#the point is i think its interesting if. like a daemon. she cant get that far from him

[cosmicaces]

let's talk about pino!

according to the whm booklet, rody's quirk is always active. she isn't always present, though. from what we can see in the movie, pino primarily nests in rody's hair!

so... is there a trend?

obviously she hops out when a strong emotion flares up, but it seems like she's also more likely to be out and about when he's feeling relatively safe/comfortable? she's present when he says goodbye to his siblings, she's present when they're settling down for that first night on the run, she's present when they're in the hotel, etc. etc.

there are only a few times where pino is present during an action scene. the first instance is, of course, during the first chase scene when she flew out to stop deku. she briefly remained out, notifying rody that they were still being chased before disappearing. she appears again when he's going down the rail, disappears, and then comes out of his hair again to check on him after he was almost crushed by falling debris.

pino was not present during the attempted betrayal. after leading deku to him, we can presume that, offscreen, she returned to his hair or went into his hood. the next time she comes out is when rody finally warms up to deku in the cave scene.

it's also worth noting that she is not present during the following villain encounter, only coming out for introductions when their safety was guaranteed.

honestly, the only time we actually see pino in harm's way is during the battle with flect, and that was because rody relied on her to not only signal deku, but to catch the flash drive.

why am i talking about this? well, and this is a far-fetched assumption that's going to get into more headcanon/character interpretation territory, but hear me out:

pino is very similar to something from another property: the daemons from his dark materials. for anyone unaware: daemons are the physical manifestation of a person's soul and take the form of an animal. they mirror the way their human interacts with others and can provide emotional insight into how their human is feeling, which is... like i said before, VERY similar to how pino functions.

with this in mind, one has to wonder if their similarities end there or if, potentially, pino shares some other functionalities as a daemon. namely... if pino gets hurt, can rody feel it?

i know that her main function as a quirk is to articulate rody's feelings. still, her tendency to stay out of harm's way really makes you think, especially since we don't see her get injured at any point. little roughed up, sure! but not injured.

[alicentsgf]

"No she didnt ask for his death, its more about the asumption we can make about it all. Speaking completely and only to the book exclusively, I have to ask, what do you think would have been Maelor's fate if he'd been brought back to the red keep and Rhaenyra?" mmm I understand where you're coming from, and I agree that there are assumptions we can make based on the book's context. But I think Maelor's fate would have depended on Rhaenyra's strategy at that moment. If he had been brought back to the Red Keep, she might have seen him as a bargaining chip or leverage against Aegon's supporters rather than killing him outright, especially if she believed doing so would further destabilize her own rule or alienate her supporters. I think Rhaenyra would have seen him as both a potential threat and a valuable pawn. Political decisions often involve more nuance, and she might have calculated that keeping him alive—at least for a time—could serve her interests in a different way, like future leverage, public sympathy, or dividing her enemies....I think there’s room for interpretation about how exactly Rhaenyra might have handled the situation. Then again, we can only assume, but as George himself said in his post, Rhaenyra didn't ask for Maelor to die—that wasn't her intention. Yet, people still insist that she wanted him dead?

I get that, maybe I didnt make it clear that I dont think he's dead immediately I'm talking exclusively about if Rhaenyra wins the war. In fact, at the point where she puts out a reward for the return of Maelor she is winning, as shes sitting the throne in that moment. It was Maelors death and Helaenas subsequent suicide that changed that. I just think on some level Rhaenyra must know when shes asking for Maelor to be found that he cant be allowed to live beyond her own death. Shes not completely blind to the realities of the situation, despite her political frailties. There would be another sucession crisis in some form, for sure. Rhaenyra and Daemon arent known to be particulary politically savvy so I dont hold out much hope for them playing any kind of long, political game and them like... holding Maelor as a prisoner when he has no male Targaryen relatives left? that makes no sense to me. When they can so easily remove the one potential claiment their enemies could rally behind, why wouldnt they? Its not like they dont have a history of removing their otherwise innocent inconveniences, e.g. rhea, laenor, jaehaerys, etc

To me theres just no eventuality where Rhaenyra rules peacefully and Maelor just exists living as Maelor Targaryen, even under lock and key. That would be a terrible look on her, to hold her nephew, a child, hostage. Whilst he lives he remains politically relevant, disturbing the peace just by existing. And that is Rhaenyras objective - to rule peacefully, and to have her heir (which would be Joffrey in this version of events) ascend peacefully. So on some level she must know Maelors claim has to be neutralised at some point, even if she doesnt want to acknowledge that directly. Like I dont think she would revel in the idea of killing him, I just think she would see him as collateral and be prepared to do anything to protect her own children, as you would expect!

At best shes smart enough to publically show "mercy" and send him to the wall or something (because theres no way he gets sent to Oldtown where he has allies), but lets be honest he'd probably still disppear or be killed in some ""accident"" at some point following that decision. A convenient little incident, like getting thrown from a horse lmao. More likely Daemons doing, if he still lives, or Rhaenyras council if not, but Rhaenyra wouldnt ask questions. One life to avoid another war would be totally justifiable to her, even if it was the life of a child.

[dulcewrites]

you will hopefully watch hotd s2 and tell us ur thoughts my liege 🙂‍↕️

Ok so i was thinking about how to answer this because like… I’m not going to watch the full thing 💀. I only watched a couple of the episodes in entirety. I would say the only, and I truly mean only, good thing that’s come out of the rampant leak culture within this fandom is that I didn’t have to waste my time on a show that would not live up to my expectations. Which is wild because while I was excited for s2, my expectations were low.

I think my largest problem with hotd is not the changes or the plot points themselves, but how we get there. So I’ll just give you a couple of thoughts I had by character (gonna lump some together bc how storylines went):

Rhaena, Baela, Corlys, and Rhaenys: I’m lumping them together bc that’s essentially what the show does. Now this may be a #controversial opinion but the Velaryons gave Rhaenyra’s cheerleaders in f&b so I’m not surprised that’s their role in the show. That being said, the writing is just meh? Baela not advocating for Rhaena to get the Driftwood throne after Corlys offers it to her is a strange choice. The “I am fire and blood” line from her was corny (she is her grandmother’s child lol) and just weird considering she is ALSO salt and sea because of her mom??? She was fostered by her grandmother on Driftmark?? It just goes back to this idea that everyone needs to prop up Rhaenyra. And how Rhaenyra’s plight is most important. Bc why cant Baela and Rhaena advocate for themselves while advocating for Rhaenyra.

Rhaenys had her moments but the way the writers clearly use her as a sounding board is heavy handed. Her death fell flat for me bc honestly idc. The writers handled Corlys affair poorly. But at the same time Rhaenys being a “he knows where home is” lady makes sense for her lmao. Rhaena possibly claiming a dragon is just all around a dumb choice.

Daemon and Alys: Harrenhal did the heavy lifting. I appreciate them leaning into the magic and mystery around it. It is one of the through lines that made sense and was carried out. That being said, and I’m fine with people calling me bias for this, but Daemon is simply not very interesting to me. That whole thing was at its most interesting when Rhaenyra was yelling at him.

I like the story they have began for Alys. It would have been very easy to do the seductive, evil witch thing. I like that she’s yeah off kilter but also very grounded and normal. That being said, I don’t trust them with her 🤷🏽‍♀️

Jace: I appreciate them finally acknowledging how Jace feels about parentage. He sees how fragile the lines of legitimacy are and he’s scared. I think it sets a good parallel between Rhaenyra and Viserys as parents. She is putting her children, at least Jace and Joffrey, in the same position Viserys put her in. Despite enjoying the choices, there isn’t that special something there. Idk… but that could be said about the whole season.

Rhaenyra: I… honestly don’t know what to say about her lmao. I feel like she always gets taken to a point where she can be really fascinating… then they immediately reign her back in fear she will come off “unlikeable”. Which is crazy bc it’s been established that the gp, regardless of what is actually happening, will side with Rhaenyra, so why not have some fun with her. I often walk away not knowing what kind of character or person they want Rhaenyra to be.

Whew ok now let’s get into the messy part

Criston: Easily had some of the best/consistent writing not only for team green but the whole show. But people are hellbent on hating him so much of it just goes unnoticed. The only ire I have with Criston storyline is alicole. Not them together in a vacuum (I said before i see the beauty in both alicole and rhaenicent, though both are better when things are left unsaid), but more not knowing how they got together. The hard cut to them having sex as two repressed people leaves much to be desired.

Helaena: Ummm ???? Much like how Rhaenys is just a sounding board for the writer to hammer us over the head with, Helaena’s dreams get used at the whims of the plot. Because how did Helaena go from speaking in riddles that even she doesn’t seem fully understand to knowing exactly what they mean? Either that was just something made up so she could get a dig in against Aemond (not good), used to absolve daemon (not good), retroactive try to fix problems created by GOT (yawn) or she’s always known what her dreams meant and just decided not to make them understandable (NOT GOOD!!).

She barely grieves Jaehaerys pass the funeral (that could be said for a lot of dead characters) on screen. I thought the “they killed the boy” line was weird. Why not just say his name 💀💀💀. Alicent calls him the boy too like ???? Also we are supposed to believe the bug girl doesn’t want to ride her dragon….

I think the bright spot of her storyline has been the bond between her and Alicent.

Aegon: another #controveral opinion maybe but whenever people are like poor Aegon, I just think of that clip from Big Little Lies where Madeline is like “I don’t give a fuck about homeless people!” 😭 (I swear it makes sense in context). It’s sort of the same problem for me that I had with Jace. The arc is fine, set up well especially compared to others but like… eh 🤷🏽‍♀️.

Aemond: I did like they leaned into Aemond, in public, making it seem like he meant to kill Luke. But in private clearly having guilt over it. I think it was the best choice they could make. Just knowing how insecure Aemond is, it would make no sense for him to admit to not having full control over Vhagar in that moment. It’s strange to me that people thought his resentment towards Aegon came out of nowhere. I don’t think any of the point Aemond had made about Alicent and the war were wrong but I think the sudden aggressive nature towards Helaena was weird. Like bffr

Alicent: well… where do we begin lmao. I already touched on why I didn’t care for the alicole thing. Let’s just address the elephant in the room that this whole “Alicent is free” bs isn’t real bc she’s still under the subjugation of a Targaryen - this time it’s just Rhaenyra So that’s supposed to make it better in some people’s eyes. I’m sorry but even as someone who has gone on record to say that I think the change they made to Rhaenicent was the best, I can’t just let poor execution slide. I don’t even think Alicent having little legion to Aemond or Aegon comes out of nowhere. She has constantly, to a fault, reaffirmed her trust in Rhaenyra. What I don’t like is the writers first saying that Alicent needs to be humbled… as opposed to what? The super confident Alicent that’s always winning??? Then painting her coming to Rhaenyra as her choosing herself or some sort of liberation. Ok then why can’t she say one mean word about the man that abused her? Why is it that she can see through Otto, the man who pimped her out. But not Viserys, the man who happily went along with it. Why does Rhaenyra get have a moment where she realizes much her desire towards daemon was envy for what daemon represented. Or realizing he is a tool in her subjugation. But Alicent continues to insists that Viserys was a good man, father, husband, and king… all things that aren’t true.

People will be like “well she’s an abuse victim of course she would feel that way.” But if the narrative continues to tell us one thing, it is clear the writers actually think that. By those rules, they don’t see Alicent as a victim. And there lies the issue in how they write her.

There are plenty of other people who have expressed the problems with Alicent’s writing better than I have but this is just my thoughts.

[kingcunny]

any headcanons about how female viserys would work out?

i think its interesting that f&b says that aegon i was expected to marry visenya out of duty, (i might be mandela’ing myself again, i cant find context for this, but wasnt that so elder female siblings would retain their birthright?) but after them i dont think theres another elder woman x younger male targ relationship. cause hindsight 20/20, but it seems like rhaenys x viserys or even rhaenyra x aegon ii wouldve been thr obvious answers to the succession crises, but in each situation thats not what happened.

all this to give context to the idea,, that while it might seem obvious if viserys was a girl to marry her to daemon, theres precedence for that NOT to happen. and after the deaths of both alyssa and his sister viserra, baelon, riddled with guilt, might not force his daughtet viserra to marry. and instead let her choose. shes a girl anyway, not like it Really matters :)

and she picks the very saft option of otto hightower, old and Noble house so no one can object, but still second son fuckin nobody Who??? daemon is hotheaded and impulsive and he would also challenge her in a way she doesnt want to face. just like her male version, she cant fully accept daemon but she cant let him go either. so viserra continues stringing him along their entire lives.

she still claims balerion, he still dies, and she still eventually gets Sick. though not so severely. (stress plays a big part in chronic illness, and expectationless viserra would do better than king viserys) she has maybe 2-3 children before that point, all of them daemons. otto knows but doesnt say anything. silently just tries to take it out on daemon. who Never marries.

viserra knows about the rivalry between her husband and brother, and she pretends not to like it, but doesnt do anything to try and stop it. she secretly likes the attention. likes feeling important.

[just-some-random-blogger]

good morning/day/evening, my lovely angel!! youre soso sweet and cute i cant TT 'i was bummed out i couldnt write' its ok dont worry about me! your comfort is the thing that matters the most! give yourself time. 'i havent written in 2 days' its ok. i cant state but do you think it may be burning out? bc you work really hard and have lots of work beside writing. you really owe nothing to anyone. ill repeat it as many times as i need. bc you do great, you study, do covers, you do a lot. thats more than great! you still worth the world and let down noone. and if anyone have the guts to say otherwise, i can have their tongue. you are the priority. if you dont feel like writing, maybe you shouldnt force yourself to do it to even lessen your minds ability to do it rn. give yourself time. tumblrs nothing when it comes to your mental powers. i dont remember if you say smth about 'kiss it better' later but id talk abt it here. i hope things will get better for you. hope your manifest works really well and ability to do creative things cutie. its very comforting. hope you enjoyed writing it. also the whole concept made me remember the song 'guard you' by young k. its just the most comforting song for me. its released on my bday but for some reason i ignored it for months? ill never forgive this. its really good to have someone to take care of you and 'guard you'. even if im not next to you, remember im always here for you and will always support you. 'i have to keep making art. i cant stop' its great if you cant and feel like it. but please dont force and overwork yourself. you are still you if you currently dont have strength to make art. 'i do love his name' your love for masc feminine names is so adorable TT hes not completely CRINGE meme but not a kind(?) meme either. its difficult to explain esp with how humor here is but yes. 'why didnt you put an episode number' i watched it like.. 2 years ago. you think i remember? im a grandcat myself. i need to do a research for it. maybe at weekends (basically its saturday even here rn but nvm). first epp with matt smith is pretty touching esp with karen gillah and a little drama they have but i also like peter capaldis doctor. esp the beginning of his era. well see. and i never watched davids seasons TT im sorry but its true, cant help you here. 'if i cant write this rn' and hows it? 'poor bb girl witch' nooo she shouldnt feel like it TT the point is she loves her love more than she loves the very daemon. 'sounds tiring' reasonable. ig it can be said abt all my ideas. btw, wfal isnt tiring you? or like a burden? ik you dont like writing long things so im kinds worried now. 'i need a cleanse fic' is it kiss it better? anyway do wild girl! 'but i’ll listen to it later' did you listen to it?... im not making you, just interested ghdjfj. also! ive only learnt abt 'Running up That Hill' by Kate Bush (in another witchy playlist...) and 1) i LOVE it sm her voice and the way of singing is so enchanting? 2) it gives me waiting for a lifetime vibes.. yeah its origin meaning isnt exactly abt it but its the magic of art isnt it? the opportunity to interpret it however you want. and the deal with god pretty much reminds me of the au. 'you’ve got such a beautiful brain' thanks TT take it after my catmom. ive got lots of things to do for the exams but my mental state has only allowed me to watch videos with kitties, cry cats and dogs and listen to this song of kate for the past week. theres the one i cried hardest over (subjectively) and theres the one i cried hardest (objectively). theyre just cute if you ever feel like it. and HEs so tiny i SCREAMED. thats it. just cute vids to bring your mood up. how are you? whats the weather like? hope you are or will soon do great. have a nice day/evening/night! ill try to find an episode and write down some ideas, maybe youll find some inspiration in them. good luck with all the hw and assignments! take care! love you<з *freezy kisses for you to not burn in your weather*

hello my love <3 <3 <3

meow meow muning <3

good morning/day/evening, my lovely angel!! youre soso sweet and cute i cant TT

wait why am i so sweet? what did i do?

anyway LOOOK I GOT A NEW OUTFIT FOR LISA!!!

here she is normally

that's all.

'i was bummed out i couldnt write' its ok dont worry about me! your comfort is the thing that matters the most! give yourself time.

T_T but i love you

'i havent written in 2 days' its ok. i cant state but do you think it may be burning out?

T_T ... i think youre right. T_T

bc you work really hard and have lots of work beside writing. you really owe nothing to anyone. ill repeat it as many times as i need. bc you do great, you study, do covers, you do a lot. thats more than great! you still worth the world and let down noone. and if anyone have the guts to say otherwise, i can have their tongue. you are the priority. if you dont feel like writing, maybe you shouldnt force yourself to do it to even lessen your minds ability to do it rn. give yourself time. tumblrs nothing when it comes to your mental powers.

thank you. this means a lot to me to hear this. you dont know how very much your words mean to me.

i want to write. but i cant. i want to write ideas outside my reqs but also i want to make reqs but also i cant. i dont know

i dont remember if you say smth about 'kiss it better' later but id talk abt it here. i hope things will get better for you. hope your manifest works really well and ability to do creative things cutie. its very comforting. hope you enjoyed writing it.

i dont know if i enjoyed writing it but while rereading it i was like 'damn im really good at writing' i hope i get out of this hitch T_T

also the whole concept made me remember the song 'guard you' by young k. its just the most comforting song for me. its released on my bday but for some reason i ignored it for months? ill never forgive this. its really good to have someone to take care of you and 'guard you'. even if im not next to you, remember im always here for you and will always support you.

omg this was yonks parting gift before enlisting. (i call young-k yonk cos thats what it reads like yonk HAHHAH) im so touched that you feel this way towards me T_T i feel the same for you. lol its so funny you ignored it but ended up loving it HAHAH. i want a hug from you for real i want to cry.

'i have to keep making art. i cant stop' its great if you cant and feel like it. but please dont force and overwork yourself. you are still you if you currently dont have strength to make art.

T_T i want a hug. i dont know if im forcing myself but maybe youre right i should stop T_T

'i do love his name' your love for masc feminine names is so adorable TT hes not completely CRINGE meme but not a kind(?) meme either. its difficult to explain esp with how humor here is but yes.

i have nothing else to say about him so heres him with a dog <3 i love the dog dog <3

'why didnt you put an episode number' i watched it like.. 2 years ago. you think i remember? im a grandcat myself. i need to do a research for it. maybe at weekends (basically its saturday even here rn but nvm).

grandcat T_T it ok i just assumed you had an episode in mind. you dont have to research

first epp with matt smith is pretty touching esp with karen gillah and a little drama they have

i'll watch that!

but i also like peter capaldis doctor. esp the beginning of his era.

ive seen crack edits of jenna coleman and him and i kinda wanna watch his too

well see. and i never watched davids seasons TT im sorry but its true, cant help you here.

LOL HAHHAH thats fine thank you anyway i love you

'if i cant write this rn' and hows it?

T_T i cant write it im sorry

'poor bb girl witch' nooo she shouldnt feel like it TT the point is she loves her love more than she loves the very daemon.

She loves her love for daemon more than daemon himself? or daemon lovers her more than daemon ???

'sounds tiring' reasonable. ig it can be said abt all my ideas.

its not your idea that tiring its the idea of writing that tires me. baby i love your ideas T_T please stop exploding on yourself

btw, wfal isnt tiring you? or like a burden? ik you dont like writing long things so im kinds worried now.

🙄 gee. i literally make mood boards for it, i wonder if its tiring. well ok enough sarcasm, it is very much laborious but its a labor of love. i have not enjoyed writing a... series in a long time. its not a burden. i promise you i will stop writing that fic once i feel like im done with it. i was partially joking about ending i at p5 but i do hope i manage to keep it short T_T asfhs/flhsd

'i need a cleanse fic' is it kiss it better? anyway do wild girl!

it was. but idk if i was cleansed

'but i’ll listen to it later' did you listen to it?... im not making you, just interested ghdjfj.

i listened to the first part of the first song and i ejected i dont remember why but i guess i didnt like the vibe T_T

also! ive only learnt abt 'Running up That Hill' by Kate Bush (in another witchy playlist...) and 1) i LOVE it sm her voice and the way of singing is so enchanting? 2) it gives me waiting for a lifetime vibes.. yeah its origin meaning isnt exactly abt it but its the magic of art isnt it? the opportunity to interpret it however you want. and the deal with god pretty much reminds me of the au.

ive listened to this song before. she does have a very strong and enchanting voice. im honored that my fic reminds you things T_T thats so sweet and so nice of you. im honored to have such an impact on you <3

'you’ve got such a beautiful brain' thanks TT take it after my catmom. ive got lots of things to do for the exams but my mental state has only allowed me to watch videos with kitties, cry cats and dogs and listen to this song of kate for the past week.

you and i are so same. our mental capacities are overloaded. i think i might really just stop writing for a while T_T idk ive got these ideas i want to get out of my brain though

theres the one i cried hardest over (subjectively)

T_T PUMA PUMA <3

and theres the one i cried hardest (objectively).

LOOONG BABY FLOOF <3

theyre just cute if you ever feel like it. and HEs so tiny i SCREAMED.

ive seen this before T_T theyre SO tiny i squishhhhh

thats it. just cute vids to bring your mood up.

thank you they mean so much <3 this post is really cute too. im luv

how are you?

im currently in class not listening because id rather reply to you. dw its a concept ive studied before. my head hurts and im hungry. i also want to pee so badly but i cant leave my desk. i want to read fics to badly

whats the weather like?

its so hot my head hurts

hope you are or will soon do great.

me too i hope you are also well.

have a nice day/evening/night!

i love you i hope you have a nice day too <3

ill try to find an episode and write down some ideas, maybe youll find some inspiration in them.

thank you so much <3 the fact you care enough to do that. T_T thank you.

good luck with all the hw and assignments! take care! love you<з

me too T_T i want to graduate. i dont want to fail. i cant fail. T_T i feel dumb sometimes even though i know deep down im not T_T

*freezy kisses for you to not burn in your weather*

thank you <3 i love you

i also wanted to share this video about wolves. i love it so much. it makes me love nature so much. it makes you realize how important it is to allow animals to stay in their habitats.

also this tiger series. i used to watch this so much. i love tiggers love love love

i love you bye bye my love

xxx

[inflashback]

all the ones you want to do 👀

well, here’s everything except the ones i’ve answered, you asked for it

theyre mostly about my youngmabel au, which i will ramblr about for free if anyones interested :’)

What is that one scene that you’ve always wanted to write but can’t be arsed to write all of the set-up and context it would need? (consider this permission to write it and/or share it anyway)

i’ve, for a really really long time, wanted to write like. a scene where laura kinney and henry sutter Talk Their Shit Out, but that would take so so long and i’m not motivated... sorry laura and henry. okay i think the rest of these will b about mabel but. gotta stick with my idiots.

Share a sentence or paragraph from your writing that you’re really proud of (explain why, if you like)

this is from my young mabel story !!

“[Mabel] stops banging her head when she feels a stab of anxiety slash through her stomach. It’s not hers, that much is obvious-- it’s a soft golden feeling, the nerves, the-- 

The girl in the front of her mind, with hair cut just below her ears. Small scatterings of pimples across her face. She has a smile without sharp teeth; she cracks her knuckles when she’s bored or needs to fidget; she owns a pair of overalls she wears at least twice a week in the summer, when she’s in the mood to run around the fields outside her home, barefoot, with a friend or a girlfriend, when she wants to smoke a cigarette or two (she’d kicked the habit exactly three weeks ago today, she’s really proud of herself and her sister is, too), her sister’s name is Mónica and her name is Anna, Anna, Anna, Anna, Anna--

Anna Limon, Anna Limon, Anna Limon.”

the reverance to which mabel says anna’s name has always Hit Me for personal reasons and this scene i think is good. that is all

What character that you’re writing do you most identify with?

right now? either vera or mabel. vera is... not Right, and not Wanted by the outside world, so she’s angry and stupid to combat it. and mabel just... loves Her Person more than anything in the world, so there’s that. 

What character do you have the most fun writing?

again, mabel!! she’s so fun and angry all the time and it’s so freeing to just be able to do whatever the hell you WANT with a character

What do you think are the characteristics of your personal writing style? Would others agree?

Uh!! I think i use a lot of metaphor and write a lot of physical affection :’) i’m not sure if others would agree but that’s pretty basic!!

Is what you like to write the same as what you like to read?

yeah...

Are you more of a drabble or a longfic kind of writer? Pantser or plotter? 

i write a lot of drabbles, but my proudest works are my long fic!!! i also plot way too much and i love to do it.

Do you wish you were the other?

i have no idea what this means but... yeah i guess? How would you describe your writing process?

pace around my entire house looping one (1) song thinking of one (1) scene. figure out exactly what it would take to get the characters to that point. write like 2000 words, fall asleep, cant make words for the next three years.

What do you envy in other writers?

oh god, everything. i don’t know how to make my words flow like certain people do, RIVER

Do you want your writing to be famous?

god no. my stories are mine.

Do you share your writing online? (Drop a link!) Do you have projects you’ve kept just for yourself?

yes! here! there’s one story i’ve only shared with two people and that’s my borderline-ridiculous ‘beetlejuice with lab rats and gay shit and werewolves’ au, it’s the most self indulgent thing i’ve ever written and i love it so much.

At what point in writing do you come up with a title?

usually while listening to songs!! fr example my most recent posted fic is a lyric from ‘cop car’ by mitski because the line ‘i get mean when i’m nervous / like a bad dog’ makes me think of mabel, thus that fic came into existence.

Which is harder: titles or summaries (or tags)?

SUMMARIES i hate summaries usually i just paste in whatever i’ve got as the first sentence.

Tried anything new with your writing lately? (style, POV, genre, fandom?)

not really? new fandom but. i got my bread and butter, dude, i don’t feel like branching out. writing’s just a hobby i’m okay at.

Do you think readers perceive your work - or you - differently to you? What do you think would surprise your readers about your writing or your motivations?

i don’t think so !! like some of the stuff is personal and you can’t really understand from an outside POV, but. most of it is just dorky found family stuff!

Do any of your stories have alternative versions? (plotlines that you abandoned, AUs of your own work, different characterisations?) Tell us about them.

oh dear god yes... i mean. obvs river youre asking this youre aware of my aus. but i have a billion aus, theyre my favorite thing to write and ive got at least three for every fandom i’m in. i have an au for my lab rat beetlejuice au, too, which i’ll get around to writing someday.

Is there something you always find yourself repeating in your writing? (favourite verb, something you describe ‘too often’, trope you can’t get enough of?)

ALL I DO IS DESCRIBE PEOPLE’S TEETH AND PHYSICAL AFFECTION. uhh i use the phrase ‘bared their teeth / had far too many teeth / smiled with too many teeth’ a lot, its because i find it the easiest descriptor for monsters and i like to write about monsters.

Tell us the meta about your writing that you really want to ramble to people about (symbolism you’ve included, character or relationship development that you love, hidden references, callbacks or clues for future scenes?)

ohh god okay youngmabel take three. anna wears soft reds and lots of layers-- to contrast mabel, who wears a thin nightgown and has a bright green color palette. this is largely because mabel has been made to show herself to everyone who’s tried to control her (sally, aurora silver, etc) while anna hides in herself. anna specifically wears one of mónica’s old sweaters, because she can hide and protect herself with her family, while mabel cant. also i love mónica im so hype to have her in the series. mabel also repeats things in groups of threes (”hello, hello, hello, anna, hello, hello, hello”) because she’s fae. i love her. ough and i cant wait for the character development you guys rnt ready fr this dumb series

What other medium do you think your story would work well as? (film, webcomic, animated series?)

I WOULD LOVE FR IT TO BE AN ANIMATED SERIES but also it as a film would rock.... yeahhhhh

Do you reread your old works? How do you feel about them?

my xmen ones, yeah. they’re really comforting for me. i feel like i wanna give my kid self a big big hug.

What’s the story idea you’ve had in your head for the longest?

probs the daemons au or the agents of shield / xmen crossover.. those both gave baby abbey a lot of fun hours.

Would you say your writing has changed over time?

yeah! ive gotten better i think

OKAY RAMBLE OVER THANKS RIV

[mairzymarzipan]

Night of the Full Moon Character Reviews: The Big Bosses(Minus Werewolf)

Hello again

I know I said I’d be talking about the Hunter, Old Mage, Fallen Priest and so on today, but I realized that those characters were actually more interesting in the context of other characters, so I put them off for later.  I decided instead to talk about the main bosses of the game, as it so happens, are the closest people to Red Riding Hood.  Because this game wants to be an ironicy soap opera/anime that way.

When I say Big Bosses, I mean that you always fight one of these characters at the end of the game.  Unless you’re like me and you start all over at the end because you’re bored and tired of all four of them playwise.

Werewolf

Wait, no, never mind.  This is another one of those characters who’s more interesting in the context of different, non-Red Riding Hood Characters.  We’re saving this boi for later.  But, you shouldn’t too surprised, if you read the title.  Instead, I’ll just use this space to talk about a mechanic.

Throughout the game, you can get ‘courage’ and ‘reputation’ points by talking to characters.  Very very generally speaking, you get courage points by doing brave things, and you get reputation points for doing nice things.  You also can get courage points when a character talks shit about the werewolf, and reputation points when a character talks shit about the witch.  So naturally, if you have more courage in the end, you get to fight the wolf, and if you have more reputation, you get to fight the witch.  I guess what they’re going for is only a meanie would fight this doggo?  And the witch is who any empathetic person would hate???

I feel like the latter is not the case, but more on that later.

Witch

“Only your Hope family can lift the dark magic curse.  This is what the priest is most afraid of.  That’s why monsters run wild on full moon nights. First they made your grandmother disappear and then they drew you into the forest...but they never anticipated that you would make it this far.”

By the way, you’re part of a prophecy.  Only someone in your family can lift the curse on the forest.  jsyk

Yeah so, as you see, the Witch’s description does not really tell us much about the witch herself.  This description also pretty unique in that none of the other character descriptions go into the second person like this.  The description also kind of hints that Red dies in the timeline where she fights the witch, so that’s depressing.

Nah, to figure out what the witch is about, you have to delve into the fragments around her. 

So, you actually do encounter the witch earlier in the game.  In the third or sometimes second chapter, she will recruit to find some magic apples she lost.  She makes a mention about suspecting a queen of stealing them.  The apples, I guess, are just lying around on the forest floor, and you bite into each of them bc you’re a dumb lkid.  Each apple changes your stats by a few points and the witch does not at all seem upset that you hand her a bunch of bitten fruit at the end.  In fact, she offers you the choice of two random buffs, so that’s fun.

You’re likely to hear about her way before that, though, depending on who you talk to.  Generally anyone who’s been cursed feels like it’s the witch’s fault.  

But if you choose to fight her(or you might not get a choice in the matter) she accuses you of stealing said apples.  She’ll also talk to you throughout the battle until you defeat her- a trait that only the big bosses and a few of the newer ones have.  Her lines...make her sound pretty unhinged.  She’s speaks of disbelief that you would do such a horrible thing, and threatens you with with her magic, and talks about how misunderstood she is.

When you defeat her, she’s got a really interesting line, tho.

“No!  I don’t want to fight you!  I can’t!”

Huh.

Before I move on, let me talk about this other witch character.

Yep.  That sure is the art style this game is going with.

So this is one of the shopkeepers.  There are four different shops you can find along the way, only two of which have characters you can see in them.  This character is known as the Witch Apothecary...but you can only see that on the outside of her store.  Otherwise she’s just called “Witch”.

The thing is, along the way, characters will talk about the Witch and, they don’t specify that it’s not the one with the white hair.  They just talk about The Witch like she’s the only witch that matters.  So is this woman not really a witch?  A witch wannabe?  Nah, we already have one of those characters.  Could it me that the shopkeepers don’t actually exist in the story of the game?  That would bum me out, bc there’s this lesbian owl I want to be real.

But...I think they’re the same person using shapeshifting.  Or if you want a really wild theory, maybe there are time travel hijinks and she’s the Magic Apprentice grown up.  But I’m going to go ahead with the former.

Anyhoo.  I like the witch.  I’m gonna give her 🍎🍎🍎🍎 four apples

Priest

“They mistakenly thought that on the full moon night they could help the monsters quietly eliminate Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother.  Once the Hope family was wiped out, the legend of lifting the curse on the Dark Forest would disappear completely.  However, they didn’t expect they would have to go personally and pay such a high price to fight their enemy. When the priest fell, the cursed monsters reverted to their human forms and the Dark Forest was no longer covered by snow all year round, but the church’s blind greed still remains.”

Again, not much is said about the priest himself.  The most interesting thing here is that he apparently is the keystone holding the curse together.  Interesting, because he seems to be letting the witch do all the work for him.  Usually in these stories, you have to kill the person who casts the spell to break the spell, not just their friend.  Is it because he, himself, is a stone?  That is to say, he turns into a statue sometimes.

Why the heck is he having her turn all his enemies into cartoon monsters instead of killing them, anyway?  Don’t tell it’s to make the game family friendly, bc in one of these timelines a child kills another child.  

Honestly, the priest/church just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.  His big plan is selling everybody from his town as slaves.  Gross.  And the way he accomplishes this is by...making it snow all the time, and turning people into vampires and fire bears?  What?

He is.  A delight to fight.  I’m being sarcastic.  He’s a religious edgelord who likes to go on about how humans are sinners and everyone deserves to be punished.  Also she cheats by turning into stone.  Eh.  

It feels like someone just spun a wheel for of evil traits and just stuck them together haphazardly.  His evil plan is...human trafficking!  His personality is...self righteous!  His means is...tf!  His super power is...turning into a statue!  

He’s the biggest of bads but also not that thought out.  He’s super important to the over-arching plot and yet I have no idea why this guy does what he does.  I’m gonna give him 🗽🗽 two statues.

Mystery Men

idek why this person is called “Mystery Men”.  I’m guessing it’s supposed to be mystery man?  Or mysterious person or something?  I know I haven’t talked about the art much but, I do appreciate how much their face looks like a dog snout and her hood looks like dog ears.  It’s a neat touch.

This description was actually changed.  The new text is longer and more awkwardly worded.  I don’t like it!  And I don’t get why it happened.

But, yeah.  The very last enemy of the game- who you can only reach by playing through at least four times and defeating all three others- is your Grandmother!  Le gasp!

So what exactly went wrong with her?  Oh, nothing, she just has a big wolf growing out of her back(told you the concept was backed up by canon)

Is this her daemon or patronus or something?  I have no idea.  I’ve been calling her a werewolf sometimes, tho, bc she’s better at being a werewolf than the titular werewolf.  Which is to say she can revive instead of just healing.  Her buffs and deck change throughout the fight.  She’s a long battle, fun, except for her ear piercing voice.  She sounds a bit possessed.

I’ll give her 👁️👁️👁️ three big eyes.  She’s a fun battle, but I always mute it.  Also not real big on how the text got changed for the worse.  But she does add some good details to the story.

In Conclusion... 

Grandma’s text tells us a few things.  

1. Not only is the Hope family connected to this prophecy, but family members actually have the power to control the curse.  That leads me to believe that the person who got the curse started was a Hope themself.  

2. The church came along long after the curse was in full swing.  So the priest is not responsible for it.  Whether he’s a Hope himself is not relevant.

We also know these things:

1. The witch is still the one casting all the tf spells, which is part of the curse.

2. There are two timelines were Red has a natural gift for magic

3. In the Little Witch timeline, the Witch is teaching Red magic.  On top of that she’s v patient, which is surprising, for some reason.

4. The Witch seems a little out of touch with reality.  She sends you to find apples, and then yells at you for stealing them.  Almost like she thinks you’re another person.

5. The witch verbally expresses her desire not to fight you when she realizes who you are.

I have to conclude that the Witch is a Hope.  A Hope who’s close enough to have a fondness for Little Red Riding Hood, and is invested in her well being/education.  And yanno, is turns her enemies into pig people because she can.  

She helps you on your quest by giving you one of her own.  But earlier on, she takes on the form of the other witch offer you potions and the like.  She even gives you the first one in each chapter for free.

“My potions can change your appearance!”

Of course she can’t get too close to you.  She can’t reveal that she’s helping you.  Hence putting on a new face when she’s a ‘good’ witch.  One wonders if she’s trying to hide her identity from you, or the people she’s allied with.

Hey can we look at her description again?

Red doesn’t get addressed in the second person in any of the other descriptions.  There is a character who talks about his life in the first person, and we’ll get to him.  But this is odd to me.

What if Red isn’t being addressed here?  What if it’s someone else?  What if it’s the Witch?

What if the Witch was captured and ensnared in the priest’s plot?  What if he messed with her memory?  So then who is she?  Red’s sister?  It seems like she’s been working with the church a lot longer than Grandma’s been missing.  Also Grandma went into the woods on her own accord.  You could say that the grief the church caused her *made* her go out, but it seems weak.

So maybe a Hope in another generation, who lost her grandmother to- either the church or monsters?  Was it this other Grandmother who *started* the curse?

Dude, what if she’s your Mom?

What if instead of killing her the priest did...something...scared her enough to get her to work for him.  And messed with her memory so she couldn’t conceive a way out?  And sort of had her transfer the power of the curse to him so that people had to kill him to break it?

What if he had the Church Doctor scoop her brain out and put it in another lady’s head?  Who knows.

I’m not certain about the witch being your mom.  I think I would like that to be the case because it’s fun, but I’m not quite convinced yet.  I AM certain, tho, that the Witch is a Hope, and she cares about you.  She’s not just this cackling meanie turning people into flowers.  She’s...complicated.  And she needs help just as much as all the trapped monsters.

[peculiarlylost]

Who really is Rachel Amber?

Read till the end. It will be worth it, I promise.

I think the whole point of Rachel Amber is for her to be a person who you see, but you actually never get to know. She looks like the "It" girl. Perfect parents, perfect grades, perfect house, beautiful, talented, intelligent. She is the perfect student, daughter, actress, model, psychologist, school secretary. She is a star which shines so bright she literally blinds everyone. She is fire, a passion, a dragon.... and to the pain of everyone involved she is, ultimately, a human being.

The problem with Rachel Amber is that it seems like she is used to people thinking she is flawless. She is used to getting her way and never having to face the consequences of what she does, because who she appears to be makes up for it. I think Rachel is so used to people projecting on her that they never truly see her and all her dark behaviours are usually done in the shadow... she has to live pretending. Is not only the drugs, party and sex... but the fact that she can be genuinely evil and manipulative in her ways and yet, the real world never seems to reach her.

Besides being a girl whose life has been so perfect she can barely tolerate a scratch in it before having an emotional breakdown (aka, her father having an affair). I am impressed at how she cheats, messes with different people, takes her rage issues out on others, gets involved in situation which can severely harm others (like drugging Victoria`s tea or getting Chloe skip school with her when Chloe has already enough problems with her records) she even starts a fucking forest fire... and yet people in Arcadia Bay, Chloe herself and plenty of the game players are STILL making excuses for this person. Rachel is a dark being, make no mistake, the problem is that nobody actually SEES her. When she banishes hardly anyone, besides Chloe, wants to find her... that's because she was a scapegoat in which the entire town projected it's light, she was never seen as a person. She was a ghost, a dream. When it became too much of a weight for Rachel to bear (all the expectations of people) she literally lit herself on fire.

Rachel does not care for Chloe. Does not matter what it seems to be... the girls have known each other for literally two days. Rachel is an actress. Rachel uses Chloe as a person with whom she can explore her dark side, and also somebody she can manipulate to do things she wouldn't do on her own (like run away). Chloe clings on Rachel because she is extremely alone, and puts her on a pedestal. Chloe is extremely lonely and has abandonment issues. The one difference is that Chloe and Rachel are not comparable characters. Chloe has lost her father, her best friend, is having to adapt to her step father, has problems at school, people treat her like shit and her economic situation isn't the best. Chloe is literally trapped in emotional angst and she escapes into self destruction, art and drugs. Besides her mother, Chloe has lost what she valued the most. Rachel Amber does not come from such context and can not be compared.

Rachel probably senses her father is having as affair... and all of a sudden Chloe would make a great friend... and also be an emotional punching bag? These two knew each other for a while and Rachel knows what spots to touch to get to Chloe. Chloe only idealizes Rachel, the same as the rest of Arcadia Bay, and Rachel prays on this. Chloe is a "what you see is what you get" type of girl, she is loyal and extremely reliable and Rachel uses this for her own means.

Ultimately destiny has its ways and Rachel meets Mark Jefferson. Having strong motives to have daddy and mommy issues is not a surprise Rachel would be attracted to a father figure (him). He is probably the one person she cant read and who is actually a better predator than her... she goes into his house and he eats her. Mark Jefferson is the monster Rachel Amber was looking to encounter, and she did, because her own inner demons were not too different. She was a beautiful predator, who just got eaten by a smarter one. Chloe is warned by William in before the storm "the fire is beautiful, but if you aren't careful you will get burned too".

In terms of Rachel's character and personality, we can see she is interested in astrology / psychology / certain aspects of spirituality. Usually, people who look deeply into astrology do so to understand themselves and those around them, a serious understanding of astrology gives you a bit of a advantage over other people, as you can know things about people they aren't even aware exist within themselves. You must not have a very defined sense of personality, if you need the stars to tell you the truth of who and what you are. This interest in the esoteric arts gave me the impression that maybe Rachel is more empty than she seems. When Max and Chloe find Rachel's body, there is a sign from a restaurant with a crab on it. Astrologically speaking, the crab is a sign of motherhood, probably meaning that in a fucked up way... Rachel is now finally back into her roots... into the Earth where we all come from.

Chloe speaks with her father in her dreams. Through symbols he warns her on what might actually be going on. Rachel is a beautiful star... but she is dead inside... she is a lie... just a bright light that you think is taking you somewhere, but there is a deadly emptiness to her. The point of astrology is that we protect into the stars whats is inside ourselves... all that beauty and goodness that Chloe saw in Rachel, truly was inside herself. But we also project our darkness... being a savior (and having her sun sign sitting into the sign of Piscis... the victim) Choe protected and saved Rachel... and did things for her that she probably wished somebody else would do for her. Lacking William and Max in her own life Chloe makes Rachel into this person she isn't, its all a projection. A starry dream.. and she lives that dream until Max comes back. To be someone who is "real" Chloe has a lot of problems listening to her own inner truth. For who is Rachel? "A destructive person. Someone who could never be satisfied by anyone or anything" (in the words of James) or " Fire is jealous Chloe, it wants all the beauty for itself, that's why you need to be careful" (in the words of William) In the end Rachel owes her life to both, Chloe and Frank... and what does she do? She fucks Frank, then she fucks Mark Jefferson... and thats it. She end's up dead in a dumpster. Which goes to probe she wasn't the untouchable light child she was raised to believe she was.

We are our roots, we do step into the same river twice and life does recycle back experiences, it isn't an irony that Rachel dies of an overdose. Every mother contains her daughter, and each daughter her mother. Nature works in mysterious, yet observable ways. We are our ancestors. The fact that Rachel seems to lack a free will and just walks into the destructive steps of her mother... just goes to show that you can run from your past, but you can't hide. Rachel probably never bonded with her mother, and her dismissal of the mother figure is shown when she only cares that "James lied" but doesn't really seem to take Rose into account... or even care for her.

I do not dismiss the idea that Rachel might have activated a course when she burned the tree. Rachel and Chloe are both essentially fatherless children, with the same ruthlessness that James would do anything to protect his daughter... does the storm destroy arcadia bay. The father (james) would literally kill the mother (sera) to protect the daughter (rachel) yet... in the turn of events it is mother nature who ends up bringing about order. I also think the game draws a big contrast in the topic "mother/father" there seems to be a big obsession with father (Chloe's father is dead, Rachel is the daughter of the DA, Nathan Prescott's dad is rich, Chloe's stepfather is an asshole.... etc) yet... what about mothers? What about Rose, Joyce, Sera... etc? I think the game characters are too centered on the father to even notice the role mothers are trying to play.

On Chloe: she will not be part of any club that accepts her as a member.... funny enough, some of the people in this game who are more blunt and outspoken we tend to think are assholes... yet we make exceptions for Chloe. Chloe constantly tells lies to her mother... maybe to protect her? and David, who also knows of lose (his best friend gets killed) so... is it really a coincidence that David end's up and Chloe's house... or do they have a similar energy that bind them together? There are people in this game who clearly care about Chloe: her mom, Elliot, even David. I was very saddened when I saw game players call Elliot a "psycho" and an "asshole" just because he tried to talk sense into Chloe... Chloe previously hooked up with Elliot, and even if forceful... I think Elliot did see Rachel for who she was. But what happens to the one's who do see the truth? they must walk away. Elliot SEES the truth and speaks it, so he can no longer stay in Arcadia Bay... therefore he exits the game. It was also funny to me that Rachel burns things, beats up Daemon with a piece of wood, smashes stuff...and in the other game Warren beats the shit out of Nathan Prescott and nobody says anything... yet Elliot pushes Chloe and breaks a snow globe and now he is a psycho.... right.

Everyone obsession to protect Rachel is almost sickening... yes, she might be sparkly and beautiful... but why wont anyone allow life to touch her? why is she so special she must be protected from everything? In the end, no matter if you tell her the truth or not, the result is the same... Rachel and Chloe stay in Arcadia Bay... which means that Rachel never truly meant to run away with her. They had 2 years to get away.

Chloe is with Rachel, the same way James was with Sera... protective, obsessive... never wanting to face the reality of the other person. Truth is painful as fuck... but it will only set you free if you allow it to do so. It takes a very strong soul to be real with someone... there is a difference between loving and relationships. Love is sacrificial, exciting, painful... even deadly. Relationship are a transaction. Sometimes they are based on truth, sometimes on lies. Everything has a currency and an explanation (if you want a perfect example on how to do relationships... look at Rose... the woman is perfectly put together, ready to negotiate, make excuses, be polite) make no mistake, there is a place in life for love, and there is also a place for relationships. The problem is when you confuse the two. The one difference here is that Chloe loves, and Rachel does relationships. Chloe sacrifices, Rachel manipulates. The currency here is that Rachel only care about having a father figure (which masculine Chloe would fulfill... until people like Frank and Jefferson come along) and Chloe wants a best friend and some real company (which Rachel would also fulfill.... but she'll never be Max or William).

The fact that somebody wants the truth does not mean they can handle it, the fact that you think you deserve love does not mean you have earned it. Like Sera said... after years of bad decisions... you just don't get to walk away into someone's life, you are going to live the consequences of your actions. I find that the honesty of Sera is very refreshing for a change.

I think game players would do good to stop making Rachel into this "entity" and see the game for what it is... a place in which (like real life) you can try your best, but it is nature and life's wisdom that has the upper hand.

and who really is the big bad wolf in this story? you tell me.

All credits to: Moon Seeea

I don’t agree with all he said, but it really opened my eyes.

I know that what he said is hella fucked up, but at some point mine amberprice heart brooke a little.

I love Rachel Amber, she’s probably the most developed character I have ever seen, and I know that she wasn’t just one thing, but this hitted me hard af, cause some part really made sense for me.

I’m hella sorry y’all.

[demoisverysexy]

I literally follow fagonite. I like the furry art. I dont go out of my way to engage in this discourse. This is my first time speaking my mind in this issue really. I only did so because it popped up onto my dash and I felt the need to respond because a blog I like said something I found hurtful. And I seriously doubt people like me are what is making medical professionals doubt plural experiences, I think that people are just bigoted against plural folks regardless of their origins.

You ask me to show you where Heart attacked anyone. I think claiming all tulpamancers are just weird fandom obsessed folks hypnotizing themselves into going apeshit is an attack, and a pretty insulting one at that. Not to mention denying the existence of endo systems is insulting to people who identify with the label. A lot of the language in Hearts post is similarly combative. Not to mention that even though Heart made the post on her own blog, that doesnt mean other people cant see and respond to it.

I accept your critique that I put words into Hearts mouth about DID being only able to be diagnosed by a doctor. I apologize for that. Thank you for pointing that out to me.

Moving on, Heart did gatekeep plurality. She's trying to say some people arent allowed to claim that label. I am opposed to that gatekeeping here.

I fail to see how anything I've said here is racist. If youre equating cultural appropriation with racism, I can see that better, but Im not doing that either. I think I made it clear that the ideas that make up tulpamancy have existed in many cultures across time. More, tulpamancy didnt even involve the word tulpa originally. The history of the modern tulpamancy movement is complicated and interesting, and arises from a multitude of sources. I imagine youre not interested in that history though. If you want us to use a different term, that could probably be arranged (Daemon is one, based on the Amber Spyglass novels) but I dont personally think its necessary. Not all cultural exchange is cultural appropriation, even religious cultural exchange.

I didnt say that DID systems dont have DID, just that plurality is not reducible to DID. I think thats a weird gotcha against someone who is pro endo and pro tulpa. And more, while PTSD cannot be cured, it can be dealt with and managed to the point where it doesnt negatively affect people anymore. So too with DID and other trauma based dissociative disorders. And Im more trying to avoid the idea that plurality is, at the end of the day, dependant upon the existence of trauma. I think defining it in those terms is unhelpful, as is assuming that those in the medical industry who hate plural folks seriously care about the differences between "legitimate" plurality and endogenic and tulpa-based systems.

And no, I havent seen any good reasons from you to disbelieve in peoples experiences. Not in this post at least.

(please nobody harass or threaten anybody involved in this post, if you do you get blocked, thanks. Also if anyone involved in this post does get harassed, lmk so I can block them)

ppl who think the term sysmed is genuinely a worthwhile term that should be used are so fucking hilarious

[pixelprinny]

Confetti...?

Not sure why Tumblr has got confetti raining when I load it up or refresh it, maybe it’s their anniversary or something. 

In any case, Atelier Sophie finished! Better than the last trilogy but weaker than the first ps3 trilogy, I guess. It’s combat is probably the weakest of all the PS3/4 games to date, but its crafting and characters made up for that. 

I think the biggest gripe I have with it is how much of the late game progression relies on picking up rumors from the cafe and those rumors appear randomly. It was fine for like “I hear you can find X ingredient with Y ability on it” but when it came to bosses needed to unlock recipes or weird, vague “You need rumor 1 to unlock rumor 2 to unlock this new area” it got pretty dumb. Having to sleep for a day, checking the rumors, then sleeping for another till such rumors finally showed up is just pointless busy work.

On the bright side, the game actually had a bit of closure with its ending. Like it didn’t leave any huge questions left at the end like pretty much all three of the last trilogy did. It’s an Atelier game so it still left things pretty open ended, but at least Sophie achieved what she set out to do.

Certainly looking forward to Firis when it comes out on PC later this year, woo. Hopefully the combat’s back to how it was before, but even if it’s not, its not a game breaker, just kinda disappointing they got rid of the 6 character groups, elemental damage, and added a pretty awful stance system rather than manually triggering support attacks. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, guys, geeze!

So next up is Tales of Berseria which I jumped into today and wow, this game’s started off with a fantastic first impression. Four hours or so in and I love pretty much everything about it so far. The one thing it lacks is a jump button. Sophie had that, so I keep finding myself trying to jump but being unable to D: Also I keep trying to swing my staff to get first strike in combat but Tales doesn’t have that either, augh. Coulda sworn it used to... or maybe ya had to approach them from behind, but neither seem to exist yet. But I might still need to unlock that, who knows.

Aaaanyways, Velvet is fan-fucking-tasting and the supporting cast all seem really interesting so far. Also impressed that Namco went and added a good number of settings for the PC port. Though I did notice a weird huge frame drop in one town, not sure what that’s about, but oh well, nothing major.

I’m finding the combat super addicting. I ramped up the difficulty level because I was finding the enemies dying too quickly on normal and I want to beat them up more. I’ve been going out of my way to pick fights since using Velvet feels almost bayonetta/dmc-ish. I like the change to the combo points where you can keep attacking when you run out of em, but you risk being blocked or stunned easier. Nice risk vs reward element.

The Break Soul system is also another great risk vs reward mechanic. In trash fights you can pretty much just spam her break soul attacks, as each one costs a combo point but killing something regens combo points. Personally, I do a quick combo, then break soul, then another combo into executing them with the break soul finisher. But with bosses or dire enemies, if you spam break soul, you’ll find yourself out of combo points really fast, so you need to use them wisely, while also dodging to regen combo points in between.

The system definitely feels like you can button mash your way through it on normal, but has depth if you’re looking for something more substantial. And I’m sure I haven’t even unlocked everything about it yet, so I look forward to seeing what other things its got up its sleeves.

This really feels like a return to form for Tales and might possibly be the best one since Vesperia, I shall keep my fingers crossed. If it had an overworld it’d be instantly goty, but alas, it doesnt cause RPGs just cant have overworlds anymore. Sadness ; ;

Welp, enough rambling, I’ve got more daemons souls to consume. Baiii~

[jord4nqu1nn-blog]

Script

Fade in from black into a glossy blue, the window of Karter's sleep pod. The camera moves around from Karter's POV. Heavy breathing as an obscured figure glides past the front of the glass. The voice fades out and Karter knocks something in his pod causing it to open. *Camera view switch looking down the long corridor* Karter falls out onto his knees in the corridor. Slowly he rises thinking to himself. Karter - Where am I? What is this place? I don't understand how I got here, I don't know where here is. Looking around he starts to wander down the corridor, taking in all the details. *Camera switch to side corridor*   He walks over to another sleep pod and knocks on the glass. Nothing. He tries clearing the condensation  with his sleeve, he spots inside is a girl he recognises from Funland, Fran. Her eyes jolt open and he jumps back in surprise *switch camera view back to long corridor* Her pod door slowly rises and she steps out in a calm but confused manor. Fran - ... Karter right? (pointing at Karter) Karter - yeh Fran - I'm Fran Karter - I know, I've seen you around Funland (small thumbs up as clarification) Fran - oh ... Okay *Camera switch to long corridor* Karter - do you know where we are? (nervously asking) Fran - I was hoping you'd know Karter - I've no idea, I just woke up here as well so no idea. (raising his arms in confusion) Fran - hmm ... Well we were in these pod ...bed ... thingy's?  and asleep so I think its some kinda sleeping pod storage area?, have you seen anyone around? *Camera switch to side corridor Karter - ergh ... YES!  there was a guy walked past just before ... I think? Fran - huh ... Yeah that would make sense, they were probably monitoring us. Karter - MONITORING? WHAT DO YOU MEAN? (In utter shock) Fran - If were okay like healthy and stuff probably. Karter - oh ... Wait so why do you think were here? (breathing out in relief) Fran - I have no idea, but its totally different to Funland, everything looks so much more real and sad. (looks down) Karter - real? Fran - like solid you know? Karter - I guess. A voice breaks there conversation, Karter and Fran turn back to back in confusion and shock. Athena starts talking in a excited and slightly jumpy tone. Athena - Hey dudes you've probably got questions but I cant answer them right now I need you to do exactly what I say okay? Fran - What? Karter - I think we should do what they say, we don't know where we are they might Fran - What?! How do you know its not a trap Karter - What makes you think it is? Athena - If your done talking and deciding to trust me, I need yous to jump through the vent in the floor! Karter and Fran look at each other in fear and wonder. Karter - They probably know what they're talking about. Fran - hmmm ... (feelings of disbelief paint her face) Karter - together? Fran - together! Karter lifts the vent and they both jump through leaving it to slam behind them! They fall down a shoot and land in a room with the walls plastered in monitors displaying all sorts of code and camera relays. Karter and Fran shake off the fall moaning and look up to see Athena. *Camera switch to new scene in Athena's lair* Athena - Welcome to... Karter - ahhhh , Right what's going on? (interrupting before Athena could finish) Athena - Welcome ... to the city, by the way your not in Kansas anymore ha ha. Karter - Kansas? Where is that? Athena - ahhhhhhh long fall I guess, doesn't matter though, you're in the Cityscape, I am Athena, I mean that's ... not my real name but whatever ... I don't tell anyone that. Only my close friends now me as Athena, by the way your my close friends. (Hopefully saying in an attempt to get Fran and Karter Fran - WAIT WHAT?! Karter- Nice to have you as a friend, Fran - How did we just get a new friend? Karter - Who cares I like them. And that's not the most important thing right now. Athena where are we? Fran – Yeah,  last we remember was Funland, now were in this ... Ergh cityspace? Athena - Cityscape. And yes. Funland is a virtual place for kids to live out their childhood with fun and games, except it secretly teaches you things with fun! Karter - NO! I hate learning. That’s manipultion...mapinaiton...manipulpation? Fran - stop before you hurt yourself, and its clearly necessary, unless you want to be stupid forever ha. Not me. And its manipulation. Karter - ... Anyways why are we here? Athena - I brought yous here. Fran - Why? Athena - I need your help, you and the kids of Funland, the adults here, who are like ... Big ... sad kids? Are all sad and they are going to shut Funland down. Apparently it’s not necessary anymore. And making adults more upset when they leave Funland, from a perfect place of fun to the cityscape is a .... a rough change. Karter - What can we do to help? Athena - I need to get into Funland. I need access to their computer systems so I can lock them out of their stuff ... It'll stop them for a while. But first I need to get into Funland that's where you guys come in, your some of the people who've been in Funland the longest time. Karter - Really? Fran - who else has been in there the longest? (Athena turns to a computer and starts typing) Athena - This kid called Daemon, or Danny? Karter - Damien? Athena - YES! Fran - Isn't that that weirdo who walks round in the really big coat? Karter - That’s him! Athena - yeah he's been in the longest time; he's not actually got a time listed under his bio for how long he's been in. In fact he doesn't have a bio. I found him by looking up conversation logs. Karter - what's a bio? Fran - It's like a description of a person, but in this case I’d imagine its data the company keeps on us for one reason or another? ... Am I close? Athena - Almost spot on. Anyways I need yous to go back into your pods and into Funland, then imma try and hack into their servers and I am going to try and remotely join FUNLAND!! Ill meet you where the new Kids enter Funland Karter - Is this gunna work? Athena - Ehh maybe? Fran- MAYBE?!?!? Karter - MAYBE!? Athena - maybe! Fran and Karter walk back to their sleep pods chatting about their new friend, Athena and the kid no one knows about, Damien. *Camera switch back to long corridor* Karter – This will work right (unsure about the whole thing) Fran - There’s always gunna be a chance it doesn’t……but it should work   Karter – I guess if it does ill see you on the other side then Fran – I guess so. Karter – well … ill seeya there then. Fran – Yeah should do, where do you wanna meet? Karter – Where did Athena say to meet? Fran – where new people come from, I think. Karter – Yes! Karter – right so we’ll meet where the new comers enter. Fran – Okay then. *Camera follows Karter as he climbs into his pod*  Fran and Karter climb back into their pods and hear a little voice… *Camera switch to close up on Athena's mouth talking into a mic* Athena – Right I’m ready to send yous back, I’d ask if you’re ready but neither of your pods have microphones in so I wouldn’t know anyways … hahah   Athena – 3 …. 2 …. 1 …. Get Ready Screen Flashes white for a few seconds. *Camera has a split between Karter and Fran* Both Karter and Fran wake up in their own beds, like they’d been asleep, however both vividly remember what just happened and rush out to try and find each other looking round both running round trying desperately to get back to the place where everyone enters, they both enter the zone around the same time, but on opposite sides of the square. They both casually walk over to meet somewhere in the middle near a fountain of pink liquid. *Camera shot merges back into one shot as they walk into each others frames* They both sit down and wait. *Camera shows front view of them sitting next to each other looking towards the camera* Karter – How long do you think it will take before Athena gets here? Fran – I don’t know it could a little while, could be a couple days, depends how it takes for him to do that hacking thing. Karter – Yeah I suppose. *Camera time-lapse through the day* Karter and Fran sit round waiting all day phasing out of everything only really waking up to the rubble of their hungry stomachs, They both agree that this can wait and go to get some food. Going to the nearest food court they find they are both confused by Athena’s lack of arrival. Fran – that hacking thing must have been harder than they though. Karter – What do you mean? Fran – Well Athena is nowhere to be found … so it would make sense that they didn’t really know what they were doing with it. Karter – No. Athena will turn up. *Camera follows both Karter and Fran from behind* As they walk into the food court they both spot a massive crowd of people surrounding what looks to be a person, so they run over and push to the front of the chanting crowd, to find Athena there sat munching through their  10th plate of food, everyone stood round in amazement at the amount of food Athena is actually eating. Fran – Athena what are you doing here? Your meant to meet us at the other place. Karter – Fran wait … GO GO GO! Your rocking this Athena! BRING THE 11th plate over ready. *Camera switch to Athena* Athena – No I’m full for now. Besides Fran is right we should be going. As Athena says this the crowd loses interest and disperses back to their own lives *Camera switch to Karter and Fran* Karter – we haven’t had our food yet though Fran Both their stomachs rubble as if to agree with Karter and remind Fran about food. Fran – FINE! Bring 3 more plates over please. Karter – So how did you get here so quickly? *Camera switch to Athena* Athena – What do you mean? I’ve been here for a day already? Where have yous been? I entered yesterday and no one was around to help me so I figured ill just act like everyone else and have fun. And my the day I've had has been great, there must be a delay for people joining through the pods, like some kind of scan, like a loading screen. *Camera switch to Karter and Fran* Fran – That would explain the delay, and we wouldn’t know about it, it would be like when your asleep, you’re out and then up. So you never really notice it. Karter – huh … okay then. They spend the entire night just talking about the situation outside Funland in the Cityscape 4 that the adults and their parents work in. Void of fun and anything enjoyable. They wake up having fallen asleep during the night, by the sun piercing through the window. They all get up and go outside into the street and Athena experiences the first sunrise they ever had as in the city there is too much smoke and fumes around to even see the sun at midday. Karter turns to Athena to see a small tear just roll down one cheek. Karter – Athena you okay? *Camera switch to Athena* Athena – Yeah just that’s the first time I’ve ever seen the sunrise virtual or not, that is beautiful. *Camera switch to Karter and Fran* Karter – Hey its your first proper day here, and by the way… WELCOME TO FUNLAND. Karter gives Athena a big thumbs up and smile. And Fran gives Athena a big hug. The screen fades to black and the title The Virtual Kidz glitches into the middle of the screen. Credits glitch into frame in a similar style to the Title.