#they aren’t rats for real it’s just they’re being used like rats for experiments <3< /div> Explore tagged Tumblr posts

[wordsgood]

violently struck by the urge, nay the need, for sapphics in the new story, which is working-titled maze rats atm

[keymace]

Key plays Fallout Shelter (summer 2020)

So I decided to finally try Fallout Shelter before it disappears like the mobile gacha spinoff that it is. I originally planned to play only seven days, but kept playing (at a much slower pace) a bit longer. During the ten days I played, I managed to finish four questlines. In this article, I will relay my overall experience, review said quests, and then talk about some miscellaneous things.

My experience

I started my vault, got my first two dwellers, and did the tutorial. So this is one of those games where everything you want done takes between 2 minutes and 2 days. Since I'm the kind of person who just stares at the screen and waits for things to happen, combined with bad luck with the Rush mechanic, stuff took even longer. Before the day ended, I found the Mysterious Stranger, got a Hardened Minigun, got the vault's first child, and made a lot of rooms, going to bed feeling satisfied despite the rocky parts.

On day 2, I open the game and completely ran out of all my resources. trying to Rush so I can get resources back only makes the situation worse, so my only solution is to scrap everything and make a better vault. After that, I completed a challenge that got me my first Mr. Handy which got my mood back up. I later also find a Pickaxe and a Gauss Rifle.

Day 3 also had a bad start. Basically right after I start the game, mole rats invade a far-off room with no dwellers close by, and the moles proceed to spread through the vault and almost kill everyone. I finally rescue Bottle and Cappy, whose questline I had started a day or two before, by the time the day ends, I also get invaded a few times by Feral Ghouls and Radscorpions, pitifully fighting back as I barely unlock nuclear reactors.

As if to mirror the previous day, the morning starts with Deathclaws attacking the vault. I fight them off, do quests and challenges, and find an Armor-Piercing Minigun.

Days 5 and 6 are somewhat uneventful compared to the ones before. I take it easy and play a bit more passively. I unlocked the garden and water purifier, found another Gauss Rifle, and got my first max level (50) dweller.

On the 7th day I got a Lunchbox to celebrate my first week. It had no rare items in it. I finished the Climbing the Ranks questline, and got Sarah Lyons as a reward. I managed to fully upgrade my weapon workshop, leaving me with no money, and reached 100 dwellers in the vault, achieving all the goals I had set for myself. Another cool thing that happened is I got my last legendary junk, completing that tab in my log.

I decided to keep playing because some parts were fun enough, and wanted to finish the two other questlines I had started. However, on day 9, I open the game and some kind of glitch happened, which made the cooldown for watching an ad for free stuff be 210 hours, and it also made challenges stop working at all.Day 10 ended, I finished Almost Human and Journey to the Center of Vaultopolis, and I am done with this game.

I originally planned to highlight my most valuable dwellers, but the glitch really destroyed all my motivation, so I'll talk about the quests I have done.

Quests

First off, I'll talk about the two one-off quests I've done. Getting Started is the tutorial quest, and there's nothing special about it. You just get in, kill a Glowing Radroach, and leave. This proves you’re somehow qualified to be the overseer. The only other one-off quest I did is Can't Stop The Signal, in which a raider is using a strange signal to control Radroaches, which is pretty interesting. I've also done a few daily/weekly quests as well as Random Encounter quests, but those aren't saved in the log for whatever reason, and I can't remember them well. Now for the questlines I have done:

Nabbed from Nuka-World

Raiders have kidnapped Bottle and Cappy, the mascots of Nuka-World! Obviously you have to go save them, because you love them so much. Also they're real living beings here. Along the way you come across a group of ghouls who you do not have to fight if you don't want to. That honestly surprised me, and I instinctively went with the peaceful option even if it meant less experience and and loot. After that, you get to the lair of a wastelander who was raising radscorpions, and on the way you kill her pet Glowy. You don;t have to fight her, and she directs you to the Nuka-Cola Factory, where Bottle and Cappy are being held. At the factory, the raider boss is defeated, and Bottle and Cappy are saved. After that, they visit the vault from time to time. Tapping on them when they dance will give caps, and sometimes Nuka-Cola Quantum.

I think the quest was alright. I did it first because it was a limited time quest. I'm not too big a fan of Bottle and Cappy, especially animated fluidly like that instead of being animatronics like in Fallout 4, they're really uncanny here. Again I was surprised that I could choose peace, and I like that one of the mobs was named, even if just in one dialogue.

Climbing the Ranks

So the Brotherhood of Steel thinks your vault would make for a great BoS outpost, but they need a little help at some factory and call for your help. Once you help them, they want to recruit you as a soldier, and ask you to help some more, though the quest descriptions describe it as "proving your Vault is good enough to be an outpost" despite the BoS being the ones asking to make it one. So you save the next team and become a Soldier and get sent to save another team. You do so but their leader was kidnapped and taken to the Nuka-Cola Plant, completely different from the Nuka-Cola Factory. You head there and save none other than Sarah Lyons! She joins your vault as a reward.

I started this questline because it was short, being only 4 quests. The inconsistencies with the quests descriptions and  dialogue bother me, but it doesn't really matter that much, and your vault being an outpost or you being a soldier have zero consequences on anything at all. Seeing Lyons was surprising. I don't really rememeber her much as a character, but I do remember that her Brotherhood is a faction I liked, as they're trying to help everyone. The last thing I have to say about this quest, though this applies to the whole game really, is that they made the female Power Armor look way more... girly for some reason, instead of it looking the same on male and female dwellers as it should.

Almost Human

The Railroad was trying to sneak some refugee synths close to your area but they got captured by raiders hired by the Institute. Now, them resorting to random people from the wastes is nothing new and happens as early as Fallout 3, but it's still strange. Anyways, this is a short and straightforward quest: You save Railroad agents and free the synths.

Once again, I started this one because it was short and I wanted to squeeze one last questline to write about before I was done playing. Really standard Railroad quest aside from being against raiders instead of synths. I quite like the reward though, a suit of T-45a power armor, which is basically a prototype made before the standard T-45d.

Journey to the Center of Vaultopolis

This is a long one, made out of 15 quests. I started it before Almost Human, but of course I finished Almost Human first. It begins when you find the journal of Paula Plumbkin, an overseer looking for the legendary Vaultopolis. You follow her steps along the wasteland, checking on vaults and rescuing people, stopping by a Super Duper Mart halfway to resupply, In there, you find another page of her journal, saying that Vault 525 is Vaultopolis, and they used a G.E.C.K. to make it so. You find the supposed location of the vault there, only to meet Paula Plumbkin, who was actually a raider all along. After you defeat her, you head to the real location of Vaultopolis. It's just a vault with nothing special. All Paula wanted to do was kill everyone and make the vault her base.

I liked the mystery this quest had at the start. You're just following a vault overseer looking for an utopia. Along the way she apparently got captured by feral ghouls who were saving up humans for meals, which is something smart that animals do but I wouldn't really think that feral ghouls would do that. Anyway, at the end it's revealed Paula was a raider and was leading you to her, which implies everything that happens, from her being captured by ghouls to a different Vault being attacked by named raiders was all made up by her in order to lead you to her which makes absolutely no sense in my opinion. All the people you visited before meeting her called her nice so they were all in on it? Or did she slowly become a raider as her adventure went on?She does say the wasteland "toughened her up" and the quest description calls her a wannabe raider, but again, that's all weird. The plot twist really surprised me until I thought about it a bit more, and overall the whole quest felt like a waste at the end.

That's it for the quests I've done. Before the glitch happened, I also started Horsemen of the Post-Apocalypse Part 1 which I also find quite intriguing and am tempted to continue to see how that turns out. That questline's three parts have 18 quests combines, making it the longest line in the game. Up next is random little bits I wanted to talk about.

Things unique to Fallout Shelter

As I've already noted before, you can get a never-before-seen prototype power armor in this game. It's not the only item like that. I did not want to cross-check every type of armor here, so I'll only highlight the Power Armors, as well as weapons and creatures.

First I want to talk about the creatures. All the monsters in the game are returning from previous games, except of course most named raiders and monsters. I met a few names raiders, mostly in the Journey to the Center of Vaultopolis, as well as a Glowing Radscorpion named Glowy. Most of the original creatures though are pets. There's a lot of new breeds of dogs and cats, and nearly all legendary pets are new named animals, with only some that are returning characters, like of course Dogmeat, though while most of them do not exactly match their appearance in previous games, at least their description does. Among the pets though is an animal brand new to the Fallout franchise: parrots. There are three different types of parrots with five legendary parrots.

The other creature type I wanted to mention are simple wild animals. First off are rats that like to wander in your vault rooms when no one is in there. They are smaller than the rats seen in previous games, and dig into the ground when people get into the room. They are merely silhouettes though.

The other type of wildlife you may come across are bats in caves. Those really surprised me! As far as I know, this is the first time bats appear in the franchise, though giant mutant bats were planned to appear in Black Isle's Fallout 3, AKA Van Buren. Unlike rats, bats are actually textured. Another creature in caves are insects that flock to floodlights.

Power Armors

As mentioned above, a few of the power armor models are unique to this game, because they wanted the armors to have tiers. For that purpose, a are the weakest, f the strongest, and d the middle ground. All d and f versions do appear in Fallout 4.

T-45a is a prototype and T-51a are prototypes, while the description of T-60a makes it sound like it's just regular T-60. There is also a unique variant of T-60 worn by War from the Horsemen of the Post-Apocalypse. It is vastly superior to even T-60f but I don't know much about it yet. If I make another article about Fallout Shelter, I will talk about the rest of the unique pets and armors.

Unique Weapons

The game's weapons are mostly Falout 3 and 4 weapons, including the unique weapons, but there are a few new ones. The closest thing to fully original weapons are some of the melee weapons: The Pickaxe, and to a lesser extent, the Fire Hydrant Bat and Relentless Raider Sword.

The Fallout franchise has had pickaxes before, as background objects, but this is the first time one can be a weapon, beating Fallout 76 to it. The Fire Hydrant Bat is a tiny version of the Super Mutant Behemoths' melee weapon. It has the potential to deal the most damage out of all weapons in the game. The Relentless Raider Sword is interestingly the only New Vegas-related thing in this game. It's shaped like a bumper sword, but appears to be a normal piece of metal instead of a bumper. Another noteworthy thing related to this weapon is that there was an unused weapon in the files using the Relentless Raider Sword’s appearance and the Sniper Rifle’s name, but its internal name was Bumper Sword. (source)

The most interesting unique gun is Henrietta, a modified lever-action rifle held by Old Longfellow. He does not own this weapon in Fallout 4, nor there seem to be any traces of it in the game's files, and it is the only Fallout Shelter weapon to have visible mods. Here are the rest of the unique weapons that are only in this game:

The Lone Wanderer, a 10mm referencing the Fallout 3 protagonist, the Red Rocket, a BB Gun referencing the in-universe gas station chain, the Magnetron 4000, a Gauss Rifle, the Railmaster, a Railway Rifle, the Farmer's Daughter, which may be a surprising reference to Fallout 2's Miria whom you are forced to marry, Mean Green Monster, a Plasma Rifle, the Lead Belcher, a minigun,

Apotheosis, an Institute pistol, Technician's Revenge, a Junk Jet, Little Brother, a pipe pistol, Big Sister, a pipe rifle, and Dragon's Maw, a plasma thrower. Another weapon of note is Charon's shotgun, which is NPC-only in Fallout 3 but playable in Shelter. There is also a lot of half-implemented unique weapons, and the only actually working but unused weapon is Amata's Pistol, which is basically a Hardened 10mm pistol.

Afterword

After playing for ten days, I had a little fun. I'm still curious about the Horsemen of the Post-Apocalypse questline, but I'm done for now. I didn’t say anything about the music because I think it’s all from Fallout 4, which is fine. The graphics are good enough too. I don't really have anything else to add, so I'll end it here. Thank you for reading!

[thunderbottle]

Thunder's DSMP Disability Headcanons

disclaimer!!! i am sticking to physical disabilities bc honestly delving into the complexity of mental stuff is stressful and physical disabilities easier to apply to characters that like,, already exist yknow

Tubbo

Oh you KNOW this boy has messed up hearing. In my head his right ear is worse (as in he can barely hear anything with it) from the festival execution bc he turned his head away from the fireworks. The various l'manberg explosions also contributed.

I subscribe to the headcanon that being around schlatt sorta 'infected' tubbo with goat traits so bam i'm giving him joint problems in his legs from them changing so fast to be more goat-like. It makes him a bit slower than before and the snowchester cold makes them achey.

Jack

Chronic pain both before and after revival. It's different after he comes back to life, though. It's not any worse or better, just... different. It bothers him more than he lets on. He can't even find comfort in the familiar pain. sadge.

Tommy

same deal as tubbo with being a bit HOH. the repeated explosions during exile would not have treated him kindly.

also related to exile: on the way to techno's house and living in a hole in the middle of the tundra, i feel like he's missing a few fingers and one of his feet from frostbite (y'know how he lost a shoe? yeah.) He makes his own prosthetic while staying with techno but doesn't use it all the time bc it's painful. he's got a fancy crutch that sam made for him which is a lot more comfortable most of the time.

another exile one bc i feel like that whole experience (being hurt often, no real access to first aide, lack of a steady food source, etc etc) would be Not Great for a person's health. Dream dislocated one of his shoulders 'on accident' and it hasn't quite healed correctly, often re-dislocating when he's carrying heavy things or stretching it the wrong way.

Ranboo

my ranboo design has wacky kangaroo rat legs that aren't super suited to,, working correctly so he wears braces on the ankles and knees to keep them bending correctly. he also uses those coon forearm crutches like in that one fanart i did of him forever ago.

okay this isn't a hc but can i just say i'm so happy that c!ranboo is like,, canonically disabled. like ik it's bc he's enderboy but Still i love it sm. thank you mr. beloved

Awesamdude

he was born partially blind and relies a lot on sound. his redstone machine have a lot of essential parts that intentionally make extra noise so he knows they're working correctly and with the right timing.

he wears the gasmask half as a fashion statement and half bc he's got asthma and the redstone dust that typically doesn't bother other people can be dangerous to work with for him and trigger asthma attacks, especially at the quantities he works with.

Philza

caneza!!! he has trouble keeping his balance with his wings out of commission so he weathers the increased old-man-shaming in favor of being able to walk lmao

Wilbur

making this one short bc thinking abt c!wilbur makes me sad

chronic fatigue syndrome!! get some rest tall child!! like i know it doesn't really help but still!!! *wraps alivebur up in blankets like a feral, injured cat* i care you!!!!

Eret

okay i know that the herobrine eyes are bc she's related to herobrine somehow but i'm making her blind anyways. herobrine is blind too. you can't stop me.

guide ferrets... (context: eret's chat is a hoard of ferrets that follows him around it's very good)

he makes all his own buildings so that he has the floorplan memorized before even moving in. how do they turn out so pretty when he can't see them? well, he's more powerful than you could ever know and can do anything he puts his mind to so jot that down

Techno

this pig has ARTHRITIS

technocane!!!!! i love him

If you want me to expand on any of these send me an ask or in the reblogs of this post! Feel free to add on your own hcs within the wheelhouse I'd love to hear them <3

[gaylaughingdoves]

I really love how you draw Dottore! he's my favorite character in genshin- do you have any hcs/ideas for how he interacts with the other harbingers? I find other people's readings of him really interesting!

take care, have a good day whenever you read this!

Aaa!! Thank you!! <3 :D And yes I absolutely have hcs about him and the other harbingers!!

(I'm gonna toss them under a cut because I have a tendency to ramble on and use a whole lotta Words-)

Alright, so Signora and Dottore:

Extraordinarily chaotic and evil sibling dynamic

They gossip, like, A Lot, it's mainly Signora talking while Dottore fidgets and works with whatever he's working on, but he gets invested in it pretty easily

Now they also can and will rat each other out when they want, absolute snitches the both of them, they find immense joy in it, however. They also know a decent number of each other's secrets and they aren't going to tell those unless given a proper bribe (which neither have received just yet)

Signora and Dottore also both do Not like Childe

They have bonded over this

Childe is gaslight girlboss gatekept from everything when Signora and Dottore are involved

Also, Signora usually isn't phased by whatever Dottore keeps in his labs, because, yk, she might be 500+ years old, which Dottore appreciates because usually people are constantly on edge in his labs

It's a pain for him to actually keep staff (alive and employed), but having another Harbinger there (even one with a reputation like Signora's) grants the people working for him an, admittedly false, sense of security. Nothing could go bad when two Harbingers are here, right?

So Actually many many things can go wrong with these two in a room with Dottore's experiments

Like don't trust them around fire? Ever? Signora knows her way around it a little bit too well to be safe, and Dottore just likes watching how things burn under different conditions soo a recipe for Arson, that's what that is

Signora also thinks Dottore is hilarious when he's angry, and Dottore just likes being antagonistic, which leads to a whole lotta bickering. It's usually lighthearted but it can get serious and it can get serious fast

But overall Dottore just sorta sees her as an older sibling-ish person? He knows if he lets something slip she's not going to go straight to the other Harbingers to gossip. Which he likes because he can just go off and rant about how stupid something is and she'll just use it as blackmail material, which he thinks is better than like. Having everyone know how much he hates a certain piece of old machinery or something-

However, he doesn't trust her too much, because?? Who in the Harbingers actually trusts each other???

Also he and Signora have Transmasc/Transfem solidarity I will not be elaborating

Dottore and Childe on the other hand:

Pure hatred from Childe's side, he straight-up despises Dottore.

After all, this is a guy whose family is one of the most important things to him, his siblings are children, children who do not know the weight of the world just yet.

And Dottore is the guy who is... well. He's known to treat kids like nothing but a base to experiment on

Now Dottore on the other hand literally just wants to dissect Childe, he's gone absolutely crazy trying to get permission to at least run tests.

I mean, What else was he going to do when the kid Pulcinella found on the side of the road started turning into an entire 10ft abyss creature??? That's part of his whole line of work!! This is literally something he studies!!!

Needless to say, he was not allowed to study Childe's Foul Legacy in any regard and it ticked him off

So yeah, just overall they Hate each other, they argue a lot, like, if the Tsarita wasn't there at meetings they would turn into fistfights

However, they both drink whatever the Genshin equivalent of Monster is

This is not a bonding point, they fight over flavors

Sounds like a dumb thing to fight over but Dottore can't stand Childe's and Childe can't stand Dottore's

This has lead to other Harbingers swapping their flavors around because they think it's entertaining to watch them fight

It actually got to the point where the Tsaritsa herself had to order them to stop switching the flavors around because Dottore and Childe are already prepped to murder each other at any moment, they don't need to make it worse

So Dottore just reserves himself to snapping at Childe with the annoyance of someone who is being blocked from something that could very easily be a big break that's being dangled over his head

For real though, Childe has so much potential for Dottore's experiments but Dottore isn't allowed to do so much as study what effect that the transformation has on Childe afterward, and he hates it

But he can't lose his funding from the Tsaritsa so he stays quiet and angrily compiles whatever information he can

Anyway, Dottore and Scaramouche:

Overall neutral actually?

Like they don't see each other much, with Dottore usually knee and elbow deep in some messed up science stuff, and Scara's work taking him out and about a lot of the time

They bicker and stuff, but overall?? They kinda just avoid talking to each other?

Sometimes, rarely, they do get put on a mission with each other, but when they happens they usually get along pretty well!

They actually have a good time snooping around places, what with Dottore's practically uncontrollable curiosity being easily triggered if there's... oh idk, dragon bones, or old machines, or abyss-related ruins, or anything in the typical Vindagyeran Architecture Style, and Scaramouche just likes to snoop and sneak around for fun, for funsies

There's been a few times when the both of them have bonded over chaotically messing something up (didn't impact them, but sure did impact whoever was living in those houses) and laughed over it, grabbed some drinks, and just hung out

They're sorta like buddies who don't see each other much so they're overall estranged but still have a good time, yk?

Scaramouche has hung out in Dottore's labs before, doesn't particularly enjoy them, what with all the machinery and people crying and whatever, thinks it's boring, but if he has to hang out there he'll find his way to Dottore's office and read his files

This gets on Dottore's nerves, but he knows a little better than to cross the minor god that is Scaramouche

And he would very much like to study Scaramouche, considering, yk, divinity abandoned by the divine?

What an odd predicament!!

What effects would that have!!

How does he still have any power!!!

The questions Dottore could have are endless!!

But Scaramouche is away enough to be sure that Dottore's interest is solidly in other things (mainly Abyssal, and Dragons, because there's always some Fatui around the dragon skeletons (Durin and Orobashi) and I have a feeling it's Dottore's doing)

And that's it so far I think? They'll probably change as more Harbingers/info on the ones we have already come out and such but that's what I have rn!! Just Dottore being a funny feral little angry science man with at least three sensible braincells, and yk what I love him for it :)

[leggomylino]

A Floral Memoir | Yang Jeongin

-ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ--ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ--ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ- 

-ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ--ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ--ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ-

Genre: Nostalgic, drama, bittersweet, angst, fluff ending

Pairing: Yang Jeongin x fem!reader

Au: Flower shop au, friends to lovers au

Word Count: ~3.9k

Warning(s): None! c:

A/N: This was supposed to just be a blurb/timestamp but I’ve been heavily influenced by fictional prose from my Fiction 101 class so...this happened. :D | Masterlist linked down below and in bio!!! <3 | For Nana, who loves Yang Jeongin; and, for all the wonderful writers of @skzwriternet​. Thank you all for being so supportive and kind. God bless. 🎔

Tag List: @hanniiesuckle17​ @distrikt9​ @hanstagrams​ @hyunsunq​ @smolboiseavey​ @jisungsjheekies​ @iluvlix​ @moonlit-han​ @stay-nctzen​ @yangomangos​ @stayndays​ @cotccotc​ @skzctnightnight​ @multi-stan-present​ @dreamy-dreamies​ @yunhoesss​ (If you’d like to be added, please let me know! Comment, ask, or DM me!!! ^^)

ღ Stray Kids M.List | M.List ღ

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There’s this flower shop down the road from your house that you’re used to going to. It’s one of those hole-in-the-wall places, the kind that never stand out unless you’re actively looking for them. The brick’s chipped, covered in vines, and the sign out front is hanging by a stem, the slanted posture threatening to drop dead over the next teenager that pursues vandalism; still, to you it’s never unrecognizable, no matter how many years of wear-and-tear or lost du jour go by. To you, it’s the most beautiful place in the world: not for what is shown on the outside, but for what lies there within. What it stands for, represents.

This is the local flower shop of 129 Poppy Close Lane. And it is the place you grew up in, blooming alongside Yang Jeongin.

Jeongin had been your best friend growing up. The two of you did almost everything together: ride bikes, watch movies, play in the park. Feed the ducks, hop around like frogs, climb trees. Hide in your mother’s laundry basket in order to jump out and scare the daylights out of her-- which only backfired once when she nearly had a heart attack-- to which you vowed never to do ever again. Instead, the two of you set your sights on the neighbor’s son, a boy of roughly similar age named Kim Seungmin. But that always seemed to backfire as well. Kim Seungmin was simply too smart.

The day Innie’s parents-- that was your nickname for him, sometimes I.N.-- the day his parents announced they’d be buying out a crumbling furniture store, the two of you had been so excited. Think of all the beds you could jump on! All the sofas to tackle! The pillow fights! The two of you could make the largest blanket fort in the history of blanket fortresses!!! 

...Instead, those dreams were crushed like petals pressed between pages. You weren’t getting a mattress playground; they were opening a flower store.

A flower store? But aren’t flowers free? Don’t they grow outside? The two of you prodded and pestered Jeongin’s parents until they ran out of answers to give, and instead only replied with “you’ll see” and “just wait.” But if there was one thing the two of you hated doing, it was waiting. Why did you have to? Wait for what?

...Time flies when you eventually forget about the thing it is you have to wait around for, too occupied curling toes beneath blankets by a roaring fire or towering blocks into Lego houses. After a few days of lazing around with Jeongin at your house and a short afternoon bike ride through the park, at last the shop of flowers was revealed to you. And it...was…

...Okay. Colorful, vibrant, definitely eye-catching, at least back in those just-starting-out days. But you still didn’t get it at the tender age of ten. Of course you’d heard of flower stores before, but the point escaped you. Couldn’t you just grow your own for free? Couldn’t you just ride to the park and take some from the woods? Why would you sell something you could obtain for free? Who would waste their allowance on that?

Jeongin was different. You remember looking over at him, standing to your right, and seeing his face alive and bursting with more color than the shopfront. The way his eyes sparkled as he took it all in, the pride that seemed to blossom in his smile and the way he carried himself. Straight, tall, and happy, just like the sunflowers waving outside the window. It was off-putting to say the least, but you felt gratified just watching him elate and gush his excitement. So you upheld that same excitement, too.

Years went by of the two of you hanging out in that place; Little Fox Flowers, it was called. Appropriately named for the son of the two owners who spent their days happily snipping away sadness and making the lives of all its customers just a bit brighter. A place where all the local college-bound kids would apply for part-time jobs in order to live out their novel fantasies, hoping for a quiet place to smell the roses after a long day of notetaking and hide behind the hollyhock to study.

They were always kindly denied. After all, the shop was a family business: just Mr. and Mrs. Yang, Jeongin, and you, who had been considered the daughter they never had since you were six. And, eventually, Kim Seungmin, who won everyone over with cake and the “look-at-how-responsible-I-am” presentation. He was responsible, no one could deny: the way he’d always turn you and Jeongin in before you could commence danger-inducing experiments.

And then, at fourteen, it was the three of you. You got paid, of course-- just scarcely minimum wage, but that was alright, because Mr. and Mrs. Yang always bought you lunch or dinner every other Friday. And the mean apple pie and best empanadas baked by the kind elderly couple who worked just across the street was to die for. (A side note: you’d find out two years later this was the place Kim Seungmin got his cake recipe from in exchange for helping fix a leaky faucet. The devious scoundrel.) The three of you worked and worked and studied and worked, spending perhaps too much time learning the wildest things about each other, things you were surprised you never knew of Jeongin, things you’d never guess about Kim Seungmin (you didn’t refer to him as just Seungmin until you were sixteen).

Jeongin was a fan of rock music. Kim Seungmin enjoyed more than a good book and ratting out his neighbors. Jeongin actually studied flowers in his free time, more than just what he learned passively working in a floral shop. Kim Seungmin was actually a prankster himself.

They learned things about you as well: how you preferred sunrises to sunsets, how you collected music boxes, how you kept a diary the two of them would never get to read, and now that they knew about it, were no longer or henceforth ever allowed in your room. This brought joy and laughter the color of fresh-sprung poppies to their faces...and a curious tint of rosehip to the cheeks of Yang Jeongin.

You distinctly remember the way he stared at you, two seconds too long before he looked away, to the flower arrangement before him, a smile never leaving his face. Spooked, you buried yourself back behind the front desk, occasionally peeking at his reflection through the storefront window.

-ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ-

At seventeen you’re all sweating bullets over SATs and TCIs and ACTs and every other stress-fueled test that exists in the better education realm. The three of you are taking turns quizzing each other and flicking foreheads or slapping wrists after getting an answer wrong. When the owners announce they’re heading home to finish up errands and get dinner started, you take turns in the final few store hours managing the front desk: two cramming backstage, one holding the reins out front. It’s in solitude that Seungmin tells you he’s decided to go to Harvard University, and possibly Yale if he finishes with a 4.1 GPA. At this you want to smack him, but at the same time, tell him not to go. It wouldn’t break your heart to see him go, but what’s wrong with your local university? Or a university just an hour out of town?

He tells you it’s something he’s always wanted, and heartily decided, so you take his hand in yours and wish him the best. It’s not a problem; Harvard and Yale aren’t too far away. 

The real problem arises when they switch, and with Seungmin running the front desk and helping late-blooming customers, it’s Jeongin who tells you he won’t be going to college at all. “I’ve decided to travel,” he says. “I want to explore new cultures. I want to hear other kinds of music. I want to see other types of flowers.”

At this, you deadpan. Blink a few times, just to make sure that registered. “You...want to leave the country?”

“It’ll sort of be like studying abroad-- hey, maybe that’s what I’ll do. Study abroad. I’ll be able to see lots of things that way. There’s a program that can accept me right away if I apply before midnight.”

“Jeongin…”

You frown. You can’t help it. Jeongin? Leaving you behind? You aren’t about to lose both of your best friends; especially not Jeongin, who to you was Innie, I.N., the boy with the messy black hair and slightly bad attitude, and many other things. 

His stare says everything for him, his smile drooping like perennial flowers. “You don’t like the idea.”

It’s not a question; it’s a statement. “That’s not true. I didn’t say that.”

“You don’t have to.”

He gets up, leaving the room. There’s an odd sense of finality as he exits.

“...I’m gonna see if Seungmin needs any help.”

“......”

You wince a little, even today, recalling the way he soft-slammed the back door. It was the last time you saw him, for the span of three long years.

-ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ-

It goes by too fast. Before you know it, you’ve reached the big two-O. Twenty is that odd age where you’re not sure about anything. Are you an adult? Are you still a kid? What age group do you fit into? What are you even doing with your life?

You’d chosen to major in botanical science. The flowers of the shop had ended up placing their roots into you. And being the sentimental gal that you were, you could never find yourself tearing away from your roots-- it was how flowers wilted and died. 

So when Yang Jeongin reappeared on the shop porch one morning, looking fresh as a daisy, you could hardly believe your eyes. He must have been put in one heck of a vase of Miracle Grow and holy water to have survived away from the garden for so long. At first, you’re ecstatic to see him-- at first. But then you remember what he did to you: the way he just walked out of the breakroom, clocking out without you noticing, not answering your texts, ignoring your calls, only to find out the next day he’s insanely hopped onto the morning train and booked a flight for Beijing. Part of a study program, his parents said. Very last minute, they explained. We’re so sorry, they lamented.

The only means of contact you’d received were a cloying box of exotic chocolates and a note from Jeongin that first year, along with a music box you couldn’t bring yourself to ever listen to. It ended up thrown into your closet, shadowed in a great tub with all the other ones. The note said something along the lines of an apology and explained he’d lost his phone during a boat ride that first week, and the strict program he was enrolled in didn’t allow him to contact friends; only immediate family. He’d had to lie to his advisors and tell them you were his adopted sister, which you suppose wouldn’t have been a lie once upon a time. After that, you’d only get an awkward “Jeongin says hello,” from his parents, who felt just as uncomfortable about the estranged situation. They’d assure you he was doing well and just going through a phase. He was angry. He acted irrationally, just the one time. They knew how important this was to him. He’d come back around, he really cared for you, after all.

Seeing him now made your head spin. You had to grip the cash register nailed into the hardwood so you wouldn’t fall over. “You’re...You’re back. You’re here. In the shop.”

He dropped his bags near the front door as if the place was his second home. Just like it always had been. “I’m back. Here. In the shop,” he repeated, an urgent longing in his actions.

The smile he wore never left his face as he rushed over to you...then paused, fearfully, his hands frozen in an awkward state of half-reaching and half-retreating. 

“Y/n…” He sighed, his breath a multitude of years lost. “...I’m sorry. I have no right to walk in here like nothing happened. You have every right to be angry. Are you angry?”

That was a good question. Were you angry? You should have been. You had every right to be, just like he said. This may have been his family’s store, but it was your second home, too, and you may as well have been a part of the family; you had every right ignore him or tell him to get out, to scream and demand answers, or even to cry and weep like the weeping willow tree out back.

Instead, you felt nothing. And everything. It was too much, so much strange emotion and Twilight Zone madness packed into a single punch that you smiled and simply replied, “I’m fine. How can I help you today?”

It came out sounding like you were the one asking for help. Jeongin seemed to catch wind of this too, distressed eyes staring into yours as if seeking a hidden entrance through the new roadblock to your mind. For the longest time, the two of you didn’t say anything.

Things got really awkward when Seungmin showed up on one of his monthly visits-- he ended up going to Harvard, but he still visited you every month and bothered to keep in touch-- and sensing the tension after a surprised gasp of excitement, uncomfortably shuffled to the back of the room with the excuse he’d get to work on the shop’s monthly revenue, assisting with the finances as part of his accountant training (a side gig to his major in criminal law). What resulted with the silent clicking of the door was the clicking of your own. 

You clocked out, texting Seungmin the location of the shop’s spare key and asking him to do you this one favor. Then to meet you downtown for a slice. As you swung onto the Vespa your parents had given you on your nineteen birthday, you observed Jeongin, in the shop’s reflection, through the rearview mirror, as he stood there, absorbing and deploring his loss.

-ˋˏ ༻✿༺ ˎˊ-

It’s now midday, a few months later, and you haven’t seen or spoken to Yang Jeongin since. Even if he did live down the street, in your mind he’d been cast from the garden, turned into fertilizing soil. He hadn’t tried to contact you since, and neither had you found yourself hovering over the call option, only to toss the phone away with an agitated moan. You didn’t know how to overcome the foreign distance between you two, or at least you hadn’t...until today.

Today, well, you still didn’t really know how to go about it. But despite your temporary closure to any and all things Yang Jeongin, you did a lot of thinking about that day, when he’d just shown up out of nowhere, sprouting like the happiest weed on the planet, fearfully trying to patch things up. It wasn’t forced or out of pity or selfish guilt. It was as true as the blue roses you’ve had to convince more than a few customers were not spray-painted or artificially made. Jeongin had made a big, unlike-Jeongin mistake, one lasting far too long, but it was still the first (and last; you’d be sure of that). There had to be more to the story than what appeared above the ground. 

You should never judge a rose for its petals, Mrs. Yang once told you. It may still be blooming.  

You’re parking your bike in its usual place in front of the store, locking it to the bike rack Mr. Yang had installed-- your Vespa got destroyed while letting Seungmin take it for a joyride-- and you push open the familiar glass door, the sweet chime of the old silver bell singing overhead. Jeongin looks up at you from around a middle-aged man at the register, his voice falling an octave late.

“Welcome i-- ...n.”

It’s that same awkward tension all over again, but you try to smile through it, for friendship’s sake. After holding open the door for the parting customer, you make sure the door is locked before nervously wringing your hands halfway to the counter.

Jeongin takes your actions in alarm, bracing himself against the register as you had just a few months prior. Funny how times change. “...What’s going on? What are you gonna do?”

...As if you were going to rob or beat him. You’d thought about doing so with one of the giant sunflowers, three month before, but would never risk harm to the flower. “I…” A sigh. “...Can we talk?”

There’s an arrangement waiting for pickup or delivery sitting at the edge of the counter. Jeongin stares intently at the wooden space before casting his gaze to the flowers. He lifts them, crossing the bouquet over his face to the other side. You’re not entirely sure what he’s doing until he hands the bundle to you. “I can’t leave the shop right now...could you make this delivery for me? The address is on the tag.”

“......” You accept the bouquet awkwardly. “...Uh, yeah, sure.”

“I’ll clock you in, so you get paid.”

“No...don’t worry about it. I’ll handle it.”

He nods, slowly, just barely managing an unstable means of eye contact. “...Thanks.”

And so you walk out of the store, unlocking the door and hopping onto the shop’s delivery vehicle. It’s more a less like a Vespa, just older and a bit outdated. Securing the flowers in the protective shell container (a basket with a clear, wind-resistant lid), you snapped on the helmet and started the engine, making a hard right into the street. 

It occurs to you as you're driving that you didn’t bother to look at the address in your haste to escape an uncomfortable situation gone wrong. So much for talking things out and tackling your problems head-on. That really worked out well. You squint beneath the afternoon glare reflecting off the lid, but the address is written so tiny and messily you have to pull over and open the basket in order to get a better look.

279 Blueberry Street.

You just about dropped those flowers, gripping them a bit too tight so that a few stray thorns poked your fingers. 279 Blueberry Street was...well. 

It was Jeongin’s address.

...You had no idea what was going on, but intuition told you it was something fishy, something planned and arranged just as carefully as this cliché arrangement of red roses and baby’s breath. Typical and predictable, just like the old Yang Jeongin.

You’d bite. You drove the scooter across town and into your neighborhood, parking in the drive behind Mr. Yang’s Nissan. You remember taking many car trips around town and into neighboring cities in the backseat, Jeongin at your side, dropping fries and Cheerios and frozen yogurt all over the protective mats and onto each other. With a frustrated huff, you scurry to the front porch.

Maybe this is a crazy coincidence. Maybe Mr. Yang ordered flowers for his wife. Maybe Mrs. Yang got flowers for her husband. Maybe they both ordered them for Jeongin, as part of a gift to commemorate something you were once, for the first time in your life, unaware of. Or maybe you’d read the address wrong. Maybe it was Bluebell Street or Bellberry Street or something entirely different, and you were delusionally tripping because, hah, what else had been new over the course of the past few months...few years. Maybe...maybe--

A warm light envelops you as the door swings open, and you’re instantly hit with the nostalgic scent of fresh lavender and spring-time strawberries. The candles that Mrs. Yang loves to buy.

Jeongin’s eyes are strained, but there’s a new warmth about them that feels familiar. Like a withered blossom sprouting back to life. He’s no longer dressed in his work apron and usual uniform; instead he’s freshly showered, wearing Church clothes, his dark hair still wet and tangled to a messy frame around his face. There’s a comb stuck to the back of his head, and following your stare he removes it with a sheepish chuckle, tossing it somewhere towards the living room and attempting to tame wild curls in a more presentable manner. He smiles, tenderly.

“You made it...I was worried you’d think it was a mean joke.”

“Well…” You consider. “I almost did. But there are infinite possibilities out there, right?”

His smile blooms. Taking the smallest rose, he checks it for thorns before tucking it behind your ear. “Yeah,” he says, “There definitely are. Come in, please...there’s a lot of things I need to apologize for. Starting with the whole disappearing for three years and...yeah.”

You supplement his cringe with a frown, then thinking about the ridiculous letter, imagine him beneath flickering candlelight, frantically scrawling down a horrifically worded letter in secrecy. You think about him in Barcelona nervously pacing between bustling touristy streets and getting lost or ripped off and wanting to scream at the stupidity of his actions and lack of Spanish. You imagine him in a woodshop in Berlin, flipping through a dictionary and pointing to words he can’t begin to pronounce and the amount of frustration cooked up from having to go through five woodsmiths until he found one that spoke just a bit of a broken language he understood, and the funny game of Pictionary that probably followed. 

You laugh, shoving his shoulder on the way in and hurrying into the kitchen for a vase. After placing the display on the counter, you grab his collar, kissing his cheek. 

His face burns the shade of chrysanthemums, wide eyes wondering what it was he did to deserve such a reaction. To you, he had more or less abandoned you, after all.

But you know better. You’ve known Yang Jeongin since you were five years old; when he knocked over a bottle of glue onto your summer dress after trying to hand you the paper flower he’d made. When things seem bad, they’re never personally intended. They’re never what they really seem. And you should have remembered that, too.

He spins you around now, and the two of you laugh, laughter echoing down the cream-colored halls all the way to the back garden. Back to a simpler time; a time when the two of you were just kids, pushing each other on the big oak swing and tackling each other in mud, smiling amongst the flowers.

There’s this flower shop down the road from your house that you’re used to going to. It’s one of those hole-in-the-wall places, the kind that never stand out unless you’re actively looking for them. The brick’s chipped, it’s covered in vines, and the sign out front is hanging by a stem. 

It’s the place where you and Yang Jeongin reside, never again apart, for the rest of your days. ✿

ღ Stray Kids M.List | M.List ღ

[mego42]

#like I don’t care about press generally #but when it says stuff I like I care a lot .... SO RELATABLE 😂😂😂😂😂😂 how many times have I read something that makes me so mad and I’m like oh that’s crap they’re lying they don’t know what they’re talking about and then they go and say something Brio positive and I’m like YES YES that’s what I’m talking about I love these people they’re going to give us exactly what we want.

hahahahahah YES EXACTLY. listen when it comes to cast/showrunner interviews, the percentage of attention i pay to them basically breaks down to the following:

cast interviews: 0-3% the 3 being only when they say something I like, otherwise I ignore cast interviews entirely, actors are coming at the story from a completely different headspace and tbqhhhhhhh their POV is like, the least important bc they aren’t shaping the story, they’re just finding a space to live in it. not only that, but their POV isn’t necessarily even grounded in reality bc they are playing fictional people who do fictional things and while i am not personally 100% on this one, i hear fiction and reality are very different things.

ex a: matthew with dean, of course he’s going to say sympathetic things about the character, he has to live in his head and make him believable, you can’t do that if you don’t find a point of empathy and understanding. do i think matthew supports everything dean does? no, he seems like a super stand up dude and tbh i love him a lot so like, bias and all. but of course he’s going to defend dean, his literal job is to be dean and any good actor will tell you you can’t do that well without finding something to connect with which brings me tooooooo

ex b: manny with rio! i remember there was an interview thing i saw awhile back where he was talking about rio as this guy who is doing what he does to take care of his family and he’s modeling the character on people who lived around him growing up (forgive me it’s been awhile, i’m paraphrasing so idk if this is 100%) and rio’s human, he’s not all bad or all good which i agree with both in terms of the character and like, people in general. but also, dude murders people. dude orders other people to murder people. dude uses terror and very, very real, serious, and again, fatal consequences to keep his control. rio is not a good person, right? like, we all know that right? we would probably not like him in real life, again bc of the murder. i just want to make sure we’re clear on this. THAT SAID, in fiction, as a character, he’s fascinating, well rounded and extremely magnetic and the way manny plays him is fascinating, well rounded and extremely magnetic and a lot of that is because he’s gotten into his head and found a point of connective empathy to build on but when he talks about rio like a good dude with an unconventional job i’m like okay, but murder.

(and as an aside, this is part of why it drives me lowhighkey bonkers how much shit christina gets for the way she talks about beth and dean but that’s a whole other thing please leave me out of it, it just makes me cranky)

the point is, actors? not coming from a remotely audience POV and tbh their opinions on their characters are like probs some of the smallest potatoes when it comes to dictating where the story is going so literally who cares if they’re saying something you don’t like.

showrunner/producer interviews: 13-27% again, the 27 going to when i like what they say, 13 for when i don’t but i’m still curious how they’re framing the ep/season/whatever. bc i am a nerd and like knowing how people think about their work vs how i feel about it bc i think that’s interesting

the thing about showrunner interviews is, like actor interviews, they’re working with a completely different POV than the audience. they know what they’re planning and writing towards and also what they want the audience to be currently thinking about and also what they want to say to prime the audience to react to stuff hey know is coming. trying to predict shit based on showrunner interviews is like trying to play a game of three dimensional chess from inside the board against someone outside of it and also you’re in two dimensions. it’s pointless and most likely just gonna give you a headache. 

not only that but creating a thing is a really really really different experience from absorbing a thing. to do it in a satisfying way, you can’t just focus on the stuff you like or the stuff you don’t like comes through, drags the rest of it down and it’s a bummer for everyone. much like actor stuff, you have to find a way to connect with every part of your story to ensure it’s all getting the care and focus required to make it sing for your audience but unlike the actor stuff, you’re doing this on 16 additional levels.

and finally, look, sometimes (oftentimes) the showrunner is going to like and care about different stuff about the show than random audience member #473, tumblr user dianepleasesitonmyface or reddit user redditisafuckingcesspoolohmygodwhyareyouonthereloveyourself (and all three of those might have v dif priorities too) and they’re allowed to feel that way AND write for that because..........drumroll please...........it’s their show.

basically showrunners are going to do and say what they’re going to do and say and sometimes it’s going to be ridiculously problematic and they should be roasted until the end of time for it, but a lot of times it just is what it is. it’s not worth getting worked up over bc literally what are you going to do about it except bum yourself out over something you don’t have anywhere near enough puzzle pieces to even accurately asses anyway.

my b apparently i had less of a short breakdown and more a pile of thoughts,  feelings and baggage i wanted to ramble out. 

tl;dr: i've been trapped in my house like a sewer rat for over a year, i don’t care what matthew or manny or christina or jenna want me to think or feel about the show bc they are not the boss of me thanks for coming to my ted talk i guess.

[infearandfaith777]

lil thang i wrote

Long post ahead y’all but who knows maybe you’re getting a preview to what will someday be a successful blogging or writing career and you’ll be glad that you knew me before i blew up the internet with my offensive views 🤪 lol just kidding i know I’m not that important haha!!

Over the course of the next few days I’m going to be posting all the photos that im always forgetting to post bc im deactivating my Facebook for the foreseeable future, and i would like to have my mass amount of backed up photos on here. Social media is a huge time sucking vortex for me in this stage of my life. It always has been (I’ve been in big tech’s clutches since i was in the 6th grade, i consider us all to be little lab rats of the ongoing social media experiment) I’ve been making a real effort to work on it the last few years. I’ve made progress, I’m just not seeing the full fruit and i know that it’s because I’m 1) stubborn and sinful 2) i choose my wants over what I know is right. I guess those are the same thing 🤪 My oh my, it’s so easy to slip. My biggest step for this year was deleting my Instagram a few months ago. i lied to myself when i said that it wouldn’t be a big deal to have the Facebook app on my phone since I’m not a fan of the layout/platform anyways. but what I’ve found is that slowly but surely, the time that i would’ve spent on Instagram is now being spent on here 🤷‍♀️ oy vey.

I know myself well enough to know that my self control when it comes to social media is an absolute mess, it doesn’t matter how hard i try. I keep failing at meeting my goal for how to spend my time online and I’m over it. for some people their social media usage/consumption isn’t a big deal because they know their limits and they’re mature enough to handle it but I’m not and it’s okay to admit that. we’ve built an attractive idol in the shape of a little square box of light and quite frankly I’m sick of mine. I don’t want to miss any of the beautiful season of life that I’m in. Socials aren’t adding to anything for me right now, as much as I’d like for them to and try for them to. They’re taking from me. Who knows, they’re likely taking from some of you too but we don’t usually question it because our culture is so addicted and it seems unrealistic to think of real life without an online life on the side.

time is God given, and short, and i want to steward mine well. Now, I have to clarify that I’m not bashing social media or it’s users. It might not seem like it from everything I’ve said thus far but I love social media. Really, truly i do. & that’s the heart of the problem, is that sometimes i fear that i love it more than i love God. It’s hard for me to be in the word sometimes, yet i have no problem hopping online and seeing what’s poppin. That’s messed up. I love the brilliance of everything at our fingertips. I love what it can be. But I hate what it often and usually is. it’s designed to keep you scrolling & i of all people understand the incredible difficulty in finding balance. They feed on our sinful desire for constant and instant gratification. Despite the coding, the use of the tool itself is a neutral party. It’s up to us how we use it, whether that be good or bad lies in our hands. Literally, your phone lies in your hands.

So what do you choose to do with it?

If you could see God sitting beside you watching what you’re looking at (which He IS but you know what i mean, if He was literally visible to your eye staring at the screen) would you at any point be ashamed of what you’re doing on your phone? I know there’s times that i would be.

How much time do you spend on it?

Can you answer those questions honestly and be at peace with the answer? If you can, great! 🤠

But if you’re like most of us and maybe less than pleased with your time usage or what you’re doing/looking at online, then what are some real changes you can make?

Is there something else could you be dedicating your time to? Something you always say you “don’t have enough time” for even though you have plenty of time to be online??? 🤔

Do you think you could limit your consumption if you tried or is the urge to scroll too powerful?

We could all stand to ask ourselves these things from time to time..

Im cutting off what I know is a sin for me. It might not be for you and that’s awesome. Either way we should be talking more about how social media has affected our society.

Maybe with a long hiatus, and a lot of prayer, God will help me to learn how to use my social media the way that i know i should. wisely, with MUCH greater self control, and always for His glory. 🤍

Colossians 3:17, ESV: "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do EVERYTHING in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."

(emphasis added)

Proverbs 15:3

The eyes of the Lord are in every place,

Watching the evil and the good.

Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it. Keep your mouth free of perversity; keep corrupt talk far from your lips. Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil (Proverbs 4:23-27)

“The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!

Matthew 6:22-23

“Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways.”

Psalm 119:37

“But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”

1 Corinthians 9:27

[endobiologist]

Furry Species Stereotypes #1 - By Me

Note;

These are only my personal views of the furry fandom's species I know from my personal experiences with them,

and if not that, then general common assumptions or stereotypes.

Thus, this is not gospel truth for everyone!

If you disagree, please tell me why!

I'd love you guys' take.

I also tried to name as many species I could think about off the top of my head without looking them up, which took FOREEEEVER.

You can reply to this or anon ask me, or DM me with ones I've missed, even your personal own created species (even if no one knows them yet), I'll do them too in a reply to this!

Real existing species stereotypes down below, here!;

WOLVES ; Due to this being the most common persona, you are most likely someone who follows the crowd and likes things that are popular. You however are still a pretty solitary being, preferring a dark corner over a party's dance floor. You love honesty and loyalty and have those traits to a fault, never ever abandoning a friend or ally, in need or not. You may also like things like squishy toys and squeaky toys, fidget spinners, and any manner of play item. Also, basically, to sum it up; YA' BASIC. Sorry. 😆

FOXES ; Somewhat similar to ferrets, raccoons, & sometimes rats, you both scurry around quickly simultaneously physically, and in conversation, and you may "borrow" items from places seemingly like a kleptomaniac, but for sentimental items. Basically if you are friends with a fox fursona, your jacket and/or gloves, pins, pizza (LOL) and many other miscellaneous items may go missing "mysteriously" due to them collecting it as a habit. They almost never mean true harm, they just like keeping your stuff because it reminds them of you, which can be seen as creepy by some people. But it is also very endearing, if done with pure intentions. But you may want to tell the fox to stop taking your things and ask you first! LOL. You always seem to have a ridiculous amount of energy and for some reason, an insane amount of optimistic viewpoints, and positive happy personality. You also like your books, preferring to spend a night reading then playing video games. (Although you do enjoy those too.) You are pretty academic, but yet you can also do well in physical sports, if you're into that sort of thing. There are a few points in the wolf & dog category I would assign here too, most likely due to all three being canines, like liking the squeaky and squishy toys and other stem items, and being verrrry loyal if a bit solitary in nature.

CATS (BIG) ; ...Y'all are usually assholes! There! I said it! I'm sorry to say, but nine times out of 10, you guys seem to be huge dicks, and I'm... not sure why, exactly?? What attracts the enormous dickwad to the big cat's umbrella of wild cat species? Maybe, perhaps, it is the superior, regal, and majestic appearance of big cats,--perhaps relating to their usual narcissism in normal life? Okay, so, I'm exaggerating a little, I have met some big cats that are great and very good friends. But a lot of them I've seen have been downright rude, callous, cold, and distant, at best! And downright asswads at worse!! However it seems like as bad as they go when they're bad, they go really good when they're actually good. When they are cool people, they're actually surprisingly chill, especially when comparing to the other type of big cat. They tend to usually be D.J.s, dancers, comedians, performers or some sort of person in the entertainment field, in some way. Those type're usually hella nice to get along with, however their super friendly exterior disguises a very weird, eccentric and esoteric mind beneath. They also seem to ooze confidence outwardly, even if they aren't confident feeling on the inside. They are royal and regal, and usually relatively unfazed by anything that would hurt normal people pretty badly. These are usually the type of people who don't get into emotions very often, or if they do, they always still have a wall up between them and the other person. They're strong, but that's because they force themselves to be strong, and it makes for a very bad night if the big cat snaps and takes out their very strong, tiger-like roar of anger on others! Thus if you are a big cat, I suggest finding ways to manage your anger, and finding ways to relieve your stress, as I noticed people who are big cats in their fursona tend to be very stressed in real life for some reason. Again, I'm not sure why people who are, are attracted to that species specifically.

CATS (SMALL) ; You kitties are solitary like the big cats and wolves, however much more docile. There's two main types of cats that are house cats in fursona; There's the serious brooding figure that seems to be always alone yet peaking curiosity in everyone's eyes--the type that is stealthy, sneaky, and very cat-like--as in, realistic cat-like. You may sit strangely or have odd habits in voice or body, something that makes you stand out as different. There's also the second type of cat, which is basically an UWU XOXO anime girl that is ridiculously feminine, high pitched, and almost always is a neko type furry character instead of a full furry anthropomorphic character. Not that there's anything wrong with nekos, they're awesome too, it just seems to be a trend that any neko is usually a cat. You may like to actually smoke catnip! (Okay that was a joke LOL, but yes, it is possible, and yes it does get humans somewhat high, but most would not recommend it due to it being short & tasting bad! LMAO 😆) You also really like batting things around, or batting things off tables or counters--when you have a cup of tea beside you, the urge to knock your mug off the table is irresistible, even though your rational mind denies the notion from actually happening. You tend to like yarn snd thread, whether that means just playing with it or knitting or sewing etc. and making creations with it! You usually like fish a lot, mostly sushi is your favorite, and usually, you tend to be more based in Japanese culture.

DOGS ; See wolves, but add loyalty hella and way more people-oriented. you're somehow more basic than wolves 🤣

RABBITS ; As someone who has a rabbit as one of my main 3 fursonas, I have to admit I love rabbits. We are usually very social, unlike the animal we're based on, preferring to conversate and meet people. Although, like the rabbit, we may be shy to actually begin the conversation, or initiate plans on our own. We also scare easily, and most of us for some reason tend to have anxiety or panic disorders, not always, but quite often, and that can usually be why we relate to the characters of rabbits which go still & shake or attack fiercely with their hind legs if scared. There are some people with rabbit fursonas that are definitely fully shy, but a lot of them are actually quite more outgoing than you would think they are. And no, rabbits usually don't love carrots. (Including real rabbits, they eat mostly hay and carrots should only be a treat!) But for some reason one thing I noticed is that almost everybody's fursona in existence is. Just. Super sexual and flirty and just out there in every way. They can come across as perverted and strange to a lot of people due to this, once they reveal their true colours rather than their cutesy entrance, to those they know well.

DEER ; You guys are the innocent bunch, the kids that seemed to never know what was going on when it came to violence or sexual content in any media or situation. This innocence continues throughout your life. You're usually a 'deer in the headlights' and can get very confused easily and a lot, and also you can become quite shy and reclusive if you don't have friends to pull you out of it to shove you into social situations by force. You may not be 'the brightest bulb in the bunch', but you are definitely the friendliest, kindest, and most understanding one in it. Most people love being your friend because your support gives strength that can't be found elsewhere, due to the power and stability of your connection to people. You also may really like salad.

BEARS ; You guys are a bunch of big gentle giants. For some reason, most every person who plays a bear fursona seem to be gigantic in real life, either super tall, or super fat, or super muscular, or a combination or all of the above! Whatever it is, they're always big intimidating figures. Yet, despite this, they seem to be very sweet, mild-mannered and very loyal. They also seem to have a lazy streak, preferring to lay down and eat honey rather than do anything productive on time. Don't get me wrong, they'll do the task, but it'll just take until they feel like doing it. However when they have ambition, they have it and have it well, being able to rise to Big manager positions very easily. They tend to be very shy both in romantic situations and just in general. Despite their large presence, they're just a bunch of softies.

OPOSSUMS ; An opossum is one of my main fursonas, based on me. Plus I can tell you from experience that opossums are little shits. They will pester the shit out of you, text you non-stop, and talk your ears off if you let them. They're not trying to be annoying or clingy, but they're just that type of person that really clings to people and likes talking to people as long as possible when they like them. Like raccoons, rats, and other things on this list, they like hoarding treasure and they tend to be sneaky mischievous little beings, loving to pull pranks or make a joke to make someone laugh hard. The opossums are kind of the clowns of the furry species, always being the comedian of the group. We love soft blankets and we tend to sleep with our head under the covers completely like we were in our mother's pouch. Also a lot of us do what I call the 'human sofa', where we curl around someone's back as they sit, and become their backrest, to snuggle them.

WEASELS & FERRETS ; Same as opossum, but make them scary and super suspicious all the time. I mean seriously, these guys are "sus". Who knows what they're up to? But they tend to be great comedians, and can always crack a joke that's sly and sarcastic to make someone burst out laughing, even if it's just one person who does due to their obscure references to their many fandoms.

RACCOONS ; Same as opossums, weasels, and ferrets--except add that you love trash. Whether this means collecting empty boxes, like shoe boxes and electronic boxes, or collecting old newspapers, or straws, or broken glass, (who knows?!) or making new pretty things out of old withered things, all of it you adore! You enjoy the feeling of making the most out of nothing, and pulling something out of your ass to survive no matter what the situation. This tendency can lead to intense resourcefulness in every area of life.

SKUNKS ; They all tend to be really chill, mostly... because all of you are fucking weed smokers! I guess it comes with the territory since skunks have a skunky smell, but damn does your skunky smell smell skunkier than a skunk! 😆🤣 Okay, okay, now besides the usual stoner stereotypes, you skunks are pretty chill beings, usually preferring a night on the couch. Although when they do catch you adventuring, they'd catch you frolicking in nature, and catching tadpoles, or doing something odd in a river. You love forests, and also love the sounds of city, traffic, and cars passing by. Rain is one of your favourite times.

BADGERS ; Y'all are some bad motherfuckers, the type of person who could kick anyone's ass, any amount of people, and come out without a scratch. People like you are nearly indestructible, and also tend to be somewhat snappy and harsh to others, although usually unintentionally. You tend to love honey, and/or any kinds of sweet things, which tends to contrast with your spicy personality. You have a pain tolerance out of this world, and you also have mental pain tolerance as well, seeming to never get hurt or let down by others' actions. This is due to you never fully trusting, and always preparing somewhat for a let down.

TANUKIS (JAPANESE RACCOON DOGS) ; This is my main fursona, and like opossums, Japanese Raccoon Dogs / Tanukis are ridiculously loyal and strange, almost clown-like beings, and also like raccoons, they love finding old things and transforming them into new. They also tend to be very artistic and really like colours, usually having some form of synesthesia if not multiple, usually having to do with colour association. Also you usually have a very strong connection to Japan and it's culture, either being Japanese or just loving the culture itself, and tend to base a lot of your life around Japanese things. You may even be planning to move to Tokyo someday! Tanukis are notoriously mischievous, but in a friendly, jokey way, and they tend to never want to make people mad. Due to this, they are always very friendly and positive, as much as they can, even if they feel the opposite inside. These are also the types of people to be very esoteric, weird, and downright uncanny, which fits their Japanese theme as Japan does some weird shit too LOL. Also usually stoners. Also pretty flirty, but not overly.

COYOTES & OTHER MISC. CANINES ; As a less common version of dogs, you have some manner of uniqueness about you! You tend to be active, especially physically, and in sports, usually very likely to do hiking as well. You tend to be pretty chipper, although you can come across as sarcastic or biting when you're in a bad mood. When you're in a good mood, everyone can feel it, and your smile brightens up the space around you! People tend to be attracted to your demeanor, even if you don't mean to attract them, they still come, and this quality can lead you to some of your lifelong friends (and perhaps, enemies.).

SHARKS & OTHER AQUATICS ; You aquatic creatures tend to be the jocks of the group, however despite your jockiness, you actually have quite a brain on you; being able to figure out complex things like math problems that are way ahead of where you are, or learning to read very soon in your life, and maybe even being in spelling bees or talent shows later on! You tend to have a scientific mind, and definitely have at least one or two fish tanks, if not a whole room full. You can be a bit perverted, and even a little bit dominating in conversation, but for people who can get past that--you make a loyal, fun, and active friend.

SNAKES & OTHER REPTILES ; You all tend to seem shady no matter how stand-up you are, and the fact that you never go in the spotlight, always preferring to stay by the sidelines and observe and watch others closely. Occasionally, you may leave a small remark, and due to you barely talking, those things you do say echo only louder for those who hear. You tend to be reclusive and secluded, loving the silence of rainy days with no one bugging you, and your beautiful reptiles. You tend to be quite confident, and even heroic at your best, being kind and also empathetic and caring, and intelligent. At your worst, you can come off as cold, manipulative or even cruel at times. Snakes and reptiles are usually seen with dislike and/or fear by others, which can lead to a hardened heart in you that makes you trust less easily, fearing judgement in who you are.

AXOLOTLS & OTHER AMPHIBIANS ; You guys kiiinda tend to be the 'uwu i'm special!!1!' bunch, but rather than in an insensitive annoying way, in the way that you're genuinely childish and innocent and naive, which can be both a blessing and a curse. Like the aquatic axolotl, you stay young forever, (kind of like Peter Pan!) and you seemingly never lose your sense of humour, your playfulness, or your absolute randomness at times. You are someone who would fight to the death for a friend you just met, even though you are usually pacifistic. You have great traits when it comes to caring for others, and fully taking care of others--skills that would bode well for you becoming a nurse, doctor, psychiatrist or therapist. You tend to love water, and will go swimming the whole summer while it's warm enough! You also don't mind, even if it's cold, you'll jump in anyway.

MICE & OTHER RODENTS ; You guys tend to be even more cutesy and little than rabbits! A lot of you guys seem to be age aggressors due to mental illness, and thus choose a very small, innocent animal as their fursona. These people can also just be generally childlike, innocent and playful, albeit very shy. The other type of rodents are the creepy ass ones who give off a high & mighty vibe, being very confident, swaggering, and even mysterious at times. They're the cool kids you see in school, pretending to be some mysterious goth kid, but really they just learned the goth look a week ago.

GENERAL INSECTS/BUGS ; You tend to be very odd, weirding out the general public more than you do connect with them. You've always felt a strange disconnect between yourself and the world, feeling like you're not really there or like you could be more. You might have transformed from being a totally different person in your past, to being a radically different person now. You tend to rule change and dreams and mystic things, perhaps even being some sort of psychic. You tend to have an extremely open mind and a very welcoming, understanding personality, due to you even seeing the beauty in bugs, which so many find repulsive. This quality will follow you into life, which you must be careful of--don't start trusting everyone you meet. Due to you always seeing the best in everyone, you can get taken advantage of easily.

And now fictional/mythical/extinct/hybrids down here;

DUTCH ANGEL DRAGONS ; Y'all give off a very confident vibe to me, although it's hidden under an exterior of pretend anxiety or hesitancy, which you really don't feel. You're one of those preppy kids who tends to dress girly regardless of gender, can't handle coffee but loves their jasmine tea, likes their succulents planted in their house in cute little DIY decorated plant vases, and wears pastels of colour. You tend to be a bright, vibrant person who sees the best in things, and you can be a little naive due to your extreme and blind happiness that radiates purely from you.

GENERAL DRAGONS ; You tend to intimidate others easily, but this is not something you mean to do whatsoever. In fact, you usually try your best to make friends although you usually scare them off, whether due to being unintentionally too clingy, or just being too awkward in conversation. You tend to have anxiety or different worries about things, but you try and overtake these things with a massive upbeat attitude. Although sometimes, this attitude does falter, and you can become somewhat pessimistic without reminder. Also, like raccoons, ferrets and other similar animals, you love to hoard treasure and things you love, everything from gemstones, to rocks, to bottle caps, to pieces of broken glass--it doesn't matter what it is, if it's collectible, you will collect it.

PROTOGENS/PRIMAGENS ; You guys tend to lean heavily into the Japanese aesthetic, or at least into the vapourwave aesthetic. Perhaps even steampunk! Whatever it is, you follow it heavily. You also tend to be a tech nerd. You can help anyone with any computer problem almost effortlessly, and you even have knowledge of technologies in the recent past such as devices like record players, VHS tapes, etc. that most younger people wouldn't know about (if you are young, or if you're old, you know from experience.). You could even be a hacker of some sort if you wanted to, considering your huge skill with computers. Personality-wise you tend to be very cutesy, excitable and both very very innocent, and yet somehow perverted, at the same time. You most likely speak more than one language. I'm not sure why, but it seems like every protogen or primagen I've met speaks multiple languages, two at least, if not more.

SERGALS ; Very similar to sharks, with some qualities of reptiles. You guys also have the Leo zodiac-like personality type of loving to be loved; being in the spotlight is your favourite thing, no matter what it's for! Due to this, some Sergals will tire of reaching for difficult positive attention, and will start to even accept negative attention as attention they want, then will try and act like a troll on purpose to fuck with people, only to get a reaction. Other times they're just chill and generally relaxed people, although if you threaten their family they become very hostile and very unstable emotionally, quickly.

CRUX ; Due to the history of the species being about being experimented on, and abused, and combined, etc. etc., people who play cruxes tend to be pretty edgy "look at how dark I am!!" people. However not always--sometimes, weirdly, very girly, upbeat & happy people will roleplay cruxes. So it's kind of unsure what you'll get when you interact with one. It's pretty much a 50/50 chance on whether they're upbeat & happy, or dark & brooding. Whatever the case, they tend to be usually neurodivergent, since cruxes are mentally ill if you think about it basically, a lot of people have latched on to them as their comfort species for being mentally ill. Like dogs, you love squeaky toys and also you love piercings, and tattoos, and any body modification you can achieve!

PHOENIXES ; Similar 'emo' type to cruxes--people generally choose phoenixes due to their history of being unbreakable when it comes to physical harm. Due to this, a lot of emo people latched on to them. However there are also regular people who play phoenixes, and they tend to be very regal--if a bit intimidating, and are very ambitious & strong-minded people. They have a fieryness that blazes through to show their phoenix-y nature bubbling underneath the surface.

GRYPHONS ; For some reason, you tend to be very aggressive and domineering individuals--think Bakugo Katsuki from My Hero Academia, the anime. Sometimes you can come off as a huge asshole, but you're really well meaning on the inside, and you try to do your best by everyone--you just seem intimidating and aggressive due to resting bitch face and voice, LOL.

DINOSAURS ; You are an excitable individual, whether that means being angry easily, or hyper easily. You tend to be younger in age, or at least younger in mind, having an innocent heart and somewhat ferocious ambitions. You are strong and untamable when it comes to authority figures bossing you around. Most of the time there's no changing your mind if it's set, and you can be very stubborn, pushy, and audacious at your worst, and at your best; proud, confident, encouraging and passionate!

SKULLDOGS & OTHER SKULLIES ; Similar to phoenixes and cruxes, they tend to attract emo, goth, punk, or scene people, however rarely a bubbly girly person will roleplay one, and usually do it with pastel colours instead of dark. They tend to be somewhat reclusive, but yet enjoy people's company when forced to interact. They are people who don't really give a shit much in most circumstances, but when something gets them stirred up, it gets them up and going quickly. They can be somewhat cold and harsh to those who don't know them well, who know that it's all a façade of intimidation, to drive you away from getting closer to them.

FOLVES & OTHER HYBRIDS ; Similar to foxes, you're an excitable hyper furball that will jump around the room, and meet as many friends, and talk to as many people as you can! You guys seem to have none of the reclusive types of personality traits that foxes usually have, and instead seem to be very pack-bonded people! You love finding lucky things, like a clock or license plate that has triple numbers, or picking up a lucky penny off the street. The little things in life make you very happy.

So what do you think?

Did I get your species correct?

If so, or if not, tell me why in the replies! I will read 'em all.

[zerobotic]

Well, you asked for it and you can’t say I didn’t warn you :3

First off, the usual disclaimer that I did enjoy DH2. I thought it had some very interesting level design ideas with the clockwork mansion and crack in the slab, the new powers were very cool and fun to use, and it polished some of the rough edges from the first game’s mechanics. It’s just the story and such that disappointed me after how much I loved the first game.

So to start off here’s some of the things I found disappointing or frustrating (and keep in mind these are all just my personal feelings on the games):

“Spoiled rich person learns a lesson from poverty tourism” is a plot that gets on my nerves in general and that’s more or less what happened here with Emily’s story

Like, not to disagree with an anti-rich-people story but the first one did a much more poignant job of highlighting greed and corruption and letting you be the one actually fighting it, rather than putting you in the position of perpetuating it. It felt like the first game showed it, while the second game just preached about it.

Boy this sure did feel out of character for both Corvo and Emily. Emily watched her mother be murdered at ten years old for the sake of political power, and then was held hostage for six months while being told her father was executed for her mother’s death. She got a firsthand view of how much the people of the empire were suffering during this time, and then when she finally got rescued she was immediately kidnapped and used as a pawn again by yet more schemers after her mother’s throne. You cannot tell me that’s a person who would grow up to be spoiled and carefree and complacent with their position, or someone who wouldn’t give a shit about their people. Yes, I know that she was a headstrong, rebellious kid with an adventurous streak, and I’m not trying to claim she wouldn’t probably still prefer, on some level or another, to escape to the rooftops with a sword rather than being stuck in court. I’m just saying that kids grow up and change and whoever wrote the second game seems to be stuck on taking ten-year-old Emily at face value for her adult self’s personality too, instead of considering how the first game’s events might have actually influenced her. She’s got more than enough firsthand experience to know to be wary of scheming nobles. (Also I definitely got the feeling, playing the first game, that at least a bit of how Emily behaved at the Hound Pits was her trying to cope with what was happening.) You also can’t tell me that Corvo, father and royal protector of the current empress, man with the most reason and justification to be paranoid out of everyone in the whole damn empire after everything he’s been through, would be so negligent in paying attention to a coup that the first mission claims pretty much everyone in Dunwall knew was happening. 

Building off of that, in general it felt like the first game wasn’t allowed to have much of an impact. It pays lipservice to Jessamine’s death, and acknowledges Corvo having been a badass back then, but that’s....about it? Like I said in the other post, the first game felt so saturated in grief, both for Jessamine and for everything else going on in Dunwall, that it really influenced the overall tone of the game. The second one kinda feels like the first one never happened, or at least didn’t have any lasting influence on the characters or world, and it’s kind of jarring going from one to the other.

So with all that said, here’s my idea for a different DH2. Still using Karnaca as the setting and Delilah as the primary antagonist, just...different. 

"Delilah wants to use a reality-altering painting to change the world into her vision of it” is still a plot point. Except, instead of the end of the game, it’s the beginning. It’s a logical extension of her actions and powers during the Daud DLC - the plan to use Emily’s painting to take over almost worked til it was stopped, so there’s clearly potential there. She’ll just think bigger, more direct this time.

The game starts on a ship. Emily and Corvo are en route to Karnaca for some sort of diplomatic mission. We get to know them a little bit during this opening trip: Emily isn’t an absent, complacent ruler, she's a young woman who inherited a difficult throne as a child, after a series of traumatic events, and now she's trying hard to live up to her mother's legacy and prove herself worthy to an empire that still seems to only see her as the child she was during the interregnum. She’s doing her best, but she’s insecure about all of that, and spends a lot of time frustrated with the back and forth scheming of the nobles, trying to please everyone instead of putting her foot down and getting things done. Corvo is trying to keep her safe where he failed Jessamine, but court still isn’t his preferred arena either. 

The night before they’re due to arrive in Karnaca, we start getting hints that something is...off. Strange dreams, maybe?

They land in Karnaca and things are different than expected. But they don’t get time to look around, because there's guards there to arrest them, claiming they’re wanted criminals. They’ve got music boxes or something that can strip Corvo of his powers, and only one of them gets away while the other is taken. The one that gets away is stuck alone, disoriented, and hunted in an unfamiliar city - even if you play as Corvo, things are different than he remembers. More different than can be explained by just time. 

They meet Meagan Foster. She takes them to meet a group of ex-whalers (the player character doesn’t know who they are). They’re a group that got back in touch with each other in Karnaca after Daud left and the whalers split, and they still do shady shit, but these days it’s generally more smuggling type stuff and they’ve put down the assassin blades. They’re the equivalent of the loyalist home base in this game. Meagan is still the Samuel stand-in, taking the player places and narrating things as necessary. 

Information is shared and the player finds out that somehow, the world is changed from what they remember. Delilah is the empress, here, come by it what seemed like legitimately at some point in the 15 years between Jessamine’s death and now, and Emily and Corvo are wanted criminals. No one seems aware of the change except for the player and the whalers (who only remember it because of their experience with magic, though the player character doesn’t learn that til much later). 

Clearly it’s Delilah who did something, because she has magic, and she’s the one on the throne now. 

The Outsider shows up in their dreams that first night in the new world, but something is clearly wrong in the void, too, and it seems like he’s barely capable of reaching out and communicating with them. He offers the mark, but disappears before really getting a chance to explain anything. 

The player goes through the game now with the goal of finding out what happened, how it happened, and how it can be fixed. DH2 and DOTO explained a lot more than I felt they should’ve, at times, and I preferred how the first game balanced worldbuilding with mystery. So, let things be explored and figured out along the way. 

Things are real bad in this universe. From Emily's perspective as she goes through the game, we get commentary questioning whether or not she was doing a good job, and comparing it to how things are in Delilah's world. There’s lots of corruption and poverty and people suffering, and the question "is this just Delilah's world? How much of this going on in mine too? In trying to navigate court instead of putting my foot down, was I failing my people in the end after all? Would it have been better if my mother was still the empress?" The difference between this and what DH2 did is that she was trying, there was just a lot hindering her, including her own doubts. In this one, those questions aren’t preaching, they’re a sign that she does care and is pained by the idea of her people suffering like this again, by the mere possibility that it might not be just Delilah’s world. 

Corvo and Emily have distinct perspectives, not just the same lines very slightly altered. 

The bloodfly infestations are either 1) a natural thing that wasnt supposed to turn ugly like this and has been affected by Delilah’s magic, or 2) wholly the product of unnatural magic. None of this "we need them and they’re always like this, just not this bad" stuff. if you're gonna repeat the plague motif, make it actually horrifying, like the rat plague was. In fact, there’s obvious magic influence here and there in general - maybe not quite as thorough as at Brigmore Manor, but it’s present enough to give you the creeping feeling that things aren’t right, here, visual confirmation of Delilah’s influence, that things have been changed and twisted from their normal state of things. Hell, maybe this is where the hollows from DOTO come in, the original world and Delilah’s altered version of it trying to bleed through each other in some spaces. Maybe that’s a different explanation for the crack in the slab mission, even. 

Actually, if you’re gonna repeat the plague motif, lean into the similarities between the rat plague era and now. Have them be reminded here and there by things they see, recount what happened and how terrible it was, compare it to now. Give NPCs lines about the comparison and how some of them left Dunwall only to be stuck living through something like this a second time. Let the first game have happened and had an impact, folks, cmon.

On a similar note, if you’re gonna keep Delilah's backstory the same when we finally learn it, let Emily and Corvo get mad about it. They lived through the first game - what right does Delilah have to talk like she's got a monopoly on suffering and that's why she should have the throne?

Delilah's mistake was assuming Emily was a sheltered child who wouldn’t come for her, rather than someone who's already been through a lot and come out on top. That was almost a satisfying thing about the second game but they messed up the execution of the whole concept and I want it to actually pay off. 

I’m not sure if the targets in this one should be the same or how much should change there. Honestly, except for Breanna, the targets in DH2 felt a lot less relevant to what was going on than the DH1 targets did, like...why are half these people even at this ritual? But for simplicity’s sake let’s keep it as close as we can, while also adjusting for the fact that this reality has been tailor-made for Delilah and her buddies. Perhaps the Duke is only the Duke here because things were rewritten to put one of Delilah’s allies in charge, and it was supposed to still be his father. Hypatia isn’t the crown killer (what even was that plot point honestly), she’s the doctor they found to help Delilah recover after her time in the void, and now they’ve rewritten things to imprison her in the institute to keep her quiet and out of the way, and you get wind of it and go to see what she knows. Etc. Is Sokolov involved in this version of things? I dunno! But speaking of Sokolov I want some sort of explanation for where the other surviving loyalists are, damnit. 

Delilah did something in and to the void, just like in canon, but it actually has a visible impact here (beyond just a total aesthetic redesign of the void between games that never gets commented on). The void is struggling under her influence when you find shrines, and you never know what you're gonna find at one of them, or what the Outsider is gonna be like, if he even shows up. Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of the way DH2 gave him a human backstory, because I liked the mystery there behind what he was and what the void was, but this is open to go either way, either with Delilah finding his death site like in canon, or some other way she found to influence it. I’m not sure how the progression would go of how the void changes over the course of the game, but it would be cool to get to help/save the Outsider in some kinda way. 

Finding Corvo's childhood home should have more impact. Let it be like when you find the saferoom in Dunwall tower, in the first game. A temporary refuge in a dangerous place, full of obvious memory and grief - not so much for the time spent here since that's so long in the past, but for all that's been lost, everything they've been through and are in the middle of going through. Especially if you're playing Emily - this is the home of the father she just lost.

Let the heart be vague and ominous again, and let our interactions with it be sad, especially as Emily! I’m still messed up about the first time I heard "the doom of Pandyssia has come to the city" in DH1, and the lines about the floodwaters and the plague victims, give me stuff like that! Especially in a world that isn’t meant to exist the way it currently is, where things have been twisted almost beyond recognition. And give me lines that remind Emily of the mother she lost and how this is the first time she's heard her voice since she was a child!

Give us more on citizens and how they're suffering in this world, the way the first game showed us plague victims who died in each other's arms, journals from the desperate and dying, living people sent to the flooded district. Let it be a reminder to Emily why it's worth it, why she has to change the world back and what she wants to be fighting for when she gets her throne back. Another reason to question - has she been doing all she can? (Alternatively, a source of righteous fury for high chaos Emily.)

This is a journey of self discovery for Emily, either low or high chaos. It's about realizing she hasn’t been doing all she could, despite her intentions, because she's been trying to please everyone and in the end it still wasn’t good enough. She needs to stop living under her mother's shadow and come into her own (and the heart plays a role in this epiphany, probably. This might actually come to a head when she has to let her mother's spirit go, if we're gonna keep that plot point.)

High chaos Emily is similar but in a more "alright no more nice empress" kinda way whereas low chaos is more about conviction to put her foot down to do what's right.

You meet people during the game who in a good ending become part of her new council. Common people, who are more in touch with what needs to be done. It pisses nobles off but she's determined to do better, after everything. It helps both her and Corvo come to terms with the whole safety thing, because you can't ever make sure you're totally safe but you can try to make sure the empire can keep going should something happen to its ruler.

In fact, part of Corvo's perspective on this game probably would involve him still wanting to keep Emily out of things for safety's sake, and wondering if sheltering her from knowledge of magic and such contributed to this situation.

When it's revealed who the whalers are, it's late in the game after we've already come to like them a lot. They don't betray you like the loyalists did, but it should still feel like a punch to the gut for Emily and Corvo.

They don’t know where Daud is, haven’t seen him since the whalers disbanded .

Billie talks about that whole thing, and it's complicated. She decides maybe she should try to find him, after all. Cue DLC, which is about finding Daud, and helping/saving him, and the two reconciling and Billie finding some kind of...if not redemption, then absolution. A parallel to the first game’s DLC, Billie getting an arc like that in Emily’s game the way Daud got that arc in Corvo’s game. Y’know, instead of DOTO going and undoing all of Daud’s character growth. 

I know I’m kind of handwaving the actual mechanics of who the targets are and how you actually go about uncovering what happened and how you can fix it and take down Delilah in the end, but this is all just. Concepts. If I were to try to write this as a fic or something I’d have to actually sit down and work out all those details, but for now this is something that’s just been living in my head since like an hour after I finished DH2 for the first time a couple years ago.

(I did warn you it was gonna be long lmao)

[occasionallyish--archive]

new oc just dropped.... from the mlb fandom...

tiinii, the rat kwami of purification. i’m thinking their(hells yeah, undefined gender squad B] ) miraculous would either be a pair of gloves or a mask- i was gonna originally say a medical mask but wouldn’t it be sick to have a rat-themed plague doctor mask???- actually, scratch that, it starts off as a medical mask but after the user transforms it changes into a plague mask. that’s what we goin with

so uh. you can prolly already tell a lot of it is based on irony lmao- ‘cause, y’know, rats equal disease and this one equals purification and all that the rat’s special ability would be healing, so, y’know, purification. with a touch, they can do things like reversing rot, undoing rust, reviving dead plants, and healing those in need! they can heal both injuries and illnesses. this can probably only happen a couple times during a transformation though, and if it’s during a battle, should only be used if it’s life or death- because ladybug’s magical fixing everything will fix anything that isn’t immediate

with chat blanc and hawkmoth and mayura, i like to think if any miraculous holder gets unstable enough that they’ll have some sort of unstable/chaotic/evil counterpart. that said, should the rat miraculous holder ever somehow be put in a state like that, the reverse would be corruption- i admit it’s kind of similar to chat’s cataclysm, but it wouldn’t be nearly as powerful or destructive. like, rather than rotting a plant until it turns to dust, the unstable rat could only really do it to the point that the plant’s all dead and shriveled up to the point that it looks like a raisin or smth. they’d also be able to bring upon disease, though only when making contact with a victim’s... f-fluids?? i mean, like, if the corrupted rat touched an open wound or kissed somebody then it’s near certain that that somebody would end up terribly ill

i think the theme of the hero part is pretty obvious lol. we’d have these tall, grey, wide rat ears with a black plague doctor mask that just possibly has a little rat nose at the end... maybe the plague mask itself would only cover, like, the bottom half of their face though- like overhaul from bnha. but then their eye mask is connected to it, kind of resembling a real plague mask but not offering full face coverage as classic ones do. most of the rest of their suit of course resembles the other heroes’, the skintight spandex that covers the entirety of their neck down. it’s all a dark gray color, with the hands, feet, and stomach being a lighter gray(or maybe pink? but that might be too similar to the mouse miraculous) ohh!! but to just slightly push further with the doctor theme.. you know how carapace has a hood built into his suit? the rat’s suit is going to have a sort of similar like... layering? add-on like that, too, where they have a black sort of shawl that just... hangs around their shoulders. but it only reaches like halfway down their arms, stopping just below the elbows(you can get an example of this by looking up feth mercedes). maybe i can make it so the shawl also covers their neck, sort of connecting with the plague mask? but that might look weird.. and then ofc they’d have the long, pink rat’s tail in the back i’m kind of having a hard time coming up with an item of choice. i was thinking maybe a syringe? but that’s a little modern for what i’d expect, plus it can be considered violent when most miraculous gadgets we’ve seen so far are nonviolent, and can be used as tools. i’ll think more into that later

as for the holder themself, i haven’t really shaped the person’s name or appearance or anything but i do have their personality down to a T lol i want to say they have ocd, but i don’t know the experience and dunno if i could represent that in an accurate light. either way, our rat miraculous holder is a total germaphobe- they have a valid excuse to wear their mask everywhere that they go, though ofc some people will still probably end up skeptical. still, they have an obsession that “the world around me is sick and/or i am sick and will ruin the world around me” and so they have a compulsion to wash any surface before and after they’ve touched it, to use hand sanitizer every fifteen minutes or so, probably to wear gloves in any particularly social settings, etc etc despite this, though, they actually don’t mind social interaction! in fact, they’re more comfortable when with other people- as long as they’re people that they’ve established they can trust. i wouldn’t go as far as to say they’re a social butterfly, but the holder of the rat doesn’t mind of bit if somebody wants to come and establish them as a friend generally though, they can be kind of skittish- not in the way of “i’m scared, time to run away lol” but in the way of it is kind of easily to catch them off guard, and in this way they probably heavily rely on reflexes if they were akumatized prior to becoming a holder(or maybe even after??) it’d probably be triggered by somebody like.. touching their food or giving unwanted touch or something, in order to tease them for their germophobia. the goal that would come out of that would be to make other people feel the same fear that they themself feel in their day-to-day life- so their akumatized power would be like... a plague. of paranoia? anybody infected with it would become irrationally fearful

and finally, some more information on our kwami tiihii, themself: -they’re selectively mute, only speaking to their miraculous holder(even then that’s barely ever), their miraculous guardian, and... that’s probably it lol. maybe they have a special trust in tikki, since she’s the first kwami? -they’re pretty much the healer of the kwamis. should one come up with any sickness like tikki did in that one episode, they could count on tiinii to easily heal ‘em -their personality is akin to the holder’s, but probably a larger scale. they get anxious of so many things. the littlest thing can scare this bby, even though they do put effort into improving... also they probably downright hate interacting, in general. partly hence the selective mutism. -they probably speak almost purely through body language, since i’m going to assume the kwamis don’t have an established sign language. if you aren’t one of the people i named above, the most you’re going to get out of tiinii is a nod or shake or tilt of their head. otherwise you have to learn how to interpret their behavior -they have a gentle soul though and at the very least have shown to have faith in those around them

anyway, i started the oc process wanting to come out with a chaotic, homicidal hero... but i ended up with this precious one and y’know what they’re great either way <3

give me feedback! please! also ask questions abt them! help me develop the babe!

[idiottweets]

Here's the questions and answers from the 3rd Ask the Ghosts Q&A. I'm on mobile so formatting isn't the best, I'm sorry.

0:40 how did you keep yourself occupied during lockdown?

Lolly painted (Ben says they are very good), baking, and eating of the baking. Katy finished writing her book, slept a lot, worried a lot, also a bit of painting, a bit of yoga. Ben says it was terrifying to suddenly teach his two boys. Larry says his son now thinks Larry's the one who stops him from going to see his friends.

3:50 for Lolly - would you be friends with Kitty irl?

She wouldn't mind if Kitty was haunting her, but if Kitty was a real person they probably wouldn't be friends because they don't have similar interests

5:30 since Kitty is always happy, do you get away with laughing when you're filming?

Lolly says she corpses more when she's a plague victim rather than when she's Kitty

6:40 for Katy - do you think Mary ever addresses the trauma of her witch trial?

No because then they wouldn't have the joke, but she opens up a bit more in series 2. Katy likes the mystery of it, and she thinks Mary wouldn't know how to unpack PTSD anyway. Lolly adds that it's nice that the trauma victim doesn't feel the need to unpack for other people. Larry says Mary doesn't feel the need to find out about her trauma, it's the other ghosts who are interested.

9:10 if you became a ghost, what food would you miss most? What would be your food club item?

Lolly replies chocolate, Larry's would be the same, Katy would miss Pasta, Ben says crisps

10:30 if you had to choose a ghost from the show to haunt your own houses, which one would it be?

Lolly: probably Mary

Katy: maybe the plague victims because if she had a cellar she just wouldn't go down there, or Kitty because it would be like having a child

12:50 would Kitty and Mary be friends?

Yes as ghosts, maybe when they're alive, Katy says they have an easy dynamic, Katy and Lolly get on really well

15:00 has Katy ever milked a cow or made a wicker basket?

No, neither, but recently she was on a farm in Yorkshire and she had a go at milking a replica teat out of plastic which felt realistic and had liquid in it that you could pump out and it would go back in through the cow's asshole

16:50 what would your ghosts favourite TV show be?

Lolly: Kitty would like Drag Race (though Lolly hasn't seen it) because she would love the costumes, make-up, and drama

Mary: she'd be open to anything but Katy was thinking the news, and things like Bake Off and anything to do with herbs, Larry would love to see Mary react to adverts

20:20 have either of you seen a ghost and do you believe in them?

Neither have seen one, Lolly sort of believes in them and sort of doesn't, she doesn't trust shows about them but if someone told her they had seen one she'd believe them, Katy says she's similar and she loves hearing about people's experiences especially if it's someone really rational, she really wants to believe in them, Larry replies that he's the same, Katy read a book recently about the subject but she can't remember who wrote it, to her it depends who's telling the story, Larry has a ghost story that he doesn't want to tell it because he's not rational or sane, but he was pulled over in a toilet in a Bristol hotel by an unseen figure, he was washing his hands and it felt like someone grabbed the handle of his rucksack and pulled him off his feet but he was the only person in the room, Katy says that she thinks that when someone dies a lot of people are just so used to seeing them around that they hallucinate them, Larry responds that his grandma used to see his granddad's underpants on the washing line which is silly and really sweet, Lolly says that she thinks it's because when you dream sometimes things that are really important are still there even if they aren't there irl, Larry knew someone who was a twin but the other twin didn't survive childbirth and she used to have dreams where she was a twin even though she didn't know at first, Katy read a novel in which that was a plot

25:50 as there is a large crossover between Ghosts and Stath Lets Flats, which character from Ghosts would be best for Stath and vise versa?

Lolly says Stath's dad would be good in Ghosts, Ben said he auditioned for Stath and it was the first time he met Tom Kingsley

27:50 if you could choose a building to be stuck in as a ghost, what building would it be?

Lolly: a shopping center or a cool music venue like the Royal Albert Hall

Katy: Stonehenge

Ben: a library, specifically the Radcliffe Camera in Oxford

Larry: he likes the energy of sets but everyone thought he said "sex" and started laughing, so he'd be on a set

31:20 if you could take anything from set home, what would it be?

Lolly says there's nice furniture or the dead rat that died in the corridor, Larry says the piano and he could actually have it but he said no, Katy would take the writing desk in the library, Ben would take the caterers home

32:40 if you could have the power of any ghost, which one would you choose?

Lolly says the smell of burning is good, Katy likes the moving objects or being able to speak, Larry would like to be able to be seen but only in a silly way, Ben wants to make places really cold

[typinggently]

So what do you think Feral™ Bruce’s relationship with his kids would be like? Somewhere in my bones I feel that he’d have a better relationship with all of them than in canon, but I wonder what you think! Love your blog, btw!!!

Hello Love!!! Thank you so much for your message! 🥰🧡🧡

I took some time to reflect on this and really think it through, since there are two problems: 1) I only really know about the “fandom favourites”, as in Dick (who I know most about since I used to read the 50s comics as a kid), Jason, Tim, Damian. And thus I felt a little unqualified since I know so little about the girls etc. 

2) Rob is 33, which means the Robins would all have to be VERY young. Realistically, I guess, we could assume timeline-wise Jason would’ve died not too long ago? But I’m just going to ignore realism. So, without further ado

Feral Bruce and his Robins

Dick: Bruce adopting Dick makes sense to me, since the grief over his own lost family is so fresh in his mind. He’d lay eyes on this heartbroken child and immediately jump into action. However, due to his age and personality, this wouldn’t have a TRACE of a father/son relationship. Not even close. They’re chaos siblings, with Bruce as the messy rat and Dick as the adoring golden boy. He’s super proud of his older bro and tells others about how cool he is, which everyone 100% buys because it’s Bruce Wayne, of course he’s super cool. They don’t know that Dick’s definition of cool is “he slipped on his own 3 hour old puddle of sprite and did a funny backflip”. Now - as they grow older: I say they’re rather close due to their shared history(&shared grief), and they’re in a way rather similar. Similar fighting styles (both acrobats and very graceful, while Dick is more of a show-off while Bruce is more erratic), similar sense of humour and taste in films etc. I also think they don’t have a dramatic falling out, Dick just fucks off. Bruce is definitely sad about it, but I think he respects Dick’s need for personal growth since he himself isn’t exactly an overbearing cuddly person and most likely shut himself away for a few days at a time in the past. Idk. I think they get each other really well. So yeah, their relationship is def better!!

Jason: Bruce sees a kid trying to hotwire the batmobile and recognises a kindred spirit. Jason pros - he has a lot of that chaotic energy Bruce has. Jason cons - he lacks the grace and self-control. In general, I feel like pre-Joker Jason and Bruce had a rather good relationship as well. Once again not really that father figure thing, though. But Bruce moved up from”chaotic older brother” to “cool older brother” - since he now has a bit of a grip on how to treat teenagers, even though Jason doesn’t take to his rules as well as Dick did (I see many a person interpret Bruce as kind of lenient and clueless, letting the kids run wild and free, and while I agree with the base levels of that, I’m p sure that Bruce in any version is so built on self-control, that he’d impose that on others as well. Strict meal plans, exercises, etc). Jason’s death is a thing I really don’t know how to handle, because Bruce has such a thin skin. Frankly, I don’t know how he’d survive something like that. Grief is terrible and heart-breaking, and I’m not sure how well-equipped Bruce would be. It’s a very, very dark time. Red Hood is another thing. Bruce can barely fight Harvey, so I don’t see how he’d manage to interact with Jason. I honestly think he’d completely pull back from him. I don’t know how they’d heal from that and I’m not sure how Bruce would deal with the core of Jason’s anger. Fighting him is one thing (which he absolutely cannot do), but understanding him and trying to mend what’s broken is another. Very difficult. Very heartbreaking.

Tim: that would just be a mess. There aren’t any real descriptions of Batman, because his contact with civilians/the GPD is minimal and can you trust villains? They say his fighting style is erratic, but can you trust them? Can you believe Riddler, madly gnawing on his hat, when he tells you Batman threw a comically large plush bat at him and then bonked him over the head with a “bat-knocker”?! What I’m saying: Tim figures the “I love the Ritz. I just wish they had soda-fountains. They have the room and people would love it. A fountain of sparkling-cool orange soda in the hall, catching the light and making those nice ambient sounds. That would be glam. What was the question?” - act is an act, but he’s not at all prepared for the actual Feral Bruce Experience™️. He drops himself off on Bruce’s doorstep and holds his whole “I know who you are” speech until Bruce opens the door and the guy is wearing a kilt and a “world’s #1 Bat” shirt, drinking hot beetroot juice and greets him by saying “how the fuck did you get past the sprinklers?” In short - Tim didn’t expect to be the responsible one here. In general, I feel like they’d get along well, still, considering Bruce is so enthusiastic about learning and bettering himself. However, I do feel like his erratic rat-nature would clash with Tim now and then.

Damian: Bruce’s first instinct after hearing he’s a father is to learn how to raise a baby, so he panically throws together a huge pile of Infant Care books from the library, Damian (10+) standing right next to him. That said, he’s very concerned about being a good father figure and raising Damian right. He loves the other boys, of course, but he never really saw himself as their father. This is a new situation for him and he doesn’t feel like he’s up for it. So now he tries to be a good influence, which results in him knocking on their doors at 1:30am all “remember not to drink coffee past midnight!” while holding a pitcher with Earl Grey.

Which brings me to the end note: Bruce is actually a great influence, he’s just not aware of it. He enforces healthy eating habits and a strict exercise routine. He’s got great posture and reminds his boys to sit/walk straight and stretch. He’s very cultured and studious in a very un-pretentious way, setting a great example for the boys. 

But most importantly - he’s so true to himself in such an unapologetic way that everyone else feels free and encouraged to be themselves, too. While his eccentric behaviour could be interpreted as self-centred narcissism, he makes it extremely clear that he cares greatly about each and every one of them. He’s incredibly compassionate and they all know that he loves them dearly.

They all learn a lot from him when he’s not looking, and whenever he notices some little piece of evidence for just how much he’s influencing them, he turns into a mess, eating carrot sticks in the kitchen at 2am with big teary eyes while Alfred makes him tea. (Alfred is the real father figure, of course, but he’s insanely proud of Bruce for handling his responsibilities so well and doing so good with his flock of Robins)

I’m very, very soft. Bruce deserves the world. He loves his family a lot, even though he seems to take them for granted or forget about them at times. And they love him, too, although he’s a bit strange.

(So, to make it short: they DO have a great relationship. Just a tiny bit rocky at times, but I feel like this Bruce is less emotionally repressed and thus a lot of issues would fall flat? They know he cares)

[sincerelyreidburke]

Questionnaire for the rat bf, if u can?

Real Touille stan hours. Thank you. Ace rights. Let’s go under the cut and do the whole damn thing!!

Here’s the questionnaire of pride asks for the crickets! Send me anything!

I’m answering this entire thing “as” Touille, so be aware of that.

1. what is your sexuality?

I’m asexual!

2. what do you identify as?

I use the term aro-ace, for the most part. Or just ace.

3. how long have you been aware of your sexuality/identity?

Okay, well, I’ve known as long as I can remember that I’m not into romance or dating. I never understood, growing up, why everyone was always asking me about girls or why there was so much romance in the media. But if you mean knowing the word for my sexuality... then not that long, actually. It was during fall of freshman year, and the upperclassmen started talking about Winter Screw, which was coming up. I kind of freaked out when I realized it was a dating thing, because I didn’t want my roommate Francis (or anyone) to pick a date for me. So I had a little panic moment, and then Bully asked me if I was asexual. I had no idea it was a thing, but it was the best epiphany. I’ve felt so much more comfortable in my own skin since I learned there were other people like me.

4. do you have any preferences?

For, like... dating? Not applicable, I guess.

5. share a positive memory about coming out!

Because I realized I was ace in front of all of SMH at team breakfast, I didn’t really have to come out to any of them. And I haven’t really come out to that many other people, because I’m not sure my parents or my mémé would think it’s a real thing, but I did have a good experience coming out to Quinn! It was, like, two weeks after I met him, and they were doing this double-date thing with him and Nando plus Ben and Gina, who he was dating at the time, and, well, anyways, Quinn thought they were excluding me? And he said, oh, Remy, do you want to come? Are you seeing anyone? And I said, oh, no, I’m asexual, actually. And it was really nice, because Quinn just smiled and said oh, that’s lovely! I love your pride flag! and we moved on. It was really validating. Also it was the first time I really came out to anybody at all.

6. how do you feel about pride month?

Ben and Nando introduced me to the concept of pride month a few months before pride month actually happened for the first time since I met them. I like pride month because I send bad memes to my friends, and also because it’s fun on social media, but... in my regular life, I don’t really get to do that much for pride. Except the summer between sophomore and junior year, Ben came up to Quebec and we went to pride. Which was really fun, actually. And also, at the end of freshman year, Quinn sewed pride patches for a bunch of people, and he gave me a little circle that’s a hybrid of the ace flag and the aro flag, so I pin it to the hat I wear when I work at my papa’s crêperie in June.

7. do you participate in pride related events? any other events?

On the night of Winter Screw freshman year, Bully brought me to this party at his friend’s apartment, and introduced me to a bunch of other ace people. Apparently, they have this top-secret ace club??? It’s not an official campus club or anything, but they just... host parties sometimes, especially on nights where dating stuff is happening on campus, like Screw and also Valentine’s Day. I don’t know if that really counts as a pride event, but it makes me happy. It’s all kinds of people, from all over the Samwell community, and it’s really cool.

8. how do you feel about lgbtqa roles in media?

I wish there were more ace ones.

9. do you feel pride in who you are?

Honestly, yeah, I do! I’ve never really been ashamed of my identity, even before I knew there was a word for it and a community of people like me. The only time I’ve been discouraged about it is thinking about how the world is so romance-oriented, but that’s not really about myself; it’s kind of just frustration with the way society is.

10. who has been your supportive idols in your self discovery?

Bully! He was the first person to say the word ‘asexual’ to me, and he and I have been really good friends the whole time we’ve been on the team together. He teaches me about ace stuff and we usually sit together on the bus. I don’t think I would even know about asexuality at all if it weren’t for him. Okay, well, maybe Ben would have taught me eventually. But still. I’m really grateful for Bully.

11. tell us about your first crush?

Hahaha, not applicable. But I can tell you about my first real squish, if you want? Bully taught me what a squish is. It’s like a friend crush, but a little different than just wanting to be friends with a person. It was Ben for me.

12. what sort of advice to have you lgbtqa teens?

Well, for ace teens, you aren’t broken and you’re whole on your own. Never compromise the way you feel for other people’s sake.

13. have you come out to friends and family?

I’m ‘out’ to all my closest friends, but not to my family. Like I said, I’m not so sure my parents would think asexuality is even a real thing. They just think I’m taking a long time to find somebody.

14. how do you feel about the term “coming out”?

(Mel talking...) Click here for Touille’s answer on this one!

15. do you believe there is a “closet” to come out of?

For me? Not exactly... not really. Aside from generating annoying comments, coming out as ace doesn’t endanger me directly in any way. I’m lucky, because I know that’s not the case for every ace person.

16. any tips on coming out?

Oh, man, I’m definitely not qualified to give coming out tips.

17. what’s your biggest pet peeve when it comes to lgbtqa characterization in media?

(Mel again!) Here’s Touille’s answer on this!

18. what’s your favorite parts of lgbtqa characterization in media?

When I actually see aro and ace characters. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a confirmed one, but I like projecting onto characters without a love interest. Jughead from the Archie comics? Obi-Wan Kenobi? Merida, the Scottish girl? Asexual icons, and thank you for asking.

19. what did your teachers say about the lgbtqa community in school?

My teachers said little to nothing. I went to a French Catholic high school, and I think they ignored it on purpose.

20. do you practice safe sex with the same sex?

Haha, not applicable.

21. what’s an absolute turn off for you in people?

Also not applicable, but in friendship terms, when people don’t shut up about themselves. I can’t stand huge egos. There were a lot of them in juniors.

22. what’s an absolute turn on for you in people?

Definitely not applicable.

23. how do you feel about lgbtqa clubs/apps/websites?

I like browsing AVEN and the LGBT+ parts of Reddit. And we have the unofficial ace club on campus. Bully calls it the ‘ace gang’.

24. how do you feel about the term “queer”?

My friends use it all the time, but I don’t really say it that much. I don’t have anything against it, it’s just not something that’s really part of my vocabulary. I don’t find it harmful.

25. how does your country view the lgbtqa community?

Canada has a long way to go on some social issues, but as far as I can tell, LGBT issues are pretty okay. We have a reputation for being more liberal than the US, which I guess is true in some ways, but things aren’t exactly perfect. But LGBT Canadians are a lot luckier than LGBT people in other parts of the world.

26. favorite lgbtqa actor/actress?

I’ve been trying to think of an example of an ace celebrity, but I’m coming up short.

27. any tips for heterosexual people on how to handle lgbtqa events/news?

Just listen, honestly. And stand up for people who are being picked on or shamed.

28. what’s the most annoying question you have ever gotten?

Definitely “when are you going to find someone?” I can’t stand that question.

29. how do you feel about receiving questions about your sexuality/identity?

As long as they’re not in the vein of, like, you know aces aren’t LGBT, right?, then I actually really enjoy getting questions about my identity. Because people in my general life don’t tend to care that much about hearing about ace experiences (except my friends, who I love), talking about it comes sparse. Thank you for asking me all these questions, by the way! I feel appreciated.

30. what is your romantic affiliation?

I’m aromantic. :)

[dlamp-dictator]

Allen Rambles about Code of Brawl

Man... remind me to never talk about having a future Rambling in the works, it’ll instantly fall into draft-hell. But anyway, I’ve been meaning to talk about Arknights in depth for a while now, but I’ve never had much drive to actually finish the damn draft of my initial thoughts a few months ago. I couldn’t tell you why, I just lost the drive to finish the thing. However, with Code of Brawl coming to a close and my thoughts on the event still lingering I think I can use it as jumping off point to actually talk about the game. 

That said, here’s the synopsis.

Arknights is a Tower Defense game for the PC mobile devices placed in the world of Terra, where an infectious disease known as Oripathy ravages the land, slowly turning people to minerals in a slow and painful process. You play as the Doctor, an amnesiac military commander of the Rhodes Island pharmaceutical company who fights against the Infected radicals known as the Reunion. 

That’s about as far as I can go in a single paragraph for main story, but Code of Brawl instead focuses on the eccentric adventures of Pengiun Logistics, side faction of the game that’s a seemingly innocent delivery company with quite the ragtag group in it, consisting of the happy-go-lucky gunner Exusiai, the cold and dismissive swordswoman Texas, the excitable and energetic Sora, and the business-savvy Croissant. All led by the charismatic and multi-talented Emperor. However, as their new intern Bison comes into the fold the group is caught in a series of gang wars and organized crime trying to snuff out the company.

And unlike Fire Emblem Three Houses, that really is the basic plot without me sarcastically building anything up. With that all said, I think I can move on and talk about... 

The Story

The story of Code of Brawl honestly has the best and worst of Arknights writing. I think having a story that focused on a group outside of Rhodes Island was for the better. For all the lore blurbs and archive notes we get, I think Code of Brawl proves just how little Rhodes Island is involved with the world of Terra at large despite it’s apparent reputation as a weird and quirky company with some terrifyingly powerful Operators and lofty ambitions. And while I’m still only on Chapter 4 since I’m grinding out some E2 before moving on, Rhodes Island really does more reacting to random Reunion plans than anything proactive with their goals of curing Oripathy. They feel more like a counter military force to Reunion, and a barely effective on at that given the point of the story I’m at. Code of Brawl, being focused on another group with a more direct conflict and villains, feels a lot more cohesive and interesting, as Penguin Logistics’s goal is to just get Bison through his first day and take out whatever force is harassing them this week. 

Penguin Logistics as a whole is a rather interesting bunch of ruffians and seeing them is gallivant around Lungmen trading blows and bullets with gangsters is a joy to read and see. Seeing some of the inner workings of Lungmen society, seeing a bit of the underbelly, as well as getting to see the cast just have more casual interactions with each other is great. We learn that Sora really is just gay for Texas, and the all of Penguin Logistics has only 3 function braincells with Texas having one and Mostima having the other two.  We get to see that Sora has probably beaten someone to death with her microphone at some point given how willing she is to bar fight. A lot of fun stuff.

And then... there’s Mostima. 

Look, I like this story, I really do, but Mostima really didn’t need to be here as far as the story is concerned. All she does plot-wise is rile up Exusiai, drop some cryptic advice for Bison, shows she knows more powerful than she leads on, and is a bit of a deus ex machina for the end of the plot, and not even by that much. You could had replaced her with Chen, Swire, Hoshigumi, ShiraYuki, or anyone else that would logically be in Lungmen at the time. Hell, ShiraYuki knowing everything a being cryptic about it would at least be in character for her. 

And that’s not to knock Mostima. I actually pulled her in my last ten-pull (didn’t get Waii Fu though, and I’m still salty about that), she’s a pretty good and damn near god-tier once you get her to E2 if some of the guides on her are to be believed, though her kit is a little niche for an AoE caster of her cost. However, as far as the story is concerned she shows a serious issue with Arknights as a whole. That’s its constant need to have half of their characters be mysterious.

Mysterious Characters

So, just to give an example, here is a list of characters in Arknights with a Mysterious Past™. These are characters that either have their archive notes explicitly state their past is unknown, or characters who’s past is implied but but deliberately kept unconfirmed.

With that said...

Mostima

Myrtle

Cuora

Skadi

Specter

Shining

Siege

Projekt Red

Specter

Blue Poison

Lappland

Texas (?)

ShiraYuki

AMIYA

Okay, I’m cheating a little with Texas since she has enough of her past implied, but it’s still technically a mystery as far as the specifics go. But you see my point, right? A lot of characters have a Mysterious Past™, which is a nice shorthand to not go into depth about writing their background. Now, you don’t need to give twenty paragraphs on their backstory, but something would be nice. Keeping things a mystery might be nice for the theory-crafters, but for me it’s annoy as hell to see so many character, so many high-rated that really just have their skills and design to go off of, especially with most the cast overall having a pretty simple background to them that are interesting when you read through the lore blurbs and think about it. Breeze is a former noble that wanted to do more good in the world than throwing money at a problem. Liskarm is a protective friend that joined Rhodes Island to make sure the problematic Franka integrated without problems. Frostleaf is a child soldier that wants to do some good in the world after becoming Infected. Kroos, Beagle, and Fang joined Rhodes Island after getting kicked out of their old jobs. You don’t need to be flashy, but giving answers isn’t an admission of lacking creativity. The hints might be nice for the analysts, but the fans would likely want some answers.

Again, Mostima isn’t a problem, and a lot characters in that list do have some concrete hints about their past. Texas and Lappland are likely a former mafia heiresses and old rivals. Shining was likely a highly skilled mercenary before realizing she could do more good in the world with a healing staff instead of a sword. Siege is likely apart of Londinium royalty, but was either exiled or ran due to political turmoil. But that’s the issue, likely isn’t confirmed. Mostima being a powerful character with a mysterious past just feels like a cop out to me. It’s not bad, but she’s a symptom of what some of the issues of Arknights story is. I’m not asking for AFK Arena-levels of lore, just... an explanation here or there would be nice. 

But anyway that’s my main issue, moving on.

General Gushing

Despite that large critique I have, there’s a lot I love about this story. For simplicity sake, because I’m tired of all the editing, I’ll put it into list form:

Penguin Logistics in general was just a joy to see. Watching them in action and just how laissez-faire they are is hilarious, especially when paired with the straightforward and reserved Bison freaking out over the wackiness. 

Speaking of, Bison made for a very good straight man to balance out all the wild antics of PL. He really kept things from getting too crazy by at least questioning the zaniness, and the point when he finally stops caring and just charges in with a crazy plan of his own just gave me the giddiest of smiles.

Given how they discuss it, PL apparently trade blows with criminals and thugs on a daily basis, and since they’re just a delivery company this implies they likely deliver drugs or other hot cargo the mafia and gangs want... and given Emperor’s personality, that wouldn’t shock me.

Emperor in general is a delight of a character. He’s about as charismatic and wild as his aesthetic makes him look. I would legit whale for him if he ever become an operator.

Learning a little bit about Lungmen culture was fun as well, as little of it as we see. It’s my personal headcanon now that the mafia and general thugs of Lungmen don’t mess with civilians because they’re either a sleeper agent under the Rat King’s protection or they might be a kung fu master in plain clothes like Waai Fu.

Waai Fu and Texas fist fighting in the streets of Lungmen is just hilarious and awesome. I honestly don’t know what that says about either of them. Texas is holding her own against a martial artist with over 10 years of experience barehanded, meanwhile Waai Fu is holding her own against what lore blurbs have implied is the former heiress/hitman of a mafia. All the while drunkards and Texas’s coworkers are egging them on. This is the dumb content I live for.

Save for some of the absolute bullshit of the challenge maps, I found the actual game content to be pretty fair and interesting. The Bullies required good defender placement, a lot of the ranged units focused on targeting the helpful buildings that buffed your characters and increased the operator deployment count, and maps themselves had a few clever chokepoints to work with... At least until they started spamming Fanatics.

Bison actually has a pretty solid kit for a free Operator. He buffs a lot of adjacent units, has a no real weakness, his tools don’t feel niche like Grani or Celycon, overall a great unit. Once I finish E2-ing all my main Operators I might build him next. 

While I have issues with her as a story element, Mostima is a 6-star that has instant utility once you promote her to E2, much like Chen and Siege. This is something I’m relieved to say as a lot of my 6-stars aren’t worth much until you E2 them and I’m still trying to E2 some of my easier units like Cuora and Gavial for Chapter 5 and CC.

That’s really all I have to say on that front. So to close things off...

For the Future

Like I always say in these Ramblings, I don’t like the idea of people prattling on about being able to “fix” or “rewrite” something has already been made. It always comes across as both arrogant and ignorant to me. However, I think it’s completely fair to make requests and suggestions for the future. ‘

That said, I'd like to continue seeing side stories without Rhodes Island’s involvement. Both to see other factions in their natural element and because, frankly, Rhodes Island always feels a little out of place when involved in other stories, or at least more of a distraction than a good element if chapter 2 and 3 are anything to go by. I think a Black Steel side story would be nice. Jessica, Franka, Liskarm, and Vanille getting into shenanigans in Columbia or something sounds like a fun time. Maybe have the leader/high commander of the organization as a new operator and they’re a really powerful Supporter than can buff the party, like a 6-star version of Sora or something that gives operators insane ASPD buffs... I don’t know, something like that anyway. Ideally something a little less wordy than Code of Brawl at least.

Anyway, that’s all I have to say. Next time... I’ll talk about something else. Maybe discuss a manga or something. 

See you all later.

[artificialqueens]

We're still in this together (And I'm still not giving up) (branjie) - writworm42

A/N: For Athena <3 <3 <3 Brooke is diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s, and Vanessa tries to keep her grounded as both their worlds turn upside-down.

PLEASE take care of yourselves reading this. This fic involves being diagnosed with a major degenerative neurological disorder and the emotional fall-out that results in the 24 hours post-diagnosis. If you are upset by that sort of thing, don’t read it, don’t feel like you have to keep reading it if you started, feel free not to leave kudos or comments. I am somewhat familiar w Parkinson’s through work, but I don’t have it and can’t speak to the experience of actually having it. I have experienced the feeling of having a diagnosis completely change your sense of self, and channeled that in writing this. However, the process people go through is different, and the feelings people go through are totally different in that situation. I’m sure it has been for many of you reading this. And I hope I did y'all justice, too.

Thank you 3000 to Holtz for beta-ing even though this fic was a tough read for you. Title from Still Not Giving Up from Steven Universe.

“I hate this.” Brooke sniffles, wiping the tears from her face, and Vanessa feels her heart break. She wishes she could take the pain away from Brooke, wishes she could take it on for herself, please, God, give it to me instead, hurt me instead. But her prayers go unanswered, and Brooke takes another sip of her coffee while Vanessa watches and crumples inside further.

Thirty minutes ago, Brooke and Vanessa had been sitting in Brooke’s neurologist’s office, waiting for news of what was happening to her. Why all of a sudden she can’t walk normally, her movements shaky, her voice quiet. Why she doesn’t have the same stamina as she used to, and why something felt totally, completely wrong.

Early-onset Parkinson’s. The neurologist’s voice had been soft and gentle, soaked in pity, like she was handing down a death sentence. And to a professional dancer like Brooke, she might as well have been—Vanessa knows that, knew it even before Brooke had opened her mouth to protest, to insist that there must have been some mistake.

But there hadn’t been, and Brooke’s diagnosis still stands, sits at the table of the hospital Second Cup with them.

On March 10th, 2020, on the morning of her 34th birthday, Brooke has been diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s Disease. And no amount of coffee or blueberry scones, placation or reassurances, can take those four words away.

But if they help at all, even just a little, then they’re all worth offering.

“Should we cancel tonight?” Vanessa suggests softly, and apparently, it’s the wrong thing to say—Brooke bursts into tears again, sobs breathy and ragged.

“I don’t know.” she shakes her head, “Like… I don’t know. I don’t want to just throw my life on the wayside because of this, it’s not like I’m dying, but like…”

“It’s okay to need time, boo.” Vanessa reaches across the table, grabs and squeezes Brooke’s hand one, two, three times and sighing inwardly with relief when Brooke smiles. It was Brooke who had came up with their secret signal - one squeeze for every word that they wanted to say. I love you. It had stuck immediately, and even now it never fails to make Brooke relax. Vanessa loves it, too–even when Brooke is saying it out loud, there was something about having her hand squeezed in rhythm to the words that made them more tangible, more comforting, even more wonderful to hear and feel. Makes them settle into her chest as her hand buzzes with the euphoria of her wife’s lingering touch. And if there’s anything Brooke needs right now, it’s that feeling, that reminder that Vanessa is there for her.

“Yeah.” Brooke sighs, squeezing Vanessa back, their secret code understood like a promise between them.

“We’ll order Korean barbeque and rent some cheesy movies, it’ll be great.” Vanessa offers, and even though Brooke’s nod is fairly hollow, at least it’s a nod.

–

Brooke knows it’s impossible for Vanessa to make her feel better right now, but it means a lot that she’s trying anyway. The kitchen is littered with styrofoam takeout containers, wood chopsticks and the cold, half-eaten remains of spareribs scattered on the table. In the living room, some rom-com with a mole-rat looking leading man and a smoking-hot yet baby-faced protagonist plays, long forgotten amidst a trail of clothes that lead to the bedroom.

It’s weird, being naked right now. Being exposed, moving in a body that’s exactly the same as it had been yesterday and yet now feels so, so different.

“You have beautiful hands, baby.” Vanessa interlaces her fingers with Brooke’s, and Brooke realizes she’s been staring at her hands, trying to decide if they’re real. If the way they move is any different. If they’re different. But they still grab Vanessa back, still squeeze one, two, three times and feel it warm and firm when Vanessa squeezes one, two, three times back.

Vanessa lets go, pulls her closer, kisses her on her collarbone when Brooke winces a little. She’s not in pain—not really. Her old body isn’t. But her new body—her same body, now seeming so different—is uncertain of what it wants, how it should react.

“You ain’t got any bruises.” Vanessa chuckles, traces the along the dips of Brooke’s chest she was biting and sucking minutes ago, and Brooke relaxes, because it’s like Vanessa’s read her mind. Like she’d known Brooke had been trying to decide if she should be careful, if her body was fragile or not. “That’s my tough-skinned baby girl.”

“For how long, though?” Brooke frets, but Vanessa presses a finger to her lips, only to replace the digit with her own mouth, kissing their code on her one, two, three times.

I love you.

“Considering the brochures ain’t mention nothin’ about easy bruising, longer than you think, I’m sure.” Vanessa burrows her face into Brooke’s neck, sighs deeply the way she always does, and it’s nice. Makes Brooke feel in control, almost normal, even.

“Things are gonna change, Ness.” she sighs, and Vanessa squeezes tighter, breathes in deeper, slower, encouraging Brooke’s mind and heart to slow down as she matches Vanessa’s pace.

“I know.” Vanessa whispers, and once again, it’s the right thing to say—because it’s the truth, the same way Vanessa always tells it.

“I’m not gonna be the same.”

“Yes you will.” Vanessa’s voice is resolute, her touch becoming firmer.

“Ness—“

“You know why I married you?” Vanessa looks Brooke in the eyes, and her gaze is soft, affectionate, yet insistent, as if her mind’s made up and there’s no changing it.

“Why?” Brooke breathes, the answer obvious and yet now insecure.

“Because you, miss Brooke Lynn Mateo-Hytes, are amazing. You’re smart, and clever, and brave. You ain’t never give up or back down from a challenge. You got grit, and you can be stubborn, but you also loyal and caring. Always thinking of others. Of me. Never thinking bad of me even when I act stupid as hell.

“I love you, Brooke. And yeah, some things are gonna change. But other things ain’t. And it’s those things that I love most about you.”

It takes Vanessa’s thumb swiping across her cheek for Brooke to realize she’s crying, but this time, she doesn’t hate it. Doesn’t think it’s a bad thing, doesn’t want to stop. Because Vanessa is holding her, squeezing her, kissing her, loving her, and even though things aren’t okay, in a way, they are.

Some things never change, and when Brooke finally stops crying, kisses Vanessa on the top of her head as if to thank her, she realizes that she’s holding her most important constant right in her arms.

And as long as she is breathing, neither of them would ever let go.

[monstersdownthepath]

Demigod Dossier: The Qlippoth Lords

(Not pictured: Any of the Qlippoth Lords)

(VERY pictured: A CR [SCREAMING] encounter)

Chaotic Evil True Rulers of the Abyss

Shared Domains: Chaos, Evil Shared Subdomains: Varies

The Complete Book of the Damned, pg. 128~129

Welcome to what is technically our first Demigod Dossier, something I experimented with when I first touched up the Forsaken. Below, we will be going over the Boons given to the mortal worshipers of the Qlippoth Lords, which is a difficult thing indeed for a mortal to do, as the remaining Lords aren’t too keen on allowing mortal sin to contaminate them as it has their kin in the past. Mazmezz, Dagon, Jubilex, and even their brother Yamasoth have all fallen to the temptation to sup upon sin and revel in the power it grants (though to his credit, Yamasoth is trying to turn back).

Due to their lack of sinful power and their reluctance to allow mortals to worship them, their Boons are relatively simple; they are a trio of spell-like abilities, each of which may be used 2/day. Boons are normally gained slowly, at levels 12, 16, and 20, however entering the Evangelist, Exalted, or Sentinel Prestige Classes can see the Boons gained as early as levels 10, 13, and 16. Note that because they are not Demon Lords, you cannot enter the Demoniac Prestige Class to obtain their Boons without DM fiat.

Chavazvug, the Crawling Inferno Qlippoth Lord of Fiery Consumption and Monstrous Recursion Domains: Chaos, Evil, Fire, Repose Subdomains: Ash, Entropy, Smoke, Souls

Obedience: Torture a living creature with red-hot brands or small fires, and meditate on the cries of pain and scent of scorched flesh. Benefit: Gain a +4 profane bonus on saving throws against fire-based effects.

Ah... A stark reminder that despite Chavazvug being generally ambivalent to mortal life--and one of the few Qlippoth Lords that will actually help mortals if the objective is ‘kill demons’--his ambivalence does not translate to benevolence in any form. It’s difficult to keep this Obedience hidden from any Good folk you may be associating yourself with, unless you’re some sort of appointed torturer tasked with extracting information from your enemies. Needing to do it every single day to maintain your power will eventually raise eyebrows, though.

While the jury’s out on whether or not you can satisfy this ritual by using someone who enjoys the torture, you CAN get away with using a Sack Of Rats to meet its requirements. You can also use yourself in times of desperation, an act I’m sure Chavazvug especially appreciates, though be wary of burning yourself so much and so often. It’s hard to hide those marks!

The benefit is something we’ve seen before, but with a bit of an extra twist; it does not specify Fire effects, but “fire-based effects.” Fire-based. This means spells, effects, and abilities without the elemental descriptor are also affected! This gives it a bit more flexibility, which is always nice to see on a Boon!

Boon 1: Scorching Ray 2/day. Boon 2: Pyrotechnic Eruption 2/day Boon 3: Contagious Flame 2/day

God I love Contagious Flame. I can’t pretend I’m not a little biased towards liking Chavazvug because he grants his followers the power to use Contagious Flame 2/day. For the uninitiated, CF fires three beams of fire (+1 beam at levels 15 and 19), each dealing 4d6 Fire damage. Not very impressive for a level 6 spell? Well that’s where ‘contagious’ comes in, because every round for 3 rounds, more beams shoot out of anyone damaged by beams in the previous round, with their only targeting limitation being that a beam can’t arch around and hit the creature it emerged from and each new target must be within Close range (25ft + 5ft/lvl).

It’s a very impractical way to set a lot of people on fire, but there’s more control over who or what gets damaged in CF than there is in most other fire spells. Plus, you CAN have all of the beams focus on a single target to deal 12d6 damage, though only one beam will fire on subsequent rounds. Still, it’s useful for dealing with crowds in a way Fireball can’t manage.

Scorching Ray is Contagious Flame but without the contagion. Up to three rays of fire each dealing 4d6 damage per shot. Practical, effective, but boring. Not like Pyrotechnic Eruption, which cages its victim in fire that moves with them--even if they teleport!!!--and deals 1d6 Fire damage per level (max 15d6) to them. Even if they succeed on their saving throw they take half damage... And are still caged in the fire, forcing them to make a new save every round to evade the fires encircling them. Fortunately for them and unluckily for you, half of the d6s fall off each round.

But that’s still quite a bit of damage you can force one unlucky target to deal with. And if they feel like sharing, they can! Anyone touching, grappling, or bull-rushing the victim also takes damage from the cage! Just be warned that another, hardier (or fireproof) creature can take the place of the victim in the cage by successfully grappling or bull-rushing them. It’s a delightful spell to throw at The Heroes, honestly, because the squishy caster already took the maximum damage dice from the spell, and the Fighter wasting their time pulling a switcheroo on the cage means they’re not hitting you.

Ruin their day by alerting them to the fact you can cast it twice.

——

Isph-Aun-Vuln, the Feaster Within Qlippoth Lord of Infestations and Poisonous Winds Domains: Air, Chaos, Evil, Trickery Subdomains: Deception, Fear, Venom, Wind

Obedience: Consume a handful of live parasites or infested flesh. Benefit: Gain a +4 profane bonus on saving throws against disease and parasitic infestations.

Ew ew ew ew ew

It’s a hard one to stomach alright (HAH), especially since you need to repeat this process every single day. Where on earth are you going to get an actual handful of, say, ticks and fleas every day? How are you going to choke down living sand every single day?

Well, you don’t. See, the Obedience is worded in a way that allows you to eat one big parasite instead of a lot of little ones if you need to. You know what’s disturbingly easy to fill your hands with, relatively easy to get ahold of, provided you’re not in a desert or a tundra, and goes down super smooth? Yep, you guessed it: Leeches. Leeches, leeches, and more leeches. They keep for years, require only rare feedings, and can be purchased from most respectable apothecaries or found in swamps, rivers, and streams. Getting enough of them to sustain your awful appetite for parasite flesh for weeks on end is the primary problem, but Isph kindly gives you a second option: Consume infested flesh.

Mold is parasitic and easy to cultivate, either in your own flesh or the flesh of your enemies. A Sack Of Rats is helpful here if you can get your hands on some breed of parasite or parasitic mold and grow it on your pets. The infested flesh doesn’t have to be from a still-living creature, by the way, so you CAN get your munch on a creature after it’s died from some awful infestation, or nosh on some of the many zombies that rise from certain breeds of fungal invasions. One fungal zombie can keep you in the Feaster’s good graces for quite a while!

Good luck keeping any of this from raising suspicion, by the way. The benefit’s not even good, since exposing yourself to so much garbage will make you sick eventually. It’s also worded rather poorly in order to make it seem more impressive; parasitic infections are usually treated as disease effects anyway.

Boon 1: Summon Swarm 2/day Boon 2: Fleshworm Infestation 2/day Boon 3: Plague Storm 2/day.

I’ve spoken of the usefulness of Plague Storm when dealing with Apollyon, but in the spirit of getting information across: Blinding Sickness and Bubonic Plague being slapped onto every creature in a 20ft area can take the fight out of them real quick. It’s a Save or Suck they have to make every single round until they escape the cloud, though it’s little more than a glorified Fog Cloud against enemies immune to disease (of which there are many). Still, though, you can do worse than a gigantic and ominous looking fog bank, even if you only really use it to give yourself cover.

Summon Swarm is a nice, if dangerous, spell to have available to you. Its range lets you drop the swarm directly atop an enemy, typically someone who really doesn’t want to be in the middle of a swarm (which is everyone) and has a hard time getting out (like a caster). However, you have no control over the swarm once it’s summoned, and once there are no more targets within their area the swarm will pursue and attack the closest creature to it. Useful if you drop it on a faraway archer or spell-slinger, and little more than extra gross friendly fire if you use it on an enemy that your allies are in melee with. There’s also the unfortunate news that it falls off rather quickly--more or less by the time you learn it--but it still serves as a delightful distraction to hurl at people struggling to concentrate on anything, and the fragility of the swarm means that even if it DOES attack your allies, they can put it down easily.

Fleshworm Infestation, in contrast to the weak but practical Summon Swarm, is weak but unnecessarily, hysterically cruel. Its damage is an absolute letdown, dealing a paltry 1d6 damage each round, though it also inflicts 2 Dex damage and staggers its victim each round it persists and it lasts for 1 round per level... but really, the only important part of this spell is the stagger, which is turned into sickness if the victim succeeds their save. AND it requires a successful touch attack, which I’m always scared to do if the attack won’t end the battle instantly. Depriving a foe of their full-attacks is powerful, but not worth entering an enemy’s melee range in the first place, y’know?

I suppose the primary benefit is being able to slap someone full of worms, which is a delightfully potent intimidation tactic. It’s almost more useful out of combat, as you can deliver it without alerting onlookers to the fact you’re casting until ravenous worms erupt from your victim. A true power move would be going in for a handshake and then continuing to hold on as your victim screams in agony as they’re devoured. They’re more likely to end up paralyzed from the Dex damage than dead, but that just means you now have a stunned and thoroughly traumatized prisoner!

——

Oaur-Ooung, the Blistering Womb Qlippoth Lord of Tainted Waters and Vile Fecundity Domains: Chaos, Evil, Plant, Water Subdomains: Decay, Fear, Growth, Oceans

Obedience: Drink fouled water, and maintain yourself on the edge of regurgitation for an hour. Benefit: Gain a +4 profane bonus on saving throws against poison effects. 

Finally, something simple. “Fouled water” is probably one of the easiest things you can get ahold of, as any good adventurer likely has a waterskin on them. Pour yourself a cup, scoop some dirt and grime from your environment into it, and drink that bad boy down! More or less anything nasty and inedible can be used to foul up water to meet the requirements for this Obedience, so long as it’s gross enough to make you want to throw up.

The problem is that you have to keep yourself from blarfing up your morning smoothie for at least one hour, which can be easier or harder depending on what, exactly, you’ve done to yourself this time. You may actually have to make concentration checks or Constitution saving throws to maintain this state, depending on what the DM may demand. Actually giving the world a technicolor yawn will foul up the whole ritual and force you to begin again from the beginning, so experimenting beforehand with specific mixtures of water and antiwater to see which mix makes you just sick enough can save you a lot of hassle in the future.

The benefit is good, of course. Nothing spectacular, but it’s always nice to have a little more resistance between yourself and death or paralysis via poison. It’s in a similar vein to bonuses against fire, if I’m being honest, though I’d put poison somewhere between Cold and Acid in terms of how often it’s encountered.

Boon 1: Disfiguring Touch 2/day Boon 2: Poison 2/day Boon 3: Greater Contagion 2/day

Eeeeeuuuuggggghhhhhhhhhh

Oaur-Ooung really doesn’t like her mortal worshipers, it seems. I mean, I get it--she’s the mother of thousands of qlippoth and even some Qlippoth Lords, and has seen what happens to her children when they get addicted to sin. Poor Cyth-V’sug was her baby, and he was steered away by the sway of that awful drug! Having bad Boons is, I suppose, another way for her to passive-aggressively get back at mortals for that.

Well, they aren’t unusable in their awfulness, but their in-combat applications are nothing. OUT of combat, though, they get MUCH better. Disfiguring Touch, for example, imparts a very minor penalty on an enemy you manage to touch... However, they also become hideously misshapen and stay that way for days. It’s useful to keep track of someone trying to flee or disguise themselves, and as blackmail against the vain and the prideful.

Greater Contagion prevents the victim from getting over the infection without magic; just sitting and waiting it out will do nothing, and neither will common medicines. No, only magic can fix this problem, and the DC to do so is increased by a whopping +5 to assure even skilled healers will have to put in extra effort. Best of all, though? Unlike normal Contagion, you can use Greater Contagion from a range. Without components to reveal you, you can slap a victim with a terrible, debilitating illness out of nowhere. Timing it to some boast or proclamation they’re making will take way more of a toll on their morale (and the morale of anyone watching) than just hitting them with it immediately, and perhaps you can use it even more cleverly than that... Like, perhaps, waiting for two enemies of yours to exchange pleasantries or a handshake, or for one to get angry and begin yelling at the other...

Poison is impractical, as always. Most creatures will not be impacted by its effects enough to make a difference in battle, and out of battle, if you need someone dead it’s quicker and more practical to just knife them than to let Poison tick away for 6 entire rounds they’ll likely spend calling for help.

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Shiggarreb, the Marauding Maw Qlippoth Lord of Forbidden Magic and Wartime Atrocities Domains: Chaos, Evil, Magic, War Subdomains: Arcane, Blood, Fear, Tactics

Obedience: Study texts on the tactics of war, particularly those involving the use of powerful magic Benefit: Gain a +1 profane bonus to your Armor Class. 

Wait, who? Shiggarreb? Who in the world-- hold on let me just check something...

[Sound of a book opening]

huh. Well I’d like to say that this is a bit erroneous, given how Yamasoth has canonically been working on Golarion for thousands of years. Shiggareb is apparently important enough to Golarion earn a spot in the Book of the Damned, too! But where’s HER stats? also come on, Paizo, you can’t just tease me with a title like “the Engima Clot!” Where’s THAT things Obedience?! Where’s all THOSE details???!!!

Kinda weird that Shiggy’s title apparently changed between Bestiary 6 and the CBotD, too. Hmm. Anyway, this Obedience is so pathetically easy to both perform and keep hidden that it’s barely worth elaborating on; even if someone DID get weirded out by your passionate interest in Fighting Good (a useful skill on any adventuring party), at worst all you’ll have to do is swap the covers of your book with a different one. The most effort you’d have to put into it is making sure you don’t devolve into one of those weirdos that’s worryingly obsessed with World War II. You technically don’t even have to get different books; you can read the same ones over and over to commit them to memory.

The benefit you gain far exceeds the amount of effort you put into it, though. For one hour of study a day you, too, can enjoy a free +1 to your AC that maintains itself when you’re flatfooted, or even asleep, and stacks with more or less every other kind of armor bonus you can get your wicked little mitts on. The only letdown is that it’s +1 instead of +2, but one feat with simple entry requirements for +2 AC is pushing the boundaries of balance a bit too much.

Boon 1: Aid 2/day Boon 2: Curse Terrain 2/day Boon 3: Greater Heroism 2/day

Y’know, for a demigod of forbidden magic, there’s little forbidden magic here. Curse Terrain is pretty good, but you are not immune to the effects of your own hazards, and the full rules of the spell require the use of no less than three separate tabs because it’s a particularly infuriating example of “this spell works as [X],” but X in this case is not a spell but a curse in a completely separate part of the book (and which the spell page does not link to for whatever reason), which in turn requires you to know environmental hazards, which are in different books/tabs entirely, again with no convenient links.

hwoof.

At least its monstrous area of effect (an entire mile) means you’re unlikely to stumble into your own traps before someone else does, and it makes holding an area from invading enemies much easier, especially since you can use it twice and its effects stack with each other. They only last for 1 day, but without needing the material components, you can just layer them over and over again to make attackers miserable.

Aid’s only real benefit past levels 4 or 5 is that it lasts for minutes at a time and grants some emergency HP, but y’know if you don’t really have anything else to do with your actions before a fight, you may as well layer it on top of whatever buffs someone already has. Greater Heroism, on the other hand, offers a much more impressive +4 to attack rolls, skill checks, AND saves, ON TOP of complete immunity to fear and a generous scoop of temporary HP. With a duration of 1 minute/level and the fact it benefits skill checks, it’s a wonderful spell to have available. It’s boring, but it’s practical, and it’s never not useful whether you’re in combat or just need an extra few numbers for your skill checks.

——

Thuskchoon, the Everglutton Qlippoth Lord of Blinding Hunger and Revealed Secrets Domains: Chaos, Destruction, Evil, Knowledge Subdomains: Catastrophe, Entropy, Rage, Thought

Obedience: Destroy something someone else created, working the whole hour to wreck the object as much as possible. Benefit: Gain a +4 profane bonus on saving throws against area effects that deal hit point damage. 

Another Obedience that’s simple to perform, as all things are things someone else created. If you want to be especially pedantic, you could claim that the world itself and all things upon it count for the purpose of this Obedience because the Gods created it. That all living creatures are born, and thus created by someone else. That interpretation, however, will likely get glares and rolled eyes.

Still, though, if you have a material object, you have an item someone else created. An extra weapon, a suit of armor, a set of dice, a deck of cards... A standard adventurer’s kit has enough items in it to sustain your Obedience for weeks at a time, because there’s no written limit to how small the item can be. You can smash copper coins or individual beads on a necklace if you want, though your DM may just have Thuskchoon revoke your blessings until you destroy something larger.

Hell, you don’t even really have to be an adventurer to fuel this Obedience. You can buy a stack of cheap wooden plates and smash them each day after day, or even get something as simple as a single sheet of woven fabric and slice it to ribbons. It’s super easy to do, is what I’m saying. You won’t even look particularly Evil if someone walks in on your ritual, just kinda weird!

As for that effect, this helps against things like area-hitting traps, draconic breath weapons, and damaging auras. There’s a LOT of effects this helps you avoid, to the point I’d put it on a pedestal above most other benefits because of how often it’s likely to come up in an adventurer’s life.

Boon 1: Shatter 2/day Boon 2: Hunger for Flesh 2/day Boon 3: Legend Lore 2/day

Well right away I’m severely disappointed with Legend Lore as a spell being offered here. I covered its uses and benefits in my article on Shyka, but its vanilla version is simply far too cumbersome to use with any regularity, taking days or even weeks to cast it when--as an adventurer--it would be often much easier to just go look for whatever you’re trying to research. The only real benefit beyond what the Plot demands is that it gives you something to do with your downtime between big missions, drifting through the waters in search of plot hooks. 

Both Shatter and Hunger for Flesh are also rather underwhelming spells. Shatter in particular being overly-specific in its wording in a way that makes it unnecessarily cumbersome when using (the DM will have to calculate the weight of every glass item in the spell’s area of effect). Aside from being able to cast it without components and thus being able to shatter windows from across the room without drawing attention to yourself, a thrown weapon will do mostly the same job. There IS the plus that you can also focus the spell on a singular item to destroy it, but that item can’t be magical and can’t weigh more than 10 pounds per caster level.

... Actually, now that I think about it, being able to shatter a 100+ pound item without making any moves is a lot more useful than I was originally giving it credit for. Hm. Perhaps I should put more thought into this...

OR

I could talk about how fun it is to slap Hunger for Flesh on someone out of the blue when they’re having a polite chat with a friend! It’s quite good in battle, actually, acting as a nice, fat stagger against a victim with a 25% chance to make them lose their intended action in favor of hauling off and biting the closest member of their race. However, it’s limited to targeting Humanoids and Monstrous Humanoids and is entirely negated by a Will save, AND it gives them a bonus bite attack to stretch their full attack actions even wider.

Yes I mentioned it was a stagger, BUT if they manage to deal damage with their bite attack the stagger falls off until the end of their next turn. It’s a GREAT Save or Suck spell, especially at higher levels when enemies losing half their actions each round can mean death for them, but its limited choice of targets makes it far less useful than it could be. No plaguing dragons with unending hunger.

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Yamasoth, the Polymorph Plague

Here! (gore and body horror in the link)