#the fact that only 1 of them is a mage is so funny too.

[vigilskept]

on further consideration, this is SUCH a good bit bc it adds so much colour to weisshaupt’s beef with rook thorne.

they’re constantly involved in dramatic heroics all over the anderfels to the point that it feels comically improbable. there’s stories about rook thorne leading a heroic expedition into the deep roads and then a week later another story about them saving a bunch of villagers on the opposite end of the anderfels and the next week there’s a story about them pissing off a local nobleman.

except. it’s actually 3 different warden thornes the whole time.

mfw i figure out the perfect excuse to have up to 3 unrelated wardens picking up the surname “thorne” to hide their origins 😈

[literallys-illiteracy]

Oh boy time for me to do my thing and watch closely: New HTP episode released

When discussing the Regent of Great Yarmouth (referred to in the scene as "The master"), we see the background use the same silhouette as the figure credited as "The Monk" in the final scenes of the first episode.

I think that the theory of Kevin actually having telepathy, still screaming at D about the blender every so often (assuming he hasn't had time to meet Kevin since purchasing it) is very funny so I'm going with it. Kevin's dribble while going off script says "POWERFUL WIZARD LAZER".

-

The symptoms that Spit displays line up heavily with those of the Delirium (note that there are many many different effects that the Delirium may take), with one of the most common reactions being catatonia (essentially becoming unresponsive in shock/fear), also implying that Spit has a willpower of 1.

-

Crossing off the supposed kindred from being a "Vampire Wizard" (presumably not only relating to Tremere but we don't know how the family classifies them), Kitten proposes them to be a Sludge Lad (Nosferatu) or Humanimal (Gangrel), also making a joke about La Ghostra Nostra, which I believe is mean to be a pun on La Cosa Nostra (The Sicilian Mafia).

As the group is still going by the assumption that this IS a vampire, they are treating it as if Simon (Spit) has been dominated (See previous HTP post for Domination). That AND Matilda posits that he could simply be faking it I Wonder Why.

Also yeah I ship it.

Brok is genuinely pissed at the idea of Spit being the ghoul for basically no reason bar the fact that they are/were friends for a long time.

Now we get to the part where I get to talk at length about the Irish man.

to start off with, I haven't actually the best guess as to what Occam fully is (other than being a hedge mage). The amulet he is wearing has a sigil which is common in Celtic circles called the Triskelion, this also has ties to Hellenistic history (most specifically in Sicily, which being the second mention of Sicily sent me down a weird rabbit hole, allow me to elaborate:)

Basically, the triskelion is linked to Sicily, Hellenism (used as a common symbol during the period) and the god Hermes (Hermes helped Perseus fetch the head of Medusa). This isn't the important part but by God if I did this research it isn't going to waste. (also there is a theoretical link between the fact that the symbol is not too distant from the god Hermes and the Order of Hermes but I don't think that's important)

In Sicily, in WoD, there are pretty much only two things of note: In Syracuse (city within Sicily for those unaware) is the old centre of the Clan Lasombra, however it has not been in major use for roughly 600 years by this point (1400's-2000).

The second thing is that there is a Cairn there which... Werewolves I guess.

There was a third section which started talking about the Ars Goetia and how that could also relate back to Occam's sorcery but I cut it.

-

Back to the murder at hand(s) (claws?):

We can continue seeing Matilda be aggressive and defensive, we can also see her hands become visibly claw shaped when agitated:

Foreshadowing is-

Even while locked up, Matilda continues to direct attention towards both Spit and Git. Note how the episode consistently draws attention towards her, being the only non hunter who has more than a few lines (Non hunters being Spit, Git, Amanda, Matilda) and being the only one to directly point blame at any single person.

The time out box is back and with a full clear view of the symbol on the side.

The first thing I thought was mercury, due to the crescent shaped open top and the crossed centre line, however most depict mercury having a full circle and half stacked on top.

Then I realised that it was the symbol for the magic sphere of Matter. I then also found where/what the symbol properly was.

The only proper source I can find for this symbol is this researchgate proposal about unicode.

The fourth image lists the symbol as "amalgam", but oddly enough both figures 1 and 3 disagree with fig. 4 and with each other as to what the proper symbol for amalgam is.

Alchemy is weird like that sometimes, anyways I spent way too long on this moving on.

Referring to spit, the obvious odd behaviour he displayed throughout the last episode.

Funnily enough, this can be explained through the excuse Git gave before, his Ritalin (ADHD medication) wearing off. For those unaware, there is a side effect of prescriptions stimulants, specifically when they are wearing off, in which one becomes extremely tired, irritable, agitated, hungry, or anxious when their medication runs out of their system. This can be worse with children or those with comorbid mental health problems such as anxiety or depressive disorders; crashing or rebounding in extreme cases, like seen with Spit, can be a sign that the dosage of medication is wrong (too high), or simply that your body doesn't vibe with the stimulant, in which case you should consult your psychiatrist and change medications. Speaking from experience, it's never fun to crashland from being relatively normal into being a prick.

Uh considering that Git also has a nicotine dependency (seen through his desperation for getting his smokes back), I can't help but wonder what substance Brokham is using. Honestly looking at him? Anabolic Steriods.

Which is to say that... uh. Spit goes in the box.

Ok so I want to let HTP be its own thing for the most part but there is a 0% chance this isn't an intentional reference so i'll note it down:

these two paintings that mark the archive: the left is a reference to Ephrael Stern, a Sister of Battle known as the "Thrice Born" or "Daemonifuge". We can see this from the fact that she has the same blue lipstick and a cross-tattoo on the same areas as her TTS depiction.

For similar, design correlated reasons, it is safe to assume that the portrait on the right is inspired by Aurelia Malys of the Dark Eldar, whose TTS portrayal is below:

There's probably some sort of foreshadowing going on here related to Markus seeking entrance to the Archives, Magnus seeking the Black Library, and Ephrael being in the Library for most of TTS.

final note about the door, I cannot be bothered to try and find the meaning of the alchemical symbols on the door but they are there and unimportant if anyone wants to check it out.

-

These two books have visible writing.

"Immortal Divorce Court (1)" and "Vamp Dictionary"

Please skip to the next red texted note if you don't want to read Latin lessons.

"Oculus Empyrean".

When I was first watching this episode, I misheard this as "Oculus Imperium" and got very confused because that would mean "Eye control(er)" (or more strictly it would be "Eye's control")

Oculus Empyrean (sort of) translates into "Eye of Heaven". The "Sort of" comes from the fact that Empyrean comes from medieval latin/early middle english, and also because of inflection.

Taking Oculus Empyrean at face value means "Eye Heaven" (unless my Latin is finally slipping as I go senile). This is because both Oculus and Empyrean are in the nominative case.

For non inflection-language speakers: The nominative case is used when a noun is the subject of an active verb, eg.

"The Ball was kicked into a tree" where "The Ball" is the nominative noun.

"Good Girl" for example would have nominative singular Puella (girl) and genitive singular version of Bonum, Boni, (Good) to create the phrase "Boni Puella".

However, that being said, unless listing nouns (the door, the wall, the shelf, and....-) or making a direct relation between two nouns (Jon is a farmer = Jon agricola est), I don't remember a case for multiple nominative inflections in a row; This is why it is more accurately translated to just Eye Heaven.

To actually write "The eye of heaven" in Latin, inflect both Eye and Heaven in the genitive case to indicate a relation between the two (as neither noun is the subject of a verb):

Oculi caeli

(I just swapped Empyrean for Caelum because they both mean heaven) (also, if you check this on google translate, due to Oculi being both the nominative plural, and the genitive singular of Oculus (as is the case for second declination nouns) it will probably translate as "eyes(plural) of heaven")

ok back to the actual episode because ????

The newburgh group is one of the members of the Coalition (Second Inquisition), which heavily backs the arcanum.

Ok so back on the eye real quick

This isn't an alchemical symbol, believe me, I've done multiple hours of research about alchemy today alone (if I had a nickel for every time I researched alchemy in depth for a media series I would have three nickels-)

the closest I could find in any of my sources was

Attramentum Vitriolum (Black vitriol), which lacks the central dot, and Auripigment (Arsenic Sulphide, literal translation is "gold coloured"), which lacks the central dot and is tilted to 45%

We can see here that the eye projects some sort of "red beam" from its... iris? I guess? which then connects into Markus'.

The red beam may relate back to the concept of the Empyrean. We've had our alchemy lessons, we've had latin lessons, time for a mythology lesson for an esotericism trifecta.

Beforehand, when I said that Empyreum means Heaven, I wasn't lying, just simplifying. The Empyrean, in ancient european myth, is the heavens beyond our terrestrial spheres; the empyrean referred to the spheres of existence permeated and constructed from, the element of Aether, the fifth element.

This may explain the symbol of the eye itself, having 5 nodes on a cross representing the 5 elements, but that's conjecture. The important part of this potential connection to the aether is the fact that, in the 5'th century, there was an alchemical theory of "Quintessence", being a similar conceptual "fifth element" of which the heavens were made of.

Quintessence in fact literally means 5th element. Quintessence is also present in World of Darkness lore:

in essence, in Mage the Ascension, Quintessence is basically the fabric of reality. The entire tapestry of reality, all things within, are made of quintessence.

I've already gone on too many tangents so i'm stopping myself from going deeper into Mage.

I can't be fucked looking for another one, also im 90% sure that i'd be barking up the wrong tree because I do not recognise those triangle ones.

Technically one could interpret the boxes with circles inside them as being the sign for urine.

***

Update because I'm dumb:

as people have pointed out, these symbols are Hunter marks, symbols used by and recognisable to Imbued (mildly supernatural hunters).

In my defence, I'm not a hunter, so I wouldn't know.

The three symbols seen are "imbued" (on the eye), Danger (the rectangle one) and "Puppet" (Triangle)

-

as was very predicted by ms WILD who was always wearing gloves.

also from the sheer brutality, the delirium symptoms, the pinning of blame on others, the antisocial personality, claw marks all around the arcanum, and complete lack of surprise at the reveal of vampires existing.

Foreshadowing certainly WAS a literary device-

also would?

-

in the ensuing fight, D is fairly easily overpowered, gains a large neck gash from claw marks, and cuts off matilda's left arm

Remold also shoots with his... cane gun? a phosphorus bullet. Phosphorus is known for like one main thing and it is that it burns like crazy, hence why "no vampire could survive that"

-

I don't think that the reactions of each cast member are meant to actually reflect their willpower scores, except for Git and Spit who totally fit willpower 1.

That being said, time to organise each reaction into the different delirium reactions/willpower's:

Note how Grimal is strong enough to scratch into the tiling of the walls out of sheer fright.

That being said, every character in this scene, including D and Remould (which is why I'm saying that this probably doesn't fully reflect accurate stats) takes little to no action for this first section.

Also, immediately after we see the two elders, both clearly afraid, but still maintaining composure and fighting smart, think back to what D said back in the first audiolog:

"Trust your wits, not your fists"

probably somewhere around 9-10 range. 10 is defined as no reaction, and both are clearly afraid of the situation, but no matter your will, a werewolf running at you is scary.

Willpower 4, the berzerk reaction. As D put it "some may attack with extreme vigour"

In this scene here, we can hear the wound of the knife hissing after it has cut: either this is the knife "enchanted with death magicks" from the Guy Chapman audiolog, or the knife is made of silver. Either way this is called aggravated damage. Unless they changed something in W5 i've not played it.

Also this is probably just like a moth spirit or something, potentially this could be that one auspice that allows you to transport something from the umbra at will? unlikely though

willpower 4, berzerk.

Willpower.... 10? I don't think that this was an uncalculated action, I just think Markus is bad at math and doesn't know the strength of a werewolf.

I mean he had some of the shortest time between sight and thought out action, so at the very least a 7 (afraid but rational).

Also STAKE JACKET IS THE BEST IDEA.

We can assume that these are the spirits that Tilda (who from this point forward I will refer to as Tl;dr) has gifts from. Can't say which gifts, hard to say most things about spirits in general, so yeah.

in Audiolog one, we discussed: Vampires/Ghouls (which we have fought and met) Werewolves (just now fighting) (specifically Black Shuck) Witches/mages (Potentially seen?) Ghosts (wraiths); (Potentially seen?).

The mention of wizards was a specific tale of a witch, which remains unseen, and the "ghost" was that one with the well.

This marks the first named foreshadowed character appearing except for the fiddler/monk at the end of episode one.

Willpower 4: berzerk.

seems the spirit's name is Jambles? even more terrifying, the spirit might be french.

[m4rs-ex3]

so naturally i was up at 1am the other night watching tdp related youtube videos and i figured i'd watch the 2020 comic con panel since it'd been a while and oh my god some of this shit

(also just me talking about how much i love this cast)

"IT IS I, DARK_MAGE_DAD420" i cannot believe that is real

aaravos: "if i want to do a screen call, i must perform a cosmic blood ritual. with a mortar and pestle. AND FLOATING KNIVES" you are fucking kidding me (edit: i realize that pertains to what he did in s2 but still like "cosmic" "ritual" "knives"? cmon)

jason simpson playing the ukulele. that's all.

jack: *talking about how he had a baby in quarantine* eric: i've been doing a lot of gardening... uh i haven't had a baby, but you never know! i mean if it's possible through social distancing aaron: if anybody can make that happen through social distancing it's aaravos you are F U C K I N G KIDDING ME

racquel: some fun things i did- i uhh died my own hair and burned my scalp and i would like to inform you all it's finally healed and we're good to go, i'm ready to do it again! i'm obsessed with the fact that racquel is quite literally claudia irl

the ttm read is awesome. jack came with the Rayla Voice fucking PREPARED oh my god

i don't think i've ever actually talked about the dnd sketch but it is one of my favorite things in the entire world

rayllum in this sketch is amazing particularly callum he is SO down bad like "my character is a mysterious elf assassin with two beautiful blades to match my two beautiful eyes~~ ✨" like hello that's canon idc if it's a sketch that is canon

"my character cannot help but look at her. he locks eyes with rayla's mage" "....there will be time for roleplaying later" HELLO THATS GOLD

viren in this skit is genuinely one of the funniest things i've ever seen. i cannot emphasize enough this is comedy

necromancer ezran. i think about him daily.

s: "i start swinging my sword at, uhh, idk, rayla's mage" r: "WAIT WHAT" c: "uh wait wait i take it back MY SWORDS GLEAM INTO THE LIGHT AS I LEAP TO THE DEFENCE OF THE BEAUTIFUL MAGE!" s: "hey no takebacks!" sibling ass fight i love them

"LIKE WHAT DO YOU ACTUALLY DO?"

i rolled a 1 😐

i loot their corpses for blood >:D

"do elves have four toes?" "i always assumed that they would have 6 so they could learn how to count to 20" paula my love

someone get sasha some hamantaschen

i don't need arc 3 actually i just need the beta script including as many guns n roses references as possible

racquel: ok call me crazy, call me crazy... jesse: you're crazy, racquel racquel: THANK YOU FINALLY they are literally just them

"I WILL NOT BE POSTING A SINGLE THING ABOUT ICE, FOR I AM JULIA" (okay but.... venous frigoris anyone?)

paula: ugh, no one likes soren jesse: well no one likes rayla racquel: you two should fight 😈

long hard sigh

bonus: jason: literally no one likes viren so let's move on

"how old is bait?" "sasha, how old do you think bait is?" "3."

"is-is a glow toad kinda like a toad?" "................kind of"

i fucking love sasha have i ever mentioned that i fucking love sasha

"i think that he's 56." "either 3 or 56 only, apparently"

the saga announcement is great i love how everyone's is so excited they don't even know all of their characters are about to be destroyed physically and emotionally

the way aaron says it so fucking funny "is there gonna be a season 4?" "uh so i think it's really important to emphasize: yes-"

"i too want to cry" "just cry, just-" "IT'S A PANDEMIC. NO TEARS. THERE'S NO CRYING IN A PANDEMIC." "...where is this rule coming from?"

and finally there were a handful of moments that i could not do justice by transcribing in a post so here is a masterfully edited compilation i made

[tanoraqui]

Dungeon Meshi Liveblog: Kill a Dragon, Rez a Falin

I just like when they're friends like this :)

This, too, is taken from another post, but truly this dynamic is sooo funny of

Chilchuck: I am not a fighter!

Chilchuck, any time he has any sort of ranged weapon: [aims with pinpoint accuracy]

.

This is just literally that moment in every Miraculous Ladybug episode where everything goes gray and the things Marinette is about to use for a Plan "light up" one by one in red with black spots. Please someone draw fanart of this. And maybe an entire Miraculous Ladybug AU. Yes I think Kabru would have to be Chat Noir - in terms of deuteragonist-ness is SHOULD be Marcille, but she and Laios just doesn't have enough of a bizarre push and pull Dynamic. We need real character foils to pull off that relationship square.

.

Raw fucking dialogue.

.

THE PERIODIC ADS ON THIS SITE FOR PRINTING OR CLOTHING OR SHOES REALLY ADD TO THE EXPERIENCE.

.

Agh agh agh, looking at this, thinking about Namari's explanation of how much body mass you can lose before resurrection gets harder...

.

Carving this tunnel into the dragon and physically walking in emphasizes how big it was much more than anything we saw while it was alive, and it's sooo cool.

.

This ad was a great millisecond of cliffhanger, unironically.

.

These opening pages of the next chapter are so devastating. After all the movement of the fight, this simple layout and minimal dialogue make the grief and horror and just emptiness, emptiness where Falin should be, where hope for Falin should be, ring like a low and broken bell. Driven in just a little deeper by Laios admitting he doesn't know a monsters fact (warg bones vs human bones) - there is helplessness, too. He's just doing the only thing he can, which is so little, in all this terrible caesura.

.

And then this! Marcille and Laois don't have the messy meatiness of relationship to carry and Miraculous Ladybug love square, but they are JOINTLY the parallel to the Mad Mage, and that's fascinating. They're on the same page here: Laios's "No" isn't just the denial of grief, it's a flat "That's not what we'll do." This is Laios - of course he's already thinking about how the red dragon is perfectly functional meat. As is Marcille, at last 100% in-step with him re: monsters = meat, here in the final steps to save Falin. With magic and drive and an absolute determination to save Falin, they're going to walk hand in hand into the darkness, and if something in their devours them (or their party, or the surface world...) - well, it'll have to beat them first, because throughout this world it's eat or be eaten, and those who want it most, win.

(And it IS fascinating that they do this while, so far as I've seen, basically remaining at the relationship tier of "good friends/in-laws." This isn't Found Family, it's Found Really Good Co-Workers; and I LOVE that.)

.

THE PARALLEL COMPOSITION AND DIALOGUE TO THE ABOVE SCREENSHOT WHEN LAIOS WENT TO KILL THE DRAGON THOUGH!! I'M FERAL!!!

.

Obsessed with the decision to frame this as a monster meal.

.

Blood! In! Hair! Blood! In! Hair! Man, when I saw that post saying this wished this show was in the show, I vaguely assumed her hair had gotten messed up in the fight but she didn't bother to fix it for the ritual; but in fact her hair was braided literally 1 panel ago - she undid that and DELIBERATELY (or at least uncaringly) ran her bloody hand through it.

.

YOU WISH YOUR GIRLFRIEND WAS AS COOL AS THIS PANEL! Oh fuck yeah, eyes went white. That's when you know the magic is awesome.

.

HUNGER AND EATING AS A SIGN, SYMPTOM, STIPULATION AND SYNECDOCHE OF BEING ALIVE!!!

Alas, but with good okay slightly postponed and belated timing I must now go to bed.

[curioussubjects]

I just finished Veilguard, and...I'm really not sure how I feel about it?

All in all: good game, had fun, but still didn't quite hit some of the highs it wanted to hit and it's still not as good as DA2

(Spoilers galore below for everything)

The Good:

Pretty game is pretty;

Love the codexes, especially the ones written by companions or with their commentary;

Speaking of, the Mementos had so excellent tid bits of lore flavor to them, as well;

Regrets of the Dread Wolf was a damn good quest;

Some truly funny party banter;

I actually thought it was really easy to figure out who my Rook is as I played the game, which was much harder for me to do for my Lavellan in DAI;

And speaking of Lavellan, she was in character she WOULD say that she WOULD do that. Bless;

Everything about Nevarra and the Mourn Watch, I wish there was more content there because I was so into it;

Orb and dagger mage is really fun to play, which was VERY surprising considering I don't play close range ever;

I also really enjoyed destroying blight boils for some reason lmao;

Petting cats (they PURR WHEN YOU DO);

Assan <3;

Taash being so autistic;

Teia and Viago my beloveds;

✨Friendship✨

The Solavellan of it all;

And Solas, too. Love that sadsack disaster man;

Maybe this is super basic of me but I liked Varric's narration...idk it's comforting;

Honestly, just Varric in general was a bit safety blanket in a nice way for me because the game feels overwhelming at first;

There's no party like an all Dalish party!

Exploring -- loved finding all the fun details in each location, and I know I didn't even do enough in my playthrough;

I'm weak for stories about guilt, fear and regret. And I'm even weaker when those stories are so obviously about forgiveness and moving forward. Also love. Always love.

The Bad:

The pacing. I've said this before but DAtV could've used a more explicit arc structure or have quests note which level they're meant for or SOMETHING because some times it seemed I was doing quests too early or too late for when I was in the main story. I also thought events kept oscillating from happening too fast or too slowly, and it very much did get in the way of immersion;

The romance. Literally what are you doing Dragon Age that you fumble the romance. Granted, I only romanced Davrin so far, but I'm getting the sense from looking through the tag that maybe Lucanis' romance also feels a bit off? Honestly I have so many issues with the romance progression for Davrin that it's its own section;

I hope this is only a Veil Jumpers issue, but I thought Rook was so separate from the faction. I felt very little connection to them;

I've seen some people point out NPCs talk to Rook like they're a child, and while I don't really agree with that I do think Rook doesn't have enough opportunities to be knowledgeable in their own right. Especially annoying with a mage Veil Jumper Rook! I miss the Inquisition perk dialogue options that let my Lavellan be a smarty pants;

Holy overdesigned armors! Yikes!

Not all areas are as well developed as the others: Rivain is the most egregiously empty and underdeveloped, but I actually thought Arlathan Forest was super lifeless too. So was the Lighthouse! You get the early game discovery bit and then nothing ever again and it's like oh that was really it huh (and the stuff we did get was so good please more?);

I hate to say this but BioWare missed the mark with Rook's place in the group. The companions seemed connected to each other, yeah, but Rook was like some cross between group therapist and not-so-undercover boss. There was none of the warmth Hawke got from their companions (or the Inquisitor, for that matter!). The game really needed 1. a lighthearted party hangout cutscene and 2. companions coming together to take care of Rook (the fact this isn't even a thing in the romance is bonkers to me);

Taash's personal quest being about choosing between being Rivain and Qunari as if that's how culture works is Bad Actually;

The worst minimap I've ever seen in a game wow;

Also: give me back my beacon marker;

The gods were in a regret prison but what were their regrets exactly we just don't know.

The Bad (Romance Edition):

Again, the pacing! Incredibly slow to start (and not in a slow burn way, mind!) and then super fast in the last third of the game;

In fact, the romance seemed to be running on a completely different level than the rest of the story. The last romance scene was incredibly out of place tonally, especially.

The first two romance titles for Davrin are "Thrill of the Chase" and "Hot and Bothered"...and like WHERE????

Davrin never writes about Rook as a romantic partner or as if he has any concerns with the relationship...which we later find out he has, but was news to me;

Tbh, the romance felt like an afterthought. There were cutscenes that in any other DA game there would've been flirting options, for instance, but this time there was nothing (what do you mean Rook can't make a flirty comment when Davrin is shirtless working out with Taash? It's low hanging fruit!);

Not nearly enough flirty banter between Rook and Davrin, which is nuts considering their personalities;

I'm really super disappointed with Davrin's romance, which sucks because he's actually perfect for my Rook and I really like his character. There was so much potential for a really fun romance that was both tense and sexy, but also sweet. But no. Secret good Davrin romance that exists in my head save me.

The ???:

Southern Thedas got scorched when the North didn't how?

Please tell me who was catfishing Andraste;

Making enemies super aggro on Rook unless you specifically have companions taunting was very weird.

[amxrany]

!! CHAPTER 7 / DIASOMNIA ARC SPOILERS !!

Hi I just got home, so let's get to it (Part 1):

Picking up where we left off, where the main gang meet up with Idia. Sebek thought that all of them were awake in the real world but Idia was like "nah we're still stuck in the dream world"

I completely forgot that Idia barely touches grass (joke) in the main story so he introduces himself to the Silver and Sebek and when Sebek introduces himself Idia got scared cuz of how loud he was 😭

Since Idia's awake, Silver immediately goes on defense thinking that the darkness or even Malleus will attack. But then, Ortho comes on screen (like literally he appears on a monitor) telling the gang that they don't have to worry about that for a while.

Edit: There's this one part I legit forgot to add which I will now cuz it's funny where Silver and Sebek were just sandwiching Idia and Idia's says something along the lines of getting hurt from being squeezed between armor (Sebek) and HARD MUSCLES (Silver) LIKE WE GET IT IDIA WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE

Ortho then explains to the rest about how he managed to escape the dream world and transfer his consciousness to STYX. Although he's not able to conjur Unique Magic because he's not a mage, but rather a humanoid robot, he still has his unique perks (aw that's cute)

Flashback Time: So we have Cerberus Ortho investigating the current situation of Sage Island, trying to prevent the thorns from spreading as well as break through the shield, which is apparently much harder than the open gates of the Underworld. But don't worry guys the Shroud Parents are also there to help him out.

Ortho was given a 20 minute time limit to analyze Malleus's magic, because once those 20 minutes are up he shuts down, which was difficult. UNTIL THE MAN OF THE HOUR MALLEUS APPEARS, who's surprised that Ortho was awake. But Ortho tells Malleus that he simply switched bodies cuz he's an AI, which is something Malleus probably doesn't understand (damn AHAHAHAHAHA)

Knowing that he needed to buy some for the machinery thingies (idk what they're called don't even ask) to collect the needed data, Ortho challenges Malleus. Malleus admires the fact Ortho can keep his sanity for so long, thinking that it's the pinnacle of technology. It was a crazy battle, with Ortho losing one of his dogs

OH MALLEUS I LOVE YOU BUT YOU BITCHHHH (mostly the latter btw)

Ortho's running out of time, with only 30 seconds left and Malleus is about is to put him to sleep. he says he's sorry to his parents NOOOO

BUT SOMETHING HAPPENS, the attack stops; STYX came in just in time to intervene. The Shroud parents uses their drones to attack Malleus's shield and Ortho uses a full blast to get him out of Sage Island and land himself back to STYX and we get this moment of the Shrouds (minus Idia) collapsing into each other's arms.

MALLEUS NO

Ortho regains consciousness after awhile and tells his parents that he's guilty the the two robot dogs were destroyed (oh yeah forgot to mention the other one was destroyed too whoopsie), but Mama Shroud said that they can just repair them and we just have this heartfelt moment in the family.

That is, until Papa Shroud brings up that the magic used by Malleus reminds him of the ancient magic surrounding Grim. Another thing is that it's downright impossible to destroy Malleus's realm from the outside UNLESS Malleus himself disappears. They can't destroy the realm by force either because it will also permamnently lock all victims inside of it. The only thing they can do is to be as persuasive as possible to let Malleus let go of everyone (but trust me when I say I don't think that will work)

So they bring up Maleficia as someone who can persuade Malleus, but Mama Shroud has something else in mind and shows Ortho a live from Idia's dream, which is when he notices something was off. It's possible that she found a way to access everyone's dreams (and let's just say Idia is just like his mum). That;s when Ortho realizes what his mom meant, and that is to find a way to get everyone to wake up and find a way to disrupt the dream world.

Okay Ima end the first part here for now, sorry this took awhile guys I had lots of things to do the moment I got home 😭. But I promise to get things out as quick as I can (I still have a reflection paper to speedrun lmao)

Next: Part 2

[chuckeroo777]

Frieren Liveblog- Chapters 1-4

Welcome back! Today we start reading Frieren! Unlike my Dungeon Meshi liveblog, this one will be blind!

To start, let's go over what I do know.

-Frieren is an immortal elf mage of some renown.

-She lost a human companion she cared a lot about, but unlike Marcille, she's chill about it.

-The mimic scene.

-There's a guy with blue hair, and a demon(?) lady.

-I think they adventure in dungeons to get stronger?

Yeah, I think that's about all I know. Let's see what happens!

And here we have our intrepid heroes! Apparently they already beat the demon lord, so that's nice.

Wait, Himmel? Oh no. I'm pretty sure that's the dude Frieren misses. Alas, it was nice to meet you. Guess the character class "Brave" doesn't save you from death flags. Suddenly not feeling confident Heiter or Eisen will be sticking around either.

Oh no! She's tiny! I love her. LOTR did irreparable damage to fantasy by insisting elves have to be tall.

Well, that was quick. I guess other than Himmel's imminent demise, all my spoilers have already shown up.

Frieren's a high INT low WIS kinda character, isn't she? At this rate, his tragic death is literally going to be old age. No, seriously. I think that's what's about to happen.

This is gonna be a recurring problem, isn't it.

Saw that coming from a mile away. I wonder about the other two companions. Are they longer lived races? Or are they old and wrinkled too?

It's your own fault for being of optimal head pat height. Heiter looks a little older, but not too bad. I can't tell if Eisen is different. With the manga format, for all I know, he's gone grey.

Ah. Perhaps not as chill about it as I assumed. Also, I went ahead and switched over to a better translation. Maybe the other was more accurate, but good lord was it stiff as hell.

Who's this cutie? I'd hope she is a major character, but with 70 years having passed since the manga started, I'm worried about getting attached to anyone but Frieren.

Phooey.

This can only end well.

Now what exactly does that mean? I'm sensing some deeper motivations for studying magic for both of them. (Also, I'm not retracting my Phooey until I confirm Fern doesn't die of old age at the end of the chapter.)

Oh dear. I thought I got enough of this from The Monster who Wants to Eat Me, but I guess we're doing this here too.

Best case scenario really.

Yessss! New companion! Also, this is really sweet, even if it only worked because Frieren didn't care about wasting six whole years.

Telekinesis may not be flashy, but the raw utility it can provide is nuts.

The adventurer's creed. As long as the loot is magic, you want it. Guess who has a collection of hundreds of scrolls and potions in BG3 despite having used, maybe 5 total. No, I can't store them in camp. What if I need them later!

Yep, they're adventurers alright. I am rather happy to see that despite her stoic facade, Frieren is in fact, a goober.

Where's the lie?

Keep telling yourself that.

Oh god, please tell me this Manga isn't a cycle of new companions joining, growing old, and dying.

Please stop vagueblogging at your apprentice.

No one told me this was a sad manga.

Good for you, but don't forget to retrieve the lady's seeds before you leave.

This isn't giving hope that this mange isn't on a centuries spanning timescale.

Oh no. It's only been four chapters, but I already adore her.

Is candy a euphemism for something?

This is sadly rather relatable.

Oh my god Frieren, stop staring at Fern's bobs.

Ok, so, before I finish tonight's session, I decided to take a little peek ahead to assuage my fears. This is from chapter 107, so it looks like I don't have to worry about Frieren repeatedly outliving her friends in this story. At least with old age. They could still die the old fashioned way. The only other detail I accidentally spoiled is that Fern is still with her, so reverse death flag, I guess.

And that's the first session! Very different vibes from what I was expecting. It's very somber, while being funny in a rather low-key way. Frieren is already a delight, and I'm interested to learn more about Fern. So far she seems to mostly be the straight-man, but I'm sure she has some fun quirks.

Also, glad to see basically everything I was spoiled on was in chapter 1. I went into Dungeon Meshi knowing about the cool monster Marcille is in lesbians with.

[utilitycaster]

second run updates now that I'm on the train up for Thanksgiving (under a cut for length and spoilers)

I probably could have changed my combat level to Easy somewhere mid-first run but honestly doing so as a mage, when all the Primer/Detonator stuff is a lot more relevant, is kind of great! I wish the intro tooltips were more easily accessible (ie, I don't know where you can reference them at all after the fact) but I am picking it up. I must admit there's benefits and drawbacks and it's hard at this point to say if I prefer it to warrior (I do not have the rogue temperament and probably never will sorry), since mentally I am comparing high level nigh-unkillable warrior stuff on story mode to baby mage on keeper mode. It IS very nice to have elemental damage on tap. It is NOT very nice to have like half the HP. Also you get mage dialogue options which is very exciting, and you get both a decorative orb in your room and a magic orb with which to do damage, which is the best thing ever. So much orb pondering. There are zero warrior dialogue options, possibly because you do not have any particular knowledge as a warrior. I also have way more faction dialogue options as a Shadow Dragon.

Neve likes me more this time around but flirtation options with her have not yet opened up. I also don't recall having any flirtation options with her post-dragon attack despite knowing it's technically possible so I think there might be an INCREDIBLY narrow window for expressing interest in her, which is 1. apt and 2. funny. The Viper is very nice to me and wrote me a very nice letter but Tarquin still hates me, which is great. I support him.

Things I have noticed that I missed last time due to The Motion Sickness or not knowing how controls work or not knowing lore: It is indeed VERY obvious the second Solas realizes what's going on and decides to trick Rook about Varric. I either didn't notice because I had no basis of comparison or wasn't looking around as much, but the Lighthouse starts off GRIM. AND the two Veil Jumpers you meet on Bellara's quest are the ones Anaris kills. I do feel this sort of contributes to the issue I mentioned with the Veil Jumpers though, in that even the one you rescue in Harding's quest isn't named. The only ones with names that aren't Bellara, Strife, or Irelin all die, and I don't think you encounter those two in camp beforehand either, though I haven't checked. Like, literally I cannot stress enough that an elvish name generator instead of "veil jumper 2" would have done WONDERS. Other things: Varric knows about things you literally haven't told anyone (though to be fair one can think that Neve or Harding told him) and his facial injuries heal much, much faster than those of your companion who was injured (Neve in my case). The Converged City is initially full of Orlesians, and I do not know why. It does feel nice to see Dock Town intact again and I look forward to seeing it as such until the endgame.

There haven't been too many options to do things differently yet, but I did release the mayor this time, and I have been way meaner to Solas, which is very satisfying.

Finally: I also am tracking all the faction/location sidequests in a spreadsheet so I can provide a better like, sense of the vibe and also when they unlock. I must admit I don't know if I have gotten all the chests because I didn't realize you couldn't go back to all levels of the Ossuary at the end of the quest, but I do intend to get all the ones on the places I can visit regularly. I also know I specifically did an absolutely terrible job seeing the Dellamorte mansion, so looking forward to that.

[innerchorus]

Okay, instead of making a million disjointed Gurgin posts like I’m constantly tempted to do, it occurs to me that I can just... put them all in the same post.

Two thoughts that are breaking my brain at the moment; 1. the fact that Nakamura’s manga made me consider a blonde Gurgin (it’s like the sequel to blonde Isfan but worse... though if I have to imagine them with light hair then they can both have silver/grey because blonde just does not work for me, lmao) and 2. trying to picture Gurgin wearing white back when he was training to become a priest...

(He was MADE for wearing black. I do sometimes think about what he would wear if he left Team Zahhak and their typical attire behind, but it’s hard to see him wearing a lot of colour even then.)

(This is funny though because in the novels Team Zahhak wear dark grey.)

Do you ever come across a reference to something historical or whatever and just think ‘that has to be included in an AU somehow’ because that happened to me most recently with the Castle of Oblivion. It’s in Khuzestan, like the Temple of Mithra. I think I’m going to incorporate it into Gurgin’s backstory somehow, like maybe he and his brother and Farangis visited its ruins together once when they were at the temple together, but (unbeknownst to them) way back in the day it used to be used by the priesthood to imprison users of magic / those suspected of following Zahhak. Nowadays they just kill them instead. That’s another thing that the temple trio don’t know about (at least, not yet). Who knows, maybe even the Master himself was familiar with this place!

I’m... really tempted to give Gurgin a different eye colour in every AU I imagine him in. Is this because I’m indecisive and can’t quite settle on one? Maybe. But I also kind of like the idea of this one inconsequential visual difference between all of the different ‘versions’ of Gurgin and his story that I like to think about.

(Interlude aka Magical Healing AU is the only one that has much of anything actually written for it, and his eye colour there is a grey-green, but I do like the thought of a pale blue-grey too, or even brown like his brother, though that might be too similar as they both have dark hair and I like the thought that their eye colour sets them apart distinctly... having said that I was considering a deep reddish-brown/mahogany colour for Mage Hunt AU, I’m not sure why.)

I feel I should admit to the fact that I think about Mage Hunt AU and the eventual Zandeh/Gurgin all the time... like, why yes, Zandeh, you will end up deeply in love with the man you once called a “slimy little freak”. You will love him with your whole heart. You will love his mind, his body and his soul, and you will not want to imagine a future without him by your side. (And thankfully, you won’t have to. This one has a happy ending!)

I was indulging myself recently by imagining Gurgin reuniting with Aghriras in the afterlife, since the novels do seem to indicate that one exists and this is possible. Yeah, I know, it’s absolutely delusional to think that Gurgin would be allowed into Parsian heaven lmao, but... maybe eventually? Just imagining Aghriras wordlessly holding him in a tight hug.

Revisiting some of the content regarding Zahhak’s blood and its mind-control powers in the novels recently has actually been very relevant to my interests in that recently I’d started considering yet another AU (probably like an eventual bad end for well past the events of Interlude, where Gurgin is still firmly Team Zahhak, tries to have it all and ends up suffering the consequences). I would personally describe it as ‘averting canon horror by committing AU atrocities’ but to be more specific, Gurgin ends up saving Zandeh’s life by giving him Zahhak’s blood, and it’s not going to end well. (Sorry, Gurgin. He’ll probably kill you in the end.)

The fact that Gurgin most likely knows exactly where Zandeh is in the second half is just so useful to me. You can’t tell me that this little snake wouldn’t have been reading Namard and Kermine’s letters whenever he got the chance.

Also I am 👀 at the fact that Gurgin recognises that Kermine’s love for Namard would have caused problems for Team Zahhak in the future if he’d lived, while Ghundi is totally oblivious (and annoyed at Gurgin for not telling him before). Gurgin seems surprised that Ghundi doesn’t know. Perhaps he thought it was obvious; however, he may also have deliberately kept quiet about it and is now making a jab at his comrade (like ‘I can’t believe you didn’t notice it, you really don’t know?’). Anyway, this is definitely of interest to me, because I wonder if he’s not been with Team Zahhak for long enough for his perceptiveness of such things to be completely deadened.

Also poor guy, at this point he’s totally sleep deprived and exhausted from the constant racket that the winged apes have been making

(My little headcanon is that back in the time when he and Zandeh were both in Ecbatana, he would sometimes go and sleep in Zandeh’s bed during the day.)

Tanaka: 'In the past, in addition to the Holy Master there were eight people in this room; now only two remained. The anxiety and loneliness of the mages was deeply felt.’ 😢

Weirdest thing I have researched for Sacrifice AU so far: what happens if someone drinks heavy water (yeah, Gurgin... don’t drink from that weird underground well...)

I want to make a Gurgin playlist... I will accept suggestions!

[giantchasm]

Character Ask Game:

Susie 1, 7, 8, 23, and 26 (free question is, who would she hate the most out of the other dream friends?)

Taranza 2, 5, 7, 8, and 23

Marx 22, 26 (free question is, who would be his favorite prank target?)

Apologies if this is too many in one ask.

SUSIE:

1. Why do you like or dislike this character?

Why WOULDN'T I like Susie? She's my special girl. Honestly, the story of how I really fell for her is kind of funny TBH. When I first got into the fandom, even after playing Robobot, I didn't pay her TOO much mind. I gave her some thought, especially in the context of my Underworld Friends AU and her father's history with her, but it was nowhere near the levels of brainrot I have now.

But then one day something just kind of... clicked for me. I was like "Hey! Taranza (Who I was also not that invested in at the time) and Susie have pretty similar stories. I bet they'd make really good friends. I should write something about that!"

And so I did. (Although I never technically finished it). And I got super invested in those two, both as individuals and as a duo. It's interesting just how intertwined my love for them is. They're characters I got invested in simultaneously. I was a Taranza & Susie fan before I was a Taranza or Susie fan, and I think that's fun.

But of course, with time, I've come to actually love both characters more in an individualized context. That was just the thing that initially instigated the madness for me.

I love the tragedy to Susie's story. I love her complicated backstory and her even more complicated relationship with her father. I love all of the weird body horror cybernetics stuff I can explore with her and just how easy it is to depict her brain as like... exceptionally weird. I love the fact that she retains some whimsy even despite the horrors. I love the fact that she's one of the only Kirby characters with a gun.

I tend to have a soft spot for morally gray female characters who a lot of people have a weird distaste for, so I was always probably going to love her TBH. It's just in my nature.

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

I answered this one in another ask, so have this GIF of Susie posing cutely over the word "Fatherless" instead of an actual answer.

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

I could give the obvious answer of "people are way too hard on her and while I understand some discomfort considering the themes of Robobot people definitely interpret her as way more evil and irredeemable than the relatively lighthearted, ultimately hopeful children's' game series ever intended," but that feels like too much of a copout, so let me talk about something else people to.

Or... don't do, I guess?

I hate hate hate when people like... make Wave 3 friend group content and leave her out then slot like... Marx or whoever in instead. Like I know there's no technical canonical friendship between pretty much any Kirby characters, and therefore there's not an actual dynamic between her, Magolor and Taranza people are Ignoring, but all the same it feels like there can be a deliberate attempt from people to avoid wanting to include Susie in their content.

And I think I'd feel differently if these people were portraying the Super Popular Male Characters as hanging out with other girls like the Mage Sisters or whoever instead (They're also technically a part of Wave 3, you know!), but they don't. It's not overwhelmingly common, to be clear, but there's definitely still a Thing where people will exclusively focus on male characters and making them interact with each other instead of bothering to incorporate female characters into any of their group dynamics. And I guess that's more of a complaint about wider fandom sexism as a whole than just Susie herself, but... idk, man.

I guess I'm just saying that if the only Kirby characters you're invested in and make content of interacting is the guys because the girls are either all "too evil" like Susie (Is she that evil compared to her peers?) or "too underwritten" like the Mage Sisters and pretty much the rest of the female cast (It's Kirby. Everyone is underwritten), then you probably have some unconscious biases to address and maybe try to rectify. Because I don't like it and it annoys me.

Putting the rest of this under a cut because it became a long post. I am a wordy person.

23. Favorite picture of this character?

I have quite a few, but here are some of my favorites

The BESTIES

#Women

What remains the funniest image on the planet (Susie & Taranza grieving feat. Kirby and the cake a rat stole from him once)

26. Who would she hate the most out of the other Dream Friends?

Mark. His obnoxious whimsy drives her mad.

(Obvious answer aside, I think she also doesn't get along with DMK. And I think she has a very contentious relationship with both the Mage Sisters and Elfilin at first, although she eventually gets over both. (I know Elfilin isn't technically a Dream Friend, but to me he is. He's like... a part of the group, y'know? The only reason why he's not a Dream Friend is Forgotten Land didn't exist at the time Star Allies came out. He's a Dream Friend in all but name.))

TARANZA:

2. Favorite canon thing about this character?

Taranza has approximately two traits in canon, however, I love them both. This guy is INSUFFERABLY pompous, dramatic and prideful, and this guy LOVES HIS EVIL WIFE. He even has a tragic backstory. What more could one possibly ask for?

Also he's just... like, really cute. He has maybe my favorite design in Kirby. That helps too.

7. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you like?

As much as I bitched about how some people don't do it earlier in this post, there are just as many people who do utilize the Wave 3 group dynamic to its full potential and it's always some of my absolute favorite Taranza content. Buddy's at his best when he's with his pals.

Also, call me a basic bitch, but I still think the divorce/dead wife jokes are funny. Like... not if overdone/made into all that he is, but in a vacuum? Yeah, that shit's hilarious, sorry.

8. What's something the fandom does when it comes to this character that you despise?

Sanding him down to make him a palpable softboy. I think Taranza is ultimately a good person, but I think he can have an ego sometimes (Yes, even despite his trauma and any insecurities said trauma may have left him with) and can get caught up in things. He's willing to do anything for the people he loves to a dangerous degree, regardless of the harm it causes anyone else. If I see one more person portray him as an innocent victim in Triple Deluxe as opposed to a nuanced, morally gray character I'm going to go outside with a hammer and start smashing tomatoes with a rock. He DESERVES to have flaws.

Also I hate how many people either make his entire personality Sectonia or neglect her importance to him entirely. The latter annoys me more thought because I am famously a #womanhead. It makes me so fucking angry when I see people like... completely ignore his history with her and one-dimensionally reduce her to either his evil abuser or a perfect angel of a love interest he needs to Get Over so he can mash faces with another character they like more. I'm not saying I hate the idea of Taranza moving on, because I don't, but the sheer disrespect most people show Sectonia with the way they write it is like. Staggering. Do better.

23. Favorite picture of this character?

All Taranza images are good Taranza images, but here are some particularly charming ones

This one, which really highlights whatever the hell is wrong with him

World's most precious Muppet creature

And capable of so much unrestrained joy

MARX:

22. If you're a fic reader, what's something you like in fics when it comes to this character? Something you don't like?

I don't actually really read fanfic (I'm more of just a writer), but when it comes to Marx depictions in general, I don't like how most people tend to take him too far in one direction or the other. I feel like people either make him some kind of #lolrandom complete sociopath who only lives to like... exist as a plot device to torture other characters in a way that's exceptionally unfunny or as a sweet, just kind of goofy guy who's not actually that bad, both of which are boring. My favorite Marx depictions portray him as someone who presents himself as a deliberately provocative edgelord but cares deep down and really just wants attention.

26. Who would be his favorite prank target?

Dedede, Bandee, Coo, Susie, Elfilin, and, of course, Kirby, all make excellent targets depending on what exactly he's planning to do.

[emblemxeno]

Thoughts on Emblem Paralogues #1

Doing this again with the base game paralogues cuz as a longtime FE fan it’s cool to see how a celebration game shows its love. I’m not really doing them in the order they unlocked, so this is mostly a random assortment. 

For starters I like how for the most part, the throwback maps have pretty much the exact same enemy composition. Very wonderful and nostalgic.

Lucina, The Exalt: This one’s good. It makes for a good start to the overall reference paralogues, cuz of it’s simplicity. Wish I had more to say, but it really is that cut and dry lol. I guess I wish there was more reference to the fact that Lucina traveled back in time to prevent the bad future, but I guess that’s what bond conversations are for.

Lyn, The Lady of the Plains: I had lots of fun with this one haha, though I guess it’s cuz I was a tad overleveled when I did it. I heard the OG map in FE6 was very hated, or at least the Sacae route was disliked a lot in comparison to the Ilia one. I read that the original version had fake-out thrones that spawned reinforcements, so I would think that’d piss first time players off. The one thing that I’m kind of iffy on though is just the decision of using this map for Lyn. I know FE7 doesn’t have notable Sacae maps to choose from (I think the first 3 chapters of Lyn’s mode are the only ones, which would suck as throwbacks lol), and that her association with Mulagir thanks to FEH means it’s appropriate to choose this map in particular, but I think chapter 10 or 15 from FE7 could’ve served as good rep maps for her. It’d let her discuss her mixed heritage and connection to Eliwood and Hector, I feel. Oh well, not too fussed about it, since I do love when Lyn talks about Sacae.

Ike, The Radiant Hero: This one’s great. Ike destroying the entire castle was fucking hilarious, and I think it’s a perfect choice for his paralogue given it’s when he first took leadership of the Greil Mercs and had to establish himself as a fighter and protector who can hold out against terrible odds. Though a complaint on that front is that I wish there was some kind of defense-like objective, even though like I said, Ike one shotting a whole castle is funny. Shout-out to the mage in the same place as Ilyana and drops Elthunder, neat reference.

Byleth, The Instructor: Very much liked this one, aside from one aspect: healers with warp aspects (lol plot teleporting in 3H). Byleth’s dancing I can handle, but damn my OCD ridden brain hated beating the map without protecting all the crystals. Though I think I got the best reward anyway, it’s very lenient. Liked the House Leader stand-ins, but surprise surprise, there’s nobody representing Rhea, Seteth, or Flayn despite this being the tomb of their brethren :/ It’s also again indicative of how averse the devs are of associating Byleth with anything beyond being a teacher, cuz one could argue that chapter 10 could’ve been a better choice and still had the “power depends on the heart of its wielder” aesop cuz it dealt with Jeralt’s death and Byleth being granted Sothis’ power in the first place. But whatever, details, details.

Sigurd, The Holy Knight: My favorite of the ones I’ve done so far. I think it’s a great way to represent Sigurd through a Gen 2 map and it gave a fair challenge. The Arvis stand-in with Meteor is hilarious. I really, really regret not getting the goddess icon from the tile that references Seliph’s talk with ghost Sigurd and Deirdre, that little easter egg is so fucking cute 😭 Sigurd’s talk about revenge and there being more than one truth shows just how great of a character he is (and his significance in Engage kind of points to more evidence that FE4 is probs getting remade soon). But the coolest part of the map are the Julius and Ishtar stand-ins. It took all of my brain power to take them out without anyone dying, but I did it! Using the Tiki bracelet came in clutch, cuz even if an attack like Ice Breath misses, it still damages adjacent enemies for the calculated damage. Widdling away at Julius was very satisfying.

I’ll do the rest of the paralogues some time, trust lol.

[psychiclounge]

Impeccable taste. Can we hear more about julan and rendil?

thank you >:)

rendil is my nerevarine. hes a dunmer, i still cant decide whether i want him to have come from cyrodiil or northern skyrim tbqh. his actual backstory is something i've rewritten several times and i'm still very indecisive about... no matter what he ends up as kind of this uhh. aimless guy who really doesn't know what to do with himself. not a fantastic self image. leads to him sort of taking orders early on in morrowind without thinking too deeply about it or how weird it is that he's there by request of the emperor. julan absolutely reality checks him on that, esp when the nerevarine reveal happens and imperial spy accusations are being thrown around. ESP bc julan's really not wrong about that all things considered even though it's not something rendil would have agreed to if he'd been in a mindset to put the pieces together. i still think the extent of it never really sinks in until after everything is over though, rendil is the type to give the whole I Am Nerevar Reborn line when meeting dagoth ur face to face, you know? & it's like... well okay you have fulfillfed all of the prophecies, going by the letter of it you Are, azura is even on board, but also this was you being used as part of a plan to gain more imperial footing & support in morrowind- it's complicated & the way everything connects only fully comes to him once he has a properly clear head afterward

i really like how the relationship developing is written in the mod itself, there's not really anything i'd change about it. periods of genuine camaraderie early on but still a rocky start esp post-nerevarine reveal which leads to some bitter fighting, hesitant making up & then a period of uncertainty during the whole "julan is definitely still the real nerevarine and rendil is just covering for him" arc lmao. all of which ofc comes to a head after the cavern of the incarnate... & then there's julan's whole personal questline, they come out the other side inseparable etc. if you've played the mod you do know how this progresses. the only major difference is that the romance questline, as fantastic as it is & as much as that overall plays out for them the same as it does in game, assumes you're the cis or binary trans version of whatever your pc's gender is and rendil is nonbinary & during the events of the game likely does not pass as masc so a lot of the "ive never been with a man before what is my mother going to think" stuff isnt really. you know LMAO

uhhh bullet point facts

spear user, i usually imagine him with an ebony spear or the spear of the hunter from bloodmoon

he also joins the mage's guild in vvardenfell and 1. gets very into alteration and mysticism and 2. also gets VERY into the dwemer. he's dragging julan into dwemer ruins all over vvardenfell and then onto the mainland as well (postgame he insists on going to kemel-ze and it's a whole thing) (tamriel rebuilt i love you forever)

he for sure asks dagoth ur what happened to the dwemer.

rendil & julan do end up getting married under the statue of azura in the daedric ruin that the ahemmusa move to

rendil absolutely makes the effort to befriend shani & all three of them go to mournhold & solstheim together for the events of the expansions (werewolf shani real....)

julan & rendil do have a kid together once they've gotten older and settled out of their crazy adventuring days and julan becomes ashkhan. the kid ends up mostly being called by his nickname, rinyabi

rinyabi is also inexplicably the dragonborn. don't worry about the timing of this or why this is the case bc i certainly don't LMAO this was originally just because i thought it was funny & i wanted to do a skyrim playthrough while having something to connect to julan and rendil, but it ended up becoming canon for them you know how it is. also julan teases rendil relentlessly about being a chosen one and having made a chosen one once they find out. and after they calm down a little. that is kind of insane news

(rinyabi ends up travelling with gore... they're besties. they're holding hands by the campfire.)

this is probably way more than you wanted & also more than i expected to write woah. THANK YOU

[weloveaca]

ahoy! my name is aca, short and simple, super easy to remember and say. no worries, i'm fully adult (though i might still buy toys sometimes). :3 according to my last MBTI test: i'm an ISTJ, which means i like things organized and straightforward, but i'm still pretty chill. i go by she-her pronouns and i'm a libra (october)(peacemaker)(promise). i might run low on energy sometimes, but i love meeting new neighbor and having laid-back conversations. whether it's about random yap or just vibing, i'm here for it. so, if that sounds good to you, i'm your person!

disclaimer

i prefer people to ask for permission before following me, unless i have responded to your friendship offer. if that doesn’t apply, i will just block you softly.

OYA, and i also (almost) always do bub spree on people who rarely appear or interact much. let's become better friends! so i can cut back on that. x___x

do not follow me if you’re racist, LGBTQ+ phobic, or a minor. my account is actually minor-friendly, but it’s better to avoid if you any of those. thanks for understanding!

interest

i have an interest in many things, such as cats, food, music, movies, shows, and game.

#1

i have four cats, one mom and three kittens. the mom’s name is emen and the kittens are miu-bubu-miyo. i absolutely love my cats, but the sad fact: i'm afraid of PICKING THEM UP. please teach me how! :__(

#2

i'm super obsessed with food. if you asked me what my dream date is, i'd shout "KULINERAN" with all my heart! i just love trying new dishes and exploring different flavors. <3

when it comes to main dishes, i'm all about chicken (friend chicken to be exact). i do enjoy other foods, but i'm not a fan of anything that's too soupy or watery.

for snacks and desserts, i'm total sweet tooth. mochi is my number one go-to treat. love it deeply, like really deeply.

as for drinks, i'm pretty simple, just water for me. although, if i'm craving something sweet, i will go for a glass of chocolate milk. that's the only exception!

#3

music is pretty much 80% of my life. i'm into artist like nadin amizah, hindia, .feast, lomba sihir, sheila on 7, and a bunch of others. but most of the time, i just shuffle everything: dangdut, slow-rock, kpop, even dj funky remix. if you invite me to spotify session, expect me to share some of my best tracks.

#4

75% of my life, besides music, is filled with movies-youtube or tv shows. latest my top movies were kang mak and exhuma. i also watch a lot of netflix series and other movies in between. it's too many to name right now, but i'll make a letterboxd soon. as for genres, i'd go with comedy-thriller-action-drama. keep an eye out for my letterboxd soon! ^___^

i mostly watch comedy youtube channels like vindes, bts (tv show), taulany tv, and the funny-cute content from ueno family.

#5

i don’t play many games, just mobile legends: bang bang, call of duty mobile, and… plato. :D i usually take control of the mid lane in mole, yep, i'm a mage user. and for plato, come at me as an ocho and pool athlete!

(please don’t wreck me, i'm a noob) :__3

call to be friends for those of you who have read all and agreed, take the 🎟️ and claim it now!

[chasingmemoriesofficial]

Subtle Non-Human Traits on Human(ish) Characters

So I know tumblr is aware of the phenomenon known as "Turning popular characters into animal hybrids/furries". I am going to put a disclaimer right now, I don't deal in furries. However, I DO deal with non-human sapient species who are the societal equivalent of humans across the Sixteen Realms, and among these are the Serpentine, Lunarians, Djinn, Paradios, Ivory Folk, Ebony Folk, Briarmen, Solians and the Chimans.

Of these races, only Lunarians, Djinn, and Paradios are known to have mixed with humans, despite Serpentine natively sharing a world with them.

Now, funny thing is, three of the four OG Ninja in the Chasing Memories continuity have non-human ancestry, although for two of them it's far enough back to forget about it.

The third generation Master of Water, whose name has been lost to time, married a Paradio (a fish-like being from the realm of Paradisio) and their children had some fish-like traits such as gills and waterproof scales, although over the generations these scales became less and less prominent.

Kai, who if you remember is half Master of Water, has gills. He doesn't have scales, but he has thick waterproof skin instead like a dolphin. This is from his Paradio ancestry.

Next we have Jay. A Master of Wind had a child with a Lunarian Paladin. It wasn't until a few generations ago that Masters of Wind stopped being born with wings, but current ones still have the bird-like bones that went with them. Jay doesn't have enough Lunarian blood in him to use any Lunarian magic because the Lunarian blood was introduced to his human bloodline too many generations ago for it to count.

Zane, on the other hand, is technically considered 1/8th Lunarian (as his human identity is the bastard son of 1/4 Lunarian Jackson Julien) but the only Lunarian traits he was "born" with are the retractable claws of a Feline-subtype Animal Mage and slightly sharper canines that all Lunarians have.

While he was actually built this way intentionally, as he is not actually human but is in fact built as an artificial "human", he is still technically the child of a part-Lunarian and technically has a full-blooded Lunarian somewhere recent in his family.

Lloyd and Garmadon also have some animal traits by way of the Great Devourer's venom mutating Garmadon and altering his DNA, but those aren't technically "natural" traits. They still count as they have the forked tongue, fangs, and slit pupils of a venomous snake.

Oh yeah, Garmadon and Lloyd are mildly venomous. It only functions as a paralytic but venom's venom.

[hazardous-who]

Hello hello !! You're very welcome and I hope you had fun ! I -did- very much enjoy reading your answers ! It was very interesting to compare how differently or similarly we do things, so I'll definitely answer it right back so you can see/compare for yourself. 1 - My titles ? Oh gosh... I don't name them anything relative at all usually, or I name them by the initial idea and then never update it even if that idea drastically changes. Two perfect examples of this are my Lose / Gain series, which cracks my betas up to open up every time, because the document is named "Pikmin for your sins" ( I have NO idea why or what was running through my mind- maybe a meme?? But I've never changed it. ) While my fic Ice & Snow is roughly "RPG Mage x Demon King" which is a wildly different thing to what it ended up becoming. 2 - Similarly to you, I ALSO keep all my chapters to one document. The only issue is I hit points where my documents have become so large they lag my phone, forcing my hand in the form of copying the document and cutting away a majority of it so that I can can continue to work. ( I also write 90% on my phone, so you can especially see where this starts to become an issue ! ) 3 - Personally, if the change is big enough, I like to copy my documents, that way I have the original perfectly as is to revisit and my new one that I can rip apart without worrying if I change my mind or want to restore it in sections. I mainly do this not so much to reuse ideas personally, but to have a way to be like "Haha you guys will never guess what this chapter/fic's plot USED to be !!" when I go on my note tangents or answer asks. I am unfortunately prone to completely destroying thousands of words, but I don't like the idea of losing all of that effort to the void, whoops. 4 - Oh boy...

First, and most simply, I personally make it a rule that my chapters at a minimum MUST hit 3k words. Otherwise, maximum? I don't really pay as much attention to, since it's more about the flow from there, but if I start getting far too lengthy I'll find a way to break up chapters so long as I still manage my minimum.

I may or may not blast random memes into the middle of a document for literally no reason. My mind wanders a lot, so next I know I browse tumblr for a few seconds, see something funny, then next I know it's sitting at the top of a chapter to flashbang my poor betas. ( Some quick screenshots I grabbed, though I cut out the chapter names since they're unreleased things as of the moment )

It also sometimes makes very funny previews, like this one-

^ With this specific picture, that brings me to another thing, which is the fact that when it comes to writing, I personally prefer to break up my chapters so that anything sexual or violent is kept to it's own dedicated chapter. I also only detail explicit scenes if there's something 'important' to be gained from them in some way, unless of course the fic is specifically made with the intent of being nothing but horny from the get go. Otherwise I just fade to black and leave my readers to imagine how things went.

Outline ? Never heard of her. I spit on a page and make it work. I will hold onto a scene in my brain and fight to get to the point where I can finally write it all without ever so much as noting a single point about said scene down anywhere else. I lose out on a lot of things I originally wanted to do because of this, but I ultimately keep doing it this way anyways because I find working with the rough remnants of that idea in the moment is better than keeping a crystal clear image that I need to weld to the rest of my fic.

I -also- go back and read my posted fics ! I've spotted both major and minor errors that got through despite how many hundreds of times things have been proofread, but unless it's something that genuinely needs correcting ( Such as a major inaccuracy between part 1 and part 2 of a series, cough- ) I leave them be.

Thank you again for answering my ask ! I also hope my answers offer something useful or at least some entertainment. I know reading about how you use speech tools definitely caught my interest to potentially try in the future and see how that may work for me, but also the spreadsheet where you keep your progress? *Chefs kiss* I never considered anything like that before, but I certainly have now !

I'm curious to know how you manage your documents for fics, so I've come to you with a few (possibly fun?) questions regarding your process !

1 - How do you name your documents? 2- If you have a multichapter fic, do you keep it all on one document, have a separate document for every chapter, or something else? 3 - If a situation arises where you want to make a drastic change that can essentially end up deleting thousands of words, do you commit to deleting those chunks and start fixing them right in the original document, or do you resort to making copies first so that you still have the original? Something else, maybe? 4 - Optional freebie slot ! Tell me something about your process that you might want to mention, but I didn't have a question specific enough for you to mention it !

hellou whoooo, thank you so much for the ask, here`s how my mess of a brain organizes everything?

1- most of the time the titles are just the theme of the fic, so for the Handsome Cop universe ie the title of the google docs was police AU for a long time, Ive had names like roommate AU, ame trio AU, flower AU etc very straight foward. I only change the title of the google docs once I settle on a title I really like, and that usually happens when Im about to publish and have to come up with something hehe

2- I keep all chapters in one doc, and also, if Im writing a series, theyre also in the doc because I often need to reference it to check some infos or really just the tone of the writing up until then. The worst part is correcting some info that you`ve been using for some time, like the age of a character changes, or something that happened in their past and they reference it a lot, then I have to go over the whole text and look for the specific mentions of that info and it just sucks

3- I have a google docs called kill your darlings where I put the scenes and ideas that were edited off my final drafts, I often go through the drabbles to check if there`s any cool idea in there I can re use under a new light

oh man 4 it`s gonna be a wild one

while reviewing and editing I often use text to speech tools to make sure that the writing sounds natural, its really useful for non native english speakers like myself

I have a spreadsheet of all my wips, with their % completion status, whats still on the pipeline to be written, and just silly ideas that I want to explore in the future (I had to do this because I had more wips than I could manage and was drowning in plot bunnies hehe)

when Im stuck I like writing on my phone because its hard to care about formatting, so I just shoot hundreds of words into a doc that when I open up in the computer looks like a enormous wall of text, and its easier for me to correct, edit and fill in the gaps once I have the main content on a page (blank pages scare me)

I often write all the dialogue of the scene first, and then fill in the gaps with descriptions and inner monologues, this way I make sure the conversations in my fics have some rhythm to them

most of my stories never had an outline, I just get this scene in my had and then I have to do the work around to get there and after it the consequences of it, right now Im working on my cowboy bebop AU and its the first time I really planned a plot, but I dont know whether is better or not

sometimes I go back to read my fics already posted but I often get an itch to correct things like wording and typos, but I dont because thats a rabbit hole I don`t wanna fall into

I hope you enjoyed reading my answers and got something useful out of them, I`d love to ask you right back and hear about your writing process too!

[captain-aralias]

fanfic writer challenge!

@mostlymaudlin invented this challenge and was kind enough to tag me. it took my brain a few days to wake up enough to respond, but here i am.

instructions:

list & explain the three lines/moments from canon that are most fundamental to how you write your fave character

challenge 3 more fic writers to do the same!

ok - i'll do baz too, so we can compare.

first thing from me is i'm going to cheat, because i can't cover baz in 3 quotes. both he and simon change so much between carry on and WS/AWTWB that although they have a trajectory from one state to the other, and though i love people backreading AWTWB into CO!Baz.... i write them super different.

CO!Baz

1. And I'm hopelessly in love with him.

this comes at the end of a massive monologue - and then leads into another massive monologue. all about how baz is SAD but his love for simon is BEAUTIFUL and all consuming. it's so dramatic that he literally puts it on its own line, and then cuts to a new chapter. but it's also... resigned. nothing to do about it, just pine.

these are the chapters that i tend to listen to most often, as it's a long run of baz stuff, but i also do think it's pretty typical. (and i love him)

2. The World of Mages never had taxes before. Taxes were for Normals. We had Standards instead.

i thought about removing this a few times, it seems harsh - i only get three choices. but going to keep it in. baz has internalised a lot of shit, he uses learned hatred of others to protect himself against simon amongst other things. speaking of self-protection ...

3. 'You slept in my arms,' he says. / 'Fitfully.'

baz has got what he wants, but he's not able to believe it's happening so backslides immediately. it's a funny line, too - like he knows the audience will laugh with him, even if he doesn't mean simon to laugh. it's also (obliquely) the last thing i would say about CO-era!baz, which is that when faced with an opportunity to kiss simon awake or tell him he's interested in him..... he chooses not to do that. baz doesn't act, things happen to him - except on his crazed quest about his mother.

WS/AWTWB!Baz

1. i'll have the cheesecake factory scene, too - it does what rory says, and also tells us what (i believe) simon loves about him.

my favourite line is:

"I would never want to date you," he earnestly replies. "But it's not because you're mule-headed. That's practically my type."

ha ha. but also - it's true! and it's very kind of him to try.

2. 'I love you," I say. (And I know that's not a thing. I know it doesn't matter.)

so brave to come at all and track simon down! so brave to say it! it feels so unexpected to me and changes a lot of my baz characterisation from here on. now, i'm like: woah, baz can be the proactive character.

3. n.b. i spent a while thinking about what this would be. there are things that i think should be baz characterisation that i don't use enough (the playfighting at the ren faire; the fact he considers his culpability after america), and there's like.... the formal politeness. i've got kindness from WS, so we don't need the bit where he takes daphne home.

i think i'm going to go with ...

Is he scared? Embarrassed? Overwhelmed? Did he even want that to happen? He's never been with a guy, maybe he didn't like it. Maybe it wasn't what he was expecting. It's messier than being with a girl. (Isn't it?) (I don't know anything about being with girls.) (I don't know anything about being with guys.) (I know a lot about furtively bashing one out while my roommate is off fighting magickal crime, then hoping he doesn't wonder why I'm taking a shower in the middle of the afternoon.)

this is just a really fun passage in lots of ways. it has lots of short clauses, repetition, baz correcting himself. being funny, but it also has two new things. the first is that baz is like 'oh no, simon will have a freak out' and doesn't NOTICE that he himself is having a freak out, right now, a terrible spiral ... massive deflection onto simon. and using humour to deflect from own feelings too! (a personal favourite).

and the other is that.... before AWTWB, i enjoyed the shared headcanon that baz had researched himself into being a gay sex savant. what we find out from this paragraph is that he has literally not researched it at ALL, the same as he hasn't researched vampirism AT ALL. he's useless.... in this one very specific way, because he does know loads of other things. but there are things that he's afraid to look at too closely and it's this stupid fucking blind spot - and apparently sex is one of them. simon has to take the lead from now on, RIP to all future sexgod!baz fics. sexgod!simon only from now on.

tagging 2xthree people, since i did two batches: @artsyunderstudy @annabellelux @bookish-bogwitch @chen-chen-chen-again-chen @carryonvisinata @nightimedreamersworld as well as anyone who sees this post and wants to write about a character. please tag me in your post, i'd love to see it.