#means he actually does have the same dream as tav it seems

[brekkie-e]

How fucked up would it be if Astarion's Gaurdian was Sebastian?

[ineadhyn]

One of Astarion's most interesting scenes to me is the one in the flop house where we meet Dalyria and Petras. So, obviously, I felt the need to analyze it.

Astarion's behaviour switches the very moment he recognises his siblings. He has been snappy and theatrical before, but this now feels different. More raw. His posture changes, he bends forward in a pose like he's ready to attack. The moment he sees them, he enters fight mode.

And indeed, he does attack. He immediately goes for Petras, aiming for the weak spots he knows, his intelligence. It's bite or be bitten. If he doesn't do it (a choice you can make in his origin run for example) Petras does just the same, insulting Astarion using his known flaws: his arrogance, his egoism, claiming Astarion is all talk. This tells so much about Astarions life with them.

Dalyria is a bit calmer, she seems to care about both of them, at least enough that she doesn't want to see either of them killed. Dalyria does believe Cazador's claim of freeing them at least on surface level. She can be convinced to trust Astarion when he says he'll free them. She wants to be free. Asking why Astarion would come back if he was free, there is a certain longing in her voice. She's also the one telling Astarion about the ritual place, hoping Astarion might actually be able to free them, or at least not kill Petras.

Still the aggression in the room is not only between Astarion and Petras. Astarion also snaps at Dalyria when she's barely said anything. "That's not a way to welcome back a brother, Dal." The three of them are like dogs in the kennels of a dog fighting ring, barking at the sight of each other. Trained to compete and not giving each other an inch. You can imagine what it must have been like sharing one bedroom.

Then Astarion does his theatrical "Didn't you miss me?" Did they? Probably as much as Astarion pities them. A bit, because they've known each other for so long, but not enough to go out of their way. Just after saying he pities them, Astarion dreams about completing the ritual (which includes sacrificing them). Mostly I see the "Didn't you miss me" as Astarion wanting to make a confident first impression on them. Although it's too late, because his first instinct was to pull up his usual defences when interacting with his siblings: snapping at them.

And then Astarion actually gets physically aggressive and burns Petras. This is new. Petras didn't expect this. He says "What the hells happened to you, Astarion?" In combination with the other spawn scene when they call Astarion the runt, that never put up a fight, this paints a clear picture: Astarion has never been physically aggressive during his time with Cazador. Probably because he didn't have the means. He was simply too weak, being tortured more than any of the others. Petras talks about eating rats and dogs, Astarion got rats and bugs (he says that when talking about the bite with Tav). Also of course being broken into submission by being sealed into the tomb for the one time he didn't obey. (Worthy to mention that even then Astarion did not fight, he ran.)

Now that Astarion has some power for the first time, he uses it. And holy damn can I understand why he wants more. How good it must feel to be able to defend himself with more than words for the first time. This bit of power makes him say "I am not afraid of anything anymore."

It's enough for him to say "I am going to stop Cazador." A thing none of the spawn expects of him. Astarion would never rebel against the master. Cazador himself doesn't believe it until his last moment. They were all wrong about Astarion. Cazador indeed never broke him.

Also, pay attention to the leaning forward pose. Astarion does that on multiple occasions. It's his "my instinct screams to fight and defend myself"-pose.

(I am not entirely sure if "do not slouch before me" is also referring the same pose, or if it's more of an instinct to bow or cower. But that's for another day.)

[lilunebriumplays]

Soooo, those Mindflayer eyes...

While I’ve been playing BG3 on and off since early access released, I’ve never really dove that deep into it until a few days ago, so I’m so sorry if this is already a heavily discussed topic in fandom! But one thing that’s always stuck out to me are the Mindflayers, specifically how they’re always described as having pale, milky eyes throughout the majority of DnD history;

[...] Their eyes, sheltered by brow ridges, were uniformly pale and devoid of pupils in addition to being bloated and featureless, similar to those of blind cave fish.

Yet Larian seems to have made a point of giving them actual humanoid eyes, complete with iris and pupils. Not only that, they feature it heavily on promotional artwork. Like compare the eyes of the game’s Mindflayer -

- with what up until recently has been the canon Mindflayer -

It’s a very clear and striking difference, almost complete polar opposite in that they went from bland and non-descript to piercing and radiant.

Now I kind of shrugged it off and was happy to just note it down as artistic liberty, until I started a new playthrough yesterday and realised there’s someone else in the game who has the same eyes as our Cthulhuian friends.

That someone is Raphael:

What’s more, after losing myself in the Larian forums for a bit, I stumbled upon this post from user Ulla G in a thread about the Absolute;

They describe how in earlier patches, whenever they got to the first dream scene where you can hear Daisy’s voice going “Where are you?” as you go to bed, they continuously got a glitch where they saw a wing tip hovering over their Tav, which they then linked to Raphael when they saw his true form in his introduction scene.

There’s also continuous references throughout the game itself that the tadpole inside your head seems to be altered, which made me almost feel the ! appear above my head when I got the “charmed in more ways than one”-line from Raphael when you choose to introduce yourself to him in camp -

Plus, there’s something odd going on with Daisy and the tadpole.

I always thought they were one and the same, but whenever Daisy seems to be getting close to getting Tav to give in to their seduction, there’s always a vivid recoil coming from somewhere inside, as well as a murderous lust for blood and barely suppressed violence in later scenes which is aimed directly at Daisy themselves.

Could it be that Daisy is not the manifestation of the tadpole, but instead represents an outside force that’s instead responsible for altering it?

Tinfoil Hat Time™

Are the Mindflayers we see in-game charmed? Are they under the influence of someone else?

There’s a common theme running throughout at least Early Access of people bearing loyalty to or at least doing the bidding of either a person or a force that’s in reality actually manipulating them - Lae’zel and Vlaakith, Astarion and Cazador, Wyll and Mizora, Shadowheart and the Sharr worshippers, the Druids and Kagha, the Goblins and the Absolute. Are the Mindflayers victims of this too?

The Absolute seems to be tied to The Three somehow, and considering Edowin and his siblings have clear instructions to find and kill any survivors of the Mindflayer crash, they don’t seem to be in cahoots.

The fact the Mindflayer ship was immediately attacked by devils when it came to Avernus seems to speak against Devil influence, despite the potential link to Raphael’s eyes and his seeming knowledge of what’s actually happening. Unless Raphael is also working for an outside force. Or unless he isn’t tied to the traditional Devils at all.

In the tutorial phase on the ship, if you manage to keep the Mindflayer alive while killing the devil Commander and all the other devilkin at the helm, you get a sweet sword the Mindflayer turns against you and says you’re no longer needed before he attempts to kill you, even though you still bear the tadpole. Does this mean the altered tadpole and Tav&Co’s untransformed state are completely separate from what the Mindflayers were originally intending to do? (Why kill Tav and the other tadpole-bearers in the first place, when they could be useful Thralls?)

Where does the Githyanki artefact fit into this?

How does the conflict between Sharr and Selûne play into it all?

Is there a connection to the constant references to Netheril? 

To the Weave, to the attempt on Mystra’s life and seat, orchestrated by Sharr 109 years ago? (potential interesting tidbit; if a devil dies outside of Baator, it takes them 99 years to regenerate)

I don’t even know where I’m going with all this, I just needed to blurt all my thoughts into words somewhere and get some facts straight, I guess. I haven’t been this excited to figure out a story in a while. I am so intrigued by every little snippet Larian throws our way, and I am so so so so so stoked for August 3rd to see how this will all play out~

[riddlerosehearts]

all right so, some more thoughts on act 2 of baldur's gate 3 now that i finally replaced my hard drive and have been able to play again! this is basically all about like the very end of act 2 because i enjoyed it but just didn't really write things down for most of it.

so first of all i actually kind of love ketheric thorm and the tragedy of his character. i love villains who are willing to destroy themselves and the world for the sake of their family 💖

however i wish that if you talked to him about his wife and passed the checks to try persuading him to repent you could actually change the outcome of things. like what if you could save him and recruit him.... i honestly really think my tav would've felt a bit of empathy toward his situation and wanted to save him if they could, and also personally i just find him more interesting than halsin or even jaheira asdkjfghsdf

i'm sure jaheira is a lot cooler to people who know her from previous baldur's gate games but having 2 druids feels a bit redundant when there are so many other classes and she and halsin both become recruitable a little too late imo, especially given that halsin kind of has nothing to do after he finally joins you. ketheric would be an even later addition but sorry i just think he's so cool and that making one of the villains redeemable + recruitable would've been neat!

ANYWAY i also love the fact that even though i was spoiled on a lot of random bits and pieces about the different companions' personal stories before i started, i was not really spoiled at all on the actual main plot of this game lol. it just makes it that much more exciting getting to see how it all unfolds.

i also wasn't spoiled on the details of wyll's pact and now that he's finally talked about it, i love his character even more!! he's literally like if a disney prince loved his home and its people so much that he sold his soul to save them. i wish we could've had a full flashback when he agreed to show us what happened like the ones we get when we see into shadowheart's past.

i also wish he got more appreciation from fans and had a more complete romance but we all know why he doesn't 😔

i think this is literally the first "stereotypical horny bard" dialogue i've come across omg 😭 didn't actually pick this because it would've been ooc for elenion to say but i will say i think it would've been really funny if there was like. romance-specific dialogue here because you have such insane first meetings with every companion. i'm just imagining elenion going "love at first sight? i suppose so, although for me it was more like love at first hand" and leaving isobel wondering wtf that's supposed to mean

all of this confusion and going back and forth about whether to trust the dream guardian... and they were a mind flayer the whole time!! tbh that actually does not make elenion automatically stop trusting them because we've met omeluum and he didn't seem bad, but what does kind of make them lose trust in the emperor is the whole "encouraging you to turn into a mind flayer" thing... yeah, not doing that.

actually though i found out a while ago that something was up with the dream guardian but like. i was expecting them to turn out to just be fully evil and wanting to try and manipulate us more directly after the reveal, not for them to be acting like a nice friendly heroic mind flayer, so that does come as a surprise!

i wish i had thought to take lae'zel with me to the astral plane in case she would've had anything to say about orpheus while we were there... but oh well, i didn't really have her on my team during act 2 and she wasn't relevant to basically any of its story so i missed her a lot and i am so proud of her now for how she told off vlaakith.

??? halsin just tried to confess his love to elenion and said he thinks they feel the same way and i mean... at least he was very kind and understanding when they rejected him but i am baffled because i haven't really had him in the party at all and. like. when he asked them to tell him a secret they even said they didn't feel like there was anything to tell because they didn't wanna open up to him too deeply (well, and also because for some reason the only other option is to say you're afraid of krakens), but now he thinks they're in love with him? 😭 i've heard that it used to be extremely easy to accidentally romance gale but i do not understand how this happened with halsin. oh well.

oh yeah also i got this dialogue from wyll and i wish there was an option to say that you're anxious about being back or something. because elenion has been sort of avoiding visiting home and only going back very infrequently for a very long time and he and wyll are close so i imagine that wyll knows why that is. but i ended up just picking the first option and imagining that wyll is too polite to question it.

anyway, i've stepped into rivington and am ready to start exploring it but i'm going to end this post here for now!

[rawrsatthetree]

Idk how people can make dedicated content for their tav. I have a new Tav every month that I focus on and make a whole story for and ultimately drop for the next Tav to infect my mind.

Anyways my current Tav of the month is a human oath of devotion Paladin with an urchin background who’s an AU version of my dark urge where they aren’t a Bhaalspawn and got to grow up with their foster family instead.

Ala'onna (An Elven name that means keeper of harmony). 26 years old.

They were adopted by their dads, a 300 year old retired paladin dwarf and a 650 year old retired ranger elf, who run a bakery on the outskirts of Riften. They always dreamed of growing up to be an adventurer like their dads, inspired by their many bedtime tales. They spent their childhood running around the lower city and exploring the sewers getting into trouble while their Vul (dwarf dad) would sell baked goods from his cart. They got mixed up with some ruff kids and learned how to swindle and steal. One day a strange pale girl with even paler eyes joined their little group of would be thieves. Everything was fun and games until this strange girl killed one of their friends, pushing him from one of the high city walls and watching with glee as he splattered on the cobblestone below. They watched in anger as flaming fists just shrugged it off and refused to even acknowledge those most in need of protection. They vowed to work hard to become a real hero that would protect everyone who was in need, even those others deem unworthy of protection.

They were on their way back to the city after an adventure to check on their Vul and Ada when they got snatched up by the mindflayers.

When the party got to Baldur’s Gate they were super excited to introduce all the companions to their fathers however they had both decided come out of retirement and went off to fight the Absolute’s army.

They don’t recognize that the pale girl from their childhood was Orin but they do admit she seems hauntingly familiar. They were a bit too young to run around in the same circle as Karlach and a little too low-class to play with Wyll. They had bumped into Astarion before, on a night they were out far later than they were supposed to be, they were dared to pick pocket him since he looked wealthy and stupid. He frightened them off flashing his fangs and glowing red eyes threatening to drain them dry if they didn’t piss off. They refused to sleep alone for the next month waking up from nightmares of a vampire trying to bite them in their sleep. Astarion doesn't remember, but they do. They don't just recognize he's a vampire that night when he tried to bite them, but specifically the vampire that haunted their nightmares as a child.

They think they tread the line of an oath breaker but, for all their grey morality, they always stand up to evil. Even if their definition of evil is a little more fluid and grey. They try not to judge creatures based on what they are or people based on their background. "Stealing is ok, the real evil is the rich that let you starve"; "maybe goblins wouldn't be like that if people treated them with kindness and respect" that sort of thing. This does make them very naive, they're open mind getting in the way when they really shouldn't trust or give people a chance. They fight with themselves to see the good in the world, for them it's a choice they make, in spite of everything. They tend to shoulder too much, when bad things happen it's their fault. They should have been stronger, they should have been quicker, they should have known better.

They actually have a really low constitution for a paladin, it's only 11. Yes they still always use compel duel, yes they go down every other fight, yes Astarion is loosing his mind over his knight in shining armor with a death wish. They also have laughably low wisdom (8) and intelligence (9).

Growing up everyone thought they were actually half dwarf because they're 5'3" and kind of stocky. They're not really self conscious or anything, they know they're muscular (18 strength) and their chubbiness is just proof of being raised in a loving home with good food and lots of bread (their Vul taught them this).

They're Ada was a little more distant from them than their Vul that dotted on them constantly. Not that he didn't love them as much, but being 660 years old will make you a little distant or so their Vul told them. They wouldn't say they have daddy issues since their Vul is also their dad, more specifically they Elf daddy issues. They are embarrassingly desperate for attention and validation from specifically Elven men. Astarion is blissfully unaware of this, of course they want his approval that's what he's manipulating them for. Halsin however knows.

They're not fluent but they can speak and understand a bit of Elvish and Dwarfish as well as some thieves chant.

Their second highest stat is charisma and they love to sing. They swear they should have been a Bard but the schooling is much more expensive than some starter armor, a sword, and an oath.

[suosopuli-blog]

Good thoughts OP!

There are several ways to interpret the reason why Halsin does not just offer for Tav to come with him to the commune, but some could be:

1. It was never discussed

For the characters victory was never certain so with the future being as obscured as it was, I guess no one made clear plans as to what they would do afterwards. Dying or turning into mindflayers was always a possibility. Some of characters make broad strokes of plans for future but everyone is waiting for that final battle to unfold.

Also, I suppose it would be kind of a dick move to make plans for future when your partner is possibly dying horribly. So personally I like that Halsin doesn’t rub his sweet dream in my face even though he admits that it does occupy his thoughts. But in short there was no right time/opportunity to actually make concrete plans that would involve Tav because Tav might be gone. Better to make the most of the present in that case.

2. Tav had a life before tadpoles

Obviously this depends a lot based on Tav’a race, class and background but it is possible that Tav is part of a noble family, or had a career or just had a life before the parasite. They may have had future plans to marry or may already have a family or they may have their own business. They could have a life to get back once the tadpoles are no longer an issue. Also, it seems like the game quite heavily (from what I’ve seen in one playthrough) that Tav is balduran and I think it’s fairly reasonable for Halsin and for any other character to assume that Tav would like to get back to their old life.

And, Halsin’s dream is something that requires a lot of work as in labor. It’s not the kind of dream where you put your feet up with your loved one. It’s one that makes or breaks couples and friends and it is a leap of faith. Considering that it might be very different to the life Tav used to live before and may not have explicitly stated that they want any part of that dream, I rather think that it is reasonable for Halsin to give Tav the option to go their own way at that point.

3. The ”relationship” is fairly casual

Halsin himself doesn’t want to call the relationship ”relationship”. He sees the arrangement as something more fluid where Tav is free to experience intimacy with other and the same goes for Halsin. The emotions and attachment are real, but when the paths diverge, they can diverge. It’s like with wild animals where every spring the same couples meet again and mate and bring about new life, rear it and then separate again until next year.

Halsin isn’t looking for commitment by default. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t appreciated. In fact he seems quite grateful and awed if Tav chooses to go with him and work toward his dream.

Others have also tackled the aspect of his polyamory and why he specifically may prefer to keep the relationship open. I have reblogged some but do check @autistichalsin for more info!

4. Many lovers but not nearly as many confidantes

Halsin also tells Tav that he hasn’t had many confidantes in the past century or so and that is so sad because it seemed like he did his best to be there for the other druids and be a leader and a mentor but that there was no shoulder for him. It is a separate discussion whether that is by his own doing or caused by circumstance, but he has not had anyone to listen to his worries and offer new perspectives through which to view his experiences.

He may simple be not that used to discussing and sharing his own hopes and dreams with others. Halsin seems quite well versed in physical intimacy but emotional intimacy seems more foreign to him. (His romance scene where he seems to want to brush aside his nervousness aside as soon as possible and get to the part he is actually good at).

Through the things he can say in dialogue it does seem like he has had bad experiences when it comes to sharing his feelings. He is very used to carrying other people’s assumptions on him and that box you into your own head. People don’t bother to learn new things about and you kind of learn to do the same back.

So he may have not even dared to assume Tav would even think to join him or he dared to assume that they obviously wouldn’t.

Either way he should work on being emotionally more intimate now that he has a partner that is willing to be a lover and a confidante.

Sorry for the rambly answer but Halsin is interesting because he can be interpreted through so many different view poins and I have probably forgotten some views from this response. Your fanfic sounds interesting and whatever direction you choose, choose the one that pleases you the most.

the purpose of this post is for me to figure some stuff out so i'm open to feedback and discussion

disclaimer: i love Halsin, he's my precious bear man

but damn i am pissed

i started to really dig into the epilogue, specifically that last morning after the brain goodbye scene in the room at the inn where he says he has nine wagons of kids and he will aid the people in Thaniel's realm

sadly i can't find any footage of what he says when Tav goes "oh a community built with your own hands, i'd love to see that" (or something to that extent) bc i think that is the one option that nullifies the goodbye and i think? he just asks if Tav is sure and then happy end bells

but even so

the interaction practically starts with "why does this sound like you're saying goodbye?" - oh that's because he is. at least for now. but Tav can visit, he's very eager for them to visit - and then narrator is like a tenday later Tav went to the commune and then the party invite stuff, not important

and I'm like....

it just hit me how - yes, Halsin has abandonment issues and he wants to help those orphans and all the homeless refugees and all the great stuff but like…… HOW DARE YOU DECIDE FOR ME THAT I DON'T WANNA GO WITH YOU????

watching that on a loop three times seriously hit me hard and i don't like it (as in me, personally, not in the sense that it's bad writing or it makes no sense for him to do that, maybe it does - if somebody can help me wrap my head around that, I would be super grateful bc atm I'm stuck in my own emotional reaction to Halsin making decisions for me)

in my head Tav's response to that should be: fuck you, i don't want to visit - fuck that! i wanna go with you and move in with you bc I love you but i guess you don't really want that huh? oh you do? then I guess we are at an impasse, huh?

bottom line is - what do I want to do with it in my fic?

i could ignore it bc i kinda wanna, i don't want them fighting like that

on the other hand it would be great to have this devolve into a conflict, bc i already sprinkled a few tiny bits of them saying not the best things but then the other kinda steps past it or around it and they are fine, but it would add some realism for them to have a serious disagreement about their (joint) future and about communicating and making decisions and could be something to be revisited as a work in progress for them to grow into as their relationship keeps going

i don't mind exploring difficult shit in my fics, i already decided to commit and give Tav my trauma and it was very cathartic just drafting that bit, and this turning into a conflict could play into that I suppose, could work really well

I guess my problem is the dissonance between Halsin doing that unintentionally bc of his own issues and him generally being very considerate and respectful of others, especially Tav imo, he was perfectly happy to follow their decisions as a leader but now I guess they are no longer the leader and this is his thing, his commune, his new purpose in life and ofc he could never be selfishly happy when he could be doing good things for strangers but like.... i can't grasp that step how from that he goes into "therefore I shall not offer this as a choice for them but instead make that a foregone conclusion that this is goodbye, at least for now" - is it bc asking means risk of rejection and he'd rather reject himself to spare them both the interaction?

sorry this got rambly XD but anyway - thoughts?

[thewebcomicsreview]

Seeing as I don’t have a job right now (one week furlough), I managed to get a lot of writing for Saffron and Sage done today. Now I feel good! Time to ruin that with a Homestuck 2 Liveblog! Last time: Jade kidnapped “Yiffy”, much to Jane’s distress! No time for that, though, as we’re back with the Candyland Kids. 

HARRY: vrissy, i know this is a stressful predicament but i think that's going too far. HARRY: my dad believes in us. HARRY: and if he thinks there's something we can do, then there has to be a way!

Kind of interesting that Harry holds his dad’s opinion in such high esteem, considering that his dad has been AWOL pretty much his whole life.

TAVROS: Uncle john isn't to blame for this,,, HARRY: yeah, no shit tav. HARRY: this whole situation is because of YOUR insane hitlermom.

How the hell does Harry Anderson know who Hitler is? When did that conversation come up? This is a completely different universe! 

TAVROS: Is less sincere,,, than it is,,, an attempt to weaponize something difficult for me, TAVROS: In order that you can win an argument,,, with harry anderson,,,,, VRISKA: GRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! VRISKA: WILL YOU ALL JUST VRISKA: SHUT!!!!!!!! VRISKA: UP!!!!!!!!

A good example of why characters like John, Jade, Vriska, and sometimes Karkat are important in Homestuck or in stories generally. They actually do shit. 

VRISKA: Neither you nor your friends have anything really important going on. VRISKA: Your lives and your planet are a total 8ore! VRISKA: 8ut somehow John loves you anyway. VRISKA: Try and be fucking gr8ful for that every once in a while. VRISKA: Not everyone is so lucky.

Vriska please do not be pining for middle-aged John Egbert. You have literally half a dozen semi-official love interests (John, Terezi, Eridan, Tavros, Meenah and Kanaya), please don’t pick the one old enough to be your dad. It was already weird enough when Adult John got hot and bothered by teen Roxy in the epilogues, to say nothing of you fucking a middle-aged homeless clown in a bush.  

thespiansGlamor [TG] began pestering adamantGriftress [AG]

Oh, fuck you, Homestuck. It’s bad enough that Harry and Dave are both going to be referred to as “TG” in chatlogs, but now Vrissy and Vriska are both AG and have the same font color! 

TG: i've allocated the strife specibus with the scissorkind abstratus? TG: hm. TG: using this weird vocab and stuff feels... well, weird. TG: i'm not sure why, but it seems as though everything that's about to happen is that much more important now. TG: or maybe it already was, but i just didn't understand just how important until this moment.

One issue with wearing your metaphor on your sleeve as much as Homestuck 2 does is that thematically important lines become really obvious. 

I like how the triangle-shaped panel around Vriska escaping the crowd by simply walking into it is reminiscent of a magic 8-ball. That’s clever! 

VRISKA: Your society... no, your whole planet... it deserves to 8urn str8 to MEGAhell, and I'm gonna 8e the one to fly it there! VRISKA: I'm gonna shatter your paradise into pieces with my 8are hands and SHIT IN ITS GRAVE!!!!!!!! VRISKA: HOW'S THAT FOR A FUCKING ST8MENT! VRISKA: YOU GOT ALL THAT, JANE CROCKER? VRISKA: DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT'S COMING FOR YOU???????? VRISKA: YOU'VE MESSED WITH VRISKA: ********VRISKA******** VRISKA: ****FUUUUUUUUCKING**** VRISKA: ********SERK8T********

There’s some extreme Dungeons and Dragons energy here, where Vriska’s plan to escape a mob of reporters working for a totalitarian dictatorship run by literal gods is to simply walk outside and publicly declare her intent to destroy the world as punishment for its sins. 

And yeah, this is how that plan usually works in DnD, too.

Man, the next page is a wall of text, whereas in old Homestuck this’d be an animation. I get “fair wages” and “small budget”, but is still feels weird to see a big Strife scene merely get described with boring-ass words.

Fearing gunfire, the few paparazzi who aren't currently getting their asses handed to them by the world's angriest traffic cone start to trip over each other, diving for cover.

The world’s angriest traffic cone.

Far away, in her lair, Jane Crocker grabs the two sides of her computer monitor with enough strength to snap it in two. She can't believe what she's watching. Behind her, from a shadowy corner of the room, there is an agitated growling noise and the rattle of chains.

Is that Yiffy? Is Yiffy an animal? Please tell me Yiffy is not a person that Jade named Yiffy. 

....Actually, please tell me that Yiffy isn’t an animal Jade named Yiffy that is Jade’s child via sex with another animal that might be my breaking point.

Vriska alights on the ground, rakes her throat, quietly spits out a little wad of blue, and wipes her mouth unceremoniously. Tavros pats Harry Anderson tentatively on the arm. Vrissy tries to be badass and cough up something too but she doesn't really make it work.  

Vrissy::Vriska Vriska::Mindfang

It’s weird that John’s sprite is the same even though he’s middle aged now, but I like that his God Tier outfit doesn’t fit any more. Isn’t it magical? Ahh, who cares.

JOHN: this old thing is pretty uncomfortable in a lot of ways. JOHN: hm... JOHN: when we get a moment, maybe the two of us could brainstorm a redesign? JOHN: no pressure though. HARRY: !!!

Oh, that’s why! That’s cute. 

JADE: theres something i need to tell you

don’thavefuckedadogdon’thavefuckedadogdon’thavefuckedadog

JADE: john... i have a daughter JADE: shes almost harry andersons age JOHN: ... JOHN: ... JOHN: you have a daughter.

Named Yiffy?

ROSE: It was at this point that Jade came to me. ROSE: I could understand her pain quite acutely, and so... ROSE: I agreed to carry a child on her behalf. KANAYA: . ROSE: ... Without telling Kanaya.

Without-

Kanaya is your WIFE. You LIVE WITH HER. Even ignoring the question of why you’d keep 9 months of pregnancy from your wife, how? Kanaya would have been living with humans for years at that point and she’s literally in charge of reproduction don’t tell me she thought Rose just got fat for a while and then lost the weight really fast. 

ROSE: I'm... not sure why I made that decision. ROSE: I regret not telling Kanaya, of course. ROSE: But I can't say that I regret going through with it. ROSE: At the time, it didn't feel as though the deception was even all that prolonged. The whole affair was... short. ROSE: Purely physical, and nothing more.

ROSE: John, there isn't a father. ROSE: Jade and I are the sole parents of this child. JOHN: oh. JOHN: ... JOHN: OH. JOHN: oh i'm so sorry, i didn't th- ROSE: That's quite alright John, although you might like to direct that apology more towards your sister. ROSE: All I will say is that if you would like to take up the particulars with us, ROSE: Some *other* time, 

Actually, if John doesn’t know that Jade has a male dog’s genitals due to a fusion accident, I’d love to know what that all-caps OH means. What does he think happened, that Jade and Rose managed to have a baby? 

JOHN: so... how did you hide the pregnancy? ROSE: Oh, that was simple. ROSE: Jade's genes being, as they are, part canine, the gestation period was substantially reduced.

OH NO 

Yiffy is literally a furry, isn’t she? Moreso that Jade, she’s a full-on “Can be naked onscreen and it’s okay because she’s covered in fur” dog girl.

JOHN: i think i understand everything so f VRISSY: WAIT!!!!!!!! VRISSY: YOU MEAN TO TELL ME VRISSY: NOT ONLY DO I H8VE A SISTER VRISSY: 8UT YOU NAMED VRISSY: YOUR ****SECRET CHILD**** VRISSY: ********YIFFY********????????

Vrissy makes an excellent point. 

ROSE: We didn't call her Yiffy. ROSE: That would be a quite ridiculous thing with which to burden a child. ROSE: Her full name is Yiffany Longstocking Lalonde Harley.

Vrissy looks as though she is about to shit the belltower they are standing in, brick by brick.

ROSE: It was, in hindsight, a monumentally terrible decision acting as the final chapter in a long series of novels, each one full of progressively more terrible decisions than the last. ROSE: But that is the name that we decided upon.

Oh, wait a second. Vriska changed Vriska Maryam-Lalonde to Vrissy, and changed Harry Anderson to just Harry. So obviously she’s going to rename Yiffy to literally anything else, then rename Tavros, and then we’ve got a new set of four kids as Vriska leaves to do something else. That’s what going to happen, right? Right? Please? 

ROSE: You have to understand... this whole situation ended up playing out a bit like an ironic game of chicken between the two of us. ROSE: Something that far outstripped anything that the Strider fraternity could have produced in their wildest, most jpegged creative wet dreams. ROSE: But in the end that triumph of irony came back to bite us in the fucking ass, as irony is wont to do. ROSE: There was absolutely no possibility of us casually letting you all know that, by the way, we had had a secret daughter named Yiffany Longstocking. ROSE: At least, not right away. ROSE: But carapacian change-of-name paperwork is so complex and circuitous that, eventually, keeping quiet forever just seemed like the more reasonable option.

This is, even for Homestuck, monumentally stupid. You named your daughter Yiffany Longstocking as a joke and then kept the child secret because you were embarrassed. You two are awful fucking parents. You are the worst parents in the entire series, and that includes Bro Strider and the spider that made Vriska feed it children. 

And we’re literally at the point where the writing is bad and the joke is how bad the writing is. This isn’t enjoyable to read; you can’t make a bad B-movie My Immortal fanfic on purpose.  

Even now, Yiffy is likely being held at spoonpoint

I feel like “Jade and Rose have a secret daughter named Yiffany Longstocking” can be a joke or it can be drama but maybe not both at the same time. 

[knight-of-heart-and-art]

(this is so fucking funny to me now)

(yes i know it's horrible)

(it's just GamTav and it was written when gamzee was still locked in the fridge okay)

Your name is Gamzee Makara. Sometimes you repeat it to yourself, just to hear something other than the motherfucking silence of space. More often you recite the names of the people you've hurt. There are a lot of names. 

They put you in this snackchest because you killed someone. Two someones. At least two. You're sorry now, but at the time you couldn't help it, they needed to die because...you can't motherfucking remember. It's been so long. "Equius Zahhak. Nepeta Lejion." Your voice is hoarser than ever. What you wouldn't give for a motherfucking Faygo, or a sopor slime pie... No, not the pie. Never again. Even though you want it so motherfucking bad that you shake, sometimes, wanting it. And Faygo has its own problems. Memories that even the thought of the taste of Faygo conjures up. "Terezi Pyrope. Karkat Vantas." You have more names, but you can't get them out around the lump in your throat. How long have you been in here? You don't know. A long time, you guess. Your friends put you in here and wrapped the snackchest with chains, put locks too large for you to break on it. For a while you could hear them talking and planning. Then you heard them fighting, dying, and rising. Then something exploded—the sound was so loud, like the death of all miracles—and since then you've heard nothing. Nothing but your own voice. The inside of the snackchest is stained purple with your blood, in places. When you realized that you were completely alone, you killed yourself. Repeatedly. Even though you never actually ascended to god tier, it seems that some motherfucking miracle has granted you the powers that go with the outfit. Even if you just made the outfit yourself in a fit of boredom and insanity. You killed yourself...how many times? Twice by strangling. Once by slamming your head against the door of the snackchest. (If you're honest, that one was an attempt to escape. You didn't mean to fracture your skull and suffer that slow, agonizing death.) Four—five? Maybe even more—at least four times by digging at your throat or wrists with your sharp fingernails, or by biting your wrists until you cut deep enough to bring jelly-violet blood bubbling or spurting out. You don't know why that's the way you keep coming back to. Maybe because it hurts the most, and you motherfucking deserve to be motherfucking hurt. "Tav," you mutter. "Tavros Nitram. Motherfucking miracle kid." Did you kill Tav? Did you? You don't remember doing anything to him, but you remember holding his body, kissing him again and again until your face was stained brownish-orange with his blood, and still he wouldn't wake up. You don't remember killing him, but what does that mean? You remember things that never happened. Dating Terezi—that didn't happen, did it? And Kanaya coming at you with her white chainsaw. She didn't do that. She killed Eridan, not you. Didn't she? If you can remember things that didn't happen, then why shouldn't you not remember things that did happen? "Motherfucking miracles." Maybe you should kill yourself again, you think. Maybe it'll take this time and you can escape this snackchest, if only in spirit. Maybe your ghost will find the ghosts of your departed friends. "Motherfucking maybes." You sigh and try to curl into a ball, as you do quite often. As always, the snackchest is too small to let you. "I never meant for things to get this motherfucking bad...sorry. I'm sorry. Tav, Karbro, Nepe-cat, Equius, Terezi, I never never never meant to kill all of you—" Something happens. Something slams into the the snackchest, or the snackchest slams into something, and you're shaken like a grub in a bucket. (That lewd image is almost enough to make you grin. Or maybe it's that you hit your head.) It feels like the snackchest is tumbling end-over-end, down a hill maybe. Which means you're somewhere with gravity. Or maybe you're just in an asteroid field, glancing off space rocks. No use getting all motherfucking optimistic. No, you're somewhere, because you can hear someone talking. It's muffled by the thick insulation of the snackchest, but there's someone there. After a while—you don't know how long, your sense of time is pretty much gone—there's a less muffled snap. And another. Whoever it is, they're cutting the chains. You count the snaps. After the fourth, there's silence again. You're pretty sure that there were only four chains holding the chest shut, so you could push the lid open now. See where you are. You're scared. You don't even know what there is to be afraid of and you're too terrified to do anything but lay there like a motherfucking wriggler. Whoever it is lifts the door of the snackchest open. You forgot just how motherfucking bright the sun is. How bright any light is. You have to squeeze your eyes shut immediately, because the light is like fire. "G-Gamzee?" You motherfucking know that voice. You have heard that voice in your dreams, in your motherfucking nightmares, for years. Even though it hurts, you open your eyes. You can't see anything. Then you can see a grey oval and a pair of blank white eyes. (Well, he is dead. You can't expect his eyes to be the same orange you remember.) A mohawk, and a pair of wide-spreading horns. "Uh, Gamzee? H-how—" You explode out of the snackchest, tackling him in a pouncehug worthy of Nepeta. He's solid and he's real, or as real as you are. "Motherfuck—Tavros, Tav, Tavbro, I motherfucking—sorry, sorry, I can't—thank you, motherfucking thank you—" Tavros is laughing, even though you knocked him onto the ground and you're currently lying on his chest and crying onto his shirt. He's laughing, and maybe crying a little, and stroking your hair. "How did you get here? Why were you in that snackchest? No, nevermind. I missed you, Gamzee." He's talking and you're talking and both of you are laughing and crying. You realize that this is a dreambubble, and you're not sure how much of this is real, but Tavros is real. Even if he is a ghost, he is as motherfucking real as you are. You don't know what the odds are against this happening. It doesn't matter. You know what this is. This is a motherfucking miracle.

[disneydreamlights]

The first thing the Player would do upon realizing the girl they ran into on Destiny Islands is, in fact, Strelitzia, they would get on their hands and knees and beg for her forgiveness. Why? Because they would blame themself for what happened to her, since the only reason Lauriam was able to kill her is because they didn't join the Dandelions. Don't worry, Strelitzia would set the record straight, and assure them that, even if her death was somehow their fault, she'd forgive them anyway.

Player’s probably like the one person Strelitzia has no grudge against too so seeing them constantly blame themselves for her death would probably cause her a lot of pain. ;w;

Okay so, let me explain something, since it seems I may have accidentally confused you about one plot point, Players wouldn't know that Strelitzia was the intended Union Leader until Back Cover revealed that Ava had chosen her, since the game would show her approaching both of them while Lauriam is comforting Strelitzia. Thus, Strelitzia receiving the Book of Laws in Back Cover would be a Wham Shot of epic proportions. We'd eventually get her death scene from Lauriam's POV in game.

Oooooooooh, okay, that’d make the scene work a lot better. Definitely be a shocker for sure.

Even after coming to terms with her own death and resurrection, Strelitzia would sometimes have nightmares about that fateful encounter in the abandoned warehouse. As soon as she's done screaming, she'd either hide, or sob in the arms of whoever was woken up by said screaming. She would not be able to feel safe enough to go back to sleep if there wasn't somebody she saw and trusted in the room with her.

Here's another thing, I don't think ever get used to Strelitzia's nightmares. I mean, they'd prepare for them after the first time (where they'd think that Strelitzia's life was in actual danger), but they'd be both random and infrequent. But they would never leave Strelitzia to suffer on her own. She'd usually wake up with at least Aqua having stuck around to make sure she doesn't feel alone. But those nightmares would not be pleasant for anyone. Good thing the Player's Pet eats bad dreams.

So, when the Player does get out of the Unchained State and get the chance to personally know Strelitzia, her mental state would improve significantly. I mean, aside from FINALLY getting some much needed closure on her character arc from the MMO, the Player's pet would eat her nightmares (allowing her to get some much needed sleep), and then there's the fact that being able to help the Player with their own trauma might help Strelitzia feel more useful as well.

Player stays with her after TAV bring up that this happens a lot. The trio all look out for her and so when they hear Strelitzia and know that Player is the best person to help they just immediately get them to stay with her. Otherwise Aqua lets out her mom tendencies and definitely stays with Strelitzia

So I've been thinking about Strelitzia's theme, and I was thinking that maybe a slower and more mournful rendition of "Scythe of Petals" would be more appropriate, with a piano replacing the organ, and the more intense parts of the track being either cut or downplayed. It would probably play during "Innocence and Mourning" as she's fading away, presuming that "Sora's Sacrifice" doesn't play instead.

Sora’s Sacrifice should be exclusively for Sora, so she should have maybe her own unique sadness theme playing in the background.

So, I just thought of something cute, Strelitzia and Lauriam Trick or Treating as part of a Halloween event. For Lauriam, I'm torn between a grim reaper and a tonberry (Final Fantasy enemy known for using a knife to brutally stab its victims to death). For Strelitzia, on the other hand, I'm thinking maybe a zombie, Ring/Greivance styled ghost, or a dark angel with spiderwebs. Note that all the costumes I suggested kinda foreshadow what eventually happens with them.

Halloween event with the five Union Leaders, Strelitzia, and Player all going Trick-or-treating and each time the knock on a door all they get are Heartless so they’re just like “Gdi where’s my candy.” The event ends with the seven of them knocking on a door and finally finding the Foretellers and candy. Bonus points if some other extra wielders partake Those costumes are good for them.

Player dresses as whatever you throw them in, as per usual. Ephemera dresses up as a black cloaked figure to foreshadow him being the leader of the group. Ven dresses up as Vanitas. Skuld dresses up as a Prophetess of some kind, both as a reference to her name and her role of holding the true book of prophecies. Blaine is the obligatory Disney reference and is wearing like a Beast costume or something. (Somebody has to do it.) 

Rest I’m answering in this ask under a read more since it’s getting long

Okay, Strelitzia's Nobody, the Specter, would be born from Strelitzia's body (dispersed across the Unchained State) and Lauriam's soul, due to Strelitzia soul (or life energy) having departed when she died. This is why Marluxia can fuse with the Specter, it holds half of his life force.

Makes enough sense.

Okay so, Strelitzia wouldn't actually be able to see anything once she enters the Unchained State after dying. She'd be able to sense all the hearts of everyone in there, and recognize Ven's, the Player's, and Lauriam's hearts, she would be completely numb, blind, and deaf until she "touches" Lauriam's heart and gains somewhat filtered access to his five senses. His own mind would create a phantom form of Strelitzia in order to make sense of what she's trying to communicate to him.

Strelitzia and Lauriam gotta have conversations in this time period, like without Lauriam revealing that Strelitzia’s death is his fault and he apologizes a lot because he’s still super remorseful in the beginning. And meanwhile she’s just happy he found her and that he’s taking her spot as a Union Leader because it’s going to somebody she trusts and this actually starts causing a deterioration of his own mental state because like...she trusted him still, she still loves or at least cares about him after he killed her, even if he would’ve made the same choice again the guilt of still having to live with his best friend’s ghost is just eating him alive.

Strelitzia would wear a different outfit in KH3 than what she wears in game, partially because her outfit, while perfectly good for 2D sprites where she can jump around all she wants without any wardrobe malfunctions, or Back Cover where camera angles are perfectly fine, in KH3 she'd have to wear something on her legs because, let's be honest, keeping her modesty would be rather difficult in her canon outfit in a fully 3D game. Her outfit would still be primarily white though.

Honestly if the renders still had an issue I’d just assume they’d fix this by like...putting on purple leggings, something that matches her color scheme and wouldn’t look out of place on the model. I don’t think they’d need to though, none of the other characters in dress like things have needed one before.