#so perfect for Madness lol

[yepmadness]

“There’s something burning in the empty room inside of my head”

[unordinary-diary]

Arlo’s Ability Potential

Arlo could actually be so fucking OP and I’m not kidding.

In my last entry, I mentioned that Arlo could do so much more with his ability: things ranging from very unlikely to happen in the story, to things that are foreshadowed enough that I genuinely think he’ll be getting a powerup soon.

I’m gonna start with the most reasonable stuff and then wander out into speculation.

First of all: Disks. Do y’all remember Lennon from episode 196-ish?

^ this fucker.

Currently, Arlo’s fighting style is to put up a strong barrier around himself, and watch his enemies hurt themselves with their own recoil damage. His only offensive technique is to put his enemy in a barrier and make it smaller. Now, this has changed in recent chapters, with him developing that softer kind of barrier that he hits people with like a shockwave, but ultimately, his offensive power isn’t very diverse.

However, Lennon up there^ uses his disks in many ways.

He throws them, they’re very sharp, he can use them to fly, and therefore attack from the air. Blyke had a LOT of trouble against this guy.

How is this relevant? Because Arlo can make these disks too.

When Sera, Leilah and Arlo are fighting Spectre agents under the dampener, Arlo conjures one of these disks as a substitute for his usual barrier.

Not only do we know that he can make these, we know that they are significantly easier for him to make and maintain. So, in theory, Arlo should be able to do all of the things Lennon can and more.

With him currently being able to make three regular barriers at once, how many disks could he make? And how many disks could he make while having a full barrier up? I imagine that the future holds lots of fights against large groups of people, so Arlo learning these techniques would be extremely convenient and very well-timed. Especially since being able to attack from the air is super effective against opponents who can’t fly (which is most of them let’s be real) since they usually can’t hit back.

But there’s more things that I think these disks can do.

Imagine him practicing with a ball—

Pick it up, bounce it up and down.

Add another disk, make it ping-pong.

but he could also just put the ball in a regular barrier and just... move it around. Move that sucker to a different location.

he could pick the ball up, carry it really high, then drop it.

Now imagine the ball is a person.

... yeah.

but there’s more that he could do.

say that someone is coming at him with enough strength to break his barrier

If aimed right, the opponent shouldn’t hit the third barrier head on, but rather at an angle. The angle should be enough to prevent the barrier breaking, but still cause significant recoil damage. In this particular scenario, the recoil damage will go straight to the head and neck, using all their force against them. Depending on how much force is coming at him, the third barrier could still break, but it isn’t his main line of defense at least. With practice, Arlo should be able to use disks to divert attacks, and control where his opponent aims. The only person this wouldn’t work against is probably Seraphina bc Arlo can’t react in time.

Another thing to consider is: how small can he make the disks? Could he make little shurikens? If so, would making them very small allow him to make more? Could he stand behind his full barrier, while sending out a flurry of tiny chakrams? And if so, wouldn’t that be dope as fuck? Especially against a large crowd.

And since, in theory, he should be able to fly, he should also be able to make other people fly. Imagine all of them flying on top of a disk with Blyke and Isen loudly singing I Can Show You the World. I see zero reasons why this can’t happen.

Moving away from disks, Arlo should start filling his barrier with stuff. Now, we rarely see characters weaponizing things that aren’t abilities or their bare hands, but it does happen. This is where the idea of water balloons comes in. Fill that sucker in the sink, throw it, then pop it whenever he wants to.

But it’s not just water, he could put anything in there. He could put a shit ton of glitter. He could put sewing needles, caltrops, a big rock, anything. He could probably even put a barrier over his stove, gather steam, compress that shit and make smoke bombs!

But enough with that bitch baby shit.

What about chemicals?

Make water balloons but instead of water it’s hydroflouric acid. Or fill that shit with liquid nitrogen. Make smoke bombs but instead of steam it’s mustard gas— he and his friends will be protected inside a full barrier. There is any number of chemical weapons he could use, and some gases could even be made at home by mixing the wrong cleaning materials.

But what about insects? Go to the woods, find a beehive and yoink that shit.

The main problem with the “putting things in barriers” idea is that he’d have to prepare ahead of time, and keep those barriers up and his ability active until he uses them. That means it isn’t useful unless he knows the fight is gonna happen, and has enough time to prepare before it, but not so much time that he loses energy keeping them up. It’s also not useful if he wants to be non threatening at first, because his ability will need to be active. And also, unlike other weapons, A lot of these can’t be stored. He has to use all of them before the end of the fight— especially since gases can’t be released without using them. So, not very convenient or practical most of the time, but it would be super cool and effective in certain circumstances.

The next unlikely technique for Arlo to develop is vacuums. Arlo could make a really tiny, spherical barrier. Airtight. EXPAND that sucker. Make it real big- a near vacuum inside. Then make a tiny hole in it. Depending the size, that could create some insane suction. Suction is something so versatile that it could actually be a whole ability in its own right. That’s a whole ass mid tier added to Arlo’s already dope skill set. Possibly more.

Seriously, just think about suction for a second. You could bring anything close to you— Arlo actually has an easier method of telekinesis as we’ve gone over, but still— you could probably break and bend things with enough force, divert an attack by sucking it, or your opponent’s body in a different direction, you could cause some severe damage by sucking directly on someone’s skin. (I’m trying so fucking hard not to make a sex joke oh my god)

Here’s where Arlo’s capabilities get… gruesome.

My brother suggested that he could suck someone’s brain out through their skull. I was incredulous, but with enough force and with the tiny suction hole placed on an eye or nose, he definitely could.

But there’s an easier method of killing right there: put the vacuum over someone’s head. It doesn’t have to be an intense enough vacuum to explode their head (it could be though), just enough to suffocate them. Even without killing, suffocation could be used for intimidation or to knock them out.

But if we ARE killing… Arlo could put someone’s whole body in a vacuum and have the same effect as throwing them into space. They explode, their blood boils, it’s fuckin freaky what happens when a person depressurizes.

Even without a vacuum, (or any of these, really) it’s a good thing Arlo isn’t willing to kill because there are about a million ways he easily could.

The question that inspired the whole idea of a vacuum to begin with is: could Arlo make a barrier inside of someone, then expand it? The answer? Probably yes.

This gruesome shit is the reason I imagine Arlo at his full potential to be like… a villain au. Also because having an OP villain doesn’t have the same narrative pitfalls as an OP protagonist.

What’s Arlo’s range like? Could he expand his range with practice? How far out could he shoot a disk? Could he puncture the hull of an empire class battle ship leaving thousands to drown at sea? You know, because it’s so sharp?

Seriously though, could he take down airplanes?

Making barriers bigger or smaller doesn’t seem to affect his energy at all, considering that he never has to shrink it to save energy even when it would make sense (like with the dampener— Arlo just warned that he couldn’t keep it up, then took it down and switched straight to a disk even though there was plenty room to shrink it). So if the size of it doesn’t matter, then how big could he make it? Could he make Atlantis? Pick up a city and put it underwater with a barrier as an air dome? Could he make a dome around the earth and block meteors? Could he crush the core of the earth and blow up the planet if he wanted to??

Sadly, the answer to all of those questions is “probably not”.

Arlo is already super OP, they don’t call it a god tier for nothing. But he could be so much more godlike. I know I got really crazy at the end there, but back up just a little bit and he could realistically be a god among gods with just a little creativity. Especially at the top where the images are. Most of this stuff would not be hard.

[knife-eared-jan]

In case anyone is interested, this is the modding wishlist so far...

The bold ones are what I would very much like to try to have fun with myself, the others are a sobbing plea to the universe for someone to take pity on me bc I figured I probably lack the skills to make them myself.

They're roughly ordered by how desperate I am for them to exist.

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

-Remove combat VFX (except mages & bombs reduced) -> sadly this doesn't seem to be part of the accessibility features which are otherwise great, but like, my autistic brain literally fries up with all the flashiness, I'll just meltdown 24/7. If you know how to do this, I would love you 5ever.

-Isabela outfit swap + darker skintone + age-up -> this is terrible in so many ways. Can't believe how they butchered my girl jfc I thought we were done with this type of shit??? (That was the spoiler I saw just now hooo my god). Also, let her be in her 50s pls!

-Morrigan outfit overhaul + hairstyle swap (to 36) -> Free her from the double boobs! Also, her actual hair is basically in the CC, why give her that millenial mum haircut? And again, let her be nearly 50.

-Qunari face texture edit -> needs no explanation, I bet it will be the most popular mod of the game forever

-Shadow Dragon PJ swap (mage outfit without shoulder pads?) -> it's PJs 2.0 and I don't like it. I guess that's why they gave Inky the same outfit, cause it just really looks like that. I got obsessed with this other one that is essentially the mage outfit sans the shoulder thing. I think that would make a great casual outfit.

-Inquisitor outfit overhaul/swap -> see explanation for the Shadow Dragon PJs. It makes perfect sense as a stand-in for the Inquisition PJs but then my Inkys are never actually subjected to them. Hope there is a Dalish outfit or otherwise a Veil Jumper one, that fits my Lavellan. It would also be fun to craft my own with pieces of different armors from Inquisition and Veilguard maybe.

-Inquisitor prosthetic replacement -> There's lots of different headcanons people have for theirs and it's sad there isn't a slider for different options. I don't even know yet what I'd like myself, but something a little more obviously a prosthetic I think. Or none at all maybe. Just, choices are cool.

-Mourn Watch Rogue armor retexture -> I am apparently the only person on this planet to feel this way, but I loathe the Mournwatch rogue armor - it just gives Joker. Like, I might like it in a TOTALLY different setting, but it does NOT give Thedas at all. Love the controversial mage one though, so I guess i'm just weird.

-Irelin hairstyle swap (to 64) -> to match the hairstyle she had in The Missing that fit her much better. Again, it's in the CC, why didn't they just use it?

-Solas face texture edit (no orange contour, bigger scar, more freckles?) -> look how orange you are, gurl! Like, I'll live without it, but I am bothered... I bet the creation of his scar comes up in the memories as well, so why is it so smoll.

-Solas retina change to more outer blue -> I get that he's cool and mysterious now, but I liked the blue a lot. just personal preference tho

[ourflagmeansgayrights]

first the pirate poll drama and now the stucky fans are frothing at the mouth lmao. literally i think everyone just hates the ofmd fandom bc they want what we have (queer queer romance written by a diverse writers room that actually cares about the characters and the story they're telling)

[paperlignes]

- why would you use a cologne?  - to annoy you.

dialog from: what we do in the shadows (2019-) gif request by: @unknowingly-a-bear​

[lunabug2004]

Watching Reactions to The Eclipse is Such a Gamble

Ya'll know this, I've said it multiple times now, but I love to watch reactions to my favorite shows. One of these shows is The Eclipse. But, I swear it's always a gamble watching someone react to it. Fair warning: I hate Thua, so... yeah, this will be biased. These are some trends I've noticed (& they kinda build on each other):

Sometimes, they don't like Akk, even as the show goes on, and he's my favorite so that always sucks.

Sometimes, they don't ever fully understand the manipulation Akk was under. Like, they constantly make comments about Akk's character development regressing or stuff like that. Idk how, but some people just never pick up on the amount of pressure Akk was under, and it's sad.

Sometimes, they don't understand the mental health parts of the show. Like how Ayan was only "protecting" Akk for so long bc he was literally in the worst mental state. Ayan saw the same signs in Akk that he saw in Dika, and he was terrified their stories would end the same way. Ayan still wanted the truth to come out, he was just trying to find a safer way for Akk! He was not just protecting Akk because they were dating, either! Idk how people come to these conclusions... oh wait, yes I do, it's bc of Thua >:(

Sometimes, when that one scene of episode 11 goes down, they completely side with Thua. Now, this could be because they don't realize the outing part of things, or because they don't realize why Thua went about things the complete wrong way. But, it's annoying nonetheless.

Sometimes, they completely change their tune about Teacher Chadok. I don't care about his tragic backstory! He manipulated a kid so much he considered unaliving himself, and you're telling me that just because he has a tragic gay backstory, he deserves to be forgiven??? Absolutely not!

And I'll stop here. I could say more but I think it's already too much 😂

[ambyandony]

mutually overprotective

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

In The Care of Magic

cozy erotica novella

the only witch in a small town of humans who regularly use her services but are ungrateful goes to her cottage in the woods to get away for a bit

she comes across an interesting book in her library and decides to summon a sex demon to relax, and after a few days they also start to become friends

bi MC, aro agender LI

Blessed By The Cupid Distribution System

romance/erotica novella

follows a woman feeling lonely and left out on valentine’s day who wishes to experience a relationship

and a cupid on her first free assignment - who hears her wish and offers to find her a potential date, or they could spend the day together

and then they spend the day together. etc.

trans demisexual MC

[telesodalite]

I need to be weirder about the scavengers and cannibalism...

[francy-sketches]

Nothing lamer than a fictional character going to therapy and working through their issues in a healthy way. Bitch go kill someone

[supersharkgentlemen]

look up, stancesties, got a nice little splurt coming up for ya. Got inspired by holidays coming up and pop music of the past few decades. Don't want to procrastinate further on my year paper (gotta finish that shit till the end of the week, despite only having introduction n the beginnings of the first chapter. Theres money at stake, i cannot miss the deadline.), but after i finish it, expect a tasty little treat xoxo

[deliicacymercy]

HUMANFORMER! Slashmark ✨  

🏳️‍🌈  ✨    iT’S not PRIDE MONTH anymore! BUT THAT WON'T STOP ME FROM DRAWING GAY STUNTICONS! ✨🏳️‍🌈  

[ambassadorquark]

trying to warm up by redrawing some of my odd black sails pictures

[fruitsofhell]

I still think about this post I made anytime I see someone talk about Sephiroth Like That. It's still so weird to me, do people realize a character being designed to be hot doesn't automatically mean they're supposed to like… sex-y? With Kuja and Sephiroth I mean this as in their attractiveness is meant to be aesthetic more than sexual, it's like that shit Greta Gerwig was saying about Barbie to me.

I remember something that really struck me when I first played those two's respective games was the way their beauty was treated. I had never taken a game with bishounen characters seriously before, so there was a slight culture shock at how much aesthetic weight was put on them, especially combined with the angel motif in both their characters. Two interesting details about angels (archangels or guardian angels specifically) this brought up in my mind was 1) that traditionally these angels are meant to appear as incredibly attractive people, and 2) that they're traditionally portrayed as androgynous men. Which hey, they nailed those both on the head with their "One-Winged Angel" and "Angel of Death".

But with angels, that humanity and human attractiveness is kind of just a guise for a creature, ancient, divine, and terrifyingly powerful - sort of far beyond the actual functions of a human skin. So their attractiveness is not because they're sexy or sexual, but because its an aesthetic representation of that divinity - a way to make that appalling level of power more palatable and, attractive.

And I find that really fun and interesting, a lot in a gender way because, once again, angels traditionally being seen as masculine, and that sort of "sexy for no reason even if its a de-sexualized non-human being" is only ever an excuse for flaunting a feminine form and not a masculine. And I tell you boys, I am on my hands and knees scraping at the dirt everyday for representations of male beauty.

Which is why for Sephiroth and Kuja this was so striking to me. The way their designed beauty incidentally or purposefully invokes the beauty of angels is just so cool. They are characters not at all presented as having any sexuality of their own, but that It-Factor they got encompasses their character and how they are popularly perceived. Like what would Sephiroth be without his imposing form, long silky hair, and cat-like eyes? Or Kuja without his doll-like face and, well, everything else about him? But that beauty is not FOR us or the characters - it's attractive, even captivating, but venomous. Those mako eyes only hold emptiness, to then be set ablaze by an otherworldly, alien hatred; Kuja's lips only purse in a sadistic, callous grin before twisting into the tortured scowl of a disgraced angel willing to destroy creation out of spite.

And that cruel beauty is mesmerizing to players and a lot of what they're remembered for. Which once again was amazing to me cause they're guys and seeing men get that level of attention warms my cold bisexual heart, but also because MAN it ties in so well to their motifs. I straight up think you get less out of them by assuming that being designed to be hot and being a character with sexuality are synonymous. At least personally I am way more enamored with this dynamic of these beings made to catch our eyes (either narratively or meta-textually) in order to tease our senses and twist our hearts, as they move whole celestial bodies and crumble empires with a smile. I'm Just Obsessed.

[lordofthesillystraws]

white queer people be aware of our privilege as well as the ways we can be racist without just "saying slurs" challenge (impossible difficulty for some reason)

[marymekpop]

⟢ highlight of the hour: see you in my 19th life [9/12] ⟣

at last