i did repeat/got pushed back more than once 😭 most people here probably are finished with a five years degree at 24/25 too, but a bunch each year will be one/two years older bc they had to repeat. and i’m gonna be one of those lol. but yeah, i’m glad i’ve still got time to decide on what to study bc there’s too many things i’d like to do... omg i used to have a classmate who’s a kpop fan, and she pretty much made her locker at school into a kpop shrine plastered with photos and filled with merch lol. she also was the one to introduce me to kpop funnily enough.

true. i’ll figure out how to make it make no sound before wearing it in public, then i’ll be fine. bc i do think the earring looks funky even when silent hehe.

i have a (bad?) habit of thinking i can do anything i want to, so... wig styling can’t be that hard, now can it..... and there’s a first time to everything anyway.

no birthday twin for me, you’re still the closest. if i ever do find one, i’ll make sure to tell you dw lol.

no, i haven’t been to a tailor yet, but i might try that once! i just hope it wouldn’t be too expensive afhjfdj

[fabulaee]

I don’t know if I’ll ever post about it on my side bc it takes a while for me to eloquently put thoughts into words especially for a nuanced subject as this (so my rough thoughts on it under the cut just in case it gets long and ramble-y)

I do think it’s a shame that the creator behind the series has very malicious intent making it and knowing this now it’s best not to support it. I haven’t watched nor heard about it (despite the anime adaptation’s popularity) bec said genre is not my cup of tea

I can only talk about wz, since I follow him a lot more closely than the other three but based on what I’ve seen and came to a conclusion with, I don’t think he should be crucified for mentioning it. We can speculate whether or not he finished it but basing my thoughts on the available evidence (weverse live) and translations bc I think the use of words are important to this I don’t really see it as anything other than him stating that he watched a popular anime available on streaming

I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Sometimes you just watch a series casually without delving deeper into it like looking into the author’s psyche. Assuming that what he watched was a heavily censored version too and the opinions I heard of season 1, I think personally maybe it was just entertainment in a sense that it’s a show to pass the time.

Also I think the anime adaptation has to be censored and reworked for it to pass broadcast standards.

tbh I don’t think we’ll personally know what he thinks of it unless he brings it up again or gives a review but atm he hasn’t spoken about it in depth outside of that mere mention of an anime he started but didn’t finish/continue due to schedule and for me I don’t think it’s a huge crime. I would be more doubtful if he spoken about it more but also as someone who also consumes media that dabbles into darker content (i.e. silent hill, fear and hunger) sometimes you just find certain aspects like the lore or characterization intriguing but it doesn’t mean it reflects your morals irl. Like tbh the closest I can relate this to is Funger bc of how controversial that game is with the themes but I enjoy the story (and the game mechanics); unravelling the mystery of the environment and stories/motives behind the characters but does that mean I support the horrors being done to them irl? No.

Ngl I feel like I’m getting a bit more ramble-y and the thoughts aren’t as connected bc my opinion can change depending on what new info comes out (though I doubt the idols involved would say smth new). I just think it’s a complex subject blown up bc of a few words on pannchoa and with how sensitive the themes associated with the anime (and the creator being a weirdo) it’s bound to get an explosive reaction 😭 I just hope that a little more thought and discussion can be made bc of this controversy and not an immediate “you must be a bad person bc you watched xyz” kind of deal

Those media literacy classes preparing me for the lack of braincells I’ve read in the past 10 something hours

[depressedstressedlemonzest]

Hi! I’m sending this to a few of my favourite blogs bc i thought up a little game that i think could be a lot of fun! So how the game works: i found a bunch of the cast bts photos but lets say theyre all in canon. Make up a little story that would lead to why the photo got taken. Who took it, what was the event, etc etc…. you can make it as simple or elaborate as you want it to!

have fun! xoxo elle 🐱❤️

Picture prompts from @suchagallabitch ! I feel special that you like I’m in the running of favorite blogs  🥺 🥺

I love this.

Okay...

First picture of Svet, Tommy, and Kermit.

"So what she's going to be marrying some old fucker and leaving?" Tommy asked looking from Vee to Svetlana.

"Yep." Vee answered with a sad smile, as much of a pain in the ass Svet had been taking the bar from under her and Kev's noses, she still loved her.

"Well, if she's marrying some old guy, why not one of us?" Kermit asked gesturing between himself and Tommy.

"Rich old fuck." Svetlana clarified from the other end of the bar.

"Oh." Kermit said, he had gotten used to Svetlana being around, she could be nice when she wasn't being harsh and making them pay their tabs.

"Rich in what exactly? Because if it's experience we could marry you for that. Kermit knows about stocks and computers and IRS fraud, and I know about construction and auto mechanics." Tommy huffed as he took a sip of beer.

"You can just say you two shitheads will miss me." Svetlana pointed out with a smirk.

"Maybe after a couple more beers." Tommy muttered taking another sip of beer.

"Just admit to me that you and Kermy will miss me Tommy." Svet said sweetly resting her elbows on the bar counter and holding her chin in her hands.

Tommy gulped, "Fine, we'll miss you Svet," he paused looking at Kermit.

"Yeah we'll miss you, we're happy for you, but we'll miss you." Kermit added.

"And I'll miss you both also, but new husband has enough money to leave me when he croaks that me and Yevgeny won't have to worry about anything the rest of our lives, possibly be able to smuggle sisters over from Russia too." Svet said with a somewhat sad voice.

"Well, you'll have to come back and visit, I'm sure we won't be going anywhere." Kermit pointed out.

Svet grinned, "Here Veronica, will you take a picture of us?" She asked passing Vee as she walked around the bar to stand with Kermit and Tommy.

Svetlana snaked her long thin arms around the pair of men she grew to love as friends, wondering if a parting picture would be enough to remember them by.

Second picture Debs with baby doll

"This is so stupid, why do I have to carry around a fake baby for class when I have a real baby at home?" Debbie asked Lip as he drove her from school to Sheila's to pick up Franny.

"Lesson taught too late I guess. I thought you told me you were going to do the GED and test out?" He asked distractedly as he turned off the main road.

"I'm going to, but they said I have to wait until next week to do it officially." Debbie grumbled as she looked at the crummy used baby doll. It didn't even have proper clothes, and it's hair had previously had gum stuck in it which made it constantly stick up.

"So what's the point of doing this?" Lip asked furrowing his brows.

"Just keep me busy I guess, as if one crying infant wasn't bad enough." Debbie sighed wearily.

Lip looked at Debbie for a moment and felt a pang of guilt towards his younger sister. He hadn't been around as much lately what with going to college, and he felt like she could use a laugh or two.

He parked in front of Sheila's and held his hand out, "Gimme the doll." He said.

Debbie raised an eyebrow but handed the doll to her brother.

Lip grabbed the cigarette from behind his ear and slipped it into the baby's mouth, it would open enough for a fake bottle so it had no trouble fitting a cigarette into it.

Debbie started laughing which made Lip smile. For a moment they were young and carefree again like they had been only a few years before.

"Here give her to me I have an idea." Debbie grinned reaching for the doll.

Lip handed it back to her.

"take my picture." Debbie said eagerly.

Lip took out his phone and aimed it at Debbie as she held the doll, making sure the cigarette stayed in it's mouth, and flipped off the camera with a scowl.

"That's one to send to Ms. Bertram." Lip laughed and grabbed an empty beer bottle out of the back, "here take one with this too."

He said handing it to Debbie.

She laughed and acted like she was drinking out of the bottle while flipping off the camera and Lip snapped pictures, glad to see that his sister was having fun for once.

Picture three with Fiona!

"Oh Birthdaaaay Girl! Where aaaaaare yooou?"

Fiona could hear Vee's singsongy voice as she looked through the house for her. Really she was too old for sardines, but the younger kids wanted to play and she figured why the fuck not? She had had enough alcohol to make it sound like a good idea to crawl under the desk in the basement with heels on. None of the kids would look for her there. They were too scared of the basement.

Vee on the other hand...

"Ha, knew you'd be down here, say cheese!" Vee said snapping a picture of Fiona.

"Shhh, the kids will hear you." Fiona said grabbing at Vee to bring her down under the desk with her.

Vee laughed as she scrambled to the floor crawling under the desk with Fiona, wrapping her arms around her best friend.

"You having a good birthday?" She murmured playing with the plastic crown on Fiona's head.

"One of the best, Frank and Monica aren't here, Lip isn't trying my patience, Kev made a cake... It's been a great day." Fiona said leaning her head on Vee's shoulder.

"Good you deserve to have fun sometimes too you know." Vee reminded her with a nudge.

Fiona smiled and wrapped her arms around Vee, "How did I get so lucky to have you for my best friend?" She asked softly.

"You needed a lab partner and all the other bitches in seventh grade chemistry didn't like you because you had been mackin on their pimply little boyfriends." Vee answered with a laugh.

"Well whatever it was, I'm glad for it. I wouldn't be able to make it in this world without you Vee." Fiona said with a sniffle.

"Don't you dare cry, because then I'll cry. This is a birthday party it's cause for celebration not tears!" Vee scolded.

Fiona laughed and she hugged Vee tighter, they were playing sardines after all. Now they just needed to wait for the rest of the little kids to cram under the desk with them.

Picture #4 which is one of my FAVORITE BTS pictures.

"Uncle Mickey!" Franny cried running to Mickey as she and Debbie made their way around the Alibi, Debbie hunting for another drink.

"Little Red! C'mere kiddo!" Mickey shouted gleefully, giving Ian an elbow in the side as he opened his arms wide for Franny to jump in.

Debbie couldn't help but smile, thinking of Mickey from long ago, angry, dirty, foul mouthed, always beating up Lip or Ian, and now, married to Ian, just a little grumpy, still foul mouthed, and one of Franny's favorite people.

Mickey swung Franny around in circles until she squealed to be put down.

"Uncle Mickey look at my new scary face!" Franny shreiked.

"Show me what you got kid." Mickey grinned.

Franny growled and held her arms like a gorilla fists clenched at her sides,

"Wow that's pretty scary Fran." Ian chimed in from Mickey's side.

"You try it Uncle Mickey." Franny nudged Mickey with her hip.

Mickey smirked as he held his hands at his sides lamely.

"Grr." He said, sounding not the least bit intimidating.

"No Uncle Mickey, like this, GRRRR!" Franny growled loud and held her hands into fists, flexing her arms like a weight lifter.

"Grr!" Mickey grunted slightly louder his hands now in fists, but not flexed.

"Uncle Mickey like THIS!" Franny cried, "GRRRRRR!!!" She yowled demonstrating again.

Mickey followed her suit and growled right back at her.

Debbie snapped a picture on her phone as the pair growled at each other and flexed their arms until Franny exploded in giggles and wrapped her arms around Mickey's legs.

Debbie grinned, she was happy that Ian married Mickey, that they had each other and that Franny had them in her life.

Ian caught her looking at them smiling and he raised an eyebrow at her curiously.

She shook her head then raised her beer in a cheers motion.

Ian grinned back and turned his attention to Mickey and Franny who were now attempting to polka dance with the other dancers there that night.

[mewberii]

Streamer!Scaramouche AU

i feel like he’d be one of the biggest streamers on his platform- probably one of those that everyone has heard of even if they’re not into watching livestreams and all

but between those who do know who he is, they either love him or hate him. no in-between

it’s kind of understandable because his attitude is not suited/can be handled by anyone

he’s brutally honest even when his opinion may be seen as rude (to him he’s just saying the truth so he doesn’t mind if people get offended)

of course he doesn’t try to be rude on purpose but i mean it as in he’ll say what he thinks

imagine he’s playing a game and he doesn’t like a certain mechanic, or he isn’t enjoying the story;

he won’t say the game is bad but he’ll openly say he doesn’t like it/it’s not for him. it makes him seem strict but tbh he’s not that hard to please and even when he complains about one or two things he still enjoys the game

he usually gives every game a chance even when from what he’s seen it doesn’t sound like a game he’ll like. if he turns out to be right he just won’t play it again and if he’s wrong he’s a little too prideful to admit he spoke a little too fast but in the end he will admit the game is good or he’s having fun

probably the kind that just knows so much about all games and all the creators and all the game-making engines and is up to date with every single news of everything video-game + streaming-related,,, how does he do it, i don’t know,,,,

and also since he’s so popular he probably gets packages from game developers with limited edition stuff or merch from different games soooo often

and he placed the ones from his favorite games in his setup room and it looks INCREDIBLE he has so much stuff

he did a room tour stream once talking about all he has, where he got everything, from his monitor to every complement of his computer and like,,,,, the cost of his setup,,,,,,, some people already know they’ll never be able to afford that in their entire life

and he already had a great setup before he even became big as a streamer so people can already guess he’s fairly rich 

also i feel like he would have started his career as a streamer without using a facecam and even like that, he already managed to get very popular because of his professional commentary of game dynamics/playability + you can tell that he’s passionate about this and also he’s very funny without even trying??

he says some stuff so casually that he doesn’t realise how funny it is

probs showed his face after he hit a very important milestone

he never considered showing his face that important but he understood why people would want to see his reactions when playing games (even tho he warned them he’s not the most expressive/dramatique person in the world and they know by now) and would want to put a face to the person who entertains them so much with his streams

and when he does show his face people go absolutely cRAZY BECAUSE he is crazy good looking (if you don’t think he’s good looking i’m sorry for your eyesight. jk i’m sorry in general i just really love him)

some people who didn’t watch his streams will even check them out because of that but literally if you come for the visuals only you won’t stay for long because as i said not anyone can handle his personality

if he sees people being superficial about him too much instead of paying attention to what’s happening in the stream, he will immediately turn the subs mode on in the chat (if he didn’t have it on already)

being rude, being disrespectful/saying discriminating stuff or anything of that sort won’t be tolerated and anyone who does it will be banned instantly

without even interrupting what he was saying before he saw the comment, he’ll just type the ban to whoever said that and go on

and his mods do the exact same. they are just as strict as him

if it ever got too much of course he wouldn’t be afraid to speak up about it and tell his chat to stop that behaviour or else, as they should already know, he won’t be afraid of banning them even if they’ve been subscribed for months or years

ANYWAYS

why do i feel like he has a super organised chat— as in instead of spamming 5 emotes per comment they all send just one and it looks so tidy and perfect

literally other streamers would be jealous of how not-messy his chat is even when he has thousands and thousands and thousands of viewers all the time

also i have this idea that maybe any of his fans would have designed him as a genshin character (which would be the design of the scaramouche we know (?))

and the little pop-ups (i don’t know the name in english rIP) thingies that show up to notify when someone subscribed or donated would be lil chibi art of that design

it’d be really cool

and since i also doodled what a stream of his could look like (i’ll show it in the future when i’m done!!) i thought that way it’d be more recognisable that the streamer is scaramouche

99% of the people who have seen him irl found him too intimidating to go ask him for a picture or tell him anything

he’s not a huge fan of taking pictures anyway + is more on the introverted/reserved side but he wouldn’t mind if someone went up to him (if he’s not busy with something) to tell him something or say they enjoy his streams

i feel like in a couple occasions he would have played a game with some subscribers and he’d like to tease them speaking with his usual tone and face (in case they’re watching the stream as they talk) so they think he’s serious

“did you watch my 12 hour stream the other day?”  -scaramouche

“ah,,,, i-” -the sub

“think well of what you’re going to answer.” -scaramouche

“i-i couldn’t watch the whole thing,,,” -the sub

“ah, is that so…?” -scaramouche 

he’ll pretend to sound disappointed but at one point he just can’t help but smirk and hold in a chuckle before telling them he’s not serious

(he literally doesn’t know how the hell he survived that stream himself because he isn’t one to stream for that long)

i feel like deep inside people who know him would know he wouldn’t say such things seriously/wouldn’t be disappointed in anyone for not watching every single minute of his streams or not even all his streams

but he says all that so seriously that it’s,,, intimidating and they’re lowkey like “god but what if he’s not joking-”

he’d play games with the other streamers sometimes but i feel like most of the type he’d play more single-player games

it’d be so funny if he plays among us with others and for example one of those others it’s childe

both of them would always be suspecting of the other first/bickering, especially scaramouche

and if one game turns out they’re both the impostors… people would know right away

like, if any of them tried to defend the other, everyone else would be like “!?! what is this? scaramouche and childe defending each other? scary”

they’d vote one of them (maybe scaramouche) out because they started guessing + saying proof of how both of them could be the impostors (but the biggest proof is them not coming for each other’s throats sNKJFNGKJS)

scaramouche would have to resist the urge to S C R E A M

needless to say he doesn’t like when he has to be impostor with childe

and unfortunately for him, fate makes it happen considerably often

i feel like at least one time scaramouche would kill next to childe and then report it and literally blame childe

and childe would be like ?!?!?!?!?? WHAT- NO- (struggles bc his brain instinct is to say ‘it was you!’ but they’re both the impostors??? how-)

and then they’d eject childe,,, and then people wouldn’t suspect of scaramouche for most of the game because ? why would he- blame his partner---

well he did it with no regrets and at the end when they all found out they found it very funny (except for childe, but even he ended up laughing in the end because what a mean strategy sjkfhdsgkj)

i have this feeling that even though they bicker so much and for any strangers it’d seem like they hate each other, when scaramouche does play online games, many times it’d be with childe?

ik they aren’t supposed to get along but for the sake of it being a modern au i don’t want bad vibes between any of the characters pls-

and everyone enjoys their dynamic and those streams always get a ton of viewers sjfhdsgkj and i’m sure both their chats would be good friends (most likely one’s fans would also be a fan of the other too)

very very very rarely (because he prefers just playing and talking while playing) he’d do streams where he doesn’t play anything but just talks with the chat, watches videos that they send him, looks at the fanart they make, just talks about games,,,,

it’d be super chill and the perfect streams for people to be doing homework/work/play games/draw or do basically anything while they listen to his stream in the background

he’d also be answering some of people’s questions about him or about his favorite games, or if he’s playing this new game that came out earlier this week,,,

“will you play ‘it takes two’ with childe?” -someone in the chat

“absolutely not. i won’t play a co-op game with him”

not even 5 days later, tweet from childe saying “streaming in 30 minutes! Scaramouche and I will be playing It Takes Two on my ch---”

anyways this will be all!! (for now?) i obviously knew genshin before this but, yesterday i could finally start playing it myself! so i feel like if not now, soon i will also write headcanons of him playing genshin! i don’t take requests but if you guys have any ideas or anything you want to say about this AU, send me an ask!! i’d love to talk about this and about genshin in general!

also, i was very inspired to write this by @baeshijima​ ! so thank you very much to her for her wonderful streamer AUs and if anyone reading this hasn’t read hers already, go check them out!! they’re amazing!!

[theres-an-impulstor-among-us]

Deviating from game mechanics a bit for the sake of pain/drama, but hopefully that's a worthy enough cause... How about, an Impostor stabs Tango and leaves him for dead, but due to some glitch or stroke of (luck? bad luck?), Tango doesn't die right away. Through the pain and the confusion of absorbing what just happened, he manages to survive just long enough to tell somebody who the killer is...or not quite long enough to get the words out. You decide. :)

i genuinely think you read my mind LMAO bc i was writing something very similar to this but with different people involved, so thank you bc now i get to explore a different idea with those people :D /gen

...

It’s near the end of the round and there’s a lot of crewmates left. One imposter has already been ejected, so Tango feels more comfortable going into navigation by himself than usual. He usually tries to get a buddy to come with him to either electrical or navigation, or the “kill-spots” as he calls them. But this time, he doesn’t feel as nervous as usual. His chance of getting killed here has halved after the last meeting.

As he finishes his download and heads over to the console to do the stabilise steering task. Footsteps catch his ears and he glances over to find someone he believes to be a friend entering the room.

“Oh hey, Impulse. Can you-.”

But he never finishes his sentence.

Impulse’s dagger strikes Tango in the stomach, causing him to choke in shock and pain. He drops to his knees, his hands automatically flying to cover the wound. His stomach is wet and sticky under his touch.

He closes his eyes, letting himself flop against the wall. The pain is immense and he just wants it to stop.

But it doesn’t.

Seconds tick by.

A minute.

Three minutes.

He’s still here.

Why hasn’t he died yet? This has never happened before.

After what feels like years, he forces his eyes open and slowly pushes himself upwards. If he’s not going to die and nobody’s coming to help him, then all he can do is go find help for himself.

Keeping his left hand pressed against his wound, Tango uses the wall to drag himself to the door, leaving smudged bloodstains in his wake.

The journey from navigation towards cafeteria is long and arduous, not least because Tango’s addled brain has to concentrate on so many things: putting one foot in front of the other, remembering to breathe, keeping his hand clamped tightly around his leaking wound, making sure he’s watching where he’s going.

He makes it into the corridor just between weapons and cafeteria before his strength fails and he collapses against the wall. As he glances back the way he came, he can see a long trail of blood from navigation. Maybe that will alert someone to his presence.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, he hears pounding footsteps and a familiar voice calling his name.

Through his flickering vision, he sees Evil kneel down beside him, staring in horror at the blood covering Tango’s clothes and abdomen.

He tries to speak, but he can’t quite manage any words.

“Tango, stay with me!” Evil says urgently. “Stay with me!”

Tango knows he can’t stay awake much longer, so he pours all his remaining energy into opening his mouth and trying to croak out the name of his killer.

Evil turns his head to the side and yells, “I NEED HELP HERE! SOMEONE HELP!”

Within seconds, Brody appears from around the corner and dashes to Evil’s side. “Oh my god, what happened?!”

“I don’t know, I-I just found him like this. There’s a trail of blood from navigation, so I-I think he’s been like this for a while.”

“How is this possible? When someone gets stabbed or shot, they die within seconds. How has this happened?”

“I don’t know, but-.”

Tango coughs. “Im…”

“He’s trying to say something.” Brody grips Tango’s shoulder. “Save your strength, Tango. We’re gonna get you through this.”

But Tango knows that’s not true. So he reaches out for Evil’s hand and grasps it weakly, trying to convey the importance of his message. “Im… Impu…” he manages to choke out.

The effort drains Tango’s remaining strength. His head tilting slightly to the side, he lets out a final shallow breath and his hand drops to the floor.

“Oh God…” Evil murmurs, staring in shock at the blood on his hand.

“Are you okay?” Brody asks quietly.

Evil takes a deep breath. “I’ll be fine for now. But you heard that too, right? He was trying to say Impulse’s name.”

“He was. Impulse must be the imposter.”

“But are we allowed to use this knowledge?”

Brody glances at him. “What do you mean?”

“I mean this has never happened before,” Evil explains. “Like you said, people normally die within seconds. Nobody’s ever been able to survive long enough to tell us who the killer is. So are we allowed to use Tango’s dying words as evidence against Impulse?”

Brody thinks about this for a moment, before checking his tablet. “It looks like we’ve only got one or two tasks left, so…”

As if on cue, the taskbar fills up and the game finishes.

When he reappears back in the lobby, Tango stays in his seat, lifting up his shirt just to check that his wound is gone, just like he always does when he dies during a round. He feels perfectly normal, apart from the beginnings of a headache at the very back of his head.

His stomach is clear and unblemished.

Dropping his shirt, he hops up from his seat and is immediately grabbed in a hug from either side by Evil and Brody.

“Tango, are you okay, buddy?” Brody asks.

Tango nods. “Yeah, all good. Why?”

Brody and Evil exchange a frown. “What do you mean?” the latter says slowly. “We saw you bleed to death in front of us.”

“Wait, really?” Tango also frowns. “I don’t remember that. Impulse stabbed me, and that’s the last thing I remember. Pretty normal.”

As Evil opens his mouth again, Brody quickly says, “Okay, good, give us a second please, thanks.”

He draws Evil away to the other side of the lobby and lowers his voice. “Okay, this is weird. Tango doesn’t remember anything unusual happening. If it was some kind of glitch that caused Tango to not die straight away, then it also must’ve erased his memory of it.”

“Then why do we remember?” Evil responds.

“I don’t know, but this is kinda worrying. Keep an eye out for anything like this happening again in future, okay? Even if you’re the imposter, just come to me if you can and let me know. I’ll do the same even if I’m imposter.”

Evil nods. “Will do. Hopefully it won’t happen again, though.”

Brody glances back at Tango, who’s now chatting happily with Impulse. The memory of Tango bleeding out on the floor right in front of him is fresh in his mind. This may be a game about death but that was new. That was deeply unsettling. And even though Tango doesn’t seem to remember the incident, Brody would rather not have him or anyone else go through that again.

“Yeah. Hopefully.”

[musicallisto]

Ψ — 𝐜𝐨́𝐦𝐨 𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐚 𝐯𝐨𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐫; (leo valdez x reader)

@fives-cup-of-coffee​ requested: Hi can I please get Leo Valdez (Hoo) + number 142? Tysm,bb ! Love your blog💗💗 song: morat - cómo te atreves | 𝄞

summary: In which Leo Valdez was having a good day. That is, of course, until you showed up.

word count: 1.9k author notes: at first I wanted to make it light-hearted & comical as the song would suggest and then it progressively got more serious and angstier and then I just have no idea where it went lol I hate it here. I hope you like this! + stan Morat they’re amazing warnings: there’s like one bad word in Spanish and I hope it’s not too Spaniard bc I looked everywhere for a Mexican equivalent of “cagüendios” asdjdj Mexicans please correct me

𝐋𝐄𝐎 𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐃𝐄𝐙 𝐖𝐎𝐔𝐋𝐃 have had the boldness of saying he was having a good day. No bloodthirsty monster nor megalomaniac Titan had decided to take over the world or rip him to pieces; he hadn’t had to dodge a meteor or plunge into the heart of a volcano; and to top it all off, he had not heard Percy sing once.

No, really, despite the cold, biting wind that froze the February morning, Leo Valdez was having a good day.

That is, of course, until you showed up.

Maybe it was his wind-swept curls blocking his eyes, maybe it was the whirring of Festus’ mechanical breathing under his fingertips, maybe it was the total peace of mind that inhabited him as he whistled to himself, but he had been impervious to his surroundings, surrendered to the memory of his aerial stroll with Calypso earlier in the morning, completely devoted to patching the dragon’s attrition up, so much so that he hadn’t heard you approaching at all. In his defense, he wasn’t expecting your visit after this many years, especially not on a cold morning in the woods of Long Island.

“Leo?”

“Woah, buddy, your clicks are starting to sound more and more like a real human voice. I might have to celebrate your first word soon.”

“Leo Valdez, behind you.”

He whirled around, and stupidly enough, the first thought that went through his mind was disappointment—so Festus wasn’t learning human communication after all, despite his best efforts. But when Leo pushed the hair out of his face and devised for the first time in four years your slightly embarrassed figure, hands buried in your pockets and abashed smile on your face, he couldn’t stop his jaw and heart from dropping.

So the suspect, gravelly grunt he had heard just before was not Festus protesting—duly noted. It was you, impatiently—and rather awkwardly—scratching your throat to catch his attention... You! After four years!

“Y/N?” he called out, and the way your name rolled off his tongue, with incredulity yet ease, was enough to remind you of how familiar his voice had once been.

“In the flesh. Ta-da,” you tentatively exclaimed, unsure about whether you should step toward him.

Leo seemed just as lost and confused as you were, eyeing you without truly processing it. No one, nothing had ever prepared him to face the return of someone he’d loved so dearly after losing them for so long. No prophecy had foretold any of this, no mischievous god had ever sent a cryptic message in a dream or smoke patterns. One day he had more or less started to accept the unshakeable hole you had dug in his heart when you left, and that he had tried to fill up as well as he could with new memories and songs and adventures — and the next you were waltzing back into his life as though he hadn’t spent the better part of four years struggling to forget you?

He took a small step forward without realizing it, but his body language read all but cordiality. A bubble of irritation started to form in the pit of his stomach and throat; he had started to fidget with his adjustable spanner.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’ve been looking for you everywhere.”

Behind him, Festus grated, a low and rumbling sound like still water stirring upon the approach of a storm. Leo swore he heard his heartbeats echoed in the loyal beast’s enormous ribcage.

“What do you want from me, Y/N? Haven’t you done enough?”

Oh, you had done more than enough. When you were friends and he had first fallen for you — you had mended his broken heart, stayed by his side as everyone went on to celebrate life and renewal and he was stuck in the downpour that Calypso’s first departure had wreaked. That was more than enough. When you were just a little more than friends and he had started to learn anew, step by step, what it meant to love, and first and foremost let himself be loved — you had been patient and kind, you had walked hand in hand with him on the road to healing, never pushing him to go further than he could. That was more than enough. When you were definitely more than friends, and he had found himself falling deeper in love with you with each passing day — you had loved him all the same, or so you promised, and made his every day an adventure and a safe embrace like no other. That was more than he ever deserved.

When you had left without warning for some foreign place on the other side of the world, leaving him only a note and a handful of colored glass shards, never to give a sign of life in four years...

That was more than enough.

You had dared to take one step forward, palms outstretched as if you were calming a wild animal. A frenzy of conflicting flames bubbled in Leo’s stomach — you were a stranger now to him, and he was once again happy with Calypso. Then why did he get the overwhelming urge to jump into your arms and rediscover the sweetness of your embrace?

“I’m so sorry, Leo, I never wanted to leave, I truly didn’t, but you have to understand —”

“Understand what? That whatever business you had to attend to was more important than me? That I meant so little to you that you just left me a post-it note with a sad smiley face on it and never came back? You didn’t send a word in four years! I bet you didn’t even think about me on February 29th!”

“Actually I left in April, but —”

“Can you imagine how hard it was for me to get over you? To forget you? No, scratch that—I haven’t forgotten you, no matter how hard I try to convince myself. But I was doing just fine, and you have a whole lotta nerve coming back now that I’m finally happy without you! ¡Pues huevos! ¡Al carajo todo esto!”

And he went on and on in a string of all the curses he’d remembered from when his mother argued on the phone, his cheeks reddening progressively, his breath faltering.

You stayed immobile, just an arms’ length apart from him until he had spewed out everything he’d carried for years. His chest trembled, shuddering at all the dust and waste it had swept under the rug, now displayed in full light before him; and you ached for him, underneath your cool composure, you truly did, just as you had ached yourself when you had left. How could you not? Leo had been light and warmth and fire and a comforting smell of smoke and gasoline and coffee-stained fingertips on your cheek and your neck... and most of all, the heart you would least have wanted to break.

“Leo...”

You murmured his name a few more times, until he looked up at you. Oh, that face, red and weepy and distorted by rage and overwhelm! How you hated it in those moments, like a cheap mask over a Roman statue!

“Leo, I’m so sorry. I know it doesn’t excuse anything, but trust me, I would never have done that if it wasn’t absolutely necessary.”

“What was, Y/N? What was more important than me?”

“I... I can’t tell you, Leo. I would if I could, but — “

“Of course! Even after four years, you’re still so full of secrets!”

“Jupiter told me not to say anything. To anyone.”

Leo’s parted lips, already fuming with more witty remarks, closed shut, and his chocolate eyes widened. The god of gods’ name was always enough to temper even the most boisterous of heroes’ fumes of anger, but not Leo’s erratic heart.

“Jupiter?”

“I got a mission from the gods. That’s why I left. To Rome. But they made me swear I didn’t say anything... not even an excuse.”

Leo swallowed, with difficulty, as if the information was a toxic flame permeating his throat. Before he could even register it, you continued, breathing deeply to steady your breathing:

“I owe you more than an apology... an explanation, at least. If you want to hear it... meet me in the woods at the gate of Camp Half-Blood at sundown. I’d understand if you didn’t come, but... just know that I’ll be waiting for you.”

For a split second, you were traversed by the thought, almost automatic, of leaning over to kiss Leo’s cheek, just like you had done it thousands of times to wish him goodbye; but you cut your impulses fast enough, only staring at his eyes for a few long minutes of dumbfounded silence before you turned on your heels and left.

In a single blink, the wind had caught your silhouette and carried it into the shadows of the trees.

And Leo stood there, colder than he would have admitted, motionless and partly oblivious to Festus’ impatient whirring over his shoulder. His chest rose and fell rapidly, quicker than the leaves rustling in the breeze; it had dried in his eyes too much for any tears to well up, despite the painful pang spreading in his chest. Had it not been for the weight in his ribcage, he could’ve believed you were but a ghost in the forest...

When you had left him without a word nor even a glimpse of a smile, Jason had admonished him to be brave and stronger than whatever misery you had inflicted; to not let any of your little games gnaw at his head and drive him wild. It was how Jason had always dealt with heartbreak and hardship because he was built of cold marble and electric stone; but despite Leo’s best efforts to follow his advice, he was Hephaestus’s son. Neither of them was exactly known for their fine handling of matters of the heart...

He had believed his inalterable strength would come back to him with Calypso. It was an endless ebb and flow between the two of you, each consoling him after the other left and tore a little piece of his heart. She had promised she’d be better — better than you, or than herself the first time around, he didn’t know, but he had believed her all the same.

But maybe what Leo had mistakenly taken for strength when he laughed himself to death with Calypso and captured her entirely with his lips, might have been solely absence. He had always had a knack for following in your steps... just like you had slipped from his embrace without a word, he had disappeared from himself imperceptibly.

Maybe he loved Calypso, truly and sincerely... but not in the way that allowed him to find himself.

Well, to hell with courage, with Jason’s heroic virtue and rectitude. Leo was realizing just then that the reason he clung so desperately to your memory was that he wasn’t ready to let it go just yet, and if it made him a coward, he accepted the fate with open arms.

“Come on, buddy,” Leo exhaled, a little shaky still. “Let’s get you patched up before sundown.”

Maybe it was a good day after all.

Or just a less-than-awful one at the very least.

tagging; @fives-cup-of-coffee​​ @softeninglooks​​ (all my writing) / @lxncelot​​ (Riordanverse)

[snaxpo]

fuck it bugsnax/s4m au notes

alternate title: i’m at that point in liking something where i have to combine it with everything else i’ve liked previously and today i’m making that everyone else’s problem. 

- base premise is a lil different! instead of being a journalist who was invited personally to the island by the expedition leader, you (or FK if you consider them a separate character from the player) are tasked with investigating the habitat, a budding commune on snaktooth island that may or may not be devolving into a cult. there’s just one teeny tiny problem - the commune’s leader and also your main suspect, boris habit, has been missing for weeks by the time you arrive. 

- now it’s a matter of gaining the inhabitants’ trust/getting them to come back to the habitat while hunting and subduing the bugsnax, who seem increasingly eager to launch themselves at inhabitants at quite literally dangerous speeds, in a battle of wits to keep your newfound companions fed while documenting the strange creatures. and of course, the question of just what happened to boris habit still lingers in the air. think like... talentless nana where the protag pretends to be all cute and unassuming (complete with flower motifs!) but really they’re there on Super Secret Spy Business. but of course there’s less murder. 

- oddly the bugsnax seem to have only become more aggressive after his disappearance. i’m sure it’s nothing. 

- yes everyone is still a grumpus

- there isn’t really an interview “mechanic” so much as it is a Lot of cozying up to everybody in pursuit of whatever information you can find on habit/potential group rituals/events that led to his disappearance; you get it by bits and pieces rather than a single structured interview. there is of course a lot more interactions between characters than there is in s4m’s base game bc thats like 60% of the appeal of bugsnax and i would be a fool not to think of it.

- time for ideas for specific characters! kamal is the vice-mayor of the habitat and has been habit’s right-hand grump for as long as any of the inhabitants can remember, despite their relationship becoming increasingly strained ever since their arrival on the island, and especially before habit’s disappearance. i imagine you still find him passed out but instead of collapsing from starvation he’s like "please.... toothpaste... a breath mint.... some pepto bismol. i’ve been able to taste my own breath for weeks." has been trying to divide his time between looking after the habitat and looking for habit himself (and also his best friend wallus) but the dispersal of the habitat has left him a tad Demoralized, to say the least.

- i feel like trencil would play a wambus-adjacent role in the sense that he's the one taking care of the sauce plants and also one of the first townspeople you meet. you convince to come back with you not necessarily bc he'd be able to continue farming in town but bc he would probably have an easier time looking for his daughter if he got some sleep first (but only if you look for her in his stead)

- gillis is like. a wannabe chandlo. makes you capture a bunch of snax that he Says he's gonna use to get stronger but eventually you find out he's been releasing them or keeping them in like lil makeshift pet houses bc he always takes one look at their big googly eyes and turns to mush. but EVERYONE'S eating them so naturally if they find out he's not they're gonna think he's some kinda wuss so he just pretends. 

- dallas keeps asking for sweet n colorful bugsnax to give to mirphy to impress her (sweetieflies, instabugs, etc etc.) but by some streak of bad luck they always end up being her least favorite. he tries to see if Maybe he can use them to make some new bugsnak-exclusive pigments, but like in canon they always end up turning into mush before he can get very far. mirphy meanwhile is far more interested in preserving them for a potential display, but similar to dallas, she never gets very far.

- i imagine the kid habiticians are like. a roving band of semi-feral children bc if anyone's gonna keep them in town it's definitely not kamal.

- i wanna do something with wallus SO BAD like you find him somewhere up in frosted peak but i have no idea what he would even DO its fucking killing me

- those are all the ideas i have For Now; s4m has more characters than bugsnax so there’s a lot to be done w/ them lmao. if i think of any more i’ll probably put it in another post or if anybody wants to spitball with me.......  👀

- and now we get to The Big Guns: habit.

- he was fun to work on w/ this au mostly bc despite being the rough equivalent of lizbert he’s a way different type of flawed leader than her; where liz is responsible to the point of martyring herself without a second thought and not thinking to delegate any tasks to the other snaxburg residents, which is what ultimately causes them to fall apart once she disappears, habit's deal is that he wants the position and appearance of an authority figure because it'll keep him safe, but he kind of sucks at taking responsibility for anything he does wrong because he’s spent most of his life acting according to what other people (namely his family) expect of him and being met with a negative reception no matter what, so he doesn’t really believe he has power over anything, including his own actions, despite being such a control freak for most of his own game. so his arc would need something that’s kind of antithetical to what liz had, wouldn’t it?

- so what i got so far is that au habit was tryin to covertly start a bugsnax cult bc he sees being asborbed by the snax as a sort of ascension and was eventually planning to have everyone be absorbed; it’s important to note however that bc information on bugsnax is so obscure he doesn’t actually 100% know how absorption works so tl;dr: habit became the bugsnax monarch willingly and then 5 seconds later he was like "oh no wait this fucking sucks. what have i done. shit. fuck."

- unable to cope with the realization that he was once again forced to act in accordance to someone (or in this case something) else's desires, he shuts down emotionally, becoming an empty husk of a grumpus while the bugsnax above run rampant thanks to the extra fuel and absolutely no restrictions until the Big Climax when habit is finally moved to take back control of the snax and by proxy Take Some Fucking Responsibility for knowingly luring people to cthulhu island. however this does leave the obvious question of if he was such an empty shell for most of the game why didn’t they just. eat him.

- the answer i eventually landed on was that his self-preservation instincts were still kicking on a subconscious level and during the aforementioned climax he eventually realizes that he does not in fact want to die, he just doesn’t want to keep living the way he is now (as part of an ancient hivemind beyond his understanding) or the way he was before (you know.)

- also fun fact: i was thinking about what his monarch body would be based off of bc the snakdragon, while cool as shit, didn’t feel right for him, and then i remembered that blooming onions exist. i imagine he’s in the middle acting as the flower’s “stigma”

- as for endings i’m thinking like. in the neutral ending kamal joins habit but its left ambiguous whether or not they'll ever be able to leave the island or if this is even a permanent solution (call that the paw in unloveable paw ending). in the good ending you bust habit outta his queen body after fending off enough bugsnax together and it’s super gross bc the undersnax as a whole is super gross but hey at least everyone’s leaving alive. i don’t know what a bad ending entails except most if not all of the cast is dead and habit is left alone on the island surrounded by reminders of his spectacular failure.

- hell i can even think of a sequel hook for the good ending like in canon bugsnax; some time after the ending/credits you ask habit just Where did he get the information on bugsnax that led to him being like “you could make a religion out of this” and the screen fades to black before you hear his answer. there.

- its almost midnight.

[loregoddess]

as promised, my spoiler-free review of Triangle Strategy bc it’s the new Mina Harker Dracula, in that I’m not gonna shut up about it for several months at least. I will note this is probably, very likely, extremely biased bc this is easily getting a place with my “all time personal favorite games” bc it’s just, very much my type of game.

So, without further ado, the short up top, and the long (explanation) under the cut.

Mechanics: 19/20 Story: 49/50 Visuals and Aesthetics: 20/20 Music and Audio: 9/10 Total: 97/100, A+

Mechanically the game felt a bit clunky at first. The general interface for saving, advancing text, and so on, was all fine, but the battle UI mechanics and exploration camera took me several hours to break in and figure out how to use. I think what was happening was that I was just coming from a replay of Octopath, and I wanted the camera to be a fixed angle, due to the 2.5D graphics. Once I got out of the “this needs to be a fixed camera” mindset, I had an easier time with just, spinning the camera around like I would for any other 3D game’s camera. There were a few other hiccups with the battle UI, but mostly bc I wasn’t used to the interface and it wasn’t similar to past interfaces I’d used for this style of battle, and I adjusted to them eventually to the point where I wasn’t even thinking about how I was navigating the controls.

UI aside, the battle mechanics are actually fantastic, as things like height, weather, and terrain can greatly affect how much damage can be dealt or hos safe a unit was, which added a lot of depth to the strategy of planning battles. All playable characters are unique, with a unique class, weapon, and set of abilities, and this makes for some really interesting variety when deploying units. It’s possible to take on the same map with an entirely different team and have an different strategy that works just as effectively. I know there’s lots of tier lists about “best” characters to use in battle and whatnot, but I’m firmly of the belief there are no bad characters, just characters I haven’t figured out how to use and those I have. I was really impressed by the variety of battles as well, in that every objective was not simply a “kill every enemy on the map”, and the map variety also lent to a lot of creative thinking in how to navigate a battle.

The game also offers what’s probably the best New Game+ I’ve gotten to play with since New Game+ became a thing for some games. It took me a while to figure out some features aren’t accessible until a certain chapter, and some of the features were useless after I’d recruited all the optional side characters, but other features were really nice to have, especially if I wanted to clear the game for every single ending. It’s also theoretically possible to clear every single choice scenario, and every ending, in just four playthroughs as well (assuming I did my calculations correctly), and with each playthrough only taking about 45 hours average, maybe less if you skip parts, that’s really not too bad overall.

I just kinda wish that some of the “flavor text” type features (artworks, character stories, etc.) were available to view again somewhere, but considering how polished the rest of the game mechanics are, I’m not too disappointed.

The story was the heart and soul of this game, the entire experience works because of the narrative and the characters, which is why this category was weighed so heavily in my scoring. And I have to say, the writers delivered phenomenally. The story flow changes depending on the player’s choices and abilities to persuade characters to vote certain ways at critical junctures, making it so that each playthrough you can experience slightly (or completely) different story arcs. And all the choices feel like they have weight and impact on the story, there very rarely feels like there’s a “right” choice or a “best” choice, which feels appropriate for a story with a wartime setting. Events are given a certain gravity, and while there are some lighthearted moments here and there (or in optional story content), it never feels out of place or detracts from the seriousness of the overall narrative, but neither does the narrative ever feel too grimdark or overly dramatically depressing. There’s certainly the fair share of tragedy in the narrative, but ultimately, this is a story about hope, and I really do appreciate how the writers handled all the aspects of the main story.

My only gripes were with a certain character’s motivations at one point in the story (which I mean, they do, in a way, make sense after I got access to some other story content and thought real hard about it for a week, but it doesn’t stop the one event from feeling really out of character for the character in question); and with how...minimal a role all the side characters played. There’s a really interesting cast of side characters, but because they aren’t central to the plot and because of how their character stories were structured, it felt like I was missing out a lot on their potential characterization. As many issues as I have with how the writers of the FE games tend to handle the support conversations (they’re good, but sometimes there’s too many and it’s overwhelming and begins to detract from characterization, rather than lend to it), a system similar to that, with some modifications, might have alleviated the sheer underutilization of the potential for the side characters’ characterizations.

Considering the sheer amount of text in the game though, from main story text, to weird little books you can find and read, to the side characters, I can’t gripe too much about the narrative, because all things considered this was a massive undertaking of storytelling and the execution is damned good.

I could probably write a post on the visuals and aesthetics all unto itself, so I’ll keep this as short as I can, but visually the game is gorgeous. Compared to Octopath, from which Triangle Strategy takes a lot of it’s design cues, the lighting is significantly better, feeling more natural and “invisible” in the sense it blends with the world rather than feeling like there was a spotlight on the center of the camera’s view. The sprites are amazing, especially the attention to detail in the animation, like, I cannot in words express how gorgeous these sprites are. Like! This is a game that uses 2D sprites! Which are not known for their ability to show nuance in character expression, body language, etc. AND YET the team in charge of sprites made it possible for me to be able to tell which direction a character had their head turned, like that’s an insane feat to pull off when you’re working with like 20 pixels. And don’t even get me started on the emotion that the artists were able to work into some of the animations like? When characters hugged it looked like a hug, like it had visual weight and emotion. When characters cried, it really seemed like they were breaking down and crying. When you upgrade a character they get a new outfit, and when you upgrade their weapon, they get a new weapon, which is such a small detail but it’s one of my favorite art tropes even though I know it doesn’t get implemented a lot due to the strain of making the assets. Sure, a few movements and animations were reused, as is to be expected, but overall these are some of the most amazing sprite art and sprite animations I’ve ever seen implemented in a game.

And the game uses a lot of full illustrations for character art on the info screens, and design-wise there’s such a wide array of different characters, and the illustrations are gorgeous. Moreover, they don’t feel like they clash with the sprite aesthetics of the main game. The color palettes fell very thought-out and are implemented well for designs. I was a bit wary of the game going in the “evil dark-skinned people are the antagonists” trope, and while there are several dark-skinned antagonists, there’s also several arguably European-coded antagonists, and a few of the playable characters (sadly a small few) are dark-skinned, so despite the overall cast being very...pale, it’s...a decent step up from what I’m used to seeing in a jrpg.

Supporting visuals are lush and immersive, although I wanna question who thought putting all the optional lore (books, letters, etc.) in a “light text on a dark background” bc that was hell to read, although I think that was a me issue and not an overall design flaw. Overall through, I just, really, really liked the look of this game.

And finally we get to audio and music, which I would have weighed more if I wasn’t working on a 100 point scale and didn’t think the story was that important. The music is fantastic, there’s at least one song with what sounded like organs so I always give kudos when that happens, and there’s an array of orchestral instruments I felt gave the entire soundtrack a beautiful sound. There were also quite a few songs that really stood out to me as memorable and accentuated the scene or battle they were paired with.

The voice acting was overall fairly good, and certain events had so much emotion packed into the voice acting that my breath was taken away. Although there seemed to be some echoing or clipping with some of the spoken lines, often specifically Cordelia’s? Which I’m assuming is just some weird glitch of the coding, or maybe even just a poor recording job, but it’s...weird to have it appear in the final cut of the game. Might get patched later, but it did detract a bit.

Anyhow, overall I feel this is a gem of a game, and I sincerely hope more people give it a try because it’s been a long while since I came across such impactful storytelling and interesting characters, and it feels like a lot of love when into the development of the game. It’s just...a very excellent game.

[dramarising-replacement]

The sequel to: Literally nobody asked for this and I'm doing it anyways This time as an update!

Why wouldn’t you be able to sell it? Some people like making money OP -yes, but that market would be too easy for rich players to exploit, so it's a no. while it could help so that newer players that get a good egg could possibly sell it for even more if the colors are matchy, i cant really think of a way to prevent it from just adding to gen1 only lairs with 1000 gems at all times.

I think this was supposed to be a joke or something. -somewhat! i know it would never happen, as it's complete bullshit that comes out of nowhere, but it was a semi-serious exercise in how to introduce mechanics to pre existing games. but yeah, mainly a joke, cause it's never actually going to happen, and i also dont really want it to.

Breeding eggs… What?- OP, tell me what u took last night -ambien, if i remember right. sure, technically i shouldnt have it, but parents know best amiright?

and yeah take nothing i have done seriously, assume i am either high or out of my mind.

why do people make overly long and elaborate site suggestions on FR drama sites and not, you know, on FR’s actual fucking suggestions forum -bc this is not an actual suggestion, its a fake one meant to have fun and maybe piss people off. i did not make that very clear in my post, sorry about that.

What a long way to say “I hate snobs”. -sounds like me! :)

The absolute irony of crying about G1 people being snobby while trying to make a dragon special by creating a subspecies is chefs kiss delicious. Nothing wrong with subspecies just that OP is talking out they ass. -i meant like. for lore reasons? yall make subspecies for pricing reasons? damn. i might have to change a few forum threads to lore-specific rq

I dont get why people gotta be so rude and downplay people’s disappointment:/ -im funny like that. and also a vindictive dick. but let's stick with funny.

Hey.. uh wasn’t A___ a regular normal user who had that luck cult form around them because they were pretty lucky their first week? They’re not just some ‘fanon luck god’. This should’ve been censored. :/ -shit, my bad. thank you for telling me! (this sounds sarcastic, but seriously, thank you.)

so this anon should support a way to make any dragon a G1 then, I mean I’d respect them if they did -thank you for the inspiration!

what about that egg i got from the coli and hatched myself on my birthday and it was a neat primal -you got a primal on your birthday from rng? congrats, that's really awesome! i wouldnt really say that other people getting primals now cheapens it, having a special day primal myself, but we're different people and all. congratulations on your special hatch!

do you guys have anything better to do lmfao -nope! rip me ig, but then again i'm a teenager w/ no job in a terrifying pandemic and maybe some people i know are dead of plague, which is a rather common experience now, so sometimes you gotta make long posts laughing over dragon games. it's fun and totally not unhealthy!

[incorrect-ikevamp-quotes]

Do you think they would actually enjoy the modern world? Or would they want to stay in their current time period?

Hm, well, I think that may vary depending on each suitor if I’m honest! (I’ll be excluding Sebastian from this one, only because he is a modern man and I wager he would want to stay in the mansion in order to finish his thesis) 

Under a cut bc it’s a long boi:

I think for people like Arthur and Theo, for instance--who always seem to live in the fast lane--it might not really prove much of a problem. They would continue enjoying the night life and move with their busy schedules. Tl;dr: (For them? Same shit, different day)

Vincent would likely be doing just fine given how Theo often provides assistance in places where he struggles; to promote his art, to spark intrigue in the general public and benefactors. He might be a little overwhelmed by the influx of stimuli that comes with the modern era, constant noise and interaction and movement--perhaps worry that people are losing their ability to live in the moment. (Not to mention what’s being done to the environment...) There might be a learning curve/adjustment, but I think Theo would help him ease in. Plus, it would be a little easier to promote his art given the less stringent restrictions on public exhibitions. He’d still have to work for his fame, but at least the van Goghs wouldn’t have to live in constant unease in the proximity of the cutthroat academy.  Tl;dr: (Mixed feelings, but tries to stay positive about modern times)

Dazai is more familiar with this kind of life of quick turmoil and breakneck speed, if anything he falls back into his old coping mechanisms--hello writing, drinking, and smoking. An overwhelming influx of information and suffering would probably be hard for him to manage, despite how expertly he hides it. I think I would be worried he would lose himself in the dismal reality of diminished connection with other people. Yes I’m shoving him into therapy, I want him to start living for himself and taking care of himself ffs

That isn’t to say there aren’t happy possibilities for him, just that I think he really needs to heal first. I could see him very happy in a kind of writer’s circle with people he loves and trusts; less expending his energy in a desperate attempt to fill the void and please others, more cultivating his own happiness... Tl;dr: (Positive potential, but honestly part of me thinks the past quieter/simple/rural life suits him better...he still loves meme culture tho, he finds it so expansive and creative)

Isaac is in a similar boat as Dazai, I think! He has wonderful potential as a mentor and professor, and living in a world that has a little more patience and respect for genius might help encourage him to put himself out there. That being said, I think the pace of life would exhaust him though--he is very much the kind of person that prefers to keep to himself and just puzzle and tinker. Baby boy just wants to do equations, build little inventions, and read up on the recent discoveries in astrophysics (BRUH WHEN THE IMAGE OF THE BLACK HOLE CAME OUT HE FORGOT HOW TO B R E A T H E) Napoleon is the only reason he eats anything healthy or on any kind of regular schedule s m h. Tl;dr: (Not a lot changes, honestly? He was reclusive then, he still is now--he just has more toys/academic resources. If anything he might get a little too lost in his work because of it, somebody please make sure he’s eating/sleeping/socializing;;;)

Poor Jeanne is SUFFERING. Please release him from this nightmare he is begging. Jk jk, I don’t think it would be too bad for him--but I do think that he would have the aforementioned problem of too many stimuli and too much interaction. I think he would ease into it a little with Mozart’s help; he would just be awkward and wooden until he got the hang of it. Most people just find him quirky in an amusing way, and don’t think too hard about it. I’d wager he’d probably become literate at this point because of the abundance of resources and necessity to read/write (okay but imagine this baby with a little kid workbook iM GONNA CRY!!! TAKE ALL MY CRAYONS JEANNE). 

Can you imagine this mofo at a Starbucks??? Tall and stoic, dark and debonair (EVERYONE IS S W O O N I N G), and he just asks in a light tenor “can I have a mocha with eight shots of expresso” with a completely straight face. “Sir, that could kill you” “Don’t worry, I’ve been dead a long time” And he just moves to wait for his order. 11/10 cryptid I could watch an entire show just about his daily adventures

He works with Napoleon a lot given their similar skillsets. They coach kids at high schools that have fencing teams (it’s really REALLY cute bc if they’re on the younger side, Jeanne will very dramatically lose bc he wants to encourage them and the kids are delighted--but the parents are INCHES from laughing so hard they’re in tears). Otherwise, he mostly takes up gigs as a security worker/bodyguard, only really works for the money. He prefers to spend his time in ways that feel meaningful if he can, so don’t be surprised if you see him in foster homes and in social working spaces. He has an uncanny understanding about him, a kind of silence/patience that doesn’t stifle; it makes the kids/teens calm down in milliseconds. They really listen when he does talk, and he sets good and clear boundaries--he knows how to be firm when it’s required. He gives them the structure and placid grounding they’ve never had, and really pays attention to what’s important to them. Brings them little things he notices; brings flowers to the one that likes to draw, brings CDs (he is bad with technology, but they usually only have access to older/outdated stuff anyway) to the one the one that struggles to write with white noise in the house, brings little plushies to the ones that lose theirs. He’s simple but solid, and he finds a lot of meaning in helping kids overcome the similar kind of struggles he faced.  Tl;dr: (Steep learning curve, but he just sees it as all the same really--just more work to be done with the literacy requirement and adjustment to technology. Will be resistant at first, but when he gets accustomed and starts finding people who are important to him, he wouldn’t want to change anything/go back. But will admit there are some days he just wants to go to the most remote place he can access and just live there for a month with no human interaction whatsoever; people are inefficient and insufferable sometimes)

Mozart’s life honestly doesn’t change much? I feel like he would easily be able to keep composing and continue releasing his work as per usual. Given his quick capacity to schmooze and say what people want to hear when he must, he’d be more than able to network his way into success. I think the only thing he might struggle with now and again is inspiration, given the world operates on a very surface level in the modern era sometimes. Profound insight and depth are not quite as cultivated in many ways, and he can struggle to find something that just sparks motivation/novelty in his mind, makes him start composing at breakneck speed. He reads a lot and watches some TV shows/movies when he’s at really low inspiration levels, the kind of guy that sneers at Game of Thrones--but finds things like BBC’s Sherlock more passable (wants intrigue and complexity, doesn’t much enjoy the sensationalized drivel). When Arthur finds out he loves ATLA he about falls off his seat. “It’s a children’s show.” “Yes it is, with a remarkable level of depth and craftsmanship, what are you trying to say?” He begins to find a kind of rhythm in his composing, and Jeanne and Dazai often drop by with so many crazy stories he finds himself filled with music anyway LMAO Tl;dr: (Same as Isaac, really just keeps doing his thing without being impeded, and he enjoys the luxuries/conveniences of the modern era. Will be slightly resistant at first because of how alien some of the changes are, but will fall into the habits/customs slowly and surely. Fine with it, will whine a bit at the growing pains tho)

Leonardo actually canonically owns a bar, and does that really surprise anyone? He really enjoys the excitement of meeting new people and hearing about their myriad histories, the influx of cultures/languages/experiences. It’s a nice but lowkey place, people stop for a drink, listen to some good music--chat amiably and relax after a long day’s work--before heading out. There are regulars and people that just stop for that single day; tourists, vacationers, so on and so forth.

When asked, many people note a sleek black cat with sharp eyes that led them to the bar... Tl;dr: (Don’t Let the Existential Dread Set-in: The Prequel, adapts well to the modern era because of centuries of experience but also...he’s so tired...somebody please hold him I can’t watch him live like this, lord jesus)

Optimally, I see Comte filling his time with myriad pursuits; ranging from philanthropy, indulging in art/music/theatre (often a benefactor as well), and keeping track of his chirren (they may exist more independently now, but he still worries about them ;-;). Otherwise nothing much changes for him, still goes to galas and fancy gatherings, still enjoys fashion and spoiling people, still seeks to occupy himself with social interaction and care-taking--if he doesn’t have a family of his own. He’s basically just that meme that’s like DON’T LET THE EXISTENTIAL DREAD SET-IN. DON’T LET IT SET-IN!!!!!!!!! Tl;dr: (Not to repeat myself but also Don’t Let the Existential Dread Set-in: The Sequel, literally just desperately trying to fill the void please somebody help him he also just needs to be held fuck’s sake, I’m going to drag him kicking and screaming into happiness--but otherwise has no great trouble adjusting to the modern era. I feel like he would have a more minor form of what Dazai struggles with, maybe a lack of personable connection that he once had; fewer chances to be himself and relax. Also probably worried about the increasing unhappiness and turmoil building in the world in general...)

Napoleon is similar to Comte in that he often checks up on Isaac and Jeanne from time to time, and does the aforementioned fencing lessons with kids. He also takes a lot of basic security positions--for venues, concerts, museums--you name it. He dislikes the idea of sitting behind a desk a lot, so he prefers to do a lot of different things; he even cooks from time to time at the restaurants  that know him very well. One gig he particularly enjoys is battle choreography for movies/theatre! He tends to stay away from anything too historically close to his era of origin, but he has fun coming up with realistic (smaller scale) hand-to-hand combat scenarios and duels. Tl;dr: (This era doesn’t feel like too much of a change. It’s a little more intensive in terms of pace, but he manages to keep up pretty well, it just exhausts him from time to time--and he usually goes on trips or hikes to unwind when he needs to like Jeanne LOL they do not go to their happy place, they go to their high lonesome place).

Shakespeare also continues to do his drama thing, organizes troupes on tons of different levels--from community level to more intense, skilled groups that re-enact his own work. His life doesn’t change all that much beyond a new form of theatre logistics, and he adjusts to the technology fairly easily out of necessity. He’ll stop by Vincent’s place from time to time to show him recordings of his latest shows, but otherwise is almost always on the move. Tl;dr: (So long as he can keep following his greatest passion, he doesn’t really mind the changes in how theatre happens--he doesn’t have any sizable issues with the modern era.)

Ability with technology (phones mostly):

Arthur: more than capable, well-versed, loves to do everything on his phone no prob--maybe lives a little too much on his phone (Vine/TikTok/Youtube can kill his productivity RIP) also yes he has a fidget spinner on his desk, no I will not be taking any constructive criticism at this time

Theo: yes but with a lot of cursing at first, had to do it for work and now looks down on anyone that can’t keep up with him (except for Vincent)

Vincent: knows the basics, taking and sending pictures, writing things in notes for later, texting (tho sending emails is a little harder for him); he does his best but he can be slow. Really really enjoys the paint programs on his iPad for when he’s on public transit, but he starts setting alarms after he gets the hang of it (he’s missed his stops before because of it LMAO)

Leonardo: what kind of stupid question? Man knows how to pick them apart and put ‘em back together for crying out loud, uses it like a pro--comes to him naturally, and he’s the guy that keeps coming up with ways to jailbreak Apple products and thwart their money-grubbing tactics. Catch him playing Minish Cap on his emulator on the way to work, brah

Comte: just vibing, keeps up with the times easily since he’s been doing it for so long, much like Theo uses it to keep in touch with the people around him--he’s the “prefers to call instead of text” sorta guy though, he worries about losing emotional subtleties and he likes to hear people’s voices. Doesn’t do anything special on phones, more just a tool; will read/listen to podcasts/does have emulators (courtesy of Leo) and enjoys playing Pokemon when he’s bored

Jeanne: types one finger at a time, it will take a while--but he’ll get there (deleted all his contacts by accident once and Mozart was just. HOW.) He barely knows how to use a phone, and it’s a steep learning curve for him

Mozart: purely functional when it comes to his phone, refuses to rely on it beyond the necessities that only tech can do (for instance, sending emails or reading articles or uploading compositions) he still writes his music before making more polished digital copies. He will sometimes listen to pieces digitally, but prefers to play them in-person; he feels that a lot of the soul in a piece is lost despite the convenience

Dazai: you absolute fools. you baboons. why would you ever give him this kind of power. it is 3AM and he has been on a wikipedia trail spanning hours, started with Cleopatra being the seventh in her line with that name all the way to cotton candy being called “daddy’s beard” in French. please help him he hasn’t slept in years. Also probably binges anime and manga lbr. He’s the one making vine references every other second, always up to date on the memes^TM

Isaac: also mostly uses it as a tool for research and calculations; it’s a way to keep track of information. He also likes to play background music while he’s working, so he finds the device nice and convenient--plus less having to go around pestering people in-person. he does start to get interested in coding and tinkering with apps/programs eventually, too

Shakespeare: finds it a delightful little contraption, so useful because it lets him jot down ideas as they come to him quickly, and he can edit his texts much more easily with digital interfaces. also likes that performances can be recorded, because now he can analyze his staging more efficiently--it gives him a good sense of what needs to be adjusted, and encourages him to keep streamlining/try new concepts

Napoleon: likes it because he can keep in touch with people more easily, the kind of guy to drop a line before checking on a friend. he really likes to look up recipes and find out more about cooking techniques he’s never encountered before. Isaac starts making an Instagram account just to show Napoleon’s impeccable plating, and Napo gets quite the following without knowing for a while