#on all levels except the timeline i did all of that too

[octavianacidicbreastmilk]

the thing about octavian is that he did not need to do all that, but he really needed to suck all that old man cock. and it all needed to be about the pater familias

[raguiras]

SKETCH COMIC: Deuce/Yuu at the beach

Reblogging is highly appreciated! 🥹🙏

AAAAA finally another Spade of Storms post! Today is their 150 days anniversary, so I just HAD to post!! More coming soon ^^

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NOTE: My Yuu is named Allen and primarily uses he/him pronouns. However, I tend to change this in comics for general insert purposes.

Part 3 of the relationship timeline (= how they finally got together) below the cut!

More ship content

Previous parts of my Deuce x Allen ship introduction: 1 // 2 // 3

Deuce x Allen blog: @spade-of-storms

Event where you can draw this ship & get art of your own ship back :3

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Relationship timeline (pt. 3)

♠︎♤ POST BOOK 7 ♤♠︎

By now, pretty much everyone at NRC knew that Deuce and Allen had a thing for each other, and many people even assumed that they were a couple already.

Nobody could blame them, though: the two boys were not only inseparable and constantly smiling at each other, but also extremely touchy nowadays. Having built unparalleled levels of trust and being incredibly comfortable with each other, Allen and Deuce did more and more together, eventually even cuddling in public on the regular.

One day when Deuce had done incredibly well on a test, Allen gave him a cheek kiss out of sheer euphoria. This absolutely made Deuce bluescreen and he later rambled to Ace about it — it was his first ever kiss!!! Did Allen like him back?! Did this kiss mean anything?! Would it be okay for him to give Allen a kiss as well?!

When they were watching a movie together in Allen's room, Deuce decided to spontaneously kiss Allen's cheek, too. The blonde boy got incredibly nervous as he had not expected this in the slightest — after all, he was "disgusting and unlovable" — and simply laughed it off.

Another time, Deuce was comforting Allen during one of his low moments. As Allen went on about how much he hated his body, Deuce was basically rendered speechless and could reply with nothing but sincere compliments on Allen's appearance. This warmed the Ramshackle prefect's heart a ridiculous amount... did Deuce really mean it? Was Allen actually beautiful to him...? Why was Deuce not growing sick of complimenting him and instead always sounded genuine...? After a quick gaze was exchanged, Allen suddenly found every area of his face other than his lips being covered in gentle, soft kisses. "I'm here for you. You're so beautiful."

These happenings caused them to occasionally kiss the other in various places (except for the lips) — yes, including their necks — which shocked everybody due to the physical distance both held with other people. However, it was still strictly "platonic" as neither Allen nor Deuce dared to say a thing. Everyone around them was losing their minds in the meantime — how could they act this lovey-dovey with the constant cuddles, gazes and kisses and STILL not be a couple?!

Deuce was convinced that he was way too average for someone like Allen. Despite the Ramshackle prefect's many flaws, he was the embodiment of perfection in Deuce's eyes. Allen would definitely want someone prettier and smarter, right...? Deuce surely couldn't compare...

Allen, on the other hand, still firmly believed that he was not only ugly, but unlovable, undeserving, and easy to replace. In his opinion, he had to be absolutely perfect in every way to be a worthwhile partner, and his crushing fear of rejection held him back anyway.

Both boys were terrified of destroying their friendship through a love confession. While they strictly avoided the topic of the rumors and of them potentially getting together in each other's presence, both Allen and Deuce secretly rambled to their friends and were desperately searching for advice. No matter how often everyone told them that the other one definitely liked them back, neither of the two teenagers could/wanted to believe it.

Sometimes, Deuce and Allen even talked about their crushes together, describing them to each other's face in hopes of them realizing that the other one was their crush. However, this backfired A TON: neither could believe that the described positive traits applied to THEM, and instead, Allen firmly believed that Deuce was crushing on someone else (and vice versa).

Ace couldn't stand it anymore and forced Deuce to gift Allen a red rose to test the waters. While the Ramshackle prefect did want to believe that the gesture was of romantic nature, Allen instead decided that it was a platonic souvenir from Heartslabyul's gardens — after all, Deuce had described his crush as "beautiful, kind and the most perfect person he had ever seen", which SURELY couldn't have been Allen...

Deuce didn't know what other hints to drop (outside of the fact that he regularly gave Allen gifts, complimented him a ton, got touchy with him despite hating it with other people, was eager to hang out with him all day, and literally KISSED him). Allen simply appeared to be oblivious to absolutely everything.

One day when they were cuddling on Allen's bed while watching a movie, Deuce yet again planted little kisses on Allen's neck and spontaneously decided to be bold, asking Allen if they could finally kiss on the lips. The Ramshackle student blushed and was taken by surprise, but obviously agreed. Their first kiss was innocent, loving and downright PERFECT — both felt as if they were about to explode — until Allen brushed it off as "practice" with a sad chuckle. Deuce's heart was broken within a second.

Allen was so heavily traumatized and convinced that he was unlovable that he genuinely thought Deuce wanted to use him as practice for his future relationship with the aforementioned "perfect, kind and beautiful" crush. Deuce thought the same about Allen — so this wonderful kiss was only practice for the blonde boy's upcoming relationship with his crush, huh...?

Both yet again talked to their friends in search of help, but all they got was further reassurance that the other one DID like them and that there was simply a massive misunderstanding.

At some point, Deuce couldn't wait anymore. He loved Allen more than anything and he NEEDED him, but Deuce knew full well that he'd likely get too nervous and stumble over his own words if he confessed to Allen in person. Instead, he decided to gift the boy another Shiba plushie, place it in front of Allen's door, and attached a letter to it.

Unfortunately, this also backfired. Allen was convinced that the letter was a prank; he was convinced that someone was impersonating Deuce and recreating his handwriting with magic in order to give Allen wrong hopes and possibly destroy the friendship he had with Deuce (however, Allen did keep the letter and plush Shiba). When Deuce heard about this, he was even more saddened — what did he have to do for Allen to realize that he was not only worthy of love, but actively loved by Deuce? What did he have to do for Allen to realize... that Deuce wanted him more than anything else in life? There was only one way left...

Deuce planned the confession in detail and even practiced in front of his mirror. He bought twelve red roses, two matching gumball machine rings, and another plushie. Additionally, Deuce also wrote a second love letter.

He then invited Allen to a blastcycle tour, which the Ramshackle student obviously agreed to. When it was time for them to go, Deuce showed up at Allen's window and blasted "Baby" by Justin Bieber at full volume, and once inside Allen's room, Deuce gifted him the bouquet. But this time, Allen couldn't just mentally brush it off as a platonic gesture — he saw the desperation, sincerity and love in Deuce's eyes, and took the flowers with a bright blush while nervously thanking Deuce.

The two teenagers went off to the beach, with Allen holding onto Deuce tightly as they rode the blastcycle.

When they arrived at the beach, Deuce's heart was pretty much beating out of his chest. After a short walk, the blue-haired boy gathered all his courage, breathed in deeply one last time, took the gifts out of his bag, and went on one knee in front of Allen.

Allen's heart was beating out of his chest as well. He couldn't deny it any longer, his insecurities couldn't deny it any longer — this was indeed a confession.

Allen opened the letter and teared up immediately upon reading Deuce's sweet words. It was another sincere love confession, this time handed to him directly by Deuce. There was no excuse and it couldn't be mistaken for a prank. The Heartslabyul student kneeled in front of Allen, looking up to him with the most desperate, nervous puppy eyes — Deuce wanted nothing more than to date him.

Allen couldn't believe it yet and started crying. Deuce actually loved him... Deuce genuinely wanted to be with him. All his life, Allen had been told that something like this was impossible... but here he was now, being confessed to in the sweetest way by the sweetest person he had ever met. He was loved.

Deuce slowly got up to comfort Allen, but instead, the Ramshackle prefect initiated a kiss. This time, it wasn't "practice" — it was their first genuine kiss as a couple, and it became one of their most treasured memories for both of them.

They were officially together now... and little did Allen know that they'd stay lovers for the entirety of their lifes.

"I love you." — "I love you, too."

Deuce and Allen had fixed the mistakes of the past; Allen's previous incarnation had died before Deuce's got the chance to confess. And in their next lifes, they'd be together as well.

They were destined to find each other in every universe.

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Fun fact: There are 3 Spade of Storms days.

22th March: The day when I first decided that I want them to be together in an old rp server. It was likely the first official confirmation of the ship, and it was 150 days ago.

20th May: The day when they got together in the canon lore.

27th July: The day that's exactly in between of their birthdays (3rd June & 20th September).

Thank you very much for reading! 🥹🥹

[cameoliob]

what are your headcanons for kallus and jovan? how did they get together? who fell first and whose heart broke first? do they still hate each other when kallus joins the rebellion or do they simply act like the pettiest bitches towards each other? enquiring minds want to know

ANON THANK YOU FOR GIVING ME AN EXCUSE TO TALK ABOUT THIS IVE BEEN WAAIITTTIINNNGG

Before I get into this I have to legally preface that 1. I’m a Kallus from the lower levels truther + I operate off the assumption that he does not have any family and that plays a decent role in what's going on 2. We dont know alot about Jovans personality so I lowkey just go off vibes but in my brain, teenage him is starry-eyed, a little naive, but SO kind. Older him is a little bit of a douche (not terrible, just the kind of guy that you have to scoff at whenever they talk too much). 

Okay I have a whole headcannoned timeline so im gonna lay this out for u

It's 19 BBY, the empire just started enlisting and all the rich Coruscanti kids are FIGHTING for a chance to go to the academy because “wow that sounds so much more fun than regular university.” Jovan is a part of this demographic. 

So you’ve got this whole class of rich kids doing rich kid things, and Jovan is having a great time; it’s the fourth week of school, he’s found his friend group, he gets along great with his bunk mates, everything is fantastic.

Except theres just this one… fucking guy…

This guy is in, like, half of Jovans classes and Jovan just can’t stop thinking about him because where in stars name did this skinny, scrappy, snappy, kid with a gnarly side eye come from???? Why is he so sickly looking???? And so mean????

And Jovan’s always been a curious guy, he wants to figure out what this guy’s deal is so he, of course, takes it upon himself to befriend this Edward Cullen looking ass dude. Easier said than done; Jovan finds out very quickly that Kallus does not trust easily and it takes at least three weeks of Jovan forcing his friendship on him (inviting him to sit with him in the mess hall, offering to help with assignments, sitting next to him in class, ect.) for Kallus to hold a full conversation with him. 

From there, though, it gets easier. Turns out that Kallus is, quite possibly, the coolest guy Jovan has ever met. He doesn't gaf about what people think about him, he’s gotten into fist fights before (real ones, not sparring!), he fucking parties, he fucks, he can hotwire a speeder, he’s so naturally smart, and cunning, and resourceful– Jovan is completely entranced by this guy. 

^^^(completely entranced by this guy.. I never said Jovan had good taste)

In the meantime, Jovan helps Kallus out with some of the pre-req classes needed for their first year, because as cool as he is, Kallus is not good at physics. 

By the end of their first year at the Academy, Jovan and Kallus become very close. It’s that kind of friendship between guys that, if you saw it from an outsider's perspective, you’d be like, “oh… are they..?? Do they..????? What???” but tbh they don't even think about it because they’re too busy being stupid

Now, the imps do NOT like taking days off, BUUUUT all those rich families donating to the academy do, so I imagine that– at least in the first few years of the empire– the academy had a short, 3 or so week long summer break. 

So we get to break, and Kallus is like “oh wait, I don’t have anywhere to go over break, guess I’ll just rough it out on the streets for a few weeks ig. Nothing new tbh.” And Jovan is like, “What???? No???? You’re not doing that????” and Jovan invites Kallus to tag along on his family vacation (idk where they go, maybe like Naboo or smth, I didn't think that far). Kallus obviously accepts. 

So they go on this vacation, and Jovan is thinking to himself, Waiiiiiittttt a minute………. I actually have wanted him so bad for like 3 months. Maybe it was a bad idea to invite him, like I’m gonna blow my cover fuckuckufckufcjukcf.  But he’s like not trying to do anything about it because he’s all nervous. But THEN, last week of vacation Kallus is like. “I actually think that you should let me kiss u on the mouth.” and Jovan is like “okay bbg say less.” (Jovan fell first if that wasn’t clear)

(This situation is about to get ALOT gayer)^^^

AND THEN THE BREAKUP

They graduated the academy a year prior, Kallus has been doing his ISB training, Jovan has been doing whatever tf you do to become a lieutenant. They’ve been together for four-ish years atp. 

Kallus is SO locked in with his ISB training. Like he was a dedicated student before (he was top of his class for a reason), but this is borderline obsession. He’s never home, always working, always tired, ect ect. In the meantime, Jovan is climbing the ranks and he is lowkey kind of power tripping over it. He’s getting kind of entitled, a little passive aggressive, and is not really putting effort in tbh.

So Jovan is all annoyed because Kallus is always at work and he literally just wants to hang out with his boyfriend. Tbh, he thinks that Kallus is getting way too ambitious way too quickly.

And Kallus is all annoyed because Jovan isn’t giving him any good reasons to leave work, in fact, Jovan has been grating his nerves lately because he doesn’t do anything. Jovan isn’t ambitious enough. 

The resentment is BUIILLLDDDIINNNGGG

The night they break up is FUCKING CRAZY, OKAY

Jovan picks a fight because he fucking feels like it and Kallus is not having ANY OF IT. Huge blowout fight ensues; Jovan says something classist or something, Kallus calls him an “entitled, prissy twat,” Jovan tells Kallus with the “you wouldn’t have even graduated without my help,” Kallus fuckinf kicks the wall or something, Jovan starts yelling about the drywall, Kallus is like “okay, fuck you AND your goddamn drywall,” and JUST LEAVES

The next day Jovan comms Kallus like “bbg pleapelaleapsleapsleaplsea I messed up im sorry plzplzpzpzlpzlzpzlzp” and Kallus ignores the hell out of him. 

Kallus is pissed because tbh if things just went better, he honest-to-god would have married that man, but noOOOooOOooO, Jovan had to be STUPID

AND THEN SIXTEEN YEARS LATER KALLUS ARRESTS THAT HO and he is SOOOO HAPPY ABOUT IT

But then Jovan shows up in the rebellion and Kallus is so annoyed. 

Because for 1. He is kind of prissy and self important and most people would agree with that 2. No way they ended up in the same place after 18 years, that is so bs, and 3. It’s so awkward that Jovan has all of this info about who Kallus was growing up, and the life he lived before going into the ISB– in fact, he probably knows more than anyone in the Ghost crew just because he was there– and that is so mortifying

Jovan is so stoked

Because for 1. Kallus did all that work in the ISB only to end up a rebel anyways and that is hilarious 2. He has so much mildly embarrassing material about him in his back pocket. But tbh it’s kind of bittersweet for him because Kallus is his One that got away (He was planning on going RING SHOPPING, and then he got BROKEN UP WITH, what the FUCK) and he always reasoned with it by thinking that Kallus was irrevocably changed by the empire, and the Kallus he fell in love with wasn’t going to come back. BUT THEN IT TURNS OUT THAT HE IS BACK– yeah, he’s got a beard now, and he pretends to be all serious, but he’s the same snarky, cunning, side eyeing idiot that he fell for. And he knows he can't have him because that train has LEFT THE STATION

^^(This art is old so its a little jank but shhhhhhhhh, its the vibes that matter)

So he obviously deals with this by selling embarrassing pictures of Kallus from their academy years to Sabine, because that’s probably the best revenge he’s going to get.

Kallus is obviously over him, and has been for a LONG time, he just doesn't like Jovans personality, and Jovan kinda wants Kallus back but apparently that's not an option so they do end up creating a dynamic where they are so petty to each other when they get the chance. (Which is not often because the rebellion is big and if they can avoid each other, they will.)

[soulprompts]

THE ART OF TIME SLIPPING. ( A PROMPT LIST! )

an absolute genius of a nonnie requested these, and i had a weekend off, and i wanted to write these because, i mean. time travel is a tasty concept on its own, but ACCIDENTAL time travel???? exceptional! anyway, my beloved nonnie, i truly hope that these are what you were looking for! and i hope everyone else enjoys them too! as always: DO NOT ADD TO THIS LIST OF PROMPTS! and do not claim them as your own!

FROM THE ACCIDENTAL TIME TRAVELLER:

“ look, i get it. I do. you have no reason to believe what i’m saying. but i promise you: i’m from the future. “

“ how many times do i need to tell you?! i’m not even born yet! you won’t see my birth records for months/years/centuries yet! “

“ wait… hold on a second, what year is it? “

“ you don’t even have the first idea what this feels like. i just found out that i somehow missed the last [INSERT TIME SPAN HERE] of my life, and in the blink of an eye. “

“ listen, this is going to sound mad, but… you’re my mother/father/parent [OR OTHER RELATIVE]. i can’t prove it, but you are. It’s the truth. i swear. “

“ i don’t understand how i came to your time. but i do know i need to get back to my one. “

“ i seriously wish you’d all stop asking me these questions! i don’t know how i got here! i just… slipped! it just happened! “

“ it’s so weird. all this stuff that’s going to happen between now and my time… i don’t even know if i should tell you about it. “

“ all the times i wanted to be alone, or i wanted to just be somewhere that nobody knew me… this isn’t what i wanted. “

“ i just want to go back to my own timeline. okay? I didn’t want any of this to happen. i never meant… this is so messed up. “

“ wait, you believe me?! i just told you a completely wild story about being from another time, and you just… trust that i’m being honest?! “

“ the wildest thing is, i didn’t do anything to get here. you know? i didn’t drive super fast, i didn’t turn a hot tub into a time machine. i just… i was home, then i was here. “

“ i guess there’s a risk it could happen to other people in my timeline, but i’m more concerned about me right now. “

" if i don't go back... there's no knowing what could happen. and if there's the slightest risk that you might stop existing if i choose to stay, then i don't wanna stay. your world needs you. okay? "

" hey. no matter what happens now, i want you to know that i'll never forget you. you believed me and my unbelievable story about time travel. that's not something that gets forgotten easily. "

TO THE ACCIDENTAL TIME TRAVELLER:

“ prove it. prove that you’re from a different time. then i might think about believing you. “

“ …sure… you’re from the future, yeah? okay pal, i believe you. so tell me, when was the last time you slept? “

“ this is some kind of dumb prank, isn’t it? wow. well done, well played, you nearly had me. jeez, time travel… that’s just next level insanity right there… “

“ i don’t know why, but… i think i’m going to believe you. it doesn’t make a single bit of sense, but fine. you’re from the future/past. “

“ how did you end up here? or should i say… now? “

“ haven’t you seen a single time travel movie? if you stay in this time, that could mess up the entire world! “

“ i… imagine this must be very weird for you. right? or is that the dumbest understatement of the millennium? “

“ if you’re from the past, then that means we should probably keep you away from the history books. it feels like a solid rule not to spoil your future for you. “

“ look, i can’t watch all those cheesy sci-fi flicks and then ignore the possibility that people can travel through time. “

“ no. no, i don’t believe you. i don’t believe a word of what you just said. but i figure i have nothing better to do, and i kinda wanna see where you’re going with this crazy story, so… let’s go out on a limb and say you’re telling me the truth. “

“ hey, i’m asking the questions here! you don’t get to just zap into my back yard and then assume you get to ask all these questions! who are you, and how did you get here?! “

“ did you live here before? or… like, in the future, i mean? “

“ the way i see it, there’s a lot of far easier lies to believe before you could ever expect anyone to swallow the whole time travel schtick. which probably means you’re telling the truth. “

" look. you wanna get back to your own timeline, right? that means we need to replicate everything that happened the exact second you showed up here. so let's go. "

" this is completely absurd! how did you end up here?! science? magic? how! this completely destroys any and all theories of quantum physics! you just... blinked into the past/future! it's just not possible! "

" from what you're telling me, it sounds like you could end up destroying the universe just by staying here too long. so let's find a way to get you back home. "

" you don't get it! if you're from the past, that means you need to stay there in order to keep this timeline safe. right? like the butterfly theory. if you're not there in the past, then you can't do your part to secure this timeline. we could stop existing if you don't go back! "

" i mean... would it really be so bad it you stayed? sure, a new timeline would exist, but... it'd be our timeline. where you and i get to stay together. that's not so bad, is it? "

[centrally-unplanned]

I have been taking my fit-and-starts second stab at playing Victoria 3 - I did a Japan run, and a Korea run, and this is a very frustrating game. It bothers me because its deep core is probably the best of Vicky so far. It understands that the appeal of these game is Factorio-esque; you want to build up this cool little supply chain that goes chug chug chug I make-a the widgets and numbers go up.

Vicky 1 was ofc just pure cheese; most goods could just be dumped on the global market with no buyer and do fine, certain goods were just hard-coded to be profitable, and insane things like 100% of import costs coming out of the government's budget pushed you towards a kind of samey, slapdash hyper-industrial mercantilism. Vicky 2 was the opposite - so opaque in its function that you as the player didn't really have agency over it, as the vaunted World Market just does its thing. Your strategies "worked" no matter what you really did though, so you just kind of followed basic "build factory in same territory as RGO" logic and let the system run itself. Both of these systems made for functional-but-not-exceptional gameplay loops.

Vicky 3 is more complicated than its predecessors, but in ways that makes how the economic system functions more concrete. You have local prices for goods, wider markets with clearly labelled high-and-low demand, and clearly defined "production methods" where buildings can commit to better tech at the cost of different inputs. As a player you can build factories, farms, and mines of a dozen different types anywhere, so you always have agency - and those new production lines gives you goals. Invent steel tools, so now your tooling workshops can make more tools but will need steel instead of iron as a input? You can switch over the lines...but make sure you have enough steel mills! And oh, that drives down the price of tools once you do it...so now your cattle ranches can justify switching their line to tool-assisted butchers! And now you make more meat, your local cost is low, but oh in the Russian market meat prices are high - as shown by that little gold coin icon it - so you can export it now!

Things are looped, contingent, and based on your decisions. It is simple, of course, you are making lots of little, easy calls that build you up over time - which is what makes it fun. It has to be simple, because otherwise it is a dizzyingly complex web of a million markets, it would never work. You feel like you are actually building the economy without being overwhelmed by it.

Which would be great if it wasn't stapled to one of the worst political & military systems I have ever seen, played with a UI God abandoned in shame.

So you can join the markets of other countries? Like you have your own market as a default, so you can click the "market" tab and it will show you how much wheat your country makes, how much iron it buys, etc. All good. But if you join another country's market, now that tab shows the collective market, everyone's wheat, iron, etc. Useful but like obiously I am not playing the market, I am playing the country; so how do I see how much wheat I make?

You can't.

You actually can't! Idk maybe they patched it in recently, but I couldn't find it and all the reddit threads I google from 2023 say you can't. Are you planning to declare independence and wanna see if you make enough food for your people? Too bad! Fuck around and find out I guess. I saw one thread where someone's advice was "save the game, declare independence, screenshot the new market, then reload". Quantum timeline level of experimental design going on in these guys' Bureau of Labor Statistics.

It isn't even the gameplay implications that bother me the most - this is a game about building an economy. You want to see what you built! And they stop you. It is baffling, and is just the tip of the iceberg - there are so many things like this. One of my favourites is that your "construction sector" is a hybrid of government and private projects, sometimes it is you spending the money, sometimes investors. Okay, cool, when it is you spending it comes out of your treasury, right? Well, yes, but the way they show that is when everyone spends it comes out of your treasury, but the private sector reimburses you for their share. Which you will not understand your first ~3 games, and instead just see huge red numbers on your budget screen and panic. And you are just left asking why? Why do that?

Beyond UI, the political system is just half-baked. It is "interest groups", each has baseline popularity, and verrrry slowly that changes as your economic structure changes (or revolutions). And to change laws you initiate campaigns to drum up support with roll dice to pass/fail. Which isn't a bad baseline, but it completely fails to capture how political change occurred in the era. Like the Meiji Restoration is "done" by you putting industrialists in power and kicking out the "landlords" lol. Japan didn't have industrialists then! Landlords are the ones who did the restoring of Meiji.

More importantly than inaccurate it isn't fun - to change a law you just arrange a coalition in power than kind of backs it, then pray you get good random events. In Vicky 2 they had a lot more railroad-style decisions and stuff you could do to capture history, "hit this military score benchmark and launch a civil war" kind of stuff. It wasn't complicated, and it was less organic, but it was pro player agency, you could take active steps to achieve it. In Vicky 3 it is mainly waiting or cheese - people often talk about getting the Meiji Restoration by deleting all your armies at game start and launching a civil war immediately that the AI will lose by default. A checkbox decision is better than that!

The military mechanics are the epitome of their "systems over gameplay" approach. What they wanted to do was two-fold; reduce micro in Vicky 2 where it is "click army to province" over and over, and "balance" the game by making combat not reward micro where players could cheese the AI. Very valid goals, I totally support it. What they did was built a system where armies auto-move to "fronts" and their AI can't handle it, but now as a player my agency over my units is gone so I can't fix it. The UI is awful, you can't even really tell armies to attack or defend, they just ~whim. You have to do a lot of clicking to fight the system - yes it is less clicking than Vicky 2, but in Vicky 2 that wasn't mentally taxing, it was fun enough to wage the war you wanted to wage. Everything was concrete and in your control.

Here...look, as Korea I declared war on China to gain independence. Then the UK - not my ally, just separately, declared war on China as well. So now we are kindaaaa on the same side? At which point half my army auto-reployed to Hong Kong because a "new front" had "appeared". One my one boat. Then the UK declared war on me as well and then 50% of my army was fighting the UK in the South China Sea alongside the Russians (???) while the other half of my army is sitting there at home facing the Qing troops along the Yalu River going "bro, wtf?". At one point a newly spawned army of mine tried to auto-redeploy to Senegal.

All of this is just so preventable - you wanna reduce micro? Make combat provinces really big. You just invade "Manchuria", no clicking from Jilin to Mukden, and have bordering armies support each other defensively or something like that so you don't have to dash back and forth. Don't try to make your AI "do it for you" because it clearly can't and you want to play your own game. I'm sure the above will get better as I learn the system but I can just see the hundreds of players who saw this system and insta-quit, because until you "understand" it, it stabs you in the back. Not what you want out of a game.

Anyway enough me whinging about the game for way too long - the fundamentals are strong in the end. I will test out mods, I could see an overhaul mod really fixing everything except maybe the combat (and then you just cope). I definitely want it to work, the potential is high.

[itslouisan]

Q!Philza headcannons:

I woke up and well, I'm feeling silly wanting to talk about Q! Philza since in my opinion he is one of the most complex characters in the QSMP, but also after the confirmation he is the same Philza as in hardcore, EarthSMP and DSMP, with the only exception being origins SMP (despite me having a headcannon about it and a whole timeline where all of it ties together) I thought, why not just show some of my headcannons since I kin this bitch way too much to point of Insanity and he is my comfort character and streamer, shall we?

Under the cut for a LOT of Q!Philza hc:

• First of all Phil has multiple scars from battles, it's confirmed he used to go to wars and with all the lore of the DSMP, QSMP and so on, I imagine he has a lot of them especially in his back and arms with occasionally 1 or 2 near his eye

• Due to said scars he never takes his kimono/samue off, the only exception being intense training where he needs more body flow and lightweight and in serious fights for the same reasons, he probably feels too exposed, vulnerable and even "dirty" showing them off, traits crows also have (avoiding vulnerability that is)

• I'm just gonna brush it slightly on a CHARACTER (NOT streamer Philza) interpretation in his sexuality and gender, if you guys want I can go deeper into it but meh: he is bi and ace, more in the gray sexuality spectrum than anything and enjoying jokes about sex without actually needing to do it, he is a transmasc (FTM) and crowgender using he/him and crow/crow self pronuns. The fact I view him as bi and not as a straight ally (which I did before the QSMP) is due to the fact Q!Missa and Q!Fit were a thing, again I could talk more in depth about this but only if you want

• In my vision character Philza (once more ONLY character Philza) shows traits of having anxiety disorder, either social or just general and some traits visible in people with both ADHD and Autism, which makes me hc him as Autism level of support 1 (tiptoing around 1 and 2) and ADHD PROBABLY combined type (both inattentive and hyperactive)

• His safe food is avocado toast and any potato related food due to Techno.

• Has sleep issues due to constantly having nightmares of the events of the DSMP

• Has back issues due to spending MONTHS sleeping in a chair to watch over the eggs

• He doesn't necessarily views Q!Cellbit as a son, but I think he definitely likes Cellbit company and gives him a ton of advice seeing how Cellbit has massive need of a father figure to guide him through

• Paints his nails with Chayanne, Tallulah, Cellbit, Pac, Mike, Roier, Fit and Jaiden and uses this time to "fofocar" as much as he can with all of them.

• Doesn't like tea but uses it to calm down and heal injuries anyway

• Definitely Cellbit top costumer in his coffee shop and actually talks with Cellbit about brewing techniques (reference to their original duo name being "coffee duo" and irl Phil loving coffee and Cellbit too)

• Has a hardcore heart and Wither rose tattoos in each of the inside of his wrists.

[quitealotofsodapop]

[The ones who manage to unearth their version of Luzhen clutch the newborn Stone Monkey tight, sobbing at the joy of finding another of their kind.]

That’s those that do have them. Their universes aren’t identical, so there is likely some that don’t have a Luzhen because their moms mate did perish in the flood: like, say, TMKATI-verse.

Mostly because I was looking through the old posts and one way for Luzhen to be born was somebody locking Peach into the furnace, but not turning it on and that counting to start the process. Obvs different rules now, but variety, you know?

That and the rest of the SWKs can quickly learn why Stone Eggs are a last resort kind of deal, with Peach nearly croaking during birth. Like, ‘Damn, there is a way for us to die, even with all these immortalities’, you know?

Also: [Cherry, holding his little bro up like Simba: PEEEEEBBBBBLLLEEEE!!!!!!!]

If none of the modern kids do the Circle of Life, I will be disappointed.

Recall that back then also were going by the thought of Nuwa having a hand in SWKs creation? Well, thought here: she’s responsible for Reborn-Luzhens creation. Don’t know, just had the idea of a small undefined soul causing some havoc near Nuwa – because it wants a family, it was promised a family, why won’t it be getting its family anymore – reminding her of the Havoc and she ends up making a little clay monkey for the soul to inhabit.

Kinda like TMKATI, just less pregnancy and more clay.

Then she drops the little troublemaker off at Smokey’s, “He really wanted to be born” she shrugs and peace’s out.

Smokey, who was doing his best to suppress his grief at the apparent fact that his dad had died in his world, just now has waterfall levels of water coming out of his eyes. His little brother harassed a god to ensure his own birth! Truly, they are related.

[The knowledge that he might be considered divine royalty under Celestial Law would be a bit much for him right now.]

Honest question: what do the rest of the SWKs think about that? Like, that has to knock the wind out them, for sure.

referencing the Wukongverse learning about Stone Matriarch au + our older post about Nuwa and Houtu making Luzhen on accident + Furnace - Fire = Stone Egg.

I should really do an updated TMKATI timeline post once my exams are over. Currently I'm thinking of altering it so that the twin boys of the Nodelets - Jidu and Luohou - are the ones created from one of the parents getting trapped in the Furance without the fire, likely from LBD stealing the Furance/capturing one of them. I'm thinking Luzhen (like possibly Canon!MK) would be created by Nuwa since TMKATI!MK got found by the Shadowpeach parents as a "broken" egg and they accidentally became his parents.

The Stone Matriarch au likely doesn't apply to many of the other universes since it is in of itself an Au. If any of the SWKs find an egg at the bottom of FFM/Mount Huaguo, it's like a million to one chance.

The one that does is super hyped/sad though. Not sure which.

-

I love the idea of Reborn!/Smokey's Luzhen getting created because Nuwa encountered a little chaotic soul wanting to be born + realising that she shoudl probably give him to someone with a similar origins.

And let's just say; what if... Reborn!Luzhen's soul was created as a reincarnation?

The Reincarnation of a *certain* Primordial Demon who has just died? And may need to be raised in tandem with it's Qi Energy counterpart in order to grow into a (mostly) balanced monkey?

>:3

-

As for the method in which: (Stone Monkey + Furnace) - Samadhi Fire (or they waiting too long) = Egg?

Most likely candidate would be Netflix!SWK/Cherry.

Because he's the exception of Monkey Kings who haven't been "furanced" yet.

I'm just imagining the next Wukongverse he pulls up looking SUPER rough.

Starfruit: "Wow, you look like Hell." Cherry, covered in burn scars: "Don't remind me. Ran into some jerks who stole a bunch of alchemy supplies from the immortals." Sugar: "Calabash?" Cherry: "No thanks I'm not hungry. Well anyway this guy working for Heaven thinks I'm too dangerous to be walking around, and he tosses me into this big pot. I run out of air and somebody turns the heat on! For like a month!" All the SWKs who Know: *winces of sympathy* Ace, jokingly nostalgic: "Ah the Trigram Furnace. Usually happens before the Buddha's hand though." Cherry: "Yeah don't remind me. Luckily my new friends got me out and woke me up." Dawn, suddenly pauses: "Wait. Woke you up?" Cherry: "Yeah I sorta passed out just before the worst of the fire started." Dawn, gettign concerned: "And were you asleep for that whole time?" Cherry, getting nervous: "Yeah??" Dawn: (*shares a look with the other monkeys. A bunch nod their heads with nervous expressions*) Cherry: "Why, what's the problem? Did you guys not fall asleep?!" Smokey: "How could we? The flames of Samadhi nearly turned me to ash. Only way me or any of us survived it is because the Wind corner has a higher pressure." Cherry: "There was corners in there?" Dasheng: "You didn't train in alchemy under Subuhti as we did. The Trigram Furnace is made up of eight corners according to the major celestial elements, with each corner having the properties of that element. The Wind element feeds but also suffocates fire, so even True Fire weakens there." Cherry: "Oh. I think I survived cus I just went into a dissociative state and became a statue." Dawn, now convinced: "YOU PETRIFIED!?" Cherry, getting scared: "NOW I AM!?"

Cue the monkeys who know about how Stone Eggs are formed dragging Cherry to see Guanyin. The bodhisattva explains that; yes, Cherry is carrying a mini-him all wrapped in a stone casing, all because the lack of air in the Furnace caused his body to believe that it was time to bud off into a new monkey. Cherry faints. Joyfully.

Cherry, rambling excitedly: "A mini-king! No! A Prince! NO! A PEBBLE! And he'll be *just* like me!" Dawn, stressing: "Aren't you worried that it could kill you!?" Cherry, brushing him off: "Pff! I'm immortal. Can't die. If I was really worried - I'd just grab a few more pills or peaches." Dawn: (*grabs Cherry by the collar of his armor and pulls him closer. eyes glowing red*) Dawn: "I have over twenty times the amount of immortality you have, and I almost f*cking died. The only reason I'm here today is because Guanyin, the goddess of safe birth, was at my side. And because my Macaque would have dragged me back from Diyu if I had. So. Be. Worried." Cherry, nods fearfully: "Y-yes sir."

But the young Monkey King is still super jazzed about his upcoming mini-him. Even if he's now looking up other ways him can become immortal so that he can meet his little pebble and give him the hugs he himself was denied as a baby.

-

Lastly this part might need to be it's own post due to the amount of thoughts I has.

[The knowledge that he might be considered divine royalty under Celestial Law would be a bit much for him right now.] Honest question: what do the rest of the SWKs think about that? Like, that has to knock the wind out them, for sure.

Send in more of your thoughts :3

[zorlovinghue]

Novel/Manhwa Recommendations

..... which you might not know exist, already know and read but got no other creature to talk about it, in shambles cuz there's little exposure, know but haven't read yet, don't know and might be interested, and etcetera etcetera.

==============================

Is It Bad That the Main Character's a Roleplayer

You see it right. From the cover and title alone, we know the MC is a chuunibyo with concerning level of emo. He is Demon Knight. Yes, that's what he called, I haven't read far so I'm not sure if the name will be revealed later on.

MC's characterization is, if you know Lee Hoyeol from [The Player Hides His Past], that's exactly him, except he had to do it himself, so the secondhand embarrassment is........ strong—

The setting and world building is great, the fighting scenes is clearly detailed and I especially love that every arc is elaborate. You can see the author put effort in their research and there's plenty of staggering inspiration on how close-combat scenes in specific background could be proceed–if you're an author looking for that exact thing, you can give it a shot and if you're a reader, this is magnificent and brilliantly done!

(The arc in the sea is quite long, there's pirate and stuff too if you're interested *ominous whisper*)

Poor guy wants to come back but have to be hero first. This give a new perspective on how transmigration story with MC who got normal (yes) background and family he cherished will become, the emotional tones is particularly deep for this one but the action did a wonderful job in balancing things out.

I was Mistaken as a Monstrous Genius Actor (adapted to manhwa)

You may be aware that I've been into this lately... And yeah I'm gonna babbling about this more.

MC's name is Kang Woojin. His parents still alive, he got a younger sister and three best buddies. All alive! Wow, no one's dead. This is not a transmigration, regression or reincarnation story either. I'm pleasantly surprised, which is ironic in and of itself.

He got a power that allowed him to enter the world of the script and live as the character he chooses to act on, both a blessing and a curse. Since most of them are dead in the end so he died multiple times too. His power gives proper carrot and whips, meaning although it was dizzying he was able to take a rest too, no fainting accident even if he's overworked to death.... So far! I'm nearing 300ish chapter and the novel had finished with 480 chapter, highly likely won't be any fainting accident.

What I love about this story is that the pacing is fast yet precise. Date, month, year... Name of the day and time, contrary to my initial fear of having this tedious, it's actually really helpful to have a fxcking crystal clear timeline! In Korean novel at that!

This is misunderstanding-based story, like the author directly and straight up telling the reader that

Is the main focus.

This story have more comedy, so although the story itself have emotional tones sometimes, it is less pronounced when it comes to the MC himself (the characters he acted on got better treatment bruh)– which can be either good or bad depending on your tastes, but if you prefer action more like me then this is actually a good thing. And, this is a novel where I can perfectly say that it utilizes sensory perceptions more than 'poetic' description, incredible for that!

Another thing, a sensitive one and I braced myself for this, is that the novel actually friendly. Vietnam, Japan, Hollywood... And French later on (i haven't reach that point yet). MC going abroad like he was taking casual stroll is everything. The 'passion' and 'competitive' spirit is the tamest and calmest I have ever found. You can clearly, clearly see the author did it as minimally as possible and overtime cleverly utilize the flow so the relationship between the countries is now welcoming, not just tolerated. The amount of scarcity for this is enough to warrant acknowledgement.

The Player Hides His Past (adapted to manhwa)

Lee Hoyeol here...! Been a while since I read the novel so I apologize in advance.

This is game-turn-reality story, you might already know from the title so I just want to say that one more time.

His character's name is Grandfell Claudi Arpheus Romeo, which he created on his early teens, another chuunibyo here. The story's world-building is great, the exploration of each arc is immersive and I love the emotional tones was clearly conveyed when it's due. It did a good job in adding depth and actually fleshed out the characters' existence excellently.

The fighting scenes, the strategies, and the executions are all great! It was amazing that even though the world building was quite complex it turned out brilliantly, so the dissonance is little to nothing and you can vividly portrayed the world of the characters.

Oh and, he is another MC with complete family. Goodness gracious, he's the youngest out of four siblings and have a niece too! It's the adorable part that I absolutely adore.

==============================

[pruneunfair]

Ranking OI maids.

23: Dobiella (The villainess maker)

The 20 people in the villainess maker fanbase have already agreed this girl is literally just Dobby as a anime girl from the way she speaks to the fact that their names sound similar. Most maids in OI tend to follow 2 personality traits: either they devoted to the point of nearly being husks or they are mean bullies who pick on their boss. Dobiella though... she takes that to a whole new level, girly isn't even a person she literally needs a purpose to live, even Ayla is creeper out by it, That hairstyle she has is wack too.

22: Lina (the tyrants perfumer)

Similar to Dobiella except it's not to such a concerning degree. She's a decent character but the bar is already quite low given how the characters are simple in TTOP.

21: Ellie (50 tea recipes of the Duchess)

Her design is cute I won't lie, braids and glasses are a classic ill always be a sucker for. But again, she's really not much other than a shy follower to Chloe ready to defend her. Won't change the fact she's still my favorite character in 50 tea recipes of the Duchess.

20: Ruby's maid (how to get my husband on my side)

I honestly cannot remember her name 😞 I can't remember which chapter she debuts in so I kinda just gave up on looking. anyway when it comes to personality she's still a tad dull but she's still got more than the last 3. The design is pretty meh but I can't fault her too much, she was pretty nice for all the times I remember her on screen.

19: Emily (actually I was the real one)

on one she really annoys me for some reason, probably cause she comes across as a real suck up but on the other hand, I can understand her desires for fancy clothes and materials.

18: Mina (Actually I was the real one)

Cosettes maid she had for like.. 5 chapters. I know a lot of people hate her for talking smack about Keira and not being grateful enough but the girl was also a homeless woman with her little brother. Cosette used Mina as a tool for her goals and let her get deported when everything went wrong during the rite arc. Remember the main reason Mina did what she did was because Cosette was using her brother's comfort and safety as leverage.

17: Annie (The villainess turns the hourglass)

Again, can't blame a maid for wanting a little more in life, with that being said it feels a tad weird whenever she acts like a pet whenever Aria offers her gold. Don't really like the fact that she also covered up Annie's freckles, let the Freckles be seen! 😤

16: Urania (From maid to queen)

Her rank might go up or down in the future since I've just started reading maid to queen but I liked the idea of a protagonist who could actually be selfish instead of perfectly kind or badass. Urania gets way too much hate so far in my opinion because she's actually more realistic and the only thing I'm concerned about is that she might become too stupid in her goal to return as a concubine since it's how she died in the first timeline.

15: Rose (Actually I was the real one)

The most iconic it Keiras maids. I preferred her first appearances more but for a maid with another personality dedicated to Keira but she's not as annoying as Emily and shows up more often than Mina. I do like her but there are better ones.

14: Emma (the villainess turns the hourglass)

out of all the evil maids Emma was one of the first who at least did it in a way that wasn't just tampering with food. She was a noble who lost her wealth and suffered a miscarriage so it did explain why a maid would be classist and raise Mielle with a superiority complex. Not bad for a side villain.

13: Anna (Not your typical reincarnation story)

I didn't really care about out her at first, she had a lot of Kuu dere traits and for a while she felt like a robot, thankfully she develops little by little as time went on and I love her for it.

12: Jessie (the villainess turns the hourglass)

Homegirl was just trying to do her job and I love her for it. After what Aria put her through in the first timeline she deserves that extra compensation.

11: The head maid (How to get my husband on my side)

Does this woman even have a name? 💀 I may have said braids+glasses were one of my favorite designs for maids but it's only 2nd to the experienced and almost muscular like designs. Beyond that her personality legit makes sense. She is universally hated for not accepting Ruby and while i do think attacking her for no reason is stupid it makes sense that's she not gonna immediately trust a stranger when she has people like Ellen to take care of. Speaking of that the relationship Ellen had with the head maid for as little of it that is seen is still very wholesome. We love our older ladies.

10: Emily..again (Death is the only ending for the villainess)

Probably the most iconic of OI maids and of course I like Emily but I do wish she had a little more to do with the plot, not bad but there are better ones.

9: Granna (Handmade tales of the handmaid)

Another maid protagonist but her concept is actually unique, a old woman who passed away of natural causes unexpectedly transmigrated as a 15 year old maid and with her experience cleans the mansion she works for with ease. The story is so far amazing and Granna mentally being an old woman instead of a ordinary office worker gets her extra points.

8: Lilian (who made me a princess)

Give this woman a raise Claude! That woman did so much for Athy I still consider her the one true parent to the kid.

7: Delice (Remarried empress)

Delice may only be remembered for being mutilated by Rashta but she still holds a special place in my heart. I felt so bad for her when her brother just told her nothing was wrong when Rashta was growing unstable and next thing you know during her next shift she gets framed and tortured 😢. Rashta I love you but not cool girl! In another universe Delice got to be spared and run away to start a little flower garden or a toy store with her dream husband.

6: Sancha (Sister I will be the queen in this life)

This little cutie deserves more than what she got. Don't get me wrong the story treats her pretty well when it comes to her new life and Ariande as a friend but at the same time.. I kinda think she exists to be the token homeless girl for Ariande to bring in to look better, she doesn't do much outside of cheer her lady on and I don't really care for her love interest that much. However I have noticed that Sancha is usually at her best when she's away from Ariande meaning she does more then be a cheerleader. Her moments of refusing to forgive Malleta were her best moments for her character. Speaking of which..

5: Malleta (Sister I will be the queen in this life)

one of my most favorite problematic queens though that's not saying much considering most of my favorite characters are toxic women. First of all: the character design, Sancha looks cute and all but she has the same super cute petite and youthful look most OI maids have. I know it's just because SITQITL puts non conventionally attractive characters as villains with exception of Ceasre and Isabella but I still love that Malleta stands out with a plus sized body, freckles, and narrow eyes instead of doe eyes. Her personality while admittedly trashy is still so entertaining given how delulu she can be. Personally I wish there were scenes where she and Isabella would just be gossip girls and talk shit about all Isabellas enemies. God why did she have to die so soon 😔

4: Chuchu (isn't being a maid better than being a princess?)

Pay no attention to the fact that she shares a name with a LOZ monster. Like I said my favorite kinds of maids are the muscular types who could carry a an entire table which is why Chuchu is one the greats. She's a total gentle giant and I'm so glad the series didn't kick her out completely when the FL moved on.

3: Helena (kill the villainess)

Im gonna throw hands with Helena haters cause what did she even do!? She made mistakes and was willing to apologize and make up for them and that still wasn't enough. Istg internalized misogyny did her dirty I tell you. As the 2nd FL I'm glad the author treated her with respect and actually brought up that Helena has feelings too just like Eris. What I loved the most about her was how she realistically handled the usual evil maid when some random maid put sand in Eris's dessert. When Eris slapped her Helena stood up for what was right and told Eris there was no reason to abuse someone else when they could easily just be fired. 👏 thank you Helena, thank you for finally doing what was sensible by firing the maid instead.

2nd: Sienna (isn't being a maid better than being a princess)

It was really hard to decide between Helena and Sienna so even though Sienna is up higher they are actually tied. Just gonna say it, out of all the FL's she beats all of them in terms of character design because that braid combined with green is perfect. The manhwa she's from is pretty short but it's still really wholesome albeit with a few cliches and random sad flashbacks.

1st: Bridgette. (This isekai maid is forming a union)

Reddit can complain about isekai maid villainizing nobles too much but I won't care because Bridgette, like Helena, IS a maid and naturally would be against workplace abuse. It's funny how quick they'll be about complaining that the nobles are one note because they don't have justifiable reasons to slap a maid while they don't bat an eye at the numerous counts of villainized maids in OI beforehand. Back to the point though Bridgette is one of the most complex protagonists I've ever seen. She can be mean, she can be kind, she can rash and she can still be resilient. That's what makes her so relatable she's not a single personality teathered to a ball and chain. Not only that but it's her and the entire story that made me feel comforted knowing I wasn't the only one turned off by the iffy tropes in OI being supported.

These tropes are all shown through flashbacks of Bridgettes past lives and I have to point out how much they still feel so unique even if they are the same soul, each of them making me cry one way or another. (Fawn and Muriel, my babies! 😭)

[ozzgin]

LETS 👏GIVE 👏Y/N 👏SOME 👏LOVE👏

This is gonna be nearly impossible in real life but the anime has tons of non logical stuff SO...

Please make a HC of Modern Y/N meets prehistoric Y/N 🙏

Cause you know how somewhere in the earth someone could possibly be your twin?

That situation but in different timelines 😭🙏 perhaps maybe Modern Y/N is part of the science team and is SHOOK

Make the impossible POSSIBLE BEGGING

Y’all this is such a whole new level of meta-

I had to sit down and figure out how to even write this. Third person of (Y/N) variations? Second person except you never know which you is you? But I might sail forward with the latter, with the little twist that one line is yours, and the other one is yours. You get to decide. Pick your timeline or don’t pick at all and just be both.

Baki Headcanons: Prehistoric! Reader meets Modern! Reader

Featuring the Baki characters, you and you. (With a surprise you appearance)

“You never mentioned you had a long lost twin, (Y/N)” your coworker comments playfully. You return a hesitant laugh without looking away from your monitors. He has a point, the resemblance is uncanny. Save for the impressive size difference, every other feature down to the finest detail is eerily similar…no, more like identical to yours. There has to be a rational explanation but your mind is blank. Who the hell are you looking at? One of the screens flashes a loud notification and you jolt at the sudden disturbance. They’re waking up.

Your eyes are burning and the surroundings are blurry. You can almost feel your bones creaking as you groggily lift yourself up. There’s a faint tug at your skin and you touch around for the source. Long, thick threads seem to be attached to the surface of your body. Roots? Some sort of creature? You’d rather not wait to find out, so you swiftly rip them off. You hear a groan next to you and as you turn, your vision begins to return some clarity. Pickle is rubbing his face in irritation but immediately calms down once he sees you’re with him. At least you’re not alone. Although it doesn’t change the fact you don’t know where you are.

“Amazing”. Several people murmur in chorus as you stare down, towards the ancient creatures. You’d share their excitement if you weren’t so entranced and afraid by the view of a person that’s almost a perfect copy of you. You touch the double glass and wonder if perhaps you’ve been glancing at your own reflection all along. You don’t have to mull over it too hard, as the prehistoric man begins to lose his patience and the security window becomes a frail obstacle in the path of his massive fists. Within seconds you’re on the ground, scrambling to avoid the shards that now spread across the lab tiles. Is this how you die?

Pickle scans the room, completely baffled by the strange machinery. He doesn’t recognize anything. Not even the humans cowering in fear before him. He would like some answers, but doesn’t know where to obtain them. Frustrated, he grinds his teeth and considers his options. He turns to search for you and his head freezes. Did you…become smaller? What are you doing on the floor? He rushes to help you up, but you yell out in fear and try to shove yourself away. A familiar growl erupts behind him. It’s you. Confused, he checks the person he’s still holding. Wait. What?

Your wrists are aching and you’re panting. You can feel your knees giving up. Is he trying to kill you? Why you, out of all the people? The Jurassic man pauses in his movement and you shyly peep over towards the commotion that distracted him. You lock your eyes with the woman and she seems to be in disbelief. Can’t blame her, really. You’ve had plenty of time beforehand to process the similarities, but it’s her first time meeting you. Is she as shocked as you were during the first encounter? And then it hits you: the man thought you’re her.

You’ve often observed your reflections in the water and have always been fascinated by the phenomenon. As far as you can tell, however, there’s no pond or river around this time. Who is the person standing next to Pickle? You exchange a quick look with your equally bewildered mate. Oh, how exhausting. This isn’t your home and that isn’t you. You don’t understand. Maybe this stranger has some answers to all this. You step forward and squat down to the level of this smaller version of you. You’ll get to the bottom of this.

The wall crashes and you slap the emergency exit button. You crawl out of the cockpit, coughing out the dust particles and fumes caused by the explosion. Did the Time Machine work? You survey your surroundings and gasp involuntarily. Is it…you? There’s a tall, toned woman kneeling before a much smaller human, but they both bear your appearance.

My partner (that proofreads everything) absolutely lost it when he saw the request and found the idea so wild he wanted to write his own thing. So hereby attached are his own headcanons. Enjoy! This was a crazy ride.

Bonus: Baki Characters but it’s all You, the Reader

You reminisce about you fighting you. How you challenged you, met you in your underground fighting arena, how you circled around you, looking for an opening into your defense. How glorious when your fist hit your face, and how your blood splattered on the ground of your arena.

You are preparing to fight you. The strongest fighter in the world is you, and you are your son. If you want to have any chance of defeating you, you will have to become even stronger than you. So you train, every week, every day, every hour. In your basement you are facing yourself, so that one day you can stand in front of you instead.

You couldn’t believe your ears when you called from the survey site. In the salt, you found you fighting yourself, in the shape of a T.Rex. Reviving you after millions of years would further prove your spot as the number one scientist.

You feel yourself exiting your body, flying through the cold air. You rudely land on yourself lying among the trash bags. The unpleasant feeling wakes you up. Upon waking, you demand your clothes. You put them on, even though they barely fit your muscular body. You exit your alleyway, walking through the crowd of you. You stand out from yourself, so you spot yourself immediately.

[an-intronerd]

y'all know what i noticed the other day as i rewatched season 3 of voltron?

well. remember that moment when shiro is back (except it's not shiro it's a clone) and he finally cuts his hair and shaves his face and comes out to join everyone else looking weird and not shiro-like?

and then something happens and voltron is needed he just. interrupts keith. as keith begins telling his team what they should do.

(okay well, technically 'shiro' didn't interrpt, they both talk at the same time but that's not important)

and then keith just goes, 'i'm sorry. go ahead shiro.'

and is so fucking nice and understanding because like, shiro's always been the leader. and he's finally back, and keith is so beyond happy and just. yeah.

but 'shiro' just. doesn't say anything? like not even a 'thanks, keith'? doesn't even acknowledge that Keith is the leader, now, and that maybe he should let the a younger paladin speak. instead, he just starts talking, as if he's the leader? when he's not?

and it's like this moment where the first time i watched it, i was like, wtf this isn't something shiro would do, and the whole interaction felt so off? and now, as I'm rewatching with the confirmed knowledge that that was, in fact, not shiro, i'm just.

there's all these thoughts like, yeah, this is supposed to be as close to the real shiro as possible, but was this done on purpose? did haggae purposely program the clone so that shiro's relationship with keith wouldn't be as important? because we see these instances later on in the season as well as in season 4.

that moment when keith comes back from a mission with the blade and all the members (with 'shiro' in the forefront) are glaring at him with varying levels of anger and disappointment, but 'shiro's expression is by far the most??? unforgiving??? angry???

like, i'm lowkey dying. it was as if shiro was a totally different person in those seasons, like the way he treated keith was just so wrong compared to how i was used to shiro treating him.

and it was something i couldn't quite understand, because while i suspected that 'shiro' was a clone, like many others in the fandom, i wasn't totally sure. there were other possibilities too, like he was under galran control, or he'd been tortured during his disappearance and that changed him, but now, knowing it was a clone, oh man.

i'm watching the show with a whole new perspective and it's one of the things i absolutely love about voltron. they add these elements in later seasons that make you re-evaluate previous moments and it's just. so exciting???

----

ok, so i was clearing my drafts and noticed this dusty little gem and it just reminded me how much i had loved the show while it was airing. i think around the season 3-5 timeline, i was the MOST excited and reading my rambles from that time are making me super nostalgic.

i didn't have the heart to just, delete this out of existence, so i figured i'd post it.

and maybe rewatch the show, sometime soon.

[fyodcrs]

BSD 111.5: A Complaint (again)

All right. So.

I have criticized the S5 finale extensively, and now that the manga is following the same storyline almost exactly, I feel I want to air my grievances one last time, because it's just so bad. At least in my humble yet correct opinion (to quote Fyodor from the BSD dub). And it only gets worse the more I think about it. 

The writing here is...not good. I’m talking about the big “Chuuya was never a vampire to begin with” reveal, the retconned hand injury and what absolute contrived nonsense that is - and most of all, I’m talking about Dazai’s speech about why he “won” the "game," and how it makes no actual sense because what he says happened is not what actually happened. 

All of this is stuff I've talked about in other posts (I'll be repeating myself a lot here), but I really want to focus on Dazai's speech and why I just. Don't like it.

"You don't trust anything you can't control," Dazai tells Fyodor.

This is supposed to be the reason Dazai "wins": because he trusts people, and Fyodor does not. He relies on others he considers friends; Fyodor just uses others that he considers pawns.

And this is fine in theory. Indeed, it's been heavily foreshadowed. Personally, I think "Dazai wins because he has friends, Fyodor loses because he doesn't" is a super boring way to go with both Fyodor's character and with the conflict between him and Dazai, but whatever, we all knew something like this would be the reason for the ADA's victory over the DOA. Theoretically, it makes sense.

Except, it doesn't actually work the way they did it. It doesn't work because Fyodor's plan apparently hinges on the vampires, and Fyodor does not actually have control over the vampires.

In fact, Fyodor does not have direct control over any aspect of the Decay of Angels plot.

Fukuchi does.

First of all, the Decay of Angels plot doesn't begin until after Fyodor is already in prison. Fyodor is not the one who writes on the Page, and Fyodor is not the one in possession of the Page. Fyodor is also not the one who is in possession of Bram. All of this falls to Fukuchi.

Now, there is one interesting scene where Fyodor tells Dazai that he "added a line to the page":

But - unless I have my timeline mixed up - since the Page was not stolen and used until after Fyodor was sent to prison, this only suggests he told Fukuchi what to write. There is still no point where he actually had possession of the Page himself.

Fyodor is the one who set up the entire plot and arranged for all the pieces to be in place, but once it actually starts to unfold, he is no longer in a position to directly manipulate his pawns, because he's locked up underground thousands of miles away.

Of course, this does not mean he has been removed from play entirely; he is still communicating with the outside, and he is still able to manipulate the course of events to some extent, as we see when he (somehow; it's never explained) killed the pilots so Fukuchi could get his hands on the One Order:

But how is this any different from what Dazai is doing? Dazai lets himself be captured and locked away, too, to keep an eye on Fyodor and read his moves as things unfold on the outside. He is also in communication with his allies, and he is also able to do some string-pulling, as we see when he stops Fyodor's assassination attempt on Fitzgerald and the neutralization of the Eyes of God:

Basically, both Fyodor and Dazai have the same level of control over what is happening.

Dazai being superior to Fyodor because he "simply had faith" in Ranpo (and the rest of the ADA) implies that Fyodor did not have faith in Fukuchi. But that implies that Fyodor had some means of direct control over Fukuchi throughout the unfolding of the DOA plan and therefore did not have to leave anything solely in Fukuchi's hands. Or it implies that Fyodor had a plan independent of Fukuchi. Except he didn't. On both accounts. At least not that we know of.

In fact, in the anime (which I assume will be repeated in the manga in later chapters), Fukuchi says that Fyodor didn't have any direct control. Fukuchi tells Fukuzawa that he had Fyodor sent to prison for the purpose of preventing him from interfering in Fukuchi's actual plan. And Fyodor agreed to this. He got himself arrested on purpose. The reason he does this is suggested to be that the prison is essentially the safest hideout in the world. Except Fukuchi tells us that this action also severely hindered - though not outright neutralized - Fyodor's ability to influence events.

And I'm not trying to downplay Fyodor as the spider at the center of a complex web of manipulation, not at all. I'm simply pointing out that: a) Dazai is exactly the same, and is countering Fyodor move-for-move, and b) the plan still heavily relies on Fukuchi's independent actions.

As I mentioned, the DOA plot doesn't begin until after Fyodor is arrested and sent to Meursault. Fyodor was using vampires planted as guards as his means of communication (which doesn't even make sense itself, because when exactly would this have happened? When does Fyodor communicate with these vamps? Why did Dazai not notice this?), but Fyodor himself is not controlling those guards, Fukuchi is. Because Fukuchi is the one in control of Bram, and the vampires can only be controlled through Bram. It is certainly conceivable that Fyodor might have had these guards planted before his arrest, but the vampires are only usable as pawns as long as Fukuchi has control of Bram, or at least as long as Bram isn't in control of himself.

Using Chuuya as a pawn also requires Fukuchi to be in control of Bram. Therefore, Fyodor's entire escape plan relies on Fukuchi.

Fyodor literally cannot do anything with the vampires without Fukuchi. And if his entire plan rested on the vampires, that means his entire plan rested on Fukuchi.

In other words, Fyodor's entire plan rests on him having faith in Fukuchi.

It doesn't matter that Fyodor and Fukuchi are not "friends"; it doesn't matter that Fyodor thinks of Fukuchi as a "pawn" instead of an "ally" (although I should note we've been given no evidence of this, because we have never actually seen them interact and we don't know their relationship; we're just meant to assume this). The point is that Fyodor structured this plan of his to be centered around the actions of someone else. This is no different from Dazai. In fact, this is how the both of them usually operate. They just tend to have different ways of going about manipulating their "pawns"/"allies."

Then there's the "hand full of uncertainties" line:

How, exactly, was Dazai's hand "full of uncertainties" in a way that Fyodor's wasn't? How exactly did Fyodor have "the world in the palm of his hand" in a way that Dazai didn't? How exactly was Fyodor in more control of what was happening than Dazai was? As I've already pointed out, what we've been shown suggests they both had equal measures of influence on the outside, and therefore equal levels of manipulative power and equal amounts of uncertainties.

In fact, if we are to believe that Fyodor was surprised by Nikolai and Sigma, that was a whole hell of a lot of uncertainties being thrown at him. And just like Dazai, he just ran with it.

And the reality is that Dazai actually had a whole hell of a lot less uncertainties than Fyodor did, and a whole hell of a lot more control, because Chuuya was never a vampire to begin with. The moment Chuuya arrived, Dazai had the upper hand. It's not like he was ever in any actual danger from the point Chuuya showed up. He was in full control of the situation from that point on.

And you can say that's the whole point, Dazai was in control because he had an ally, but the point I'm making is that the only control Fyodor thought he had over the situation was also because of an ally that he believed he had. If he believed he was controlling Chuuya, he also had to believe that Fukuchi still had Bram and was still on his side. He was operating on faith in pretty much the exact same way Dazai was.

You can also argue that Chuuya showing up was proof for Fyodor that Fukuchi was still in control of Bram (even though he wasn't by that point) and that things were going according to plan. But I'd counter-argue that if at any point before Fyodor managed to escape Bram had had his will restored, Fyodor would have been fucked (had Chuuya actually been a vampire). The very act of using Chuuya as a pawn was a huge act of faith on Fyodor's part.

It's important to stress here that Fukuchi was not under Fyodor's "control" at any point, at least not so far as we've been shown. He is not brainwashed like Nathaniel. He is also not a throwaway piece. He is vital to the plan. And he has his own motivations. We aren't quite there yet in the manga, but we know from the anime what Fukuchi actually wanted, and we also know from the anime that Fyodor approached Fukuchi and propositioned him. They made a deal. Of course, Fyodor always had his own plan, but he knew what Fukuchi's real motivations were. Even so, he trusted that Fukuchi would carry out the plan as he instructed, at least so far as we've been shown.

The argument can be made that Fyodor doesn’t actually have any trust in Fukuchi, he simply trusts that he knows exactly how Fukuchi will act and that everything will go as he predicted. But how is that any different from Dazai? Ranpo negotiating with Bram and Bram ordering the vampires to attack Fyodor might not have been something Dazai and Ranpo set up beforehand, but it is certainly something Dazai planned for, because he purposefully set Fyodor up to be in a vulnerable position, anticipating that exact scenario. Again, they are both operating in the same exact way: not directly controlling their allies, but assuming that their allies will act as they expect. The only difference is that Fyodor’s “allies” did not meet his expectations and Dazai’s did.

I get that the point of this is supposed to be that Fyodor is undone by his cruel manipulation of others and his ruthless attempts to impose his own order upon the world. And that's fine. It's good, even!

The problem is...that's not what happened. Fyodor lost because he relied on something that was outside of his direct control: the vampires. Fyodor lost because he put too much control in the hands of Fukuchi.

And this in itself is a problem, because Fyodor should not have so heavily relied on Fukuchi. All of this would work for me just fine if everything didn't revolve around the goddamn vampires. You cannot have Fyodor's entire fucking plan hinge on the vampires, over which only Bram and the person who has possession of Bram have any control, and then try and tell me that Fyodor lost because he didn't have faith in people. Why would he use the vampires at all if he had no faith in Fukuchi?? Why would he get into a helicopter with the vampires piloting if he had no faith Fukuchi was still his ally and Bram was still under Fukuchi's control?? Why would he have agreed to go to prison in the first place if he had no trust in Fukuchi????? It doesn't make any sense.

And don’t try to tell me, “Well, Fyodor’s just arrogant.” That is the laziest fucking excuse you could possibly give to justify why Fyodor’s IQ points have been cut in half this arc. And, for the thousandth time I ask—how is this any different from Dazai, who also just assumed everything would go his way? Why is it "faith" when it's Dazai but it's arrogance when it's Fyodor?

Personally, I think BSD made a massive narrative mistake in putting Fyodor and Dazai in Meursault in the first place. It's over-complicated things.

Also, one thing that really bothers me about all this is that it's supposed to be a big character moment for Dazai, but...I don't see how this is any different from how he usually operates. Hell, this ruse Dazai and Chuuya set up is even something that SKK did before when they were a team in the Mafia. We've seen Dazai do this shit a thousand times. What's supposed to be the big deal here? The fact that he made a friendship speech this time?

It's just fallen really flat to me, and that's a bummer because I think Dazai is one of the most well-written and interesting characters I've ever come across, and I want to see great character development for him.

I've complained endlessly about Chuuya being in a Halloween costume the entire time so I'll just say here that it's really fucking dumb that Fyodor just. Didn't notice. That he was fooled by fake fangs and contact lenses. Dazai would have noticed, if their roles were reversed. Ranpo would have noticed. It really is just a case of Fyodor being made stupid out of nowhere so Dazai could win.

The retconned hand injury is also incredibly dumb, because first of all, in the manga it didn't exist until the last two chapters when it needed to exist. And second of all, the hand is clearly shown to be usable after the incident that is supposed to have injured it so severely that Fyodor needs the vampires - who, again, are not under his direct control - to pilot the helicopter so he can escape, and this is true for both the manga and the anime. It conveniently only becomes a problem when Dazai needs it to. Because plot, I guess. Because the universe is chaos unless Dazai is pulling another deus ex machina.

I really hate being so critical and so negative, especially about BSD, because it's been my favorite series for years now. But ever since the S5 finale I've been finding more and more things about this arc and it's conclusion (?) that make no sense to me. And considering that Fyodor and Dazai are my favorite characters and a large part of the reason I'm invested in this story, to see them both so poorly handled has left a very bad taste in my mouth.

In conclusion:

[atthebell]

the problem with trying to fix the why of the eggs disappearing is that no one knew the answer to that until they came up with the dumbass solution that they did in canon so there's like literally nothing to go off of. and i think them fleeing from something makes like no sense because adding another big bad muddies the waters so bad.

we already have the federation and then the codes, and clearly defeating the federation and escaping the island is the big goal for the very end of the entire series/server. so it doesn't really work for them to get a complete victory over that villain anytime soon within this timeline.

and the codes kind of wore out their welcome as villains, both because they kept pissing people off (me) and because the players were just too determined to prevent them from hurting the eggs. so i guess your solution there is the one they went with-- the codes decide to ally themselves with the islanders. except the level of their sentience and intelligence is kind of unknown, and frankly the way the whole code alliance resistance thing turned out sucked really bad (the order already existed!!! why not have the codes find out about it instead of acting like they're the only organized force fighting the federation on the island). idk how i would fix this aside from the islanders finding whatever network the codes were built on/running on and destroying it. which would be cool i feel like they (especially max) didn't get to do enough computer stuff. maybe max realizing that to shut down the codes he would also have to shut down sofia, and him making that sacrifice for the eggs that are still alive despite how much he love sofia as his child. idfk let max have more shit going on instead of fucking him over.

but anyway back to the issue of "why the hell are the eggs gone" i think you could introduce a small villain a la a season villain/level boss but it would have to be very clear what that villain's motivations were. maybe bring elq back for that but then kill him off for the love of gd sorry elq enjoyers he's just so lame. but anyway the federation fired him after the elections and he's gone off on his own to be a little evil bastard and he's holding a grudge about everything so he kidnaps the eggs (in a way that's actually believable, perhaps with a competent ally) and then they all have to go and find him and get the kids back. and he can do all his freak monologuing like he did at purgatory but it's less lame this time because it makes more sense.

or you can do like whatever if someone else wants to play a villain they can show up and play a villain or it can be some nebulous new entity but still not powerful enough that the islanders can't beat it within a short-ish timespan (thinking less than two weeks, and they get to see the eggs during this time, it's just that they're not quite safe yet). and you can do it in some new location if you want BUT NOT FUCKING PURGATORY and anything like purgatory (as in competitive event) should be optional and NOT FUCKING TIED TO LORE HOLY SHIT

anyway all this to say i don't actually have a solution for this i just wish it had not gone the way that it did

[areyoubea-why]

GUYS I WROTE DOWN A ROUGH IDEA OF THE MAIN STORY FOR WATCHER SO YOU GUYS CAN REFER TO THIS FOR CONTEXT

I’m also not a writer please excuse me..

Prologue

- Sans was from the timelines where he was a scientist

- This au wasn’t a science au it was just Undertale but set a couple years before frisk falls down

- Sans worked with his friend W.D gaster

- His younger brother names papyrus was twelve years old and stayed at home while sans was working in his new job in the lab as the co-royal scientist

- The story was playing out as usual until due to a mistake in the code making up the au, sans switched places with gaster during the CORE incident

- This meant that sans was thrown into the void

- This glitch was unintentional as this timeline was supposed to be a normal Undertale timeline

- The timeline became glitched and it started to corrupt

- Error found this timeline and destroyed it to stop the spread of the corruption

- The au and its inhabitants where deleted

- But sans was still in the void

Part one

- after sans fell, he ended up in an empty infinite black void

- No light or no need to eat or sleep or anything

- overtime, this lack of usage of sanses magic caused his magic levels to dissipate and it eventually sputtered out

- Sans was still alive but couldn’t access his magic

- That means his blasters, teleportation, bones, inventory

- Even the magic in his eye lights dissapeared, leaving him with really really bad sight

- He’s not completely blind though as the slight amount of determination in his system let him survive in these dire circumstances

- He also got used to the dark eventually

Part two

- eventually the void sensed someone stuck in there and spat sans out like rubbish into a landfill

- Sans was thrown into the nearest Undertale timeline which happened to be a genocide timeline

- Sans was met with his home, empty except for the dust floating in the air

- sans was terrified and ran to his house blindly as it was so bright

- Sans sheltered in the house in snowdin for a couple of hours before he felt the world shake before him and suddenly he woke up in the house

- But he wasn’t alone (guys I literally can’t do this I hate writing just go with it these r straight facts at this point not a story)

- He heard the sound of conversation nearby and left the room

- He came across his worst nightmare

- It was him??? And a tall skeleton

- The way the tall skeleton spoke reminded him of his younger brother papyrus

- He was reminiscing until the other version of himself spoke up to the tall skeleton

- This was papyrus ?? But old? Okay that’s odd

- Last time sans checked papyrus he wasn’t even a teen yet

- Sans was about to speak up when he felt someone behind him

- Suddenly he was grabbed and thrown into a puddle of some odd liquid

Part three

- The skeleton started yapping about “ wow a past sans” and “ you don’t see them outside the timelines often” or “ this one has like so magic what the heck??”

- Sans honestly missed the black of the void at this point because there were far too many loud noises and bright lights for him

- “Who the hell are you?” Sam’s asked the strange figure

- The blurry brown figure apologized for getting off topic, his name was ink and apparently he was the protector of alternate universes?

- Sans did not like this at all

- “Wow your eye sockets are so large and creepy hah! You’re just watching me !”

- Say that again.. sorry

- Sans was about to retort that if he can’t see well he can’t watch but ahh well

- Ink then tells him to go to the omega timeline where a human called core can help him

- Ink sent him through that horrible puddle thing again and he arrived in another bright area

Final part (please help me)

- Sans was given a place in the omega timeline by core

- Core was interested in this new sans as they had never gotten sanses from before

- They also did the math that he was very young compared to the other sanses, despite his odd appearance

- Core could sympathize with the big gaping eyes though

- “ wow your eyes are like mine, perfect for observing people!!”

- Core noticed that this sans needed a nickname due to the abundance of sanses in the area

- They saw the sans looking and observing people a lot and not interacting so they nicknamed him the watcher as a joke but it kind of stuck

- Sans was given a token which could help him travel to different aus

Final details

- the watcher used the token to study the og Undertale and he found out that this is him in the future

- Eventually the watcher came across prank tale and was dumbfounded by the sheer amount of noise and colour

- It was his worst nightmare

- The local sans was an eyesore too and an utter buffoon??

- They did not get on at first

- But eventually they became close friends and pt visits the watchers apartment in the omega timeline

- They get it all sorts of predicaments like getting stuck in the back rooms r smth

- The watcher gained a couple of close friends over time

Okay that is IT I am DONE writing I hate it

This doesn’t even count as writing it’s so bland and ewww

This wasn’t supposed to be anything special.. just context for anyone who wanted to know his story

Permissions -

Nothing to do with NSFW if you want to draw or write about watcher

You can write or draw him just credit me!!

PT doesn’t belong to me, he belongs to marvelous-baguette on tik tok!!

In conclusion

Name: the watcher

Age: physically 20 , mentally 35 due to being stuck in the void and not growing

-true neutral-

Strengths: amazing hearing due to having bad sight, good with guns somehow

Weaknesses: 1HP, no sans abilities, bad sight, papyruses

Fears: sleeping, quiet places, any papyrus, error

Personality: quiet to begin with, really friendly eventually

Friends: PT, park sans (belongs to a_lotta_socks on tt), system error (belongs to jenlinthegreat_ on tt)

Regarding sparky sans, my other oc who I talk about more on tik tok (beaboep), he is a what if character in another timeline where the watcher was found by the bad sanses instead of in and was given to the mad scientist sparky to be experimented on

Any typos are not my fault I do no wrong!

Thank you for coming to my ted talk 🗣️🗣️

[sonobeunitsarecool]

Sakurai Haruka: Theory pt. 2

Right, sorry for taking so long, but here's part 2 of the theory that Haruka spend a significant length of time in a psych ward. So the main parts of his MV's that imply this would be from AKAA, namely:

The room is a plain, unfurnished space, with light coming in from bars reminiscent of prison bars. They are high up, for safety. The chair is a simple folding chair, although it's a little too risky for something used on a psych ward (too dangerous, can be used as a weapon). I'd expect seats to be pillows, ottoman-like things, couches, or seating bolted directly into the floor.

A little window on the rooms of patients', it has a little hole on the side so it can be opened. This is used to check on patients at night, to ensure they are well and alive. It is not something seen in most other places, due to privacy.

There are two rectangles. One will be a light switch, and the other will be a panic button, if a patient needs assistance. They are loud. Many other places don't need two visible switches/buttons near the doors.

Here you can see the vent for the door, helps to hear patients and ensures proper air. The doorknob does not appear to be able to lock from the inside. The doorknob is a minor ligature risk, however ease of use and reduction of avaliable ligatures should make it a decent doorknob choice. The floor seen here is made of square tiles. Good for cleaning, however a risk for self-harm. It's shown as rectangular in other parts, but it may just be due to camera angle. All in all (knowing/agony), this can only be a depiction of a psych ward. This is backed up by Haruka's language skill level, as discussed in pt. 1, and what that implies in terms of education. What does this explain? Why would Haruka's time spent on a psych ward be shown, in a video depicting his mindscape regarding his crime? Does this fact put any other details into context? What can be inferred? Well, to start, were Haruka on a psych ward, it would explain his clothes. For the most part. In Weakness, the "current/teen" version of Haruka is in a plain, white outfit.

He wears shoes that aren't complex in design, and probably don't allow him any advantage in a fight. The clothes are white, good for washing and easy identification of patients, and don't provide any extra ligature opportunities. Now, there's a high chance that these are actually Haruka's clothes, not ones provided by the ward, because of something else later.

In AKAA, his shoes are different, but still white, harmless, and likely provided by the facility. Oddly enough, his socks are mismatched. He also wears his patchwork outfit, a combination of personal clothes and more formal/provided clothes. This is in line with some of his int. answers, such as: "How do you decide what clothes to wear for the day" - "I wear what's there" (because he doesn't have a lot of choice, plus spending a long time away from home would mean that he doesn't need many personal clothes to wear outside of the ward) "What do you think of the prison outfits?" - "They're kind of relaxing" (he's more used to the prison outfits than "normal" outfits, so it provides him with a sense of familiarity and comfort) Something that is not consistent with this theory would be his necklace! Except. If you look carefully, the only times we see him wearing his necklace in the MVs would be when he is unlikely to be on the unit at that moment. He doesn't wear it for most of AKAA, for example. But, he's still attached to it. Which makes me wonder as to where in his personal timeline did he come into possession of his mother's necklace? Because he cannot have worn it on the ward. It's an obvious ligature risk. But he's wearing it here:

Implying that he wore it during his murder of his victim. This is what makes me think that these are Haruka's clothes, because the ward would probably want its clothes returned to it upon discharge. (VERY low chance of killing someone while on the ward, and his victim was killed outside, judging by the little green patch in the background of the end shot of AKAA) Okay. That's a lot of reading into clothing. I think I'll cut it off here, and make a part 3. Didn't mean for it to get this long... Next time, I'll want to talk about how his time on the ward has impacted his behaviour, putting a lot of Haruka's actions into context that may not be immediately obvious for some viewers. It'll mostly be me going over a bunch of tiny details. Should I post about other things? I've been wondering about doing translyrics for Backdraft, a summary of how each character refers to everyone (honorifics, how they refer to self, how this changes), and a post on why Milgram makes no sense (or why it's not an actual prison), linking the info in this post to the Milgram facility. Should I do any of these? (And are there any other cipher texts I've missed, because for some reason I've become very interested in them. It's a whole other alphabet! I wonder if any of the merch has cipher text...? As an easter egg.)

[blueberry-ash]

Accidentally re-read Chapter 400-403 of the TKA novel, and now I'm invested in the idea of Ye Qiu finally getting to just... have his turn at stepping away from Ye family obligations.

(Random segue: this section of Ye Xiu backstory is absolutely one of those areas where I really feel Ye Xiu is an unreliable narrator when it comes to talking about himself. Yes, sure, he definitely saw his brother's Running Away Suitcase and nicked it, taking the chance to run away himself. But the stuff implying that he, in that moment, had a reasonable plan about going pro as a gamer, with a baked-in end date, etc etc, whereas all Ye Qiu wanted was to leave...? I don't really buy that. Nobody was going pro with Glory at that point, okay? And even if he really did leave to go play video games, doesn't that also sound just like a little boy (same as his brother), eager to jettison himself from their family situation? Maybe I have the timelines wrong, but I'm really pretty sure that Glory, and being a pro-gamer, and all that really only came along with Su Muqiu, by which point Ye Xiu is implied to have been basically living in internet cafes. That does not really sound like a kid with a plan significantly crafted beyond Opportunistically Leave and Do Frowned-Upon Hobby, okay?)

But. Uh. That aside. What I now want is the story where Ye Qiu finally does get his chance to just... fuck off for a while. To just leave. Not shoulder his parents' expectations, or even his own, just... go away, and maybe en route figure out what his dream actually is?

Except, I think you'd have to machinate an external excuse to allow him to do that, at this point. He's spent too long being The Good Son, y'know? That's not an easy habit to break. And it probably won't be made any easier even if/when Ye Xiu does actually return to co-shoulder the Ye family business or whatever, because even in a scenario where Ye Xiu does genuinely decide to invest himself in that in a wholehearted way, Ye Xiu is still never going to do it in a Ye Qiu Would Do It This Way kind of way.

Actually, I think watching Ye Xiu very successfully "Ye Xiu"ing his way through the tasks and expectations, which Ye Qiu has been making such a point of doing so dutifully and correctly all this time, would probably be a whole new kind of hell for Ye Qiu, ngl.

All of which somehow leads me to the wacky crack-y suggestion of: Local Pro Players Realise The Existence Of Ye Qiu Is Ultimately The Fundamental Reason God Ye Has Been Able To Be Their Great Goal And/Or Rival All These Years; They Reward The Guy By Kidnapping Him From His Corporate Life Of Responsibilities and Showing Him A Good Time. Which would, of course, lead to chaotic shenanigans all around, surely, since I truly believe he has ZERO interest in video games, and most of them probably aren't all that experienced at a huuuuge amount of stuff outside of them. The hell do they even end up? Dragging him off on a holiday that goes impossibly wrong, but somehow in a fun way--? I Have No Idea!

Of course, that or... Chen Guo just randomly tells him he's doing a direct swap with Ye Xiu, cheers, meaning he's now hired at the Internet Cafe/some administrative part of Team Happy, please and thank you, enjoy your newfound levels of relatively low pressure work, questionable pay, and excellent socialisation opportunities as we plunge you face-first into geek culture, sorry not sorry. Also, btw, this girl(boy)(whoever) from the front desk seems to have taken a fancy to you, have fun.