#rinofwater

[ruiniel]

Tagged

by @herinke9 to say five boring facts about me, well

I like sweet potatoes

Will spend a few hours in an airport soon

Anemic

The rime of the ancient mariner! 🖤

Always tired

0 pressure tag: @saintstars @ifishouldvanish @weskercoded @rinofwater @welcomingdisaster @an-darth-maiden @hirazuki @eveningalchemist

[rinofwater]

Finally did it

New chapter up :D

[omegastation]

rinofwater replied to your post “I didn't have the means to play MEA until like last month.. I'm on a...”

I agree with everything here...excpet the comment on Havarl. Yes, it's annoying, but personally the one I hate the most? Goddamn Kadara. Why? Because you think you're done and you can go on to something else, and then five more missions pop up when you get back to the Tempest, rinse and repeat, until you despise the place (but that's my take on it--still a good and valid post though ��)

I like Kadara because I can drop by and see Sloane so I don’t mind... But Havarl is anxiety-inducing. I spend so much time going “am I going the right way? Is this the right level? Where is the vault????????? Where is the next station? Below? Above?”

The history on Havarl and the quests are really interesting, it’s just the map that annoys me. But that’s my point, we all have our pet peeves when it comes to planets.

[bitsby]

Sarge Sings Sundays: Ep. 1.3

well, you see, @rinofwater​, sarge tried his best, and he thought he did a pretty good job apparently.

(i was doing so well keeping it together until the “nailed it,” too, rip me)

(link to the full SSS collection)

[smolfrogi]

shout out to @rinofwater I wanted attention and you provided without me saying anything

that's never happened before

[purplealmonds]

An addendum! As @rinofwater/ @the-mononoke-facade rightfullly pointed out, Hyper actually does remotely deploy his golden talisman in the first Bakeneko arc after Odajima pled with Kusuriuri to do something.

First, Hyper provides a barrier for Kusuriuri specifically as he attempts to fully unsheathe the sword:

When Kusuriuri (unwisely) changes the arrangement from a protective circle to a wall to protect the humans behind him, the Bakeneko's able to bypass it.

What is the saying - all cats are made of liquid?

I can imagine Hyper sighing exasperatedly when he deploys the next two sets of talismans to protect the humans stuck on the stairs:

Hyper: I don't know why you want to protect these chumps, but since you are my partner and I care for what you care about, I will reluctantly respect your decision.

Sato and Yoshiyuki are lucky. I get the feeling that if Kayo and Odajima weren't in their proximity, they wouldn't be afforded that protection, just like Yoshikuni and Sasaoka weren't.

But perhaps Kusuriuri was attempting to shield them as well? Right before his defeat, he was last seen brandishing a handful of golden talisman. Himself aside, these are the only remaining people that needed his protection.

Edit: Ah, correction - it seems like in her madness Sato climbed out of that protective barrier while Kayo and Odajima watched on in bewildered horror. I guess if humans really wanted to they can freely enter and exit these barriers as they please.

Interestingly enough these talisman remained deployed even after Kusuriuri fell into the Bakeneko. I think that's largely Hyper's influence. However misguided, his partner still cares for these humans and he'll be damned if he doesn't protect them to the best of his ability.

But let's get back on track! It must have been a heart-stopping moment for Hyper when the Bakeneko lands a hit on Kusuriuri which sends him flying into the heart of its domain.

Fortunately, Hyper has one more trick up his (short, nonexistent) sleeves:

Many people believe this white space is the domain of the Bakeneko, but I disagree. But did you ever how remarkably similar these free floating glyphs are to that of the partially activated paper talisman?

I believe Hyper created this pocket dimension of raw talisman power as a last-ditch effort to protect his partner. There aren't any full-formed eye glyphs in this space. And instead of his signature gold, the space is white. Between the golden barriers surrounding the humans failing off-screen and the state of this space, it's a clear Hyper's powers beginning to falter.

Luckily for the both of them, when Kusuriuri fell into the Bakeneko, it also internalized his intentions. I think its rage against him finally quelled when it realized why he was protecting these deplorable humans. It is not to protect them from a monstrous being, but to keep the alive long enough to extract the truths required to put it to rest.

Which is why Hyper allows the Bakeneko to reach into this protective bubble to share Kusuriuri the last shards of truths required to unsheathe the exorcism sword:

🧧💊👹Paper Talismans in Relation to Kusuriuri and Hyper's Evolving Powers

The paper talisman's primary function is to detect and ward off mononoke. Kusuriuri and Hyper have the unique ability to telekinetically manipulate them. Let's break down that ability further.

Manually sticking them to surfaces one by one is rather tedious and I bet less initiated medicine sellers may need to resort to that tactic.

Buckle in, this is gonna be another long one. (I nearly maxed out the 30-image upload limit)

Part 1: Talisman Deployment

Kusuriuri is capable of deploying multiple talisman at once. Though, in his early Bakeneko days there's no rhyme or reason in his arrangements.

At least he has enough precision to accidentally stick the talismans on the humans. Though he should really work on his tact.

Hyper doesn't deploy talismans in this arc, but he does summon a shield created from his golden markings which has a similar warding properties to the talisman. Not to mention, it uses the same sound effects as activated talisman if you listen closely.

From a meta animation production standpoint, making Hyper have the same talisman-deploying abilities as Kusuriuri instead of his own unique shielding abilities is more efficient and narratively consistent.

For a lore standpoint, this leads me to believe that there's a connection between the Hyper's golden markings, Kusuriuri's crimson ones, and the red glyphs upon the paper talisman.

Later, in the Umibozu and Nue arcs, Kusuriuri deploys them in a less wasteful manner. Note how they no longer overlap one another.

Tact is still not his strong suit.

Hyper once again doesn't use talisman in Umibozu, but in Nue he finally takes a page (heh, paper puns) from Kusuriuri's books. To illustrate his raw, yet controlled power, these talisman are nigh impenetrable by the Nue, and are manipulated into an organized grid-like enclosure floating in thin air which only the exorcism sword can destroy:

Naughty mononoke go into the exorcism box

In the Zashikiwarashi arc, which in the manga adaptation implies takes place after Umi Bozu, takes this precision even further.

Note how Kusuriuri brandishes them in this iconic (and marketable) pose and how they're arranged in a neat row instead of an ungovernable masses on the walls:

Hmm, the innkeeper and her assistant may be freaking out, but at least Shino (the person he's protecting) isn't. Character development, hooray!!

Although he has the capability to deploy more of them, he's now internalizing the economical "less is more" method.

It is not to say he's incapable of deploying huge amounts of them. In the Nopperabou arc, he is capable of:

1. Deploying not one, but eight rings of talisman at once:

2. Wrapping the talisman around an organically shaped object (the fox mask):

3. Constructing an entire-ass enclosure out of thousands of them - without using walls or other flat surfaces as scaffolding.

That's an insane amount of control. I'm actually a little sad that we don't get to see an evolution of Kusuriuri's ability in the final Bakeneko arc.

Hyper does technically deploy them at the very end. At first glance, it doesn't seem to be a creative improvement of his abilities. He's able to deploy large amounts of them in two neat sheets to ward off the Bakeneko's angry foot stomp, big whoop:

It almost did not occur to me that these talismans are deployed not in the mortal realm, but in the metaphysical domain of the Bakeneko. Although Hyper's not nearly as creative a Kusuriuri in using the talisman, that's one hell of a level-up.

Part 2: Object Manipulation

A less commonly discussed ability is that these talisman act as an extension of Kusuriuri. Objects with talisman adhered to them can also be telekinetically manipulated by him. A classic example of this is the fusuma screens from the first Bakeneko arc and Nue arc.

Sliding screens are relatively lightweight objects to manipulate. But the paper talisman - and by extension Kusuriuri - are capable of manipulating much heavier objects. Case in point, the barnacle-encrusted lid of the utsuro-bune in Umibozu which the combined efforts of most of the humans on the ship were unable to crack open:

So far, only Kusuriuri has leveraged this object manipulation ability. This makes sense, since he's connected to the physical human world while Hyper deals with the metaphysical one. But if Hyper does eventually use this ability, the implications are pretty damn massive.

If Kusuriuri's strength is enhanced from his normal white talisman, what would Hyper be capable of? In a pinch, if, say, the exorcism sword is knocked out of his grasp, could he then deploy some talisman to yeet a building, nay, an entire-ass mountain at a mononoke? The possibilities of badassery are endless!

Part 3: Manipulation of Sentient Entities (!?!)

Note that I did not say "humans"

In theory, it can be quite the useful ability. Stick a talisman on a human. If a mononoke stalks near them, it is repelled. If they wander into harm's way, you can yoink them to safety. If they try to attack or restrain you, you can yeet them so hard that they fly Team-Rocket style into the sunset.

Self-agency morality implications aside, I think there's a good reason why Kusuriuri takes care not to plaster talisman all over a human's body.

Consider the talisman's stuck on Shino's pregnant belly in the Zashikiwarashi arc. Look what happens to Shino when she removes a single seal:

When the seal's protective properties are activated, removing it abruptly takes a dangerous toll on a sentient entity.

Shino was "lucky". She was not the direct subject of the talisman's protection; the mononoke living within her was. Yes, not her unborn child. A mononoke, whose creation were the twin triggers of the potent emotions of the Zashikiwarashi residing in the former brothel and Shino's fear of not being able give birth to her unborn child. A mononoke which she met and bonded with prior to Kusuriuri sticking the seal on her:

Even before the seal was removed I believe the seal was already tearing Shino's Zashikiwarashi apart from the inside. It is simultaneously trying to ward it off from Shino's body and "protect" it from the Zashikiwarashi existing outside of the womb. This is why, despite her apparent "miscarriage" of the Zashikiwarashi, her actual child seemed alive and well at the end of the story arc:

I'm pretty sure if she didn't misplace the good luck doll around her wrist, she wouldn't have been infected by a mononoke in the first place. But then the assassin would have killed her and her child so I guess this traumatic mononoke encounter was her best case scenario?

If applying a seal indirectly to a Mononoke can kill it, what toll would it take if the object of its protections is a human body?

I believe that originally, the seal's protective properties are derived from small but potent fragments of the Medicine Seller's influence. When that influence is destroyed by a mononoke, the seals disintegrate:

Since this Kusuriuri is aligned with wood (see my theory regarding eye colors and elemental alignments here), I think the destruction of his influence manifesting as paper burning to cinders is apt.

However, when applied to a sentient being, I theorize that the seal begins sapping that being's life force to sustain itself. If that being remains in constant danger, a negative feedback loop forms and the talisman becomes increasingly parasitic in nature.

There's also one more incredibly obvious example of this. Remember how I said in the beginning of this analysis, that "there's a connection between the Hyper's golden markings, Kusuriuri's crimson ones, and the red glyphs upon the paper talisman?"

What are Kusuriuri and Hyper, if not the paper talismans in humanoid form? The talisman's abilities, after all, are an extension of their powers.

And when Kusuriuri, this humanoid talisman, seeks to protect the (mostly undeserving) humans in the first Bakeneko arc...

Yeah, he's not doing too hot. I think this equates to the state of the talisman when the glyphs become dyed blood red to ward off the the mononoke.

And when he further overextends himself...

If he didn't stop shortly after this, I think the damage would go far beyond the rupturing of superficial vessels and rapidly coagulating blood dribbling like tar out of aforementioned vessels.

What if those blood clots start forming in his lungs? His heart? His brain?? This is a very, very dangerous line for him to walk which could result in irreparable damage to his.

I theorize that if it ever gets to that point, the markings emblazoned on his face will spread like bruises and envelope his failing body - similar to how the paper talisman turns fully dark crimson before dissolving.

Kusuriuri's desire to protect these humans is destroying his body. Paper talismans would sooner disintegrate into a pulpy mess than allow the objects of their protection to be harmed a moment sooner. Thankfully, our medicine seller knows when to give up.

This is why after the first Bakeneko arc, we don't see Kusuriuri overextend himself like this again. Seeing his partner go through this near-fatal ordeal, I can also understand why Hyper decides not to use his built-in shield too.

They found creative ways to use those paper talismans, which are a less risky way of offering similar, albeit less potent protections. The tradeoff is worth it. After all, they can't continue to sleuth and slay mononoke if their bodies are permanently out of commission.

[ruiniel]

TY for the tag,

@mirkwood-hr-department (again🖤your choice of music)

Take screen shots of your lock screen, last song you listened to, last movie you watched, and the last picture you took.

0 pressure tag: @angel-teeth @celestialtulip @celebbun @cilil @blauerregen @hirazuki @i-gwarth @nlxori @papernstory @willowwhistles @saintstars @narisz @rinofwater and anyone else

[rinofwater]

Do you have song samples? How far into it are you? (Game building) lol

I have song samples from before I got ahold of new VST plugins, so what I would have to post right now wouldn't reflect final sound or quality (though if you/anyone is interested, I can post a few here)

As for how far in I am...not very? Like I have a general idea of how I want everything to go down, I'm trying to outline everything at the moment because trying to do a branching story freeform is...very hard. As it is, though, I do have the prologue for one of the two factions you can play as just about done, including side quests and stuff, it just needs polish. I've been considering whether or not I want to release it publicly once I get it more polished to gauge interest in the idea, but I also don't want people to judge the whole project based on a 30 minute-1 hour text adventure (since that's all it is at this point 😅)

And thanks for asking! One of those days I'm going to start up a dedicated blog for this project, I just always feel bad because I don't have the traditional deliverables you would expect for an indie dev blog at the moment...

Anyway, have a great day!

[moon-dumplings]

SO i found this in Animal Parade, and while I have seen it during a previous gameplay years ago, now i somewhat understand why there is a picture of Elli at the Fisherman’s in Harmonica Town.

In Harvest Moon64, Elli (the ancestor of FOMT Elli) mentions that her deceased father was a very good fisherman and is the reason why fishing is her hobby. The wiki mentions that in Tree of Tranquility Elli moved to Waffle Island from Flowerbud village to apprentice under Yolanda. Flowerbud is where HM64 Elli is from, so this could be HM64 Elli as she is seen selling cakes and pasties at the flea market, or HM64 Ellen as a young lady as Ellen mentions having taught Elli everything she knows about baking. OR it could be that the Elli in the photo is HM64 Ellen’s daughter who married an ancestor of Ozzie’s which would make more sense. That being said Gray from HM64 also makes a cameo so it could indeed be HM64 Elli..? Or it's a descendant of Gray who also works at Green Ranch??

EDIT:

@acustardduckling​ brought up a good point, i think, in that TOT and AP seem like different universes, and i do remember feeling the same way when i played it long ago. Tho I’m still confused by the fact that she appears in TOT but not AP, yet there is a photo of her in AP, which initially led me to believe there might be a time-skip between the two. I also did extra searching trying to find TOT Elli’s japanese name as thats usually the easiest clarification, but no luck. I did however find that her birthday in TOT is Fall 1st, as is HM64 Elli’s, so i guess it would have to be that they are the same Elli after all! It still leaves me to wonder why Ozzie has a Sepia toned picture of her/her ancestor in AP tho, as her TOT profile mentions her having no family in Castanet? There still could be the possibility that she once had family from there or that was where her father was from. I dont think any other fishermen in the game have a framed photo of Elli, to my knowledge.

EDIT:

@rinofwater informed me that AP actually takes place a generation before TOT and that potentially makes a lot more sense as to why Elli’s photo at Ozzie’s. There isnt much info about Ozzie, Toby, or Paolo, but Toby and Paolo do look very similar to Elli and have similar personalities.

Also, does anyone know any better, more in-depth resources than the Wikia?? Will update again if/when i find more clues!

[ruiniel]

TY for the tag, @an-darth-maiden !

i’m over 5'5 / i wear glasses or contacts / i have blonde hair / i often wear sweatshirts / i prefer loose clothing over tight clothes / i have one or two piercings / i have at least one tattoo / i have blue eyes / i have dyed or highlighted my hair / i have or have had braces / i have freckles / i paint my nails / i typically wear makeup / i don’t often smile / resting bitch face / i play sports / i play an instrument / i know more than one language / i can cook or bake / i like writing / i like to read / i can multitask / i’ve never dated anyone / i have a best friend i’ve known for over five years / i am an only child

0 pressure tag @a-world-of-whimsy-5 @i-gwarth @herinke9 @rinofwater

I was tagged by @cffeine in a tag game where you only color whats true abt you!! Ty for the tag :)

i’m over 5'5 / i wear glasses or contacts / i have blonde hair / i often wear sweatshirts / i prefer loose clothing over tight clothes / i have one or two piercings / i have at least one tattoo / i have blue eyes / i have dyed or highlighted my hair / i have or have had braces / i have freckles / i paint my nails / i typically wear makeup / i don’t often smile / resting bitch face / i play sports / i play an instrument / i know more than one language / i can cook or bake / i like writing / i like to read / i can multitask / i’ve never dated anyone / i have a best friend i’ve known for over five years / i am an only child

And im taggingggg @lotus-reblogs @evilkaeya @emtearzz @seukorei :)! No pressure ofc 🫶

[rin-the-composer]

So I started working on this song...??? months ago? I don’t even remember. And I found it again and I was like “hey this is pretty neat! Imma pick it back up!” And then it was labeled “Love Song Thing” and I’m just sitting here listening to it and thinking “What was past me thinking? This is hardly a love song! This would be right at home in the mines of Stardew Valley, you know better!”

So anyway, I’m going to pretend that this was inspired by Stardew Valley from the getgo (love me some good SDV OST’s) because yeah. It’s my music so I do what I want, right? Hope you enjoy!

[freezing-kaiju]

@rinofwater Maboroshi can mean illusion, phantom, a short-lived dream, or a fabled/very rare item! My guess is that that chapter of the Tale of Genji is usually translated as illusion though, so the sinners went with that. Works on several levels but illusion is the most applicable one I bet

Kakegurui for your Nose pt 4, the medicine seller brings us home, i would love to know what goes on in her head sometime

[awesomecrappeoplesay]

Me @ my cat

Submitted post by @rinofwater:

Cat: *laying on chest purring while I pet him* Me: 10/10 best cat! Me: *shifts a fraction of an inch* Cat: *stands up and steps on my neck to get off me* Me: *coughing* 9/10...almost best cat

[shepard-headcanons]

I head canon my Shepards to be totally pissed at Thane for dying. Don't get me wrong, I love Thane to bits and pieces, but romanced or not, Thane's death could have been avoided. He practically jumped on Kai Leng' s sword, and he was so stubborn about the lung transplant thing, and with Shepard having JUST watch Mordin sacrifice himself...IDK, but with them grieving and under stress, I just feel like they would be furious with him for dying. Submitter note: Not Thane critical, just Shep grieving.   

sent by @rinofwater

[omegastation]

rinofwater replied to your post “[[MOR] I’m genuinely and completely bored now, in a way that I...”

Yeah, if one more post of a certain pairing shows up on my dash a thousand times one more time, I'm kind of thinking about just unfollowing Some people because like, sure, that pairing is nice and all, but I have other pairings I like too but I barely see anything from those, which makes me sad. I mean, I know I'm partially at fault for not contributing anything useful, but still IDK, it just makes me sad and a little annoyed (because there are a lot of similarities between certain pairing fan content after a while so I'm basically just seeing the same thing over and over and over again)action

You’ll have to unfollow the entire mass effect fandom 

IDK, me I’m not too worried about similarities because I assume some people are new so it’s their time to discover and enjoy it, it’s just the constant obsession, 99% of the tag constantly being One Character, One Pairing, even One Species

I’m really tired of it. I can’t bring myself to be interested in that. I know some people are having the time of their life because of this so I hope they’ll have fun and all but me I’m definitely not having fun lol 

[sandrockianblues]

@rinofwater possible candidates-

Haru and Logan, relationship or friendship, Qi made a more impressive bomb after telling Haru his was lacking and Logan thought it was cool, thus their bond was fractured.

I’ll let you know if Qi breaks anyone else up.

Qi: I just ended a five year relationship.

Mint: Oh no, are you okay?

Qi: It's okay, it wasn't mine.