#theres so much more and greater suffering in the world

[marshido]

i have no energy or passion and it is making me a worse and more uninteresting person to be around. GRINS!

[xaytheloser]

The Sinner's and the Saint

The beast's relations with Bengin Butter Cookie (oc x canon lore, aka, doomed polyamory /silly)

Knowledge, Volition, Happiness, Change, Solidarity... and Benevolence, these virtues where imbued into the six ancient cookies, as the witches trusted them with the sacred virtues, in hopes of the dessert world would maintain a constant state of peace and prosperity... Benign Butter Cookie Remembers the good old days.. the times she laughed and watched Shadow Milk Cookie perform his iconic shows, as he takes pride in making her crack a smile even if she had an awful day. she remembers Mystic Flour Cookie, who showed just as much compassion as she did when aiding the common cookies of Earthbread, she was a passionate ancient through and through.. she remembers Eternal Sugar Cookie, and how she and her used to laugh and play in their free time, sitting calmly on her cloud, looking upon the glittering horizon.. she remember Burning Spice Cookie, as she took great joy watching him train to get stronger day by day, clapping and cheering for his growth as a virtue... and Silent Salt... while they spoke few words, their compassion for the cookies of Earthbread was clear, as they would show great care of the cookies of Earthbread, no matter the circumstance...

Oh, how power corrupts..

Shadow Milk, who now cackled in sinister glee as he used the innocent cookies of Earthbread as mere toys for his sick entertainment.. as he played gruesome shows to his comrades.. and Benign Butter Cookie.. whose face now showed horror instead of joy like she once had...

Mystic Flour could now care less for such insignificant speck of dough that weren't her comrades, as they now viewed herself as a godly figure, she was granted powers for far greater use than protecting the useless cookies of Earthbread.

Eternal Sugar Cookie, who was now to tired to put effort into anything but commute with her fellow ancients, and even then, she barely lifts her head up from her pillowy cloud.. as she smites anyone who disturbs her alone time..

Burning Spice to great joy in the suffering of the weak little cookies he terrorized... he viewed them as new targets to get stronger, just mere punching bags to play with..

and Silent Salt.. they saw no point in saving cookies anymore.. only cutting them down, crumbling them without hesitation as if they were no more than insignificant grains of flour... Bengin Butter Cookie could not stand watching her once beloved comrades fall under their own strength..

And so she helped her godly creators seal them away..

Shadow Milk pried at the bars at his cage, reaching out for Benign Butter as he yelled for her to save him... took look at him! there no actual way she would do this to him! ...right..?

Mystic Flour was surely shocked when her forked cage fell onto her.. thought she did not show surprise.. she knew that Benign Butter was still blinded by her faith in the gods that she might have had no choice but to trap her comrades if they so wished... Silent Salt could not bare to lift their sword at Benign Butter.. her expression looked.. so sad... and full of regret.. that they just couldn't do it..

Eternal Sugar was waken up by the sound of chains ratting against her newly established cage, as Benign Butter was on the other side of her cage.. her head lowered down as she ignored Eternal Sugar's pleas to let her out..

Burning Spice was full of rage... not at Benign Butter, oh no... at the witches... how DARE they make his sweet Benign Butter trap him like this! he saw her broken, crying face, theres no way she's doing this on her own volition! he swears to make the witches pay...

Benign Butter now resides in Beast Yeast... guarding the SIlver Tree along with Elder Faerie Cookie, preparing for the day she may have to put the beasts back into the seal if they ever do get out..

she will keep Earthbread safe at all costs... for the sake of Earthbread.. and her baby..

[rosvyy]

cute lil "no longer you" analysis

Ok guys so like we know how the oracle works? Yeah yeah yeah, they say smth and no matter what you do, it will come true because of what you do. However, there are different pathways obvs. So tiresias is like, "Yeah theres a lot of your journeys, odysseys if you will, and there are good an bad endings. I know there is a good ending here for you, but I dont know it here, it isnt yours." HOWEVER it could change. It isnt set in stone yet. He sings the prophecy. He sings what is most likely going to happen from this moment onwards, how in the musical Eurylochus stands up and is killed 'a brothers final stand' and the 'sacrifice of man' being scylla and how odysseus didnt do anything to prevent the death of the men. I think the 'last breath' is in reference to "Get in the Water" but it could also be when he washes up on Claypsos shore, although I doubt it cause thats a stretch. Cause like... yeah no. Odysseus is like "Hold on. No thats not fair. We have been well, we have been using other means instead of violence so we can be fair, this ISNT fair! Then Tiresias goes on to recite more of this version of the prophecy, how Penelope will be reunited with a man who isnt anything like Odysseus is. NOW this is where it matters imo. This prophecy differs so heavily from the book, but in the book there is a choice. He tells the men to not eat any cattle they come across or else they will suffer from it and Odysseus will arrive home much later than what he would like. The option of choice is still there, eat the cattle or do not. Odysseus being doomed by the narrative has this choice screwed by his crew, but it was still presented to him none the less. Epic doesnt go this route on a surface listen. There is no clear choice but the indication is still there. After Tiresia has finished the current prophecy, it comes down to Odysseus to place how the story will go. He could either "greet the world with open arms" and try beg Tiresia to tell him the other worlds and other prophecy's, or he could go down the path the Gods favour of anger and suffering. Upon hearing his wife is with a man "with a trail of bodies", he screams "who" with such desperation and anger which the audience has never heard before. Without even saying so, it has implemented and foreshadowed the vengeance and anger he holds to this man who has taken his wife. This is dramatic irony to the audience who knows what will happen, how he turns into this man. He doesnt hate him, he becomes him, so that he can seek vengeance on who Tiresia described. It also can be interpreted from the lines already presented by Tiresia that the man is Odyssesy, as his crew, the 558 men who died, trail behind him as 'the past is always close behind'. A trail of bodies which he met only a song prior to "no longer you". The "Who" line which Odysseus screams cements his fate, the anger and choice of bitterness athena steered him to and Poseidon reimplemented being chosen over the advice his dead friend gave him. This is when Tiresias repeats the first verse, the repetition illustrating how that world now is this world. It cements that there is no change to be done, Odysseus path will end in a trail of bodies which is greater than the one he already bears, and the sacrifices he must make in order to reunite with his wife while becoming something akin to the Devine whilst staying mortal, a monster.

[ultimateplaylistmaker]

Wait, what are the four ideölogies?

Thank you for asking!

I'll divide them by Hate/Love

Hate Despair and Love Despair are the two main factions of despair. The biggest face of Hate Despair is Tsumugi and Love Despair is Mikan.

Hate Despair is totally outwards, it's not about you in any real way, it's about making everyone ELSE feel BAD just because its profitable or its kinda entertaining. It lacks as much soul but it's much more likely to get to some really questionable weird places like a fucking killing game tv show, effective, but soulless. You don't get much out of it other then the satisfaction of a job well done. Brutally effective, but much harder to sell people on acting on, thus usually falling to a handful of people who take advantage of no one else feeling they can change the system. It's pure voyeur of others suffering without much care about why they're suffering just that they are, theres no actual personal investment in it and that makes it impossible to reason with it.

Love Despair is much more inward, its not so much about other people is its about getting the believer their own catharsis. Love Despair takes thoughts like "god, why is the line so long I wish everyone here would die" and then acts on them. It's complete selfishness and a disregard for anyone else as long as you get yours. Who cares if millions die, you got that compliment from Junko! So all is okay! It's all about you! and what you want! and what you want is everyone who has ever been mean to you to die horribly! Despair brings satisfaction, pleasure, and when the high wears off and you go "oh my god what have i done" you just go do it again to get your mind off it, creating a circle of almost addiction. It's more viral, but more easy to get talked out of. It's mob mentality after all, if the mob starts to slow, so will you.

Meanwhile with Hate Hope and Love Hope the faces are Juzo and Makoto, this is a much more visible then the Despair dichotomy.

Hate Hope is all about the greater good, its again very not personal, it's about doing what will logically do the most good with the least risk. It's killing those who stand in the way because its just more efficient, it's very much a turn on your neighbor kind of hope where you report things wrong or at risk to try and maintain peace and keep people happy, its a lot less real personal moral choice about whats right and more following rules and handling things quickly. Much less room for change or progression but in a dangerous place like the tragedy, brutal efficiency very much gets the job done and protects a lot of people more effectively. Its punching a teenager in the face because even if it sends them to the hospital, if you just let them keep going they might get killed. Sometimes you have to do the wrong or cruel thing to get the best results.

Love Hope is being unable to sit still in the face of any perceived wrong doing even if its for the "best" and is thus much more volatile then Hate Hope and easily used for good and bad but when used makes much bigger splashes and can make the most changes in peoples views of the world. It's becoming a war criminal just on the chance it might be able to reform the world's most dangerous people because goddammit theyre still PEOPLE. No matter how much easier it makes things! It's passion, and moving before you think because you can't just sit idly by. Rules don't matter, hell, sometimes what the majority wants doesn't matter, what matters is doing the right goddamn thing, even if it may be more dangerous or chaotic. Its a firm belief people arent chips you can bet and exchange for something even if that something is peace! they're people! Even if its riskier if it could maybe save one more person its worth it! It's got a lot of potential for things to go wrong, it's more of a gamble, but it will alter the world forever in a way Hate Hope fucking WISHES it could.

It's all very Mind vs Heart, Logic vs Passion, Order vs Chaos, neither one is inherently better or less dangerous then the other, and for best results you want to get both to work together to balance out more, but they're also very inherently at odds in ways that constantly cause conflict throughout the series.

[myrfing]

TO MEEEE its so weird that ppl hold venat against ""choosing" us when to me its like. its thanks to her blessing that we can explore and fight and thrive to our hearts content. she blessed us with echo so we can enjoy this game, this journey. whatever venat GET BEHIND MEEE

EXACTLYYYY AND IM GONNA GET WEIRD AND I KNOWWWW this is depending on how you want to read the story, but so much of what the “warrior of light” is to me from the beginning, far before I knew venat or knew of the ancients was that: we asked first. the hero walked into the light first and asked if they were needed. and I came and downloaded and opened this game and played it because I asked for something to do; so much of this story revolves around answering the PLAYER, it is wish fulfillment, it is a fantasy. from the beginning it has been reciprocal, and this is winked and nudged at by the very fact that the wol could literally be anybody. this story could not exist without the players; the wol could not exist without the story. they did not reject this idea and opt play the fantasy completely straightforwardedly, they embraced the double meaning—they wanted to utilize their medium of being an mmo in how they tell the story itself. I don’t think it’s “wrong” to view the story as a single layer thing with arrangable and discardable blocks, as its standalone reality WHICH IT IS, but it doesn’t change what was given to us. they translated this spirit into a fantasy tale where there is a hero who is only a hero because they appeared and said there’s things I want to experience here and there’s something worth saving here; I want to be here. keep telling the story. it is FOR THIS that the wol is given the mantle. not the inverse. not because the wol has to be whoever this specific person you made them up to be is; obviously not, we all have a different one. I know the story crosses twice in things like a whole plot where another timeline sacrifices everything To Save The WoL So They Can Save The World, and wholeheartedly embraces its immersion by trying to write a hero who has natural doubts and deconstructs heroism when embodied by a regular person with a human heart (BEFORE RECONSTRUCTING IT) but I do genuinely believe this was written in full faith that the player winks and nudges back about WHAT the WoL is. i think this is literally the integeral core of the concept of Azem also and their power and how it’s integrated into the game.

I would like to emphasize though that this is even reflected in the fact she doesnt even actually give us the echo; what it is is the power to communicate and see the story from a sort of omnipotent perspective of the reader that “we” and “the wol” always had and was awakened when we chose to press start. The ability to see the greater tapestry from observing its individual parts. Of course, in the game, it’s a magic ability to astral project into people’s pasts and futures LOL but like. YOU KNOW? WINK AND NUDGE?

Also, I just don’t think the wol suffers uniquely or more than anyone else. I know the game kind of hypes up particulars of the journey for them (of course; just because there’s a double meaning doesn’t mean we dont love the tale for what it is in all its drama) but it also says this…”heroism” it defines is a choice that literally everyone makes because everyone faces the core of what the wol faces. a farmer getting up to till the fields, an office worker clocking into another day, a child struggling in school, an old guy getting out of bed. which is the central theme we arrive at in ew: how do you choose to continue to exist in the face of the truth that there was no actual, magic, predestined meaning? What keeps you here, playing the game?

of course theres tons of people who, because they love the story too, don’t want this other meta layer; they want it to be a classical story where the reader is not a part of it. and i dont think there’s anything wrong then with saying alright then my WoL loathes being the WoL, it is an obligation they were thrust into in a fully literal sense, the world of hydaelyn is Just hydaelyn, and in this closed circle universe, they reject the themes of the story and go their own way. But i also kind of think this requires a total rewrite from like, heavensward onward. I don’t think there’s any reason for the wol to remain in the narrative that brings them to stormblood or shadowbringers or endwalker in the way they did if they decided this story wasn’t for them. because it’s only ever been there because we asked first for them to continue

[cainightfics]

wow, you have an interesting perspective on the future of humanity. it's somewhat uplifting and relieving. all problems seem insignificant. i had similar thoughts about the future of my country. but i never thought about global destruction. thanks for sharing this information, i want to look deeper and maybe recognize some imminent signs of global doom lol

haha "interesting" is one word for it i guess. dont even get me started or ill go on forever but yeah im 100% a collapsenik doomer. if you want some overviews of the basics of this stuff you could check out the podcast "breaking down: collapse" or "it could happen here." unfortunately a lot of the discussion surrounding these issues is america-centric, and ignores a lot of very big global issues that are clear harbingers of collapse. the famine in yemen, for example, or last years hunga tonga–hunga haʻapai volcano eruption, which was more powerful than any nuclear bomb and released enough vapour into the atmosphere to speed up global warming exponentially. like i say, its not just one issue. its thousands of issues, happening everywhere all the time, creating feedback loops which exponentially spiral out of control. We Are Fucked lol.

to put things into perspective, even if all of global production stopped right now and we found a way to hit climate goals of 2C warming (which we won't, and depending on how far back you measure the baseline, we've already gone past 2C warming since the pre-industrial era), the feedback loops of climate change will nonetheless create such high concentrations of methane and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that by 2100 every human on earth will experience such low oxygen levels that they will all be mentally disabled.

there is nothing that can stop the upcoming shitstorm. theres too many problems, and even if we all worked together to solve one, the others will kill us anyway. i'd say once oil production begins to halt (which is estimated to be around 2040) collapse will really hit us full-force. we NEED petrochemical fertilizers to grow enough food to support our current population, it's nonnegotiable. our civilization is dependent on oil down to our most basic of needs. once the oil is gone, there will be unprecedented amounts of death. and there is no replacement for oil. it took millions of years of dinosaur remains decaying in the earth to create it. even if human civilization survives, in small pockets somewhere, the current world as we know it will be dead forever. we will never get it back, for better or for worse.

i think the current state of society is denial, cluelessness, and panic. everyone knows its bad, but very few know how bad it really is. just the thought of the impending doom in our collective future is enough to drive loads of people to suicide, addiction, or mindless consumption as a self-soothing mechanism. the fact is, its over. we have a few decades left before everything before us is just a glittering memory of our self-indulgent past. on the one hand, it will mark the end of capitalism, and thus the end of the cycle of exploitation and consumption that has caused so much human suffering. on the other hand, the suffering of the future will perhaps be even greater.

anyways ill stop myself before i go rambling on (remember earlier when i said i can rant about this forever?). i’d be happy to chat about it more with anyone whos interested, but its not exactly light nice stuff to have show up on your dash on a sunday, so im sorry to anyone who read this and is now freaked out. but all of this is just the beginning of why i am an alcoholic lol

[system-of-a-feather]

I haven't read but I absolutely want to answer these cause they're fun questions. For context, we are/were a polyfrag DID system that currently identifies as a "fully fused multiple".

1- Does your experience of plurality feel inherently disordered to you or not, independent of whether or not you have a CDD?

Absolutely not.

If you asked me in the past, I might have said yes or something more in the middle because back then, I was really deep and struggling with dissociation and I really couldn't separate my plurality from my dissociation. Back then my dissociation and my plurality were inherently tied together; in fact I didn't identify as plural because of the way I experienced my plurality w/ dissociation. Back then, my plurality was inherently my DID and my DID was inherently disordered.

These days though, I still identify as and experience plurality without / with minimal dissociation and having actually gone a lot more into Buddhist reading / understanding / studies and just generally looking at a lot of Eastern Philosophies and Spiritualities, plurality is absolutely not something that is inherently bad or disordered or even abnormal.

Personally, I find my experiences with plurality to be inherently HEALING and PROTECTIVE and INSIGHTFUL. Plurality has let me really understand myself a lot better, let me explore and utilize my skills way better, and find greater peace within myself, my life, and the world.

I honestly fucking love it and I'm ever thankful and grateful to be able to operate in the world with this perspective, framework and flexibility / fluidity of mind and mental state as I found it gives me the flexibility and open mindedness to really enjoy life regardless of the situation and I see a lot of people that don't practice that suffering a lot in the world.

I genuinely think people would benefit from adopting and incorperate a plural frame of thought into life (not necessarily BEING plural, but taking the lens and bring it into their life); and ya know, they already do that in therapy. Its IFS and its super helpful.

2- How do you think about personhood and identity, collectively and individually?

I don't believe in it 😂

Like that sounds like a meme but I really don't believe that "personhood" or "identity" is anything particularly concrete, real or even a necessary thing. I subscribe to the Buddhist opinion that the experience of "self" and "identity" and "me/I" is inherently just an illusory thing that comes with our human condition that we all experience and putting much emphasis on those sorts of things tends to just add to confusion and complexity as they don't really genuinely exist.

I think trying to find out "who you are" or "what makes you YOU" or "what traits do I have" and what not are approaches to life that are wild goose chases that waste a lot of emotional energy and time in your life trying to answer. This applies all the way to alters / headmates / parts. They are neither individual people nor parts of my individual whole; because I don't even think "I" exist in any real concrete way. They're as much parts of me as I am part of this world. If my independent existence is valid and considered a "person" despite me being a part of the whole world, then their independent existence is valid and considered a "person" despite them being a part of me. It's like matryoshka dolls honestly.

I do acknowledge though that personhood, identity, and sense of self is something everyone experiences whether or not the concept of personhood or self is "real" and those experiences OF personhood and self are real without a doubt and so theres a lot of complexities that come when talking about it.

I don't think a single post could explain my thoughts on personhood and self BEYOND how I see it for myself and my overarching perspectives on the topic in general, because I think when we bring in all the different backgrounds, cultures, contexts, trauma histories, etc of an individual person and how those influence how they perceive and experience personhood and self, it gets insanely complicated and I absolutely do not think "everyone should just acknowledge that it doesn't exist like I do" because that's my way of thinking that works for me with my background and history.

Personhood and self is something that can be immensely important and impactful to the individual and while I think it's illusory, that doesn't mean its inherently bad or not something that is critical, important and sacred to other people.

So generally speaking, I don't believe in it. I play with it and respect the experience of it because its a good and fun experience and can help me better dismantle a lot of things that are causing me pain and suffering; but I don't really believe in it and find discussing and debating what makes a person a person a really pointless and overly complicated discussion.

That said, I think it really depends on the cultural and personal background of the individual and I have more complex feelings and thoughts about personhood when I change the specific lens away from just my own and what not.

Personhood / self can mean a lot of things at once and I really dont' think there is just one understanding and what not to it, thus why I like these sorts of chatters.

From @rayssyscourse (this post), two questions for general conversation: 1- Does your experience of plurality feel inherently disordered to you or not, independent of whether or not you have a CDD? 2- How do you think about personhood and identity, collectively and individually? (our answers under the cut)

Plurality and Disorderedness: We actually sort of have two different answers to this! The distinction between the two of us (e.g. me/L vs S), to us, doesn't feel inherently disordered at all. Sure, it's complicated, and there are aspects of the situation we'd change if we could (it would really be nice if S could have his own body back, for example), but the mere fact of us-being-two-of-us, of having two senses of self in one head instead of just one, feels no more or less disordered than being a singlet. It doesn't feel like the only reason we're separate is lingering trauma/emotional baggage pushing us apart, and there's no sense of wrongness in the feeling of each other being different--we're just different, and that's actually really neat in a lot of ways. However, for S's median facet subsystem thing, the answer is a little different. (Trying to paraphrase his emotions/wording for it secondhand here) To some extent, some of the ways in which his facets can get pushed apart/lose "collective cohesion" does feel inherently disordered to him. It's less that "having facets" feels inherently disordered, exactly, and more that the degree of estrangement and conflict between his facets (which fluctuates!) feels directly related to his mental health at the time, and whatever issues he's wrestling with. Being able to go in and single out and work with a facet that's having a hard time feels like a useful processing strategy, but needing to do it a lot, or having a facet get stuck 'out in the cold for too long' feels bad, and reflective of something Wrong. Personhood and Identity: Again, two different answers for our two different 'versions' of plurality! S and I feel like two different, closely connected people. Either of us could be a singlet alone, without the other--and in fact I was a singlet for a long time, at least as far as we know--although we do like each other a lot (<3) and like being able to be a team together. Calling either of us just "a part of the other" feels reductive and even a little demeaning--not to mention just...incorrect, at the base of it? One of the metaphors we like to use is "it's not that he has half the box of crayons and I have the other half; we each get to use the whole box of crayons, we just draw different things with them". With S's median facets, though, he/(they) very persistently and vehemently feel like they're all...part of the same overarching identity? They're all him even when they disagree or have differences (there's a line from a song he likes that he often points to for it: "We are the warriors who learned to love the pain/We come from different places but have the same name"), there's a core, unifying sense of self they all share even when their 'cohesion' gets disrupted by something difficult to process that he can't quite seamlessly internally reconcile. We have some internal nicknames for some facets/'themes' that show up a lot (because the number and nature of his facets isn't static, too), and internal headspace appearances can vary, but they don't have different names because, in his words, "I'm still me, there's just....sometimes a lot of me, who don't all agree".

(Several of our friends have joked that we're the actual IRL version of the system joke "I don't have DID, but my headmate does!", and honestly that's not a bad way to describe it X'D)

[prof-peach]

hey professor, can you help me with something? my medicham, beau, loves to train and often use my torterra's tree, tank, as a punching bag. i told her not to do that cause i don't know how it will effect tank. so, i was wondering if you have any ideas on how to stop her and if i should be worried about the tree. i did have a punching bag that i hang off a branch but she burnt it, froze it and electrocuted it so much that its just rags.

While I understand Pokemon behaviour can be hard to change, you need to do everything in your power to stop the Medicham using another Pokemon as a punching bag. The tree is part of the pokemon, they are one entity, and if the tree is damaged or dies, the Torterra will suffer severely. Torterra die if their tree dies and doesnt get replaced fast. You said "burnt it, froze it, Electrocuted it" so right there, freezing punches to a grass type, even one adapted to the cold, can be an issue if done repeatedly. I don't have to explain how bad fire is for any grass pokemon, you should know that. And electricity while not so severe to grass types, will still split and damage a tree. I have to do a handful of full tree transplants every year because of reckless decisions, and I sternly advise you put the health of your grass type above the wants of your medicham. Put on the "pack leader" hat every trainer has and should use, and make it very clear what will happen if your Medicham keeps doing this, they must not know the severity of their actions, because normally the species is quite understanding of those around it, often not being as traditionally aggressive as other fighting types.

Investing in a high quality, durable new punching bag, strung up away from the Torterra is incredibly important. You pay more yes, but the quality of the item means it can handle attacks with flame, with thunder, and even ice. Gyms all over the world can invest in these items, and now you need to as well. They are made of very special materials, built to last, despite powerful attacks being thrown at them. I can only assume you used a regular human punching bag before, don't use them, they're weak in comparison. Tell Beau the truth, sugar coating things doesn't help, if they know their actions have severe consequences, and they have a new, more effective way to train, they should leave Tank alone, and they SHOULD leave them alone. Torterra have a habit of being a little passive about their own wants and needs, they may not have acted or stressed out about the initial training of the other pokemon, but you must not let this continue. Long term it will lead to some very serious, very deadly conditions. Step 1) order official punching bag, built to handle pokemon attacks. Step2) tell Beau whats up, and to cut that out. You don't want her to have a death on her hands, and in turn, on your hands. Step3) encourage Beau to engage with new punching bag, treats and praise as rewards. She will see it can take the hit, and probably stick to it. The challenge of breaking something is half the fun for fighting types, and the proper bags do not break easy. Step 4) Take Tank to a centre immediately, to make sure theres no underlying damage. Trees can look fine, but under their tough bark they can still have issues. If this behaviour continues separate them, the safety of one is greater than the wants of another. Edit: because i literally cannot fathom this one. That Torterra won't have reacted to the punching, the tree does not have pain receptors, but i promise you, if it did, your pokemon would be causing it agony. C'mon, do better for them, you should have replaced that punching bag day 1.

[evilvarric666-archive]

that post about self sacrifice narratives made me think of how da accidentally goes a step further and ends up (in part) being a cautionary tale about self sacrifice, or rather showing people the other side of self sacrifice and the ugly side of the glorification of martyrdom. like im not going to mention it all, but take dao as an example. the figure of the warden/hero necessarily originates from sacrifice (except in the brosca origin where brosca's life was already permeated by sacrifice, and the figure of the warden is born not from sacrifice or tragedy, but from both this sense of chance or destiny, rage and revenge, which is VERY interesting to me but i dont want to go off topic), and the game seems to constantly insist on the idea of glorifying sacrifice "for a good cause". this is not alarming to the audience, because its something constantly seen in other similar mainstream narratives: the someone sacrifices themselves for the greater good and everyone is better off because of that sacrifice. because a narrative that shows the good and virtuous side of sacrifice for a greater purpose is useful, so why would they bother to explore how inhuman it is to ask someone to give up their life, how painful it is to resign oneself to misery so others can live. they never make you think about the person behind the act, they take advantage of the distance of the audience, they dehumanize the figure of the martyr to make them perfect and virtuous to further a certain narrative, and they focus on showing the "bigger picture" to promote a certain message. but there are instances where the game tries to show the player some hidden cracks in that particular "self sacrifice is noble act" ideology. the issue is that they are fairly easy to ignore. we can choose to ignore the fucked up-ness behind the deaths of the recruits during the joining because they happened to further a greater cause. we can ignore the grief of the families that have lost loved ones in battle because thats what happens during war and there's nothing anyone can do about it. we distance ourselves from the grief and misery of martyrdom by glorifying the heroes that sacrifice everything, distance ourselves from the messed up inhuman nature of the idea of asking a person to sacrifice their life in exchange for the lives of others, because we're playing a game, we truly don't risk anything, and we dont have to give up our lives, so its easy for us to mantain this idea of "sacrifice=good" and even easier to get influenced to carry that idea into real life and see it as a virtue. to think only of the heroic part. but if we choose to go through with the dark ritual, the game instantly turns the tables on us, gets personal, and forces us to pay attention to the misery and pain, the unfairness and the helplessness, the mutual suffering that self sacrifice truly entails, using the only person we can't completely help or "save": morrigan(1/2)

(putting the rest under a readmore bc it's long but OH MY GOD?)

(2/3) For someone like morrigan who's had to fight tooth and nail all her life just to survive in a wild and hostile environment with not a word of kindness or a helping hand ever being offered to her, for someone like morrigan who had to learn that she could trust no one but herself ever, that the world was a cruel savage place and the only way to survive it was to be just as cruel, cunning and manipulative, that was certain that love and friendship were illnesses experienced by fools who were looking for a quick death or betrayal or worse, that fully believed that having power over everyone acquired through any means so that she couldnt be hurt or taken advantage of was the only important thing in life, for someone like morrigan who finally got the chance to make her seemingly impossible dreams come true and also be in a relatively safe position for the first time in her life, who finally got to experience love and care from others and mutual companionship, friendship and selflessness, and finally was part of a real "family" for the first time in her life, to give up ALL THAT and her own freedom simply for the sake of another person, without getting any real reward or benefit from it, when she could've just thrown everyone under the bus like she'd been taught all her life and lived safely the way she'd ALWAYS wanted? thats messed up and painful to experience, and made even more painful by the knowledge that the warden can only watch, because nothing they say will make her not sacrifice herself. and she'd be the perfect martyr, the perfect example of the virtue in sacrifice if only the whole thing was seen from a distance, if it wasnt for the warden/player getting to see firsthand and personal how terrifying, fucked up and unfair the whole situation is, for both them who are on the receiving end and for morrigan, but mainly for morrigan. morrigan, whose life has been nothing short of miserable, choosing to give up and destroy her own dreams, choosing the prospecy of misery and loneliness, choosing to be far away from the world she loves, choosing to GIVE UP HER LIFE IN THEIR WORLD to let someone she loves live happily and safely, even despite all the pain and grief that separation and sacrifice cause in her heart. she gives up EVERYTHING WILLFULLY for ANOTHER PERSON'S SAKE, she puts the life of another before her own in the most absolute and painful of ways, going aganist every painful lesson in her life, solely because of love.

(3/3) theres just no bigger sacrifice than what she did. to not only go aganist everything youve been taught and completely believed all your life, but also to sacrifice yourself and decide to face the idea of not death, but the idea of a life of pain and loneliness again, a life with little to no benefits for which you had to give up everything you wanted, a life that includes the terrifying reality of having to give birth to and raise a child, alone, with all the trauma morrigan has surrounding the idea of that particular experience, just for the sake of another person that only offered you love and friendship for a short moment in your life? it's the biggest declaration of love for another being that could ever be made, and it's the most messed up thing ever because it speaks volumes about how starved morrigan was, how messed up her love is for her to consider that one chance given to her by another person, that hand extended towards her, that moment of friendship, love and kindness, worthy of sacrificing ten years of her life and her dreams for. how little she must care for herself if she gave up so much for the first person that extended kindness to her for a short time. and it's painful because it goes both ways, because sacrifices always do, because it's unforgettable and it stays with the warden forever, not only because of the emotional bond they have with morrigan, but because now they have a literal bond between them. the warden now has to keep living a life they took from morrigan, and with the grief of not having morrigan around. they can no longer live for themselves. every day alive is a reminder that someone else gave up their time so the warden could have it. someone else is not seeing the world just to let the warden see it. someone else is alone, while the warden gets to be around people. and the sacrifice is mutual in the end, because the pain is mutual, because the love was mutual. the warden doesnt get to see morrigan, and can only keep this life and the memories, the love and the grief, and the undying hope as a reminder that someday they might meet again. but its mostly grief, and learning how to live with it, with all the love they can't give, and how to carry it gracefully.

[surlifen]

i dont waste energy hating closed species And You Can Too!

alright you asked for it

Claim 1: “Closed species limit creativity in the art community by locking off certain concepts.”

No, they don’t. If you believe that, then you also must believe that copyrighting in general-- or just generally the fact that making a design exactly like someone else’s is viewed as kind of wack-- are stifling creativity. Why? It’s easy to accidentally make a concept that is similar to someone else’s, because there are literally just not that many Things That Exist. There will ALWAYS be repeats. Generally, if a design coincidentally looks like another, there will be a mixture of backlash from people who believe it was an intentional ripoff, and total acceptance from people who understand that it was an accident. Ultimately, the correct way to live is to understand that 1) these coincidences can happen and should not be punished, but 2) intentionally ripping off someone else’s work is wrong. It isn’t black and white, you must process 2 or more concepts at once.

Species owners understand this. I have never seen a species owner come after someone for accidentally making something similar or inspired. This is a myth. Species owners are busy as fuck, generally Normal People, and simply do not have the time or energy or desire to moderate things outside their community. Please talk to literally any of them for more than two minutes and you will discover this. Every species owner I have met is friendly and kind and I’ll go into detail on exactly how bullshit this stereotype of them chasing people down for similarities is later.

So, given that some randos will get upset and harass people over harmless inspiration/coincidence but most will not in ALL cases of accidental over-similarity: this is NOT a species-specific problem and happens just as often--if not MORE often, because of how much people fucking despise closed species-- with non-closed-species characters.

Secondly, species owners do not create a closed species with the goal of closing off a concept from use. They do it to create a community they can manage and share a concept they have created. 

Take the world of Nephfei, created by the artist Queijac. The closed species of Nephfei are called Spinxyn, and they are very much sphinxes. They are not a brand-new concept Jac is claiming to have come up with, they are intentional and very direct references to sphinxes. What sets them apart is their species LORE, WORLD, and COMMUNITY.

[image ID: a screenshot of the Spinxyn species guide on deviantart, created by queijac. Text reads “IMPORTANT NOTE: Spinxyn are a species OF sphinx. Yes, they are sphinx, and yes of course anyone can make sphinx characters and designs using similar appearances! I claim no ownership over design aspects! Spinxyn as a CS community, however, which offers social art related activities, world building, themed events, etc., to use the characters in, simply relates to my own PERSONAL WORK and how i want to enrich peoples experiences with it! Please understand this, thank you!!!”]

This species is not closed so that Jac can copyright the idea of a sphinx. It is closed so that Jac has some control over the world and lore they have created. Were anyone able to create a Spinxyn without an approval process, not only would the community become too large to manage too quickly, but all sorts of Spinxyn with aspects that don’t fit the lore would pop up. 

[Image ID: screenshot of a message from Queijac in the nephfei official public Discord server. Text reads: “theres just a total disconnect that 99% of ppl making closed species are making. a Group...... its about.... the community....... and building the community around One concept that someone makes and puts rules in place for so that they can actually. U kno. MANAGE THINGS... and make a cohesive group experience....... the reason CS have so much popularity is because they come with a community, not because theyre 100% unique never before seen or heard of concepts”]

Jac explicitly acknowledges that sphinxes do not belong to them and even says that borrowing some spinxyn-specific appearance details is okay!!! The ONLY thing off-limits here is a WORLD, COMMUNITY, and LORE.

Except it isn’t. Because Nephfei also hosts not one, not two, but THREE open species of intelligent beings, plus NINE official species of non-intelligent animals, so that anyone can participate.

Claim 2: Species owners harass and police people who make similar concepts.

I touched on this already re:species owners are busy as fuck & Jac openly encouraging people to make sphinx characters and even borrow spinxyn-specific traits, but this note from ground-lion/seel, the creator of Chimereons, really does it for me.

[Image ID: a DeviantArt note from ground-lion to me. Text reads “hello, thank you for showing me this! we don't actively do anything to police offbrands, since it causes more trouble than i think it's worth. i like to avoid drama wherever possible, and it seems like most people who participate in offbrands are just looking to press people's buttons so we can't/won't do anything to these people, i think it is best to just try and ignore it and move on.”]

Here you have the owner of one of the arguably most shit on and hated species saying outright “we don’t bother doing anything about intentional ripoffs”. For context, this WAS 100% intentional, I had noted ground-lion about a user I saw posting adoptables that were LABELED “offbrand chimereons” (so if anyone was hArAsSiNg PeOpLe oVeR SiMiLaR cOnCePtS here, it was me, calling attention to intentional and stated copying). 

Sidenote: I think it’s shitty to intentionally steal a concept. Ground-lion has also said there is no issue with making anthropomorphic chameleon characters, just that chimereons were inspired by a set of traits, a word, lore, a desire to create a community, and their own personal stylization of anthro chameleons. It’s fine to take inspiration from how someone else stylizes an animal, but the degree to which people do it-- just outright copying every aspect of Seel’s work-- rubs me the wrong way. Not enough to say anything because that is only my personal opinion and because I do not have time for that shit.

The Dainty mod team + owner (Pajuxi-Adopts) also have a section stating that to make a design no longer a Dainty, all that’s needed are the following changes: 

[image ID: screenshot of Dainty species ToS. Text reads “ Visual edits must be made for discontinuation, here is our standard discontinuation options: - remove the stockings completely and give them fur like an actual satyr - keep the stockings and give them human legs - make them an anthro - keep the stockings but they MUST start at least a quarter to halfway up the bottom portion of the deer leg with a clear divide between the stocking and leg with fur poking out underneath - you are free to suggest your own edits as well! “]

This may be speaking specifically about discontinuing a former Dainty due to the context we found it in, but this means that a design is not considered a dainty if, for example, its stockings show fur underneath and are not part of the body. That’s it. That’s all they ask. Pajuxi is not saying “this is my closed species of SATYRS WITH SOCKS and if you DARE make a satyr with socks i will COME FOR YOU!!!”, they clearly state that satyrs with socks are an acceptable Not A Dainty. I personally think the lore behind the stockings being physically part of the body and all the specific rules they entail is interesting and original and I do not think it’s such a wild ask to say “hey, please respect this and if you see it, don’t rip it off on purpose. You can take inspiration in all these valid ways but I want to have some control over the concept I came up with”.

Claim 3: Species owners are rich elitists making small artists suffer.

Species owners are small, independent artists. Artists being hated the instant they get even moderate success (that’s still usually BARELY A LIVING WAGE) is its own huge discussion and internalized issues + capitalist brainwashing you all have to deal with on your own damn time, but I want to emphasize that someone making a living or even comfortable wage from their art is Good, Actually, and is something we should all be happy to see and want to see more of. 

Furthermore, no one is being taken advantage of. CS characters are a luxury item. You do not NEED one. If you absolutely will die without a sock deer, make one where the sock isn’t part of their body. If you will die without a chimereon, make an anthro chameleon and use your own ideas. If you will die without a sphinx character, I’m overjoyed to inform you that fucking nobody ever asked you not to make one. CS involvement is voluntary. If you don’t like them, don’t participate in them, but keep in mind that someone saying “hey, please don’t blatantly copy this design concept I spent time creating” is The Same Thing as someone asking you not to copy their individual character designs. You could live without stealing character designs. You can live without making something exactly like an existing CS. 

Claim 4: CS put concepts behind a paywall and make them inaccessible.

Again, these are a luxury item. Most closed species MYO slots cost $10-$45. That is not a ridiculous amount to aspire to. Closed species owners WANT people to participate in their species, so there are a ton of ways.

- Chimereons hold First-Time Owner flatsale slot raffles every single month to ensure people who are new to the community have a greater chance of nabbing a slot than existing participants - Dainties have an art prompt every month, which rewards every participant regardless of skill level one prompt point (the art can be visual or written). Six prompt points can be used to buy an MYO slot for free. If you desperately need a dainty and are flat broke, you can get a free one by writing 150 words a month for six months or doing one drawing each month. Skill level doesn’t matter, ALL participants get a point if they follow the rules. - I joined a raffle for a free pre-made Spinxyn. I did not win the raffle. Jac randomly decided to give out 7 MYO slots too, one of which I won. I entered a raffle that DID NOT HAVE MYO SLOTS AS A PRIZE and got one for free anyway. CS owners want people to participate, I promise. - Dainties just had a 24-hour turn-in event (that they warned about a month in advance so folks could prepare designs), meaning every single person who submits a design in that 24hr time frame gets a slot. Normally slot sales are limited in number and sell out in seconds. - Jac sporadically draws quicker, messier Spinxyn designs which always cost $5 and raffle-flatsales them on Discord. $5 is not a gatekeepy price. - Tomoyokis recently had a free-for-all event where everyone could claim either a free common slot or a $10 uncommon slot. These are just specific examples I remember of easier or free ways to get CS. Non-specifically:

- art = reward systems are common, so again, just writing or drawing enough can equal a free MYO slot or entry into a raffle for a pre-made design - many many species that are relatively new have FREE turn-in events or giveaways to build a community - free FTO slot raffles - paid but discounted FTO slot raffles - random free design giveaways - trading art for a CS character or MYO slot (I’ve gotten a dainty and two dainty MYO slots this way, and I realize not everyone’s art gets accepted, which is why this is a whole list of ways that don’t require artistic skill whatsoever)

So getting your hands on one isn’t the worst thing in the world. You might need a little luck (as in, you have a completely fair chance that is equal to everyone else’s) or a little dedication (6 months of wanting one, or having to have a design ready within a limited time for a free turn-in event).

Also, there’s a reason CS prices cannot change much: this causes issues with the value of all existing CS characters. Dainties will ALWAYS be $35. The MYO slot price will NEVER increase. If it did, all previous dainties would be worth less, or would have to have their worth increased, which is logistics hell. Inflation doesn’t affect CS the same way it does everything else.

Claim 5: ok but legally nothing is stopping me from making one lmaoo

That is true. It’s also true that there’s not really any effective laws in place to protect artists when they say “Hey, please don’t quote retweet my art on Twitter” or “Hey, please don’t repost my art even with credit”. Sometimes, we just respect artists and do what they ask because we are Nice Fucking People, but apparently, species owners are a whole different thing, evil, and do not deserve the same basic respect.

IN CONCLUSION

Talk to a CS owner. They’re reasonable and kind people. There’s an exception to every rule, of course, but what I’ve found overwhelmingly is that they’re literally just people like you and I who were excited to make something cool and share it with people. The emphasis is HUGELY on community. I used to dislike the idea of CS too, but since participating in them and talking a ton with the owners (who are super down-to-earth and active in their servers-- Jac helped me with a confusing horse video game and gave me a Free Horse in there), I’ve realized that the caricature of CS owners as greedy and bitchy, laying claim to basic concepts like A Cat With Wings, is just bullshit. The stereotype that CS community members are an angry mob who will roast you over a fire if you draw a chameleon on two legs is bullshit. The idea that CS are impossible to get, are for the bourgeoisie, and cost thousands of dollars is bullshit (I bet you’re thinking about scarfoxes right now. Hot take: I think it’s great that an artist is selling their intellectual property for that much. I think we all should be able to. I think if someone chooses to spend that much on a design they think would make them happy, that is literally not a fucking problem, and since it was their choice and their money no one is being taken advantage of unfairly. Let people buy the shit they want to buy, I promise you will fucking survive).

I like CS, I think they are neat, I wish people would give the owners a break. They are just independent artists like me. They get lied about and stereotyped over this stupid drama bullshit and they’re so tired and saddened when the subject comes up. They literally do not police anyone-- they don’t have the time or the desire, and it wouldn’t work anyway.

I won’t post CS content here anymore. But I like participating voluntarily in these communities. I don’t understand why that’s something YOU get to have a problem with.

Stay out of my inbox. Thanks.

[seoafin]

BYE I WAS IMMERSED WITH GENSHIN’s STORY PLOT (AND THE FANARTS ON MY TL) WHICH WAS ALSO DROPPED EARLIER THIS MORNING AND FORGOT ABT JJK FOR A SPLIT SEVONDSJJSJEJ

but anyways ,, jjk 145// the more i write abt it, the more i’ll sound incoherent, this is ur last warning to ignore this 🧍‍♂️(1)

the one who is based on avalokitesvara (i’ll start calling it them as kannon from now) that i mentioned was actually brain (out of ppl) 😭😭

kenjaku (羂索) is shorten from "不空羂索観音 (fukukenjakukannon)" ,, they existed b4 the heian period... older then sukuna ?? suggested that brain is at least 1k years old... hsjsjjsjs

fukukenjakukannon, a manifestation of the buddhist god of mercy and compassion,, perhaps of some interest is that the fukukenjaku shares some kanji with gojou's infinite void followed by kanjis for trap & rope, with kannon directly referring to an all-knowing/overseeing divine existence. it rly does seem that kenjaku, tengen, and gojou's fates have all been strongly interwined throughout history,, kannon has been perceived as both male and female depending on the portrayal and the region, not unlike jjk's kenjaku switching bodies and genders over the course of time (kamo vs kaori vs getou)

some associations with kannon may be relevant to jjk. namely, as yuki mentions, salvation ,, kannon is a deity to serve his subjects, and resolve their suffering by eliminating its source,,, in which case, i think kenjaku's goal may possibly not be too far off from geto’s ,,,,, he may think that he is saving a group that is enduring greater suffering than any other. whether that is shamans, cursed spirits, or sth else entirely is up for debate. given his persistence over the millenia, and the likelihood of spreading suffering worldwide through a universal tengen merger, it's more than likely that he has a very personal motive. note that under his plan it is specifically the evil of a human that would spread and destroy all of humankind connected through tengen

this is an interesting contrast to sukuna, who is much more whimsical and far less calculated. i think the clash between these 2 in the past will have strong relevance for the future,,, on the other hand, since kannon has historically manifested in response to the suffering of various beings, it may be that the feelings of cursed spirits as a whole have led to kenjaku's existence. he could very well be a curse born from curses, instead of from humans.

okay now what i'm really excited abt: the relationship between kenjaku and the 6 eyes. 1 of the functions of kannon is to protect the 6 realms of rebirth/the 6 paths. u may already be familiar with this buddhist concept as it has been referenced in a variety of animanga (notably it is a major plot point of naruto, it's mukuro's ability in KHR, etc.). there's strong reason to believe this concept also has connections to the gojou 6 eyes ability. i think if we get to learn more abt the 6 eyes, i may be able to speak more on this point.

(as a side note here, i’ll mention that there’s an association between kannon and the protection of aborted children, perhaps relating to og kamo and the death paintings)

at the very least, we know that kenjaku and the 6 eyes are in opposition, and i'm speculating that the gojou bloodline is the true manifestation of a protective deity, at least for the humans, and kenjaku's goals are antithetical to that,,, perhaps, as yuki kind of suggested, taking the name kenjaku is a joke of sorts. if sukuna is malevolence incarnate, kenjaku is mercilesness,,

i think some of the core concepts being explored by the tengen storyline are that of form and existence. gojou satoru, tengen, kenjaku, and eventually the star plasma vessels are existences that transcend the norm,,, toji on the other hand, is the only example of the opposite. an existence that shouldn't have ever existed, in a sense. kenjaku seemed to have used that to his advantage in his manipulation of the events in hidden inventory,,, but it also leads me to believe that only a similar anomaly could undo the new destiny he's setting up for himself.

geto was the perfect piece to set kenjaku up for success in conducting a merger and putting this culling game into motion. geto's path has led to this outcome,,, in which case, an apt parallel as we have known all along is that gojou's path should lead to the counter-outcome: megumi, yuuta, and especially yuuji— these 3 will be the key to unravelling kenjaku's plan.

also tengen said that kenjaku’s objective is to send all the ppl in jpn to higan or turning all non shamans into one but he doesnt have enough cursed energy to do that,,, i did say that yuuji’s birthday took place in the 4th solar term where a part of a week long celebration haru no higan (higan 彼岸→other shore, buddhist pārāmitā), when ppl would honour the dead and sweep ancestral tombs took place,,,

so theres this buddhist mantra, called the “heart sutra” and the last verse of the sutra is,,

there are many sutras in buddhism, but the most well-known among them is probably the Heart Sutra,, altho it depends on the sect (of buddhism), the heart sutra is often read at funerals and memorial services, so even if,, and for some reason the sutra is often associated to kannon even in the utube thumbnail 👁👁 if u search up prajnaparamita sutra,,

heart sutra has the meaning of "an important teaching to reach the state of enlightenment by the power to see through the truth and essence." which is based on the idea of ​​"void" as this important teaching,, the sutra tells us what we shld do to be free from the suffering of this world and live in peace,, in the heart sutra, the idea of ​​"void" is especially important.

buddhism can be broadly divided into theravada and mahayana buddhism,,,,

theravada is a teaching that only some ppl (those who practice buddhism with strict lifestyle like the monks) reach the state of enlightenment, while mahayana is a teaching that all ppl (some who practice Buddhism) can reach enlightment even if u dont practice anything related to the religion,,, the idea of ​​the void has the idea of ​​not being caught up in individual things and not being obsessed with it, and the idea of ​​heart sutra belongs to the category of mahayana buddhism

"void" does not mean "empty" but "no substance (no fixed shape)". the sutra also states that "everything keeps changing" and "although it keeps changing, the essence (core) of things remains the same."

for eg, the idea is, "i am me, no matter how old i am,, my appearance and various abilities deteriorate, how I am evaluated by others, whether i feel good or bad."

in other words,,, it’s a teaching to be aware of the essence without being caught up in the phenomenon of change.

"void" means "no substance (no fixed shape)", which means that u don't have to be obsessed with things or get caught up in one value.

eg, the reason why diamonds are beautiful is that diamonds arent beautiful from the beginning, but that humans decide that they’re beautiful,,, and that each person has a fixed evaluation of the movement of their hearts that they feel is beautiful. but thats not always the case right?

the last verse goes like this :

“Therefore, Prajna Paramita is known as the most divine mantra,

the great enlightening mantra,

the utmost mantra,

the incomparable mantra,

destroyer of all suffering!

Since what is true is not in vain, listen to the mantra of the Prajna Paramita– it goes like this:

GATE GATE PARA GATE PARASAM GATE BODHI SVAHA!”

the translation of the last line is: “going, going, going on beyond, always going on beyond, always becoming buddha.”

quoted from a web here : “it suggests movement toward awakening. It expresses the enlightenment of a buddha as an unfolding process, rather than a steady state. It puts us in the hopeful position of one who may not have arrived, but who may be on the way. The destination may not be an end, but the journey itself.

As appealing as this translation is, it is by no means the only one. When you do an Internet search for the terms “Heart Sutra” or “Prajna Paramita” you get numerous references. At these various pages you will find several different translations of the mantra. These include:

* Gone, gone, gone beyond, gone altogether beyond. Oh what an awakening! All hail!

* Gone, gone, gone beyond altogether beyond, Awakening, fulfilled!

* Gone, gone, gone to the Other Shore, attained the Other Shore having never left.

* Gone, gone, totally gone, totally completely gone, enlightened, so be it.

* “Oh, you have done! You have done! You have completely crossed the margin. This is Enlightenment! Congratulations!” “

the irony though of toji dying thinking that he should've stuck his principles but actually having ridiculous impact on the world,, this also puts a new spin on the "look upon the flesh of one who is free" (afaik it was left untranslated on his cover page when he invade dagon’s domain) and the implication is imo,,, the more cursed energy, the more restrictions and so in a way humanity goes into a devolution the more cursed energy there is because they will be bound even more tightly to the cycle than before,, which is the irony of the kenjaku & bodhisattva linkage

toji had a heavenly restriction and has zero cursed energy, which is an anomaly that is his own, which makes me wonder what he would've been like if he had an expressed technique,,, but it's the zero cursed energy part, that uniqueness, that makes him powerful in canon

im rly curious how having cursed power automatically seems to lock u into a binding,,, which is seemingly fate. the shaman world rly operates entirely on rules,, where this is because of tengen's barriers or the origin of techniques being more commonplace im not sure

i used to think CTs came abt when individual sorcerers made pacts with supernatural beings etc but now im not sure,, despite leaning hard on shinto and buddhist frameworks there isnt much overt indication over what is and is not a real power in canon,,, like we have mahoraga but are bodhisattvas assumed to be real and exist? or as figures of belief, are they and other figures of shinto mythology, all just cursed spirits in the end?

but that tengen is linked with the proliferation of 6 eyes and star plasma vessel, makes me start wondering how and why tengen started this whole barrier thing,, like yes jpn has a ton of cursed spirits but was it before or after the barrier i can't remember now

maybe Kenjaku was messing around too much back then,, i like how sukuna also maybe had very lil to do with this and is possibly going to interfere as a wild card once more. is the idea to use him as a hail mary so u convey more ppl to the other side all at once? unless kenjaku thinks sukuna is the person who got closest to the next evolution of humankind and is actually a fan 🥴

but yeah if sukuna and megumi can remake the world together can they just hit the reset button so tengen isn't somehow this massive jungian collective unconscious? is sukuna going to accidentally save the world lol,,, i didn't care for fate themes before since it felt like akutami hadn't wholly committed to it as a theme,,, but fate and collective responsibility/influence on the individual just became a much bigger theme

also the mind/body/soul thing with tengen,,, when is that idea coming back

so tengen and sukuna are so far the only ppl who have said to have evolved into curses, whereas kenjaku still seems to be a shaman, as well as angel. what catalyzes that??

also how tf are the cursed weapons made i have questions,, just putting it out here but i actually thought that if toji, presumably, didnt rebel and defected from the clan,,, what are the chances of zenin thinking of turning him into a cursed weapon lol

,,, does being a cursed spirit mean u are bound even more tightly to fate? or do u escape because u are no longer a human bound by ur technique and u are instead just energy that keeps cycling over and over.....cursed energy rly just karma with strength mechanics???

why did gojou get rid of the black rope only for yuuta go to find more??? seems contradictory,, like...did he exorcise sth in that couple years gap?? or were there other reasons? or is HE the one scared since he also hid the inverted spear of heaven,,, makes me wonder how common knowledge all these mechanics actually are

trying to wrap my head around potential megumi learned helplessness or not being able to work through his own problems, or if it's this weird backward wishing that he didn't HAVE to deal with problems if he didn't HAVE to do these things and there were simple solutions,,, like i don't think he's exactly lazy bc he seems to do a lot of work behind the scenes, but there's a certain stasis to him, a wishing not to know. i wonder if he was ever given the "u are a child and I'm the adult" speech nanami gave yuuji

nanami, qifrey and maybe reigen are the adult/ mentor figures i wish was/ is in my life orz

i think it's kind of funny how 145 is like suddenly christianity! this manga is just abt the many ways people seek freedom and want to be delivered,,,

but im not going to talk abt it 😔 — i only have lil to no knowledge abt it other than the lil trivias my friends dropped time to time whenever we’re having a discourse abt religion suddenly lmao and im not a big fan of talking abt things idk abt bc i’ll just look stupid otherwise LMAO

its interesting to note that christian have this uh for a lack of better way to describe it, higher power which can grant u eternal salvation or damnation while buddhism is just fending for urself in pursuit of enlightment ,,, while buddhism also have beings like devas/ deities it just means that 1) if ur born as one, u must have done a good deed sometime in one of ur previous lives,, 2) u just have a ridiculous long life span but yes u’ll eventually die again and rebirth as sth depending on ur actions,,, that goes for living in gods, demi-gods, humans, animals, hungry ghosts or hells realms

this is completely unrelated but,, my mother used to blast the heart sutra frequently in my house back then and the only thing i catch is the “gate gate parasamgate bodhi svaha” which i used ,, whenever i see sth..that is supposed to be unseen

theres this time i stayed behind in cram school for an exam,, i purposely took a another path from my usual one to clear my head (but im still familiar) and i saw this guy standing on the side road and the only thing that went thru my mind back them was “why is he not moving? is he waiting for someone? is he lost or sth,, the main road is just 6 foot away tho lol”

it was until i keep looking at each house that i finally notice that the spot he stood on is not even a ground lvl asphalt,, it’s a fucking sewer which means that he’s actually floating 😭😭 i just jogged and say sth along the line “wow today, ma is cooking hotpot for dinner (i actually have no idea what she plans to cook everyday) i dont want to eat it cold,, so i better hurry up” out loud while chanting the verse in my head

theres also this time me and a friend were sitting on my motorcycle after getting our late night food run until a particular smell and when we stay silent, a woman is singing on the branch right above us that we dipped right away and i almost catch a ticket for speeding all the while thinking abt that verse💀

i dont mind seeing one of “them” but i do have a problem with them following me back home and end up haunting my house for some period of time,, that one or sth ghost who slam things around and giggle in the middle of the night is enough for me to deal with 😀

now im off crying abt genshin (again) now and i’ll go back to sleep afterwards,,, ALSO I LOVE WITCH HATE ATALIERJSJEJEJ- 🐱 (2)

you literally brought up THE SAME EXACT QUESTIONS I HAVE!!! like why would gojo send yuuta to find more of the rope if he destroyed it in the first place?? unless he destroyed it in the heat of the battle with miguel during the prequel but it didn’t look like that. also i saw on twitter kenjaku might not even be a male?? apparently when referring to kenjaku, tengen didn’t use gendered pronouns. im also super curious as to how the six eyes, star plasma vessel (riko...), tengen, and kenjaku are all entwined because kenjaku’s plan was a long time coming, even though he was foiled two times already.

this reminds me of the heavenly restrictions because im still so confused about what exactly it is!! is it something a person is born with or is it something that is placed on a baby by another person??

you brought up fate too and i think that’s such an interesting concept like with akutami making more and more references to the heian era and the “golden age of sorcery” in the end I feel like everything led up to this moment. the existence of cursed energy too just feels like this “endless cycle of fate” which makes sense considering this theme also kinda aligns with yuuji’s birth which was pre planned. idk...this whole thing is suddenly feeling so much more insidious than we may have originally thought.

the sudden christianity mention is a pretty odd choice on akutami’s part but a lot of ppl (including me) are speculating that hana is going to be a harbinger of doom or something. once again is she even japanese?? the western concept of angels have never been particularly altruistic either.

unfortunately gojo has always been treating megumi like an adult so i don’t think he was ever given the “you are a child” talk from gojo. we can see it in their first meeting too. when their conversation takes a turn to serious, it becomes a conversation is from one adult to another. gojo also seems like the type to pile even more responsibility onto megumi because gojo isn’t responsible, so megumi had to pick up that slack.

i agree with you. i think sukuna is literally a wild card LMAO he does what he wants when he wants and that’s in. i don’t even think you can have a contingency plan for sukuna because he’s just that unpredictable!!!

nanami, qifrey and MAYBE reigen LSDNFKJFKN....reigen beats gojo by far though so i’ll give reigen that (that's not saying much tho tbh 😭) reigen's still sexy as hell tho 😁

also you mentioned khr!! khr is one of my favorite mangas of all time....although amano akira cannot write women despite being one khr still holds a very special place in my heart. i had no idea mukuro was influenced by kannon (to be fair i was like 14) but then again...mukuro’s eyes....i can’t believe our tastes in animanga are the same....bestie our taste>>>

HELLO???? YOU’RE RUNNING INTO SUPERNATURAL CREATURES LIKE THAT??? also motorcycles!! now im like 80% sure you're in SEA somewhere, bc as someone who lived in a SEA country for 3 years and went to school in a haunted building I feel you LMAO

[marshmallowprotection]

Before you read; I'm aware this concept I wrote is sort of vague, but thats because its still got to go through some finalizing. Once its finalized it'll be a whole lot more clear what the hell is going on.

The "woman" in the story is named Samaria Bronwen- the "man" I've yet to name but I'm thinking on naming him something like Ein or something. Idk yet.

The Empress is Empress Elisabet Arabella Vesper of the Vesper Empire who was the last ruler of the Vesoer Empire before it collapsed.

Samaria and (for now I'll just call the "man" Ein) Ein are the ones responsible for Elisabet's death and the collapse of the Vesper Empire into a 200 year long succession crisis that endd with the creation of the Mariah Empire and Vesperian Mafia State.

Samaria and Ein both have a major savior complex, and Ein was the one who put the (highly impressionable 21-year-old girl without a childhood and lack of real idea of what is right and wrong though she cared little for all the rules and laws in the world restricting stuff like murder and crime in general) idea of him and Samaria becoming the saviors of the Vesper Empire into her head.

Samaria is 4 years younger than Ein, whose 25, and by the time they murder Elisabet Samaria is 24 and Ein is 28.

Due to red often being associatd with romance (and evil though its usually whn its alongside black) thats why Samaria has a lot of red in her design. The purple eyes are meant to represent her savior complex and the pink hair represents her innocence that was destroyed by Enin.

For this I got inspired by the song "Escape of The Witch Salmhofer". Feel free to look it up because its really good but since im on mobile rn and theres no draft option for asks I cant link it because I had o copy paste the story below.

Above is a picture of Samaria (that I actually completely shaded and stuff this time oofers).

~

A woman corrupted by a dangerous love;

Believing her love to have the best of intentions, she became his accomplice in his murders.

A man who was the original "root of corruption";

He was a murderer with "good intentions" who wanted to end the chaos.

The story of the fall of the Vesper Empire on the continent of Theda-

Began with the love story of two corrupted people.

A woman who knew no love, no happiness,

Held captive since her birth, she was experimented upon, her flesh violated,

She was not a true human, she was a simple experiment.

Never being able to enjoy her childhood, living in a cell,

She could only scream as knives pierced her flesh daily.

An artificial life created by the seeds implanted into her mother,

Fertilized with the intents of her captor,

Her wishes never mattered to the man she was supposed to call "father".

But one day her captor was murdered,

And she was rescued by the murderer.

The man extended his hand,

And without hesitation, she grabbed it,

Her desire to escape this "evil" laboratory being the only thing she wanted-

And she was then led away by him into the abyss of "evil".

They became a fugitive couple running across the country murdering all who they deemed "evil".

But just what is "evil"?

What is true "evil"?

For her answer, her rescuer defined "evil" as-

"Malicious intentions".

But the woman who never had learned what "evil" or "good" was simply did not understand...

"I love you!"

A woman who did not know love, who didn't know what was good or bad,

Nor did she ever care for such fickle words;

She didn't care if people called her lover "evil",

Or if now she had become "evil",

For, to her, he had rescued her from a life of pain,

He had been her angel,

The man who had rescued her from her "evil" father,

And now she would be able to live with him forever.

That was her wish,

And nobody could take it from her now.

Teaming up with the mafia to take down the woman whom they viewed to be ruining the country,

They now aimed to murder the Empress herself.

The ice queen who ruled this empire consumed by snow.

This was now what her lover, and thus now her, wished for.

It was time to release the empire from the weak grip of the Empress who did nothing to ease the chaos.

The fugitive couple would become the saviors,

That was the wish they together formed.

Now,

All that was left was to do just that.

The assassination war that had been going on for the last several decades,

A war that cost the lives of hundreds of politicians and government officials and only put the empire into a greater state of chaos,

It was time to end it all!

This chaos this country has been consumed by,

Blinded by love, the woman chose to follow her lover,

She was now "corrupted".

But to her, this was the right way to go.

Now she was a fugitive,

But she cared not for such a title.

A witch,

That's what she was now called,

An "evil witch".

Did she care?

Not at all.

The ice extending from the hands of the woman consumed the palace in a snowy frost.

The man infiltrated in search of the Empress.

The palace was swarmed and set aflame.

The evil fugitive couple enacted their plan.

the citizens who had been suffering did not even dare stop them.

The guards were overwhelmed,

The servants fled in a grand display,

The Empress looked on from her balcony,

She knew,

She knew,

She knew this was the end.

and-

She wasn't scared at all.

She didn't even fight for her life.

Her neck would then be slit.

And there her life ended.

House Vesper's 6,000-year reign in the Vesper Empire was now over.

The fugitive couple reunited at the bottom of the stairwell,

And shared a kiss in victory.

An evil couple who murdered all in their way,

They believed their evil ways were helping.

But all it did was launch the empire into chaos.

The evil fugitive couple-

A woman who had been saved from her "father",

A man who believed he would save the country,

An evil couple who believed they were now "saviors" who had freed the country,

Their act of evil would change history forever.

As always, your style of painting and lighting is very dynamic and adds a level of depth to the canvas that one should never ignore or discount because it's so somber and yet... sincere. There is just this whimsical and magical element to it that makes you drawn to the centerpiece and the one helming the story.

This one made me choke up a little because there is just so much to the story of trying to hold on and survive.

[kyu-bri]

Magia Rapport pt 2

@magiarapport​

August 24th prompt: What was your favorite event, and why? Is it because of gameplay or the story?

It’s hard to choose so I’m gonna just, gush a bit.

As you can probably tell I’m very biased toward the OG girls, I started Magia Record primarily because PMMM had become my new obsession and I wanted some sort of constant flow of content out of decade old anime lmao.

But another thing I think I hooked onto was Inu Curry’s writing. They really know Madoka Magica and aren’t afraid to really play with them- something the writers for a spin-off gacha game (as with most spin-off stories honestly) can be scared to do. Inu Curry made references, revealed secrets and built upon the story we already know- which lets be honest is what we always truly want from a spin-off series. Magia Record proper does this well by putting more magical girls into the world and letting us see things work out better for them than for the original cast, but what I really appreciated with this story was getting to see that old original cast get to get in on that, and these events managed to do that without watering them down any.

Under the cut is me going on for 3000 words about why I love these three events I’m so sorry. TL;DR at the very end-

I’ll go in release order,

A La Carte Valentine was one of the first if not THE first event I got in on. I was eager to bc 1 Gay Magical Girl Shit Guaranteed. And ofc 2 OG Cast participation.

I want to preface by saying I actually loved all the girls’ stories in this. I was very much still in a state of getting used to Iroha’s gang let alone trying to care about the secondary girls. I knew Tsukasa had this angsty Twins Separated At Birth Deal and liked seeing her home life (also I immediantly stanned Take. Regular well-meaning dude who has no idea whats going on just trying his best and hating his boss). I knew nothing about Ami except Cowgirl Meguca and getting the bulk of her personality in one short even I think really kept me from being absolutely sick of her, she’s just a cute silly teenage girl who could be in literally anything and I was able to just endearingly giggle at that. Hinano managed to do the heterosexual unrequited crush cliché without me groaning or missing any of her regular personality. Also was there a Ren part? I don’t remember because everything Ren does feels like a Soft Yuri Valentines Special. Also I love Momoko. Ok moving on to what I Really wanna talk about.

Madoka is genuinely my Least Cared About of the Holy Sextet. I don’t think she’s bad or even boring- Madoka has a depth to her character, like, really deep- but that’s not something ever really touched upon by the fandom. Even when people like her and make her the Heroine she’s Supposed to be, it’s usually in the context of “Girl who feels nothing but kindness and happy thoughts would cut off her right hand to feed to a hungry dog. Isn’t she so Good????”. And honestly, while I understand the point it was going to make, I wasn’t crazy about her sacrifice in the end of the series. (Team Homura “Rebellion Is Good Actually” ftw) All because I think that I’m an Adult Woman watching this like “You are 14yrs old and need to be home playing Sims and not sacrificing yourself for the greater good you stupid silly little baby girl”

So my point is here near all fan content I encounter tends to emphasize whats sort of my least favorite facet of Madoka. I don’t think she made the ‘wrong’ decision in the context she and the story were given, but it’s still a sad thing to show a depressed(!!!) insecure girl resolving to give away her very existence so that every other girl on earth has a chance to just Dream. Oh and they still usually die young. But that’s ok because then she takes them and lets them sleep peacefully forever in her Heaven Basement (Yes I am bitter stan Homura I would yank this savior complex infant girl out the sky too)

MY POINT BEING (The servers closing let me BLEED OUT ALL MY FEELINGS) This event did not do that!!! It made Madoka…….. EVERYTHING SHE SHOULD BE??? ALWAYS??? Showed her HOW WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO VIEW HER??? (Read: Happy and Alive and Confident at no foreboding or sacrifice of anyone else!!!!)

She is Sassy and Surrounded By Friends and Really Funny??? And we get this Ridiculous Oh My God On Crack metaphor about her being this all-powerful apocalypse bringing being which is representing her love for the universe through her Witch form of Wanting Everyone To Be Happy And Safe With Her??? And she still risks herself to save everyone as is her Thing to do but we get to have her do it without erasing her existence as a human being at the end and if that is not some GOOD SHIT????

Ok next:

NGL Sayaka’s (fav character, inarguable best girl, can u not tell) parts in MagiReco til like the last arc have always left me a bit disappointed. She was the only late comer of the OG girls from what I understand and it kind of gives her the air of what a lot of the second(/thirdary?) girls suffer from. You can tell the writers can’t even figure out a trope to apply her to to make her easy and two dimensional to write about so they just don’t know what to do. They definitely try to make up for it (especially in the anime which Praise Be but that’s probably Inu Currys doing) but she’s still lacking like, any of the depth of her personality. Which, I guess I could anticipate. Because most of the fandom tends to as well. (again)

Gonna stop complaining and get on with- That didn’t feel as much the case in her Valentine event. Sure it was still the same formula of “The Issue Is Kyosuke” but that didn’t play out as grueling as her personal story did with “Nine Episodes Of “The Issue Is Kyosuke””

There was one big glaring heart-aching detail of “Mami isn’t really there because SHES IN A FUCKING CULT RIGHT NOW” which kind of jarred the event out of the ho-hum silly valentines sidestory these events usually keep up.

Sayaka has this crisis about Doing Anything Meaningful With Kyosuke which we all know what That’s calling back to, but in this environment we get to have Kyoko come right up and be in a position with her to earnestly and affectionately Push Her To Do It. The lonely little tsundere bitch girl pushes her Not Friend to Give The Bastard The Gotdamn Chocolate Already and for a moment you can only think about What If’s and If Only’s. Sayaka’s is still the weakest of the threes stories in this event but it worked harder to show us different sides of the characters then 6 chapters of Another Story managed to do.

And then there’s fucking Homura.

I will be, eternally grateful for Kuro. As a character that becomes metaphorical for the 2D ways we initially viewed the feathers and just NPCs in games in general, and also like, giving Homura a friend she actually cares about that isn’t the tangled dark web of Bullshit she’s gotten tied up with Madoka in. Please ask me about all my AU’s where Kuro is Homuras first girlfriend.

Seeing Moemura in Magia Record has always been a bit surreal, we never really understand just what stage of Trauma this Homura is in because Multiverses Are Hell, but this event gives us a good chunk of a Homura who still has hope and faith both in the world and Madoka. Theres this wonder to her that while still bogged down by terrible experiences still has the energy to be Trying. And she sees a girl who used to be like her- which when you think about it is probably what Madoka saw in her- and she wants to help. Because Madoka helped her. And Madoka is the best thing in the universe and maybe Homura can be just a little bit closer to that.

Kuro is too far gone though, as is the reality frequently in this series, things don’t work out just because of circumstance. Kuro was a bullied, insecure little girl who realistically shouldn’t have had to become a rampaging monster because of it. We’re reminded of this being the reality of the Madoka universe. Homura, is reminded of this reality. Homura loses this one chance to bring hope into the world like Madoka brought hope into hers.

And then her story ties into the ending of Madoka’s. Madoka saves her life yet again, even as Homura continues to feel miserable and empty. But at least Madoka is with her. The girls then share a quiet, intimate Valentines together. And you sort of understand how Homura fell so far into the darkness that the only thing she was able to still care about and fight for was Madoka’s safety.

That shit slaps. It slaps you right in the heart and causes fucking bruising but then u want it to do it again because you’re masochistic and Meguca Is Suffering.

Anyway I hope Kuroe slaps our hearts more in season2

MOVING ON!!!!

~Nagisa’s Wish~

Ok, I don’t remember what got me so simp over Nagisa, I think it was the heart-aching irony that Mami adopts the witch that fucking ate her. But that is my baby now and I’d die for her. Fandom Charlotte whose pink and silly and loves her mom and is Mami’s cancer-riddled girlfriend is cool and all but she isn’t a tiny Halloweeny baby whose fucking bitter angry and manically obsessed with cheese due to PTSD.

I had saw a summary of Nagisa’s Wish reposted just to quickly explain Nagisa’s backstory, and as such immediately had to search out if that crazy ride was true- so I actually watched this whole event probably before I downloaded the game. It was surreal on its own but replaying it when it came to NA didn’t lessen it any- I got to process more of what I was witnessing and as result stanned Yu pretty hard.

I guess to explain my Emotions here, saving Yu for later- calls for me to just, describe who Nagisa is as a human being and my headcanons surrounding it all with what this event gave us. Whether you consider it canon or not it’s one version of events that we were given and that I am all for accepting.

Nagisa’s Mom was a celebrity, she could have been an actress though I also like the idea of her being an Idol. She met Nagisa’s Dad oh-so romantically and got knocked up- they very well could have been married but it doesn’t seem clear enough. He seems to have left too suddenly for legal matters like that. Nagisa is approximately 11, and while she seems to remember her Father, she doesn’t in the sense of having had a relationship with him or any feelings. Her Mother has to “explain” why he left, so Nagisa was probably still young even if not a baby. What I’m getting at here is the timeline for when Nagisa’s Mom Got Like That. Nagisa can remember her from before she was, and then says that she got sick after her Dad left. So what I’m wondering is did Daddy Momoe ruin this young rich girls life, give her syphilis and then leave her with a baby she was unfit to care for in poverty? I know half of this is running on anime logic but Holy Shit all the possible ways reasons and ideas for why things could’ve gotten This Bad.

Is it ridiculously dark and edgy that the original story we were given was “Girl wishes her dying mother could have her favorite cake but then realizes OOPSIE-DAISY I could have wished for her to Not Die instead!!!!” got turned into “11yr old hates her abusive mother so much she wants to make her suffer in the most symbolic way she can and then goes mental when she isn’t able to do it”??? Yes. But if I had the mental capacity to I have to admit I was in a position to be just as bitter at that age too. I can’t call it unrealistic. I may infact be projecting hard with how much I support and enjoy this backstory.

Anyway Nagisa was in such a state of trauma and distress at a horrifically young age when she died that it broke her mental faculties so severely that even when she came back as a literal Angel of God she had blocked it out so deeply and thoroughly she seemingly regressed to an even younger capacity and hyperfixated on the trait that she has before used to try to bond with her Mother who she had died hating.

And that also slaps u right in the heart.

A N D T H E N !

~Beachside Bonds~

Just the simple structure of this story was so enjoyable and nicely done. We finally get to see the OG girls in a context we wouldn’t be able to in literally any other scenario. They’re going on a summer vacation together and Homura is sentimentally journaling every single second of it. Is this mayhaps because she’s never gotten to be this happy and blissful with these girls she loves so much??? Of course this is are you not paying attention what the fuck. Homura is so optimistic and healed and hopeful she’s acting like what she might actually be doing as a normal teenage girl. (A heartrending contrast to the end of her Valentines Special)

We get nothing short of pure fluffy Slice Of Life shenanigans on the beach which even includes a bunch of the Kamihama girls that the OG crew knows! And they talk about it! And introduce eachother! And their friends commentate on it! Ren gets to see Kyoko Not Being A Bitch and then Sayaka teases her about having made friends and oh my god my heart is turning into cottoncandy as we speak Mom holy FUCK

Sayaka’s existence fucking matters in this story! It’s her families Hotel they’re staying at and she has relationships and memories with the creepy twins that live there and she talks like a fucking person??? And gives opinions??? That aren’t just copypasted “Justice is Good and Bad things are BAD!!!!”

Mami is fresh out of her fucking Cult Drama and she’s still trying to be cool Senpai but then she DECKS Homura in the face and gets scared by the ghost stories and then turns into pudding and waxes nostalgia at Kyoko out of nowhere IT’S ALMOST LIKE SHE’S A FIFTEEN YEAR OLD GIRL????????

G H O S T S ? ? ? ?

Y U ! ? ! ? ! ? !

(IS G A Y ! ! ! !)

This whole fucking backstory and truly horrifying Romeo and Juliet on Acid love and death story between Yu and her girlfriend and like if I wasn’t fascinated enough by Yu just being the creepy organ harvester before but apparently thats what she became after she literally made some sort of wish that erased all of her memories besides the nickname her sweetheart used for her and coincidentally also added to her the task of killing all Bad People?????

Yu made a wish to be able to get rid of All Bad People preserving the innocent version of herself who grew up with this girl and it was right after a failed double suicide attempt on fucking Doomed Lovers Cliff fucking Lifetime Will You Ever.

It then pairs with Homura whose PTSD gets to shine through a bit in being unable to believe any bad sort of Madoka which how could you try to force her to at this point while Also pairing Homura with Ren in the “Gay Love Saved Our Lives: Traumatized vers & Vanilla vers”

I don’t remember if there was a symbolic finale and tbh I have forgotten a lot of the details with Yu and her girlfriend Whatsherface because that shit was just so shocking and bizarre to read and much too painful to reread in a timely fashion just.

That shit hurted but it was full of so much love and hope both doomed and stolen but still was wrapped up in the comforting concept that This Is The Universe Where Homura Gets To Be Okay This Time.

She’s still scarred beyond comprehension and this ghost drama accentuated it all but at the end of the day this is still the Safe Universe where all of them are alive and the Holy Quintet are friends and they’re all going to be okay (Godoka & Aniplex willing) and so many of us love Madoka Magica because it shows girls fighting through the same pain we’ve been through and keeping their hope alive and here we get to see them actually find peace in a clunkily written fanservicey spin-off mobile gacha game and hey, that made me happy while I got to experience it. Thanks for the ideas and memories and tragic backstories and funny thirdary characters MagiReco I’m gonna take em all and Run.

Akjsladbfalkjfsbslk If you read this all without getting a migraine or blocking me ily thanks for listening!!!!!!

TL;DR

Me likey A La Carte Valentine bc it’s silly and gay and I simp Kuro

Me likey Nagisa’s Wish bc sawft baby is good and so are Tragic Edgy Backstories

Me likey Beachside Bonds bc Gay Ghosts and Our Girls Finally Get To Be Happy Peaceful(ish) Teenage Girls and that’s all I want for them ;w;

Reeses In Pieces ya’ll

1Ten 2More 3Words 4To 5Hit 6(3000 7Words 8Woo 9Boy 10Howdy

[21ate]

[sdr2 and v3 spoilers below]

when shuichi describes kokichi’s cruelty with the word malice at the end of the fourth trial, i felt a pang of anger boil up in me - because malice is also the word hajime uses to describe komaeda when he speculates on his true motive for his actions post ch.4 through ch.5

like..describing kokichi with the same words as komaeda had been before makes perfect sense, especially since theres a correlation in their characterizations as leitmotifs anyways. however, something about comparing their malice just doesnt sit right with me

komaeda did what he did in chapter 5 because he genuinely thought everyone including himself (but not chiaki) deserved to suffer for being the remnants of despair, and personally i cant fault him for that entirely. i mean what else was he supposed to think about the information he received, information that spells as plain as day that he and the others had literally been a huge contributing factor to the end of the entire fucking WORLD????

i cant even be all like “yeah trying to kill everyone except the traitor is probably a bit excessive” because...the remnants of despair have all of humanity’s blood on their hands, even if they had no memory of it in the neo world program. and besides, komaeda’s options for how he could feasibly either 1) kill the remnants or 2) save his classmates ultimately ended up being only one choice - which is the actions he takes in chapter 5

kokichi though? he finds out that miu is planning to kill him and instead of just not going to the rooftop and avoiding her so that her plan would fail (thatd be a boring choice afterall), he decides not only that he was going to kill her instead, but to use gonta to do the dirty work for him by manipulating his naivety, kindness, insecurities, and showing only him the flashback light depicting the outside world to really drive the despair into gonta to get him to agree to the plan - all the while gonta cant even remember the fucking murder or whatever his avatar saw with the flashback light because of a simple, honest, and fatal mistake on his part with mixing up the cords

its the lengths of cruelty and malice kokichi demonstrates in chapter 4 that drastically changes the tone of the entire ordeal in comparison to what komaeda does, even IF they are the same plot points structurally. even if kokichi, just like komaeda, felt like it was up to him to make a move in the name of the greater good of everyone else and ultimately it was necessary to progress...his treatment of gonta is just flat out horrifying all on its own because he took advantage of gonta’s mental vulnerabilities and total lack of agency to his decisions within the virtual world from the outside and made him do something he otherwise NEVER would have 

contrast this to when komaeda manipulates teruteru into killing: yes, he also took advantage of teruteru’s compassion and desire to protect his friends which pushed him to murder which he never wouldve done otherwise as well...but fuck, at least teruteru had the ability granted to him to make the decision for himself. i seriously dont think its fair to say its a 1:1 comparison with kokichi’s actions because gonta was so much more vulnerable to being taken advantage of

both kokichi and komaeda’s actions were selfish and cruel, both of them carried out their overall plans for same reason of setting the ball in motion for revealing the truth of the killing games, and both of them have some pretty fucked up ideals and manipulative means of action...they have a LOT of things in common without a doubt, and they are both flawed because of these things

its just, god damn...gonta REALLY did not deserve any of that and gets executed for a murder he cant even remember being tricked into doing! that alone would already be very cruel for any other character, but it being gonta’s fate specifically is what really makes my skin crawl with disgust towards kokichi more than anything komaeda has done

[cerealjam]

Lucifer: what's silent deadly and wet

Sapphire: horny female ninjas?

Lucifer: that's right- what no! Ninjas who can manipulate water

Sapphire: oh that makes more sense, like rain from mortal kombat

Lucifer: and greninja from pokemon

Sapphire: it's are job to analysis there weapons armor and skill to find out who would win a fiction beatdown

Lucifer: As a child, Rain was smuggled away from his homeland of Edenia in the midst of the realm's takeover by Outworld emperor Shao Kahn, while his father stayed behind to perform his duties as general of Edenia's armies, but he was killed and his armies crushed in the invasion. Thousands of years later, during the events of MK Trilogy, Rain resurfaced during Kahn's invasion of Earthrealm prior to the third Mortal Kombat tournament, and was attacked by Kahn's extermination squads

Sapphire: not wanting to suffer at their hand, he elected to turn his back on his homeland and side with Kahn, who trained him as an assassin alongside fellow Edenians kitana and jade before enlisting them in the fight against the Earth warriors. However, Kahn's would-be domination of Earthrealm is unsuccessful

Lucifer: it's also been found out the rain also a demi-god he has unique ability like water manipulation in fact he can turn his whole body to water and dimple hide in a puddle

Sapphire: he can trap enemy's in bubbles even stroke his enemy's with lighting and can kick someone so hard they end up behind him

Lucifer: ge can also pressurize is water so much it can cut through a human like butter

Sapphire: it have to be st least around 20,000 to 55,000 PSI for that yo be possible

Lucifer: and one his last powers is Evaporate Rain turns his entire body into water, becoming invulnerable to any type of attack and allowing the opponent to phase through him.

Rain: I am a God.

Sapphire: in a world where everybody wants to be the very best like no one ever was theres a Pokémon for everbody

Lucifer: and a Pokémon we'll be discussing is the the ninja Pokémon greninja having a duel type of dark and water

Sapphire: while the exact orgins of this Pokémon are unknown at least from what we could find it's combat abilities are no joke

Lucifer: it can create throwing stars of comprssed water powerful enough to split metal in two making his water nearly equal to rains

Sapphire: it toys with it's oppents with quick movements and making substitutes

Lucifer: from leveling up it can learn these list of moves

Bubble

Growl

Haze

Mat block

Night slash

Pound

Quick attack

Role play

Water shurikin

Lick

Water pulse

Smokescreen

Shadow sneek

Spikes

Feint attack

Substitute

Extrasensory

Double team

Hydro pump

Sapphire: how can Pokémon just know these by leveling up

Lucifer: we may never know but one of it's final abilitys is called Torrent when Pokémon with this are in a pinch it's water type moves become more powerful

Sapphire: all right the combatants are set it's to for a fiction beatdown!

Rain: *walks through a forest area not knowing he was in a enemy territory*

Greninja: *uses bubble and it explodes on rain*

Rain: *gets up and looks at his Attacker* your gonna regret attacking someone like me!

FIGHT

rain: *runs to greninja and starts attcking him with jabs*

Grenija: *suddenly disappears and a substitute appears*

Rain: a fake!?

Grenija: *using shadow sneak he appears behind rain and attacks him with water pulse*

Rain: *gets knocked to his hands and knees but he flips up and uses Evaporate turing his body to water*

Greninja: *trying to attack rain in this form but having no luck then suddenly he's trapped inside a bubble*

Rain: *pulls out his jamadhar* your quick I'll give you that but your nothing to a demi-god! *starts stabbing greninja the bubble filling up with its blood then he strokes it with lighting*

Grenija: * cause of its weakness to electrical moves he gets severally hurt but in a desperate attempt it uses spikes to burst from the bubble even though it's taken damage it won't give up it's stronger thanks to torrent* ninja! *puts his webbed hands together and uses double team surrounding rain*

Rain: you can't fool me this time one of these is you *a blade of comprssed water comes from his hand and he spins around eliminating the doubles*

Grenija: *jumps at him and licks his face*

Rain: gah you bastard that's disgusting **grabs greinjas toung and slices it off**

Greninja: JAAAAA! *actives night slash and exchanges blows with rain it's a bloody mess*

Rain: i won't lose to someone like you I'm a god!

Greninja: JA! *uses smoke screen to indicate rain*

Rain: using dirty tricks on me how dare you *attcking blindly but to no avail*

Grenija: *slams hard on the ground knocking rain into the air it uses night slash one last time with great speed it slashes all around rains body* JAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJAJA! *then goes above him and fires hyrdo pump blasting raon to the ground with great speed threres a loud crash blood splattered around raons body*

Rain: *coughs up blood and struggles to get up* it's not over you haven't won I WILL WIN YOU HERE ME FRO- *his head his suddenly cut off by a water shurkin*

Grenija: *lands safely on the ground* gre....

K.O.

Sapphire: holy shit that was bloody who knew water could do that

Lucifer: both fighters have known to have great combat skills greninja just over came his with greater speed and power

Sapphire: while rain may be a demi-god trained by shoa kahn himself he not as powerful as you expect after all he is still mortal

Lucifer: plus greninja is a keen fighter he was toying with rain most of the fight using fakes and smoke screens knowing it would throw rain off

Sapphire: all and all in the end both fighters shown great water skills but greninja just simply made rain croak in the end

Lucifer: the winner is Greninja

Next time on fiction beat down: *creepy music plays and the screen shakes as the camera moves to bowser laughing triumphly*

[archer3-13]

Hypothetical awakening sequal: fire emblem reawakening

more of an idea spitballin because the question was on my mind. still, if your interested heres what i have written down as to what a hypothetical plot for such a game could be

set after awakening, 17 years later meaning normal lucinas 18 ish at this point. Follows a inter changing story between plegian rebels asserting their independence against the corrupt occupational army and a bright eyed lucina looking to make a name for herself similar to the hero king of old as dark rumors originate from ferox that a new "great khan" has risen who has facilitated the abuses of the past years in plegia.

plegian rebels doing rebel things is where the story starts, namely with the plegian hero interrupting the execution of plegian citizens. During this introductory period we learn that for over ten years plegia has been under feroxian occupation, in part as a response to the civil strife that engulfed plegia when its principle god and leaders were killed with no clear line of royal succession. This had led to the last war by the shepherds before its official disbandment as chrom could not bear to let plegia suffer as his father did. However, the war rapidly spiraled out of control as the shepherds though experienced lacked numbers and resources since ylisse wasn't officially supporting the action, eventually resulting in a force of feroxian soldiers led by lon'qu to intervene. 

with ferox officially the winner, flavia and chrom left soldiers in plegia to help keep the peace and rebuild the ravaged country, with the plegian citizens welcoming this at first for the security of stability. thus it was like this until the seventh year of grimnas death, when the feroxian forces suddenly became an occupation with the ascension of a new khan, lon'qu who established the position of great khan and merged the countries two khan positions into one. With feroxians now an occupation force strict rules and brutal enforcement became the new norm, especially when a group of grima faithful planning a number of terror attacks were unveiled. the plegian rebels are thus bitter and determined after ten years of these abuses and they plan to take their country back, before turning eyes towards those they feel responsible for their suffering. 

meanwhile, a young lucina struggles with the weight of expectations her fathers world saving reputation places on her, not to mention how her fathers sudden development of an illness the healers cant cure has accelerated the pressure of getting her ready to inherit the throne in case her father suddenly passes away. This non future lucina is thus somewhat arrogant in a teenage rebellious kind of way lacking the same grim disposition her future self had and being immature, she does however still posses a good and kind at heart though non future lucina has little interest in marths legend at first. Regardless shes traversing ylisse seeing the sights and helping where she can, and its here we learn a bit about how ylisse views the plegian situation or rather how alarmingly in the dark they are about feroxes abuses in plegia, in part because of the tight lock down ferox has on plegia and in part because of the continuing friendly relations they have with ferox. Regardless its only until they receive a sudden and urgent request from the great khan to provide military forces to help quash plegian insurgents that things begin to get sticky. 

Lucina eagerly accepts the call in her fathers place, yearning to begin proving herself against her fathers reputation and out of a somewhat ignorant desire to help people by beating up plegia. However once in plegia even she can begin to see the dark truth of whats going on despite the feroxins best efforts to hide it. thus for the next little bit lucina and the plegian rebels have a back and forth as they try and outdo the other culminating with the ylissean forces finally cornering the plegian rebels. However before the final blow can be delivered so to speak terrible news reaches them, ylisse has been invaded by ferox and the ferox army is closing in on their position with intent to wipe them all out. 

In a desperate move the rebels and ylisseans team up to survive the onslaught and just barely make it out both sides curious as to what the fuck happened. Lon'qu announces his intents to unify the continent under one banner for the necessity of its future before issuing a manhunt for the battered remnants of the ylisse and rebel forces. Thus the two forces join hands for the next part of the game as they navigate avoiding the ferox forces and reclaiming both of their homelands well also coming to an understanding with each other and eventual friendship. during this time they also begin pulling information from ferox and learn of the startling changes that have happened since lon'qu became great khan and how many of the citizens of ferox dont approve of this action but cant speak out over an army purged of non lon'qu loyalists or toadies. 

Thus the questions begin to center on what has happened to lon'qu, with it gradly being hinted at as dragon possession/influence on the mind to create a strong empire coupled by the words of scheming advisors who serve this dragon. who the dragon is however is unknown. When they do start to confront lon'qu himself however it becomes apparent that hes more in control then first thought, suffering a condition similar to emperor hardin where his darkest thoughts and aspects of his person have been amplified to unmanageable proportions, namely a desire to create stability and an emphasis on strength as the deciding virtue. 

They also begin learning more about the power that led him to become like this, a powerful sorcerer from the continent of judgral of all things who once provided the grima faithful with their copious amounts of judgral swag and who even established the order in the first place being a manakete himself who lost his draconic power much like gohto and turned to magic. the sorcers plan is thus to establish a new dark dragon of incredible strength and bring ruin to the world once more though this time its through the empowerment of a new host. A young female manakete who seeks power in order to avenge her fallen family who were massacred by humans shortly after grimas first fall. 

Well the allied force try and stop it, having split up for a time to cover more ground and reuniting in order to tackle the threat together, they are unable to stop the manaketes empowerment in time and a new dark dragon roams the land bringing ruin the ylisses castle as part of its revenge. beaten but not broken, the heroes regroup and get some extra determination and naga power before plunging in for round two and just barely slaying the dark dragon though not before realizing that this dragon will inevitably return one day thanks to machinations from the now deceased manakete sorcerer. in the bad end. 

in the good end theres a greater sense of permenance thanks to the heroes managing to calm the dragons restless spirit when laying it to rest thus reducing the likelihood of its return. either way they have a shit blasted continent to deal with, though with strong bonds of friendship formed between the ylisseans, the rebels, and feroxin objectors to lon'qus rule they might have the strength to build a bright future.