#route guards

[codewithnazam]

Dynamic Routing in React Router

If you’re a web developer working with React, you’ve probably heard of React Router, a popular library for handling client-side routing in React applications. React Router provides a simple and efficient way to create routes and navigate between different views in a single-page application (SPA). While static routing is commonly used in React Router, dynamic routing offers even more flexibility…

[beaulesbian]

no but the parallels between the names of the books

the foxhole court - for neil -> who found his new home and family with the foxes, who became so fast so protective of him after three books of finding out whats all had happened with him, and grew closer as a family

vs

the sunshine court - for jean -> who found his new life with the trojans who took him in and gave him space to live and grow, and to see the sun! (and hopefully we will read all that progress he did. ouch. can't wait).

[frango-maconheiro]

little does he know.. i'm here for the money...... and his hand in marriage.

[serpentface]

Interview Question for Etsushir:

What was the vibe like as a foot soldier during the suppression of the North Finn Rebellion? Did it feel doomed from the start or did it only fall apart once the Odomache was assaulted and killed?

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

I said I wasn't going to get started on the topic of Aveline ruining Carver's chances with the guard but I lied okay, it's Carver Hawke defense hours.

Here's the thing; it doesn't matter if you believe Carver was or wasn't fit for the guard. That's a different debate that I'll get to. What matters is Aveline's in no position to tell the guard not to accept his application. Why does she think that's her right to judge whether or not he's fit?

Carver should've had the chance to prove himself one way or another. If it turns out he's not a good fit, then let him fail. Let him learn from it.

"Oh but failure could mean lost lives-"

Aveline doesn't get to talk shit about failure and the people. Plenty have died on her watch yet she still believes she's a good guard and Guard-Captain.

"maybe Aveline's protecting him, Carver could die while on patrol-"

Carver could die working in the Bone Pit, or serving as a templar, or when he's running around with Hawke. Carver could trip and fall down a set of stairs and die. In fact, he can die in the Deep Roads, somewhere he wouldn't have to go if the Hawke's weren't desperate.

Either Carver fails as a guard, or more likely, he succeeds and proves himself worthy of it.

But let's be real, Carver probably kept getting rejected due to being a Fereldan with a past of smuggling/mercenary work and Aveline only reaffirmed the decision, either because they asked her what she thought or she stuck her nose in unprompted.

But what irritates me is that she admits to telling them not to accept his application, and then has the balls to call Carver too proud to take up a trade or find another line of work.

Carver tells her, "And who would take on a Fereldan apprentice? Maybe in another year I could work my way up to pissboy." He has a good point here. Aside from the guard, the only other place Carver could work and use his skillset is with the Templars. Or go back to mercenary/smuggling work.

And Aveline doesn't even have a real answer for him. No suggestions, no encouragement, nothing. Just "Fine, let's crawl down some holes. Good bloody luck for your sake."

Also, if you do the Mark of the Assassin DLC in Act 1-

Aveline: You should see if any of the noblemen are looking for new men-at-arms. Carver: Are you trying to get rid of me? Aveline: It's a role with some autonomy. A good fit with your training and... tendencies. Carver: After serving King Cailan? You want me to suffer some poncy git who needs two servants to wipe his own ass? I'll find my own way, thanks. Aveline: I wish you would.

You wish he would?? Aveline, he was trying to find his way into the guard, a position he'd make a good fit for, and you helped deny him of it because YOU didn't think he would be good enough, I just-

If I haven't made it clear yet, I firmly believe that Carver would've made a great guard. He wants to help people, to be a protector. He's loyal, and despite what Aveline claims, he can follow orders and take his duty seriously. We see him do incredibly well with the Grey Wardens, after all. If he were a guard, he wouldn't have to go down into the Deep Roads with Hawke, and I think he would've been okay with that! He's so hurt and bitter when you leave him behind because that effectively tells him, "I don't need you." Carver's spent the whole first act telling you he wants to go on the expedition aka that he wants to be needed.

But if he were a guard, he would be needed elsewhere. He'd be in training as a recruit. He'd look after Leandra while you go. He wouldn't be backed into a corner with no income and only the templars left as his chance at forging his own path and providing for his family.

He doesn't get that opportunity, though.

By the way, if he becomes a warden, you can get this banter:

Aveline: I'm glad you found a place with the Wardens. Carver: Well, it's not the city guard, but it'll do. Aveline: Carver... it wasn't the place for you. Carver: No, it's all right. It is. It cost a lot, but I get it. I really was a bit of a tit those days, wasn't I? Aveline: Well...

This banter makes me want to scream.

Aveline's just... she's so insistent that she's right. She's someone who will double down rather than entertain the idea that she's wrong and it's not just with Carver and the guard, it's with everything. The "my beef with Aveline" list gets longer and longer every time I replay da2, I swear.

Say what you will about Carver, whether you think he would've been a good fit or if Aveline's right and it wasn't for him, he was denied a chance and it cost him so much in the end. He either dies, or he joins the templars where he deals with Chantry's bullshit trying to brainwash him with "mages aren't people" and "magic is a cancer in this world", or he's infected with the blight and becomes a Grey Warden, forced to serve the rest of his life fighting darkspawn, tormented by voices and nightmares.

I will never not be bitter about this.

[spacegirlsgang]

DBD x Met Gala (1/4): Edwin Payne and Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination (2018)

[promise-keeper-papyrus]

Undyne thinks that Papyrus is too innocent and nice and he would be a total pushover in the Royal Guard...

However, the rest of the Royal Guard is honestly no better...

All it takes to make the Dog Guards stop attacking you is some head pats...

The Guards in Hotlands that are a gay couple are easily defeated when you convince them to confess their feelings and they leave to get ice-cream...

When you offer Papyrus friendship, he actually tries to resist at first... Plus, he's the only one that's actually following Asgore's orders... Which is to capture humans and bring them to the King for him to kill, not to kill them yourself...

There's also the fact that all the guards (including Undyne) are so focused on hunting an innocent pacifist Frisk, that they ignore other potential monster criminals...

Like Muffet aka a spider monster that scares people into buying her treats... She also possibly killed and eaten monsters before, considering that she wanted to eat Alphys in Genocide...

The violent Mad Dummy that attacks others out of anger issues...

Mettaton, who happily admits that he's going to abandon monsterkind and save humanity (which makes him a traitor) and he also shows on LIVE TV that Alphys is helping Frisk aka the enemy (it's an act, but nobody knows that until the end)...

Alphys also kept amalgamates trapped in her true lab and away from their families (which is illegal)...

My point is, Undyne and the Royal Guard aren't as competent as they pretend to be...

[thanatika]

yeah i agree with your point about survival mechanics and i feel the same way about the lack of combat mechanics. "why would an educated city doctor need a weapon" because shit is hitting the fan in every way impossible and pretty much everyone is walking around armed... also why am i supposed to believe the the fact that he's a man of intellect will somehow provide him with food? i don't think anyone is going to be too eager to share food during an outbreak intellectual or not...

+ follow up for the previous ask but actually my favorite quest from the original pathologic is the day 11 bachelor quest that involves shooting down soldiers. i think it really drives the point home about how this random fuckass guy who is supposed to be battling a plague doesn't even have the time to do that anymore because the people in charge are asking completely irrelevant things of him now and he's at a position where he cannot refuse what is being asked of him. like i think it was good storytelling that even as the guy who lowkey wants to deal with the plague and solve its mystery you still have other, more pressing, less interesting and or pleasant tasks to complete

i agree! honestly, i feel this way about the combat mechanics even more than i do about the physical survival (food, health, illness, sleep) mechanics. because sure, i can see how it makes sense for daniil's position of authority to mean that his basic needs are somewhat provided for -- although i don't think it makes more sense than what we got in the original game. i've never seen anyone bring up "isn't it kind of unrealistic that the bachelor isn't given lots of food during a massive food shortage?" as a plothole that needed to be resolved. the townspeople generally don't like him much, and most of the people with power don't either, except for the kains. sure, maybe it's kind of weird that you can go see the kains while broke and on the verge of keeling over from hunger, and they won't do anything to help you, but... the kains are pretty self-centered, and they're so goddamn weird that maybe they forget that you need to eat food to live anyway. and it's half-implied that the powers that be are ultimately giving daniil this role as a convenient way to kill him, so it makes sense that they would put no pressure on the town authorities to keep him alive.

(and honestly, artemy is taken under the olgimsky's auspices as much as the kains take daniil's under theirs! which is to say, selfishly, with ulterior motives that are more important to them than the well-being of their healer, but... the olgimskys are set up as the wealthiest of the 3 families financially, as well as the ones with the most access to food, given their control over the meat industry. so if anything it's "weirder" that artemy isn't more materially provided for, though to be clear i don't think there's an actual plothole there either way.)

but anyway, you could handwave it and say that daniil's position of privilege and authority gives him more perks than he got in the original game, but the amount of fighting you have to do to get through town is... kind of an unavoidable physical reality? like you're given so many sidequests that you often wind up walking around town after dark, and that's when the bandits come out. is the idea that the bandits would be too scared to attack him because he's so important? because that doesn't make a lot of sense to me, and even pathologic 2 establishes that he's seen as a valuable target by the bandits:

and then there's the quests where combat plays a more direct role in the story itself, like getting involved in saving andrey from the firing squad, or killing guards to break artemy out of prison, or the quest where you have to kill var in attempt to stop the arsonists (which i include on the same tier as the other ones because i really like the quest journal entry he has if you complete it where he blames himself for willow's death. it's a good character moment.)

hell, even in pathologic 2 itself, one of the biggest Bachelor Moments is on day 11, when you have that big dramatic convo with him after he killed a soldier for the papers he was delivering. plus one of bad grief's idle dialogues in patho 2 is commentary on the bachelor being "quick on the draw" and that he "already shot someone". like he just straight up is not living a combat-free existence. and overall, combat isn't just a good tool from a mechanical perspective, heightening the stakes and placing pressure on the player (though it is), it's also pretty important for him on a thematic level imo, almost as important as artemy and his "rivers of blood". in patho classic, daniil has this early interaction with the inquisitor:

which, thinking about it from a doylist perspective, was probably the writers' attempt to make it sound more plausible that this random medical researcher from the big city was competent with multiple types of guns. and i appreciate them coming up with that hint of backstory to cover their bases a bit, but with those bases covered, i think the fact that daniil ultimately spends more time shooting people than he does prescribing medicines for them actually does a lot for him thematically? i mean, if his whole thing is that he's this "tempted destroyer", someone who frames his career as a combative battle with death rather than a quest to save people's lives, whose "default" solution is to raze the town with artillery because he's too limited by his rationalist worldview and military upbringing (and bitterness over being manipulated and sabotaged) to come up with a solution that saves the any remaining infected survivors on his own. plus the way that clara frames artemy and daniil as two sides of the same coin in being violent destroyers and killers, who without player intervention will immediately devolve to running around chasing each other down in what's either an insanely dedicated tom and jerry LARP or some really elaborate foreplay. imo, that whole dichotomy (which is pretty core to the game, as the idea of dichotomies are core to it in general) works so much better with the way they're both presented in classic, stalking around with gun/scalpel in hand. hell, not to mention the effect that spending 12 in-game days trying not to starve and getting killed by bandits or guards or worms or soldiers every day would have on the player, and the way it would make them feel about the town and their natural projection of those feelings onto dankovsky, who is a perfectly fitting vessel for them as the avatar actually undergoing those virtual experiences.

ultimately i think they are mainly going this direction out of a desire to do something more creative and original, which is fine... it just seems a bit silly to me that they keep saying "well obviously that doesn't really work for the bachelor's scenario", when, well... even as recently as patho 2 in 2019, they seemed to think it fit his narrative pretty well! i'm also guessing that a lack of combat won't be that bandits are just no longer roaming the streets at night. it sounds more like pathologic 3 is set to be more of a nonlinear experience, where you'll probably fast travel from place to place instead of having to walk across town so much? so you'll be avoiding bandits just in the sense that the gameplay will be avoiding them. i guess i'm hoping that at the very least, there's still the implication of the crunch of not getting enough sleep or food and the threat of being stabbed to death while trying to get through town occurring to dankovsky in the background, even if those mechanics are deemphasized in favor of more macro-level town resource management, time control, and sherlock holmes fruit ninja or whatever the hell they were on about back in 2022 lmao.

[the3rddenialist]

(( What time is it? Yeahhhhh, more @slay-the-heroine by @tai-janai, traditional edition))

Another Sly Spectre

Chapter 3 Buddies (something something narrator things fucked them up)

[hellcatinnc]

Character Birthday Masterlist

This is as many birthdays as I could find for all the games I have played and anime's I have watched. Trust me there are more characters but some have no birthday dates posted. I will update this list as I go but you can always find this on my pinned post to come back and check the birthday calendars for each. I did want to do a calendar itself for each month but when so many have the same birthdate I found this harder to do so chose to just do a master list instead.

There was so many birthdays I had to start a 2nd list here is the link to the 2nd one HERE

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

January

1st Natsume Asahina - Brothers Conflict

1st Yuito Sumeragi - Scarlet Nexus

3rd Wataru Asahina - Brothers Conflict

6th Herlock Sholmes - Code Realize

7th Saibara Kamui - Paradigm Parodox

9th Thoma - Genshin Impact

10th Yukichi Fukuzawa - Bungo Stray Dogs

11th Satoru Watabe - Stand My Hero

11th Eisuke Ichinomiya - Kissed by the Baddest Bidder

12th Gary - 100 Sleeping Princes and the Kingdom Of Dreams

13th Hades Aidoneus - Kamigami No Asobi

13th Victor - Mr Love Queens Choice

14th Kosuke Misaki - Tomo-chan Is A Girl

16th Vlad Garfunkel - Phantom In The Twilight

18th Henri Lambert - Piofiore Fated Memories/1926

19th Edgar Allan Poe -Bungo Stray Dogs

21st Sirius Dieke - My Next Life as a Villainess

21st Rui Sagisawa - Nil Admirari no Tenbin

23rd Camus - Uta no Prince-sama

27th Urie Sogami - Dance With Devils

28th Kou Mukami - Diabolik Lovers

29th Kanato Hibiki - Maji Kyun! Renaissance

31st Mozu - Bustafellows

February

2nd Lyney - Genshin Impact

4th Gin Akutagawa - Bungo Stray Dogs

5th Takamasa Saeki - My Forged Wedding

8th Allan Melville - Cupid Parasite

9th Abraham Van Helsing - Code Realize

11th Alhaitham - Genshin Impact

12th Tsukito Totsuka - Kamigami No Asobi

13th Merenice - Cupid Parasite

14th Ren Jinguji - Uta no Prince-sama

14th Hatori Otani - Stand My Heroes

15th Arashi Spring - Scarlet Nexus

17th Soryu Oh - Kissed by the Baddest Bidder

17th Fubuki Spring - Scarlet Nexus

20th Tifalia - Radiant Tale

21st Ririchiyo Shirakiin - Inu x Boku SS

22nd Kei Okazaki - Collar X Malice

22nd Yoshikazu Miyano - Sasaki to Miyano

22nd Monet Tsukushi - Magic Kyun! Renaissance

22nd Misuzu Gundo - Tomo-chan Is A Girl

22nd Louis Asahina - Brothers Conflict

26th Sophia Ascart - My Next Life as a Villainess

28th Light Yagami - Death Note

March

1st Ai Mikaze - Uta no Prince-sama

1st Ryuunosuke Akutagawa - Bungo Stray Dogs

2nd Raeliana McMillan - Why Raeliana Ended Up at the Duke's/M

3rd Ukyo - Amnesia Memories

3rd Yuki Itose - Sign Of Affection

3rd Lindo Tachibana - Dance With Devils

3rd Naomi Randall - Scarlet Nexus

6th Rafayel - Love And Deepspace

7th March 7th - Honkai Star Rail

8th Carol Olston - Tomo-chan Is A Girl

9th Mayuzumi Shion - Variable Baricade

18th Tsugumi Kuze - Nil Admirari no Tenbin

19th Ion - Radiant Tale

20th Sakami Laito - Diabolik Lovers

20th Takeru Totsuka - Kamigamin No Asobi

21st Kanato Sakamaki -Diabolik Lovers

22nd Ayato Sakamaki - Diabolik Lovers

25th Rintaro Tatewaki - Magic Kyun! Renaissance

25th Shiden Ritter - Scarlet Nexus

26th Kamisato Ayato -Genshin Impact

27th Keith Powell - Sugar Apple Fairy Tale

31st Yusuke Asahina - Brothers Conflict

April

1st Kyosuke Tsuduki - Stand My Heroes

1st Scarecrow - Bustafellow

1st Avi - 100 Sleeping Princes and the Kingdom of Dreams

1st Kodama Melone - Scarlet Nexus

2nd Masato Hanzawa - Sasaki and Miyano

3rd Noah Volstaire Wynknight - Why Raeliana Ended Up Duke's/M

4th Canus Espada - Cafe Enchante

8th Yagami Nayuta - Variable Baricade

8th Rowan - Dance With Devils

9th Kiro - Mr Love Queens Choice

10th Takatoo Tokio - Paradigm Parodox

11th Otoya Ittoki - Uta no Prince-sama

11th Zen Wistaria - Snow White With The Red Hair

12th Toma - Amnesia Memories

12th Ota Kisaki - Kissed by the Baddest Bidder

13th Kagerou Shoukiin - Inu x Boku Secret Service

14th Jinnia - Radiant Tale

15th Jirou Ogasawara - Sasaki and Miyano

15th Hayato Ozaki - Nil Admirari no Tenbin

15th Himari Momochi - The Demon Prince of Momochi House

16th Baileu Ton - Phantom in the Twilight

17th Xiao - Genshin Impact

17th Lori Asahina - Brothers Conflict

17th Enomoto Mineo - Collar x Malice

19th Miyo - My Happy Marriage

22nd Yakumo Sumeragi - Scarlet Nexus

23rd Orlok - Piofiore

24th Ruki Mukami - Diabolik Lovers

24th Masaomi Asahina - Brothers Conflict

25th Baizhu - Genshin Impact

29th Chuuya Nakahara - Bungo Stray Dogs

29th Balder Hringhorni - Kamigami No Asobi

30th Diluc - Genshin Impact

May

2nd Ichiyou Higuchi - Variable Barricade

4th Tsugumi Nazar -Scarlet Nexus

5th Atsushi Nakajima - Bungo Stray Dogs

5th Shougo Ukawa - Nil Admirari no Tenbin

9th Akane Kinoshita - Loving Yamada Level 999

9th Aoi Nanamori - The Demon Prince of Momochi House

12th Mamiya Ayumu - Paradigm Parodox

13th Kaito Sumeragi - Scarlet Nexus

15th Karuta Roromiya - Inu x Boku SS

17th Leo Cavagnis - Piofiore

17th Radie - Radiant Tale

17th Impey Barbicane - Code Realize

18th Aki Myojin - Sweet Punishment

18th Gorou - Genshin Impact

21st Rosso - 100 Sleeping Princes and the Kingdom of Dreams

23rd Sosei Arakida - Stand My Hero

26th Luke Bowen - Phantom In The Twilight

28th Kaname Asahina - Brothers Conflict

June

1st Ikki - Amnesia Memories

1st Kotaro Yui - Stand My Hero

1st Arataki Itto - Genshin Impact

2nd Shiki Natsumezaka - Dance With Devils

5th Ibuki - Paradigm Parodox

5th Nagi Karman - Scarlet Nexus

6th Anubis Ma'at - Kamigami No Asobi

8th Sasazuka Takeru - Collar x Malice

9th Natsuki Shinomiya - Uta no Prince-sama

9th Syo Kurusu - Uta no Prince-sama

10th Kasane Randall - Scarlet Nexus

11th Lynette Mirror - Cupid Parasite

11th Eita Sasaki - Loving Yamada at Lv999!

14th Renshou Sorinozuka - Inu x Boku SS

15th Anne Halford - Sugar Apple Fairy Tale

17th Shuumei Sasaki - Sasaki and Miyano

19th Osamu Dazai - Bungo Stray Dogs

23rd Cyno - Genshin Impact

23rd Erika Shinohara - Wolf Girl & The Black Prince

24th Katarina Claes - My Next Life As A Villainess

25th Shirayuki - Snow White With The Red Hair

26th Shu - Bustafellows

26th Seto Narukami - Scarlet Nexus

27th Gilbert - 100 Sleeping Princes and the Kingdom of Dreams

28th Nicola Francesca - Piofiore

30th Shuichi Hishikura - Kissed by the Baddest Bidder

July

1st Gemma Garrison - Scarlet Nexus

2nd Ema Asahina - Brothers Conflict

4th Nathaniel Hawthorne - Bungo Stray Dogs

4th Kyouya Sata - Wolf Girl & Black Prince

7th Fuuto Asahina - Brothers Conflict

7th Il Fado de Rie - Cafe Enchante

7th Tomo Aizawa - Tomo-chan Is A Girl

8th Gonzaburou Tashiro - Sasaki and Miyano

9th Kaveh - Genshin Impact

7th Alice Ichijo - Scarlet Nexus

13th Mitsumori Ichiya - Variable Barricade

13th Reiji Kotobuki - Uta no Prince-sama

13th Kazu - Variable Barricade

13th Joe Sumeragi - Scarlet Nexus

16th Gill Lovecraft - Cupid Parasite

20th Tartaglia - Genshin Impact

23rd Yuma Mukami - Diabolik Lovers

24th Junichirou Tanizaki - Bungo Stray Dogs

24th Limbo - Bustafellows

26th Gilbert Redford - Piofiore

30th Michizou Tachihara - Bungo Stray Dogs

30th Rishe Imgard Wertsner - 7th Loop

August

1st Hikaru Asahina - Brothers Conflict

1st Apollon Agana Belea - Kamigami No Asobi

1st Taiga Hirano - Sasaki and Miyano

2nd Saint Germain - Code Realize

6th Tokiya Ichinose - Uta no Prince-sama

7th Toujou Hibari - Variable Barricade

8th Ignis Carbunculus - Cafe Enchante

10th Mitsunari Baba - Kissed by the Baddest Bidder

15th Louis Anjo - Magic Kyun Renaissance

16th Hanabi Ichijo - Scarlet Nexus

20th Alan Stuart - My Next Life As A Villainess

20th Geordo Stuart - My Next Life As A Villainess

22nd Vilio - Radiant Tale

23rd Tomitsuka Ryou - Paradigm Parodox

26th Victor Frankenstein - Code Realize

27th Kenji Miyazawa - Bungo Stray Dogs

29th Reiji Sakamaki - Diabolik Lovers

29th Zange Natsume - Inu x Boku SS

30th Doppo Kunikida - Bungo Stray Dogs

September

5th Yanagi Aiji - Collar x Malice

5th Zayne - Love And Deepspace

10th Maria Campbell - My Next Life As A Villainess

12th Kagero Donne - Scarlet Nexus

13th Albedo - Genshin Impact

14th Tasuku Kuresawa - Sasaki and Miyano

16th Douglas - 100 Sleeping Princes and the Kingdom of Dreams

17th Dante Falzone - Piofiore

17th Teika Ichijoji - Magic Kyun - Renaissance

17th Kasuga - Variable Barricade

17th Araki Mihaya - Paradigm Parodox

19th Yukinami - Paradigm Parodox

19th Hisui Hoshikawa - Nil Admirari no Tenbin

21st Mamoru Kishi - Kissed by the Baddest Bidder

21st Akito Yamada - Loving Yamada Lvl 999!

22nd Subaru Asahina - Brothers Conflict

23rd Dionysus Thyrsos - Kamigami No Asobi

23rd Kent - Amnesia Memories

23rd Tsuki Aoyama - Stand My Hero

28th Rindo Kaoru - Cafe Enchante

29th Ranmaru Kurosaki - Uta no Prince sama

Octomber

7th Makoto Tsuduki - Stand My Hero

10th Banri Watanuki - Inu x Boku SS

10th Luka Travers - Scarlet Nexus

15th Paschalia - Radiant Tale

16th Xavier - Love And Deepspace

18th Shu Sakamaki - Diabolik Lovers

18th Shizuru Migiwa - Nil Asmirari no Tenbin

19th Hoshino Ichika - Collar x Malice

21st Ranpo Edogawa - Bungo Stray Dogs

24th Loki Laevatein - Kamigami No Asobi

24th Arsène Lupin - Code Realize

26th Sakunosuke Oda - Bungo Stray Dogs

28th Azusa Mukami - Diabolik Lovers

29th Kaedehara Kazuha - Genshin Impact

30th Helvetica - Bustafellows

31st Cecil Aijima - Uta no Prince sama

31st Junichiro Kubota - Tomo chan is a Girl

31st L Lawliet - Death Note

November

4th Subaru from Diabolik Lovers

4th Mary Hunt - My Next Life As A Villainess

4th Kyouka Izumi - Bungo Stray Dogs

8th Ritsuka Tachibana - Dance With Devils

11th Fyodor Dostoyevsky - Bungo Stray Dogs

11th Misyr Rex - Cafe Enchante

15th Lucien - Mr Love Queens Choice

15th Karen Travers - Scarlet Nexus

17th Rem Kaginuki - Dance With Devils

20th Zafora - Radiant Tale

21st Thor Megingjard - Kamigami No Asobi

23rd Wriothesley - Genshin Impact

23rd You Hattori - Stand My Hero

28th Luke Foster - Kissed by the Baddest Bidder

30th Shin - Amnesia Memories

30th Kaeya - Genshin Impact

30th Kyoka Eden - Scarlet Nexus

December

3rd Isurugi Taiga - Variable Barricade

3rd Ukyo - Asahina - Brothers Conflict

5th Tauryu - Phantom In The Twilight

7th Gojo Satoru - Jujutsu Kaisen

7th Akiko Yosano - Bungo Stray Dogs

12th Yang - Piofiore

16th Wataru Frazer - Scarlet Nexus

17th Aoi Suminomiya - Magic Kyun Renaissance

18th Neuvillette - Genshin Impact

18th Yuu Kusakabe - Wolf Girl & Black Prince

19th Soushi Miketsukami - Inu x Boku SS

20th Isaku Senagaki - A Girl And Her Guard Dog

20th Itsuomi Nagi - Sign Of Affection

22nd Keiya Uto - A Girl And Her Guard Dog

23rd Akira Kougami - Nil Asmirari no Tenbin

24th Shiraishi Kageyuki - Collar x Malice

25th Challe Fen Challe - Sugar Apple Fairy Tale

25th Akira Kagiura - Sasaki and Miyano

25th Misa Amane - Death Note

28th Keith Claes - My Next Life As A Villainess

28th Arnold Hein - 7th Loop

29th Masato Hijirikawa - Uta no Prince sama

31st Zhongli - Genshin Impact

31st Hyuga - Paradigm Parodox

31st Tsubaki Asahina - Brothers Conflict

31st Azusa Asahina - Brothers Conflict

[spectascopes]

so what is the intersection and explanation of "Papyrus lies all the time especially around certain people" and "Papyrus believes a lot of stuff at face value that is an obvious lie" like does he think he's the only person lying? What's going on in that bald head of his? Genuinely guys I wanna know what you think about Papyrus and Falsehoods it's fascinating

[jcollinswrites]

Hello...hi....heyoooo... YO! welcome!!!!! 😇

I apologize for my rant, but when i like something, i can't help it.

And also, i hate you!!!! (Not really, you'll get used to my rants unfortunately) why the hell would you end the demo like that???? 😭😭😭

I mean yes it was the perfect way to end it but still omg it's so good! 😭😭😭😭😭

My mc is such a little smartass. God i love the internal dialogs. Wonderful! ROs are such a mess i can't wait to get super confused and romance all of them then blame you because of how well they are writter.

I can already not make up my mind

But besides that. I refuse!!! To play the goddamn Captain of the guard route after all those damn insults you threw at the poor man on the thief route?! I took so many screenshots 💀 is that what people will be calling us behind our backs???!

Not that it wasn't fucking hilarious but still

I absolutely loved this so much. Truly. It was so funny and cute and the ROs are hot.

I love this. I can't wait to believe how much i loved the thief route, i also will love being a noble that takes absolutely nothing seriously, lmao, or a dumbass priest.

Also personal question. I hope you don't mind me asking what you're pronouns are so we just know how to refer to you! 😇

Thank you for the lovely message! ^^

Well, see, look at it like this...

✨You'll have the chance to redeem our poor Captain Donkeytit!✨

The way I wrote him from the thief perspective is kinda the worst alternative you can be as the captain, so have hope! You'll be able to play an asshole if you wish to!

(But have no fear, you can also play a boring route where you're all smiles and sunshine and ~~~kindness~~~.)

is that what people will be calling us behind our backs???!

Possibly. If you're an asshole.

Also personal question. I hope you don't mind me asking what you're pronouns are so we just know how to refer to you! 😇

I'm non-binary, but I have no strong preference. I won't get offended by puny pronouns, I promise you.

I'm very happy you like the story so far! Can't wait to hear your opinion on the next updates ^^

[ceiling-karasu]

Fowl Village and Guard Commander

In hindsight, the whole journalist plot in episode five is kind of funny.

The appearance of the small group that is let in suggests that quite a few journalists in the area are birds, like chickens and ostriches. Either that, or someone (Geumsaegi) deliberately called for birds.

Bold move for Jogjebi to allow them in, considering the grudges that might be held given Fowl Village (ignoring the bird in the cage behind him, no one comments on that).

Naturally, they don't trust him one bit, and are likely to be a bit biased. And reporters and journalists are nosy, which allows Geumsaegi to obtain some information.

But it is likely that the birds ALSO hold grudges towards Flower Hill for what happened to Fowl Village, considering Flower Hill did not step in to stop or even help.

When Squirrel Village sends out the invitations in episode one, Fowl Village noticeably does not receive one.

Considering the fact that the squirrels could SEE the devastation from their own village, suggests that Fowl Village would have normally received an invitation.

So not only does Fowl Village get attacked, any survivors would find that their closest neighbors are now quietly pretending that they do not exist, because acknowledging them being attacked would force them to think about maybe needing to protect themselves, when it was easier to pretend it could not happen to them, or Uncle Gom would take care of it.

Has to sting, and make birds around the world a bit salty at Flower Hill as well.

Guard Commander

I haven't really seen anyone talk about this much, but it is implied that Geumsaegi was hanging around as the Guard Commander for quite some time before he was sent to specifically get closer to Commander Jogjebi and gain more of his trust.

He is in charge of guard duties, naturally, including maintaining the sentry posts. All of the sentry guards know him well enough to give him any information he desires that might have been classified otherwise, such as the location of the General Commander.

I wonder what his time infiltrating the guard was like? And how many other squirrels were positioned in the area that could have been sent in instead of him?

This is also why he has to use the journalists, since he did not have a high enough position to know about the Special Corps and their plans at the time. Once he becomes Envoy and Special Aide, people just tell him things, or he can get in and bug the area.

But as Guard Commander, he would have had to network in order to gain information. Which means there are some mice who think they know him very well as their superior and friend.

[michi-chelle]

mood

[shitpostingfromthebarricade]

In a World Without Heroes: deleted scene

Author's note: The Saturday morning interview scene between Grantaire and Enjolras in chapter 8 originally started from Grantaire's arrival and was intended to go through the events of the scene that has since replaced it. This scene ended up being replaced partly because the characterizations weren't panning out how I wanted (as you see by the end) and partly because it was dragging the scene/fic. Yes, it was good background for the reader, but ultimately (as Grantaire now comments in the replacement scene) this is the same thing Enjolras would have said in every interview since his release from prison, so it didn't make sense for Grantaire to be acting like he'd never tuned in for any of Best Boy's television interviews.

Anyway, I'm finally sharing it here because it's the backstory behind Mabeuf's Manhattan Autonomous Zone and Enjolras's arrest, and also I've been meaning to for uhhhhh two years. Enjoy.

By the time Grantaire texts that he’s on his way, Enjolras feels very nearly relieved.

He’d spent Friday evening catching up on what little cleaning has been neglected since the last time he had a guest — that is to say, since moving in — specifically in order to sleep in Saturday morning, only to find himself wide awake at 9AM with little to do but anticipate the events of the day.

“Hey,” says Grantaire when Enjolras lets him into the building.  He’s dressed down from how he usually is at the correctional facility but up from what he wears at the Chinese restaurant, which makes Enjolras feel better about his choice in clothes today.

“Do you mind walking?  I’m on the fourth floor.”

There’s hesitation, and Enjolras thinks Grantaire may be about to protest, but when he speaks it’s to say, “Yeah, sure.  I haven’t had a leg day in a while.”

“You work out?” asks Enjolras, surprised.

“Nope.  Lead the way.”

The walk occurs in silence except for their heavy breathing and a quick apology when someone coming down from the third floor brushes past, and then they’re at the door to Enjolras’s flat.

“Make yourself at home,” he says, heading for the kitchen.  “Would you like anything?  Tea?  Water?”

“Seltzer if you’ve got it, water if you don’t.”

Seltzer.  It’s what Grantaire has ordered both times they were out, too, and Enjolras makes a note that he should pick some up beforehand if they do this again.

There’s no reason for them to do this again, of course: with this past week’s interview completed, they’re over halfway finished with the collaborative part of the book, and there will be no reason for them to be spending time with one another anymore.  Even with Enjolras’s resolution not to pursue a relationship with Grantaire, the prospect of their burgeoning friendship coming to a halt with the end of their professional correspondence makes Enjolras’s stomach twist.

He re-enters the living room with two waters, placing one on a coaster in front of Grantaire and sipping the other for something to do.

“Thanks,” says Grantaire belatedly.  His eyes have been wandering around the flat since Enjolras’s return, and Enjolras wonders what he’s looking for.  At last, his attention falls back on Enjolras.  “You’re dressed different.”

Enjolras lets his eyebrows quirk in feigned surprise and glances down at himself as though he hadn’t spent fifteen minutes lingering over the decision that morning.  When he was merely a law student and the point person for a far-left branch of a tutoring group, Enjolras had had a lot more flexibility in what he wore; since his release from prison, however, his wardrobe has become a rotation of the same six white dress shirts, three tones of neutral trousers, and the occasional matching suit jacket.  Even on days when he isn’t working in some capacity or another, Enjolras finds himself dressing as inoffensively as possible in anticipation of someone’s inevitable recognition and the associations to follow.  His attire hadn’t been particularly flamboyant before then, but his use for his green rally shirts and blue cozy clothes has certainly fallen to the wayside since.

Today, after nearly five minutes of deliberation, he had settled on a pair of gray-ish jeans, a pale red undershirt, and a blue fitted shirt he’d nearly forgotten that he owned.  At the last second before he’d gone down to meet Grantaire Enojlras had pulled a white hoodie over, but already he feels himself overheating in the extra layer.

“Yes, well,” he shrugs, realizing that he should sit and taking the armchair on the far side from where Grantaire has seated himself, “I don’t need to leave today, so I can dress down.”

“That’s what it is!  I haven’t seen you in jeans and a shirt without a collar since you got out.”  Grantaire’s eyes suddenly narrow.  “You aren’t wearing a collared shirt under that, are you?”

Despite his discomfort, Enjolras snorts.  “I’m not.”

“I don’t know that I believe you.”

“My deepest condolences.”  His retort is met with crinkling at the corners of Grantaire’s eyes before they divert altogether as his attention turns to his lap.  Enjolras clears his throat.  “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen you in purple.  It looks nice.”

Glancing back up, Grantaire’s brows furrow as he looks over his clothes.

“The scarf,” Enjolras clarifies.

The outermost layer of the sheer material is picked up and rubbed under close scrutiny between Grantaire’s fingers.  “I guess?  I thought it was gray when I grabbed it this morning, but in this lighting it looks blue to me.”

The scarf is definitely purple, but it isn’t worth disputing.  “It looks nice,” Enjolras instead repeats.

“Well cree, thanks.”  

Taking a deep breath, Enjolras decides to put an end to the stall tactics.  “The interview, then?  How do you want to do this?”

“Uh.  I was thinking just kinda like at the facility?  You say what you want, and I respond and ask questions as they arise.  Obviously no notetaking or recordings or anything, so it’ll pretty much be like a normal conversation that I know some of the answers to already.”

Nothing about it feels like a normal conversation, but Enjolras braces himself nevertheless.  “Let’s begin, then.”

“You sure?”  There’s a dubious crinkle between Grantaire’s eyebrows.  “We can shoot the shit for a while longer if you want, let you get comfortable and whatnot.”

Resting his hands carefully over his knees, Enjolras arranges his features into a neutral façade.  “I’m sure.”

Grantaire sighs deeply, a hand skating over his scarf and jerking the front back from his hairline as he scratches the back of his head.  “Okay then.  Well, where would you say it all started?”

He’s about to fall back on the polite clarifying tactics he’d been drilled on for televised interviews before when he realizes that he doesn’t have to.  “Where what all started?”  

Apparently Grantaire holds a similar amount of compunction toward his professionalism.  “I dunno, whatever you want.  The rally?  Broletariat?  Activism in general?”

Enjolras has managed to avoid shining a spotlight on his childhood this long, and his parents have made it clear that they have no interest in having their names attached to any of this, but beginning at the rally would feel like starting a sentence in the middle of a phrase.  “Combeferre, Courfeyrac, and I have known each other since we were young,” he says, finally settling for their indoctrination to the betterment of humanity as a promising starting place, “and we all were accepted to and attended Columbia for undergrad and stayed for our graduate degrees.  None of us were from New York City, and while we were studying, we saw a need in the local community for support, and we started up an afterschool tutoring group in conjunction with Barnard College’s urban teaching program.  I believe they’re still running, though I lost touch with them while I was away.”  

“On the road,” nods Grantaire.

“In jail.”  There’s no use dancing around it now: if Enjolras can’t say it in front of Grantaire, who else is there?  

“Right, that too.”  Grantaire’s body is draped over the corner of Enjolras’s couch casually enough, but there’s a stiffness in his posturing and the way he rubs the tip of his thumb back and forth along the side of his index finger that makes Enjolras think he’s uncomfortable.  

“The Broletariat’s inception was nearly accidental,” he continues. “Feuilly worked in the afterschool program at one of the schools we operated out of, and we got to discussing education law one day while he was packing up and I was waiting on a pupil and agreed to continue the conversation as a secondary location at a later date.  It was never official, but it did become regular: once work and classes let out, more and more of us met under the guise of lesson planning or studying or spending time with friends, while under it all we were organizing.”

“Organizing what?”

Enjolras shakes his head.  “At the time, we’d had no way of knowing.  We could feel unrest building toward something, and we made sure that the channels of communication were open and to keep up with the news and share resources and to — to be prepared for any eventualities,” he says.

“Enjolras, I was there.”

“It occurs to me that announcing our weapons stores to the general public may not go over well.”

“Good thing you’re not announcing it to the general public, then.”

Enjolras sighs.  “We were ready for anything, and one day, ‘anything’ finally had a name: Jean-Charles Mabeuf.

“Before his arrest, Mabeuf had been a churchwarden at a local church, a respected member of his community.  His friends said he had an expansive collection of books and was trying to grow indigo to start a small business.”

“Does indigo grow well in New York City?”  This time, it seems like a question Grantaire genuinely doesn’t know the answer to.

“Evidently not.  At the time of his arrest, he was several months behind on rent, had nothing in his fridge, and his famous book collection had dwindled to hardly anything: he was destitute.”

“Tough break.”

Enjolras shoots a sharp look at Grantaire.  “Do you remember what happened to him?”

“The prison left him to die of treatable causes, what more is there to know?”

“His landlord took him to court for the missing rent; Mabeuf had already fallen ill and couldn’t make it, and the judge issued a bench warrant.  He was arrested for being sick and poor.”

“Well, I’m seeing why I would selectively have culled that bit if I heard it.”

Enjolras feels his nostrils flare at the flippancy, but a small part of his mind reminds him that the Grantaire in front of him is not the Grantaire who drank his way through the entire rebellion and every strategy meeting leading up to it.  “I would be surprised if you hadn’t: his arrest hardly made the news.  I’m told that his church was in the process of arranging some care package or another for him, but that most likely would have been the end of it if not for the pneumonia.”

Now comes the part that the news and everyone knows: all of the symptoms were recorded upon his intake, but no action was taken to treat him.  Mabeuf remained in jail as he waited for his new court date, complaining every day of chest pains and requesting to be moved to the med pod.  He was never moved, and on 1 June, at eighty years old, Jean-Charles François Mabeuf was found dead in his cell.

“With the release of the coroner’s report, his church community took to the web for Justice for Mabeuf.  The movement against the privatized prison system had already existed and was merely on the backburners, and it seemed like the time for change had finally come.”

“Okay, so wait,” Grantaire interrupts.  “I was a bit hazy on the details at the time, but I mostly chalked that up to a whole slew of substances combined with a complete and manufactured sense of total apathy; as it would turn out, I am still just as confused.”

Enjolras leans back expectantly in his seat.  “About?”  

“A couple of points, honestly, but mostly what an armed splinter from a tutoring club expected to happen.”

A fair question.  “I was supposed to go into education law.”

Grantaire blinks.  “Okay?”

“There’s no special concentration in legal programs to choose one’s specialization: you take the relevant courses offered, intern with firms that handle the sorts of cases you’re interested in, and once you pass the bar, pursue that area.”

“Got it.”

“Once you start looking into the way the United States education system is set up, it becomes immediately evident how inextricably linked all of these pieces are: children are born in low-income communities.  Low income means that the property taxes that fund the schools amount to less, leading to fewer resources and higher drop-out rates.  The wages in positions for unskilled labor aren’t enough to live on, so people either pick up more and more jobs until they’ve worked themselves to the bone and, quite often, to the point of their bodies breaking down, at which point the failings of the health system become painfully apparent; are turned out onto the streets, which exposes the failings of our government’s housing system and its rotting capitalist firmament; or turn to more lucrative but less legal job opportunities.  

“Two of these are arrestable offenses disproportionately targeted communities of color, and the third skips past those steps directly to killing the dime-a-dozen wage slave.”

Grantaire stares at the coffee table in silence for long enough that Enjolras begins to suspect that he may not have been paying any attention at all before his brows finally furrow and he looks back up at Enjolras.  “So what were you expecting to happen?”

He sighs.  “I couldn’t rightly say what we expected to happen, but the goal was to draw national attention to any one of these points.  If something gave, we thought that the whole system might crash down around it.  Exposing the for-profit prison industrial complex as the corrupt, predatory, outdated, inherently racist system it is … it felt self-evident.  The whole system is broken, let’s build a new one together that serves all of its citizens equally and doesn’t feature intentional loopholes for legalized slavery.”

Grantaire is quiet for a long time before he finally asks, almost too quietly for Enjolras to hear, “When did you realize it wasn’t going to work?”

‘When’ indeed.  Enjolras makes no motion to answer.  When had he known?  Has he ever known?  Perhaps he still doesn’t.  “It still might,” is what he finally says.  “We haven’t failed yet.”

Grantaire looks affronted.  “You almost died, Enjolras.”

“I didn’t."

[protect-namine]

I am about to start a neji route (because I feel that I need at least three playthroughs to fully understand neji and his plays, so I can't leave him for last). so my thoughts on this may change, but for the moment, my thesis is that neji and kisa are the same kind of thespian, just in different fonts.

(I am slightly exaggerating kisa'a character here. there are hints and I do think pushing the envelope of what her character could be is part of what makes kisa... kisa. as I'll explain later, for better and worse, kisa is constrained by the conventions of being an otome heroine.)

anyway. in essence. neji turns Other Persons into stories,

and kisa turns Other Persons into performances,

while they both simultaneously run away from, avoid, or sacrifice Becoming Persons themselves, for the sake of theater

or maybe it's the other way around. something something discovery if not recognition of the self through the other... except they're both unreliable narrators so who's to say if the recognition actually takes hold, really. kisa at least is a little bit self aware. neji, on the other hand, deals with realizations of the self through writing, without actually processing them (e.g. ms robin, domina, etc).

I keep thinking about (novel) kisa closing her eyes and feeling like her sense of self would melt away until tsuki centers her and gives her theater as a way to heal from the grief of losing her mother. it happens again during tsuki's univeil performance: kisa curling in on herself and tsuki pulling her back to theater as way to help kisa move forward with her dreams. pretending to be others is more fun than being herself.

and then there is neji (insert spiderman pointing at spiderman meme). but in his case, he would rather play eccentric roles, caricatures, comic relief, than be a Person With Depth on stage. neji is always either a seer of some kind (a fortune teller, a ghost who sees 10 seconds into the future) or a bit character (employee A), or... whatever he initially planned for domina. he is the mechanic behind the stage, but never the lead actor. his vulnerabilities do not need to "stolen" for the story, though others' are fair game.

kisa does not think about gender as it applies to herself in her daily life (mostly) and only sees it through the lens of acting and theater. how does she act mukai vs maiden, charles vs chicchi? the same way that neji does not think about the motifs and characters he writes as a window to himself, but rather as objects to be put on stage. rukiora is based on a younger neji, mary jane is I Am Death: Revisited (mary jane is to takihime as gashadokuro is to jacob), sissia is always meant to be the foil to I Am Death. but neji doeen't really understand that just like how he didn't understand oh rama havenna. sissia (kisa route, jack jeanne ver) is to kisa as domina is to neji.

literally kisa at her most extreme is just theater thoughts 24/7

kisa "I don't like being me; I'd rather be other people" tachibana 🤝 kokuto "I need to experiment and witness visions I can't create or I'll die" neji: this is a totally sane and Normal way to cope with abandonment and grief 👍

(it is not implied in the game, but since kisa turned to theater to cope with grief as a child, I wonder if the reason she never looks too deeply into tsuki's disappearance is because she's once again using theater as an excuse to conveniently Not Think About It. out of sight, out of mind. tsuki must be doing well, wherever he is, whatever it is he's doing.)

there is also the meta perspective of how kisa in-game inhabits a role where the player can (and is expected to) self-insert. otome dictates that protagonist kisa must be malleable to the player (who can choose to focus on a variety of relationships in her stead), and the plot dictates that actor kisa must be malleable to her stage roles (jack or jeanne, maiden or hero, flower or vessel), and novel kisa dictates that kisa must malleable to pretending to be other people because it's more preferable to being herself.

every thought she has about herself must be tied to acting, somehow. kisa's personhood is defined through stagecraft. she is the maiden, and mukai, and charles, and chicchi, and sissia. she can romance anyone in the school, of the player's choosing. she can be jack, and jeanne, and jack jeanne. don't get me wrong; kisa is her own character and has a strongly defined personality, but the story also demands for her to be malleable. a painting and a blank canvass at the same time.

neji externalizes where kisa internalizes. where kisa Must Perform™ to function and to avoid herself, neji Must Create™ to function and to avoid himself. scriptwriter neji dictates that neji must use everything at his disposal — his memories, his classmates, his obscure knowledge — as inspiration for stories. director neji dictates that he must use everything he knows about his actors — their complexes, their relationships, their weaknesses and strengths — as inspiration for stories. from the cook (mitsuki) needing apricots for a recipe and wanting to harvest honey from a beehive, to mary jane (fumi) being good at sewing and wanting an equal in jacob. suzu and sou fighting and developing a rivalry leads to jire and fugio fighting over chicchi. kai limits himself as a vessel in hasekura, and kai learns to embrace his desires as the priest. from the water/ocean/drowning themes, to rukiora being based on neji's younger self, and her family life and relationship with domina.

every thought neji has must be tied to stories, somehow. neji's personhood is scattered through stagecraft. the more you read his plays and lyrics, the more you get a glimpse of who he is. it is to the point that neji himself doesn't... really see how his stories reflect himself. ms robin being a "random" song the jazz lounge singer sings thay hasekura and ando can dance to, oh rama havenna being a so-so throwaway play that neji doesn't understand why it's entertaining. lmao. neji, please.

and this is why when problems arise, neji becomes a demanding director and kisa becomes a chameleon actor with a shaky sense of self (we don't really see this a lot because jack jeanne is not that dark of a story and kisa is still an otome heroine of an uplifting game, but it's a reasonable conclusion if you push hard on the kisa from neji's "good morning" exercise, or kisa going ham on method acting as charles. kinda wish the game explored more of that. I think a very stressed kisa can get lost in method acting, just as a very stressed neji is almost paralyzed by the fear of the death of talent).

idk where I was going with this. just. them. they have the same issues, just in different fonts. and I think that's actually what first attracts neji to kisa. kisa "steals" (to borrow neji's own words) just like him. kisa is a fountain of inspiration, an ever changing muse. and neji provides kisa with an endless amount of prompts and characters for her to inhabit. kisa does like to play pretend a lot. that's why she's in theater!

kisa and neji: Art Imitates Life people stuck in a Life Imitates Art video game

ANYWAY usual disclaimer that I'm jotting down livebloghing thoughts and I know some spoilers to neji's route but I'm only just about to actualy start his playthrough so. yeah. this was drafted all the way back in may lol, opinions may change and all that