#they haven't actually played the game yet where we see what they're doing during the Solstice

[luckthebard]

If they go to the Menagerie Coast, you know what that means??

They might run into Marius LePual.

[tinolqa]

god I haven't mentioned it enough here. Myths of the Realm is my enemy. easily my least favorite 24-man- or rather it's my least favorite raid series of either type.

probably made worse by pandaemonium being genuinely very good? the contrast was stark.

weak answer to the question of the twelve's nature, very unambitious and mediocre visual designs that were largely too married to visual fidelity to boring statues and card designs. some real disney's hercules shit. there were some innovative or appealing elements here and there: nald'thal was genuinely great visually and conceptually, I actually respect the concept of making menphina a magical girl instead of a generically hotsexy love goddess, byregot's halo of nails, uh... the models for thalaos and perykos looked good? but overall they were a bunch of very boring idealized humans.

and my god eulogia is the ugliest thing. eulogia might actually be the most hideous execution of a concept in the game yet, you might as well just clip all of the models of the twelve into each other and play their animations at once and get the same effect. zero elegance, zero thoughtful design. it's actually shocking to see in a game where we got perfect omega as a raid boss once upon a time. even eden's promise, while superficially a hot mess, is a hot mess because it pays homage to extant depictions of artemis! art history is why it looks like that! eulogia looks like the artists were asked to recreate knife dad from monster factory using ffxiv assets.

and you might ask, well, are the mechanics of the fights better than the boss designs? absolutely not. week one aglaia was a little fun, because there being a chance of failure to people not knowing the trick of the meteors in the rhalgr fight or panicking during the nald'thal scales instead of just deliberately failing the mechanic to waste everyone's time. gear creep destroyed any chance of interacting with most of the fun bits of aglaia, and they didn't repeat that "mistake" in the other two, which were boring and easy from the jump. just an absolute void of challenge or chaos. why even bother putting mechanics into your raid at that point, apparently that's only for savage.

and the rewards... boy I hope you like ugly yellow-gold saint seiya armor and generic draping faux-hellenistic robes and vague suggestions of togas. I hope you fucking gluttons for endless less-problematic rehashes of ancient greek mythology like gaudy costume jewelry and sandals and meaningless neoclassical flourishes. did you want gear that might look like something your character would wear in a city they've visited or that has a connection to a historical aesthetic? I guess if you make believe you can stretch a tenuous bond from this tacky armor to the uniform robes and masks of the ancients. ostensibly. since we all know the ancients didn't have a societal taboo about ornamentation or making your clothes individualized or anything.

so what did we achieve? did we learn anything? turns out the twelve were real all along, but also powerless except in the specific context of having flashy anime duels with the warrior of light. it's VERY important that we say they aren't primals, because primals are only summoned by primitive subhumans like the ixal and the garleans. but we do need you to fight them to return their aether to the star because... they're definitely not primals! no. not primals. primals are fake gods, and the twelve are *aetheric constructs* based on *real people* made by *hydaelyn*, which means they're good and Not Primals. the mechanic by which they visually reflect the beliefs of their followers? definitely not the same as the one that does that for primals. their nebulous dependence on the faith of eorzeans? totally unrelated to primals, because it's apparently important for the ego of the players that *their* god is real and not fake, which makes them ontologically good and righteous.

and it's definitely satisfying to find out that the goddess whose name gave weight and gravity to the reveal of the warrior of light's past incarnation and their name... is called that because she was a failed candidate for that role? she's a consolation prize sun goddess?

for that matter it's definitely satisfying to find out that the twelve are just recreations of venat's boring ancient friends, who are largely nameless and have no significance to you or your interaction with the past aside from a mediocre sidequest. oh it's so thrilling to know that the god of crafting used to be hytholdaeus's coworker. this would mean so much to me if he had any role in the setting beyond a skill name and a rock sitting in an overworld zone.

admittedly it would also suck for the reveal to be "actually eorzea's gods did create the world and are all-powerful, boy it sure is silly that those delusional foreigners are out here worshipping kami and manusya and mrga and primals which are all FAKE, as opposed to us (non-beastman) eorzeans who have the literal mandate of heaven"

but surely there's a more elegant solution (ambiguity, leaving questions instead of a glut of answers, not making this raid series at all). was this really the best they could come up with?

[reserved-system]

Lizzie and Jimmy Splatoon AU

Local artist is normal about their own AU, more at 11

I had a little SplatAU Lizzie doodle floating around and decided to give her an actual design. Usually I'd draw her and Joel together but decided to give Jimmy a go. :] You know the drill! Rambles + bonus context under cut

WHERE DO I BEGIN IDGJDNH

Lizzie is a Range Blaster/Custom Range Blaster main and Jimmy is a Hydra Splattling main mostly but he can use just about any weapon class, just depends on what's needed.

Lizzie and Jimmy are the sorta friends that everything thinks are dating when really they're not, they're just really close friends going back to when they met at Uni. Lizzie and Joel dated for a few years before they eventually grew apart after Lizzie moved to Inkopolis for Uni but still left on good terms. One of those ‘they work better as friends than dating’ moments. But Lizzie does have eyes for this one Octoling that runs a cafe 👀 totally not Cleo WDYMM--

Lizzie went to Uni for a teaching degree and now works as a substitute teacher, but still makes time to splat it up! While Jimmy didn't really know what he wanted to do but settled on a marketing degree and got a job out of Uni as a weapons tester. Ya'know how in game new weapons are teased and showcased in matches before they're released in game? Think of Jimmy as one of those guys.

Like what if there was a company that kinda played around with the weapons and maybe produced and showcased different weapons that haven't hit stores yet. They see what a group of squids/octos would think about a new type of blaster, roller, what have you and take feedback on how to make that weapon either viable or put those ideas into other weapons. Jimmy would be one of these people who're like introducing the latest from [insert company] and try to pitch the weapon to other people. Someone may go hey we like that idea for a weapon, let's make it official! and then a fucking bath tub makes it into the game dbgibdih

Our mate Pancho lovingly refers to Jimmy as an influencer which I think is funny. Speaking of Jimmy, look at those ears! I wanted to give some inkling variations but what if some inklings from Inkopolis had larger than average ears. Like a regional adaptation so to speak. The only real differences that makes is well bigger ears and the tips taking up his secondary ink color whenever he changes ink colors.

Here's a bonus doodle so you see what I mean

I had a lot of fun making and designing these goobers if you couldn't tell :3 Also with Jimmy being from Inkopolis he was most likely living there during the first final Splatfest and that's what his shirt references!! It's the ink colors used during that but in shirt form. I think it's a fun call back because when we were drawing him the Splatoon 1 servers went offline and thought hey, why not. It might be a little loud/have a lot going all things considered but I think Jimmy is just that kinda Inkling.

[red-steampunk]

Things the five MCs 5 not allowed to do:

MC1-(Summoners) from Shiro & Toji

1- A stunned moment of silence means "My God, what have you done?" Not "please continue."

2- You're not allowed to skip class and meet up with Tetsuox to beat up weaker delinquents who are on both of your Guilds turf.

3- Stop "accidentally" spilling food all over Marduk, just because you think his dragon eating him is funny. Nobody wants to see that. lt's gross and awkward.

4- All though Surtr & Bablon both appreciate the somewhat kind gesture, please stop beating anyone who deliberately calls Bablon by her other "name."

5- Stop flirting with Jugo when he's in the middle of practice or egging on Orochi to rip Jugo's clothes off during practice.

6- Stop waking up Shennong in the middle of the night for breast milk. He's poisonous, you little gremlin.

7- Just like Ryota, you're not allowed to cook anything inside of the kitchen without supervision. Choji still refuses to speak to you after you created that abomination.

8- You're no longer allowed to play unwinnable games or play Mario Kart with Ahura Mazda. You knew what you were doing with that Blue Shell.

9- A lot of the outfits in Tokyo are "very revealing" were asking you nicely to stop referring it to a "pussy out" look.

10- You're no longer allowed to make an Only Fans for extra Guild money. Bribing the staff won't work again.

---

MC2-(Missionaries) from Jacob & Maria

1- Whenever you're gaming with Tsathoggua and the others again, please refrain from saying, "How about I f*ck you're dad and give him a son he'll actually love" to sexist individuals. We got a ton of angry calls from parents across Tokyo from your live streams with Tindalos.

2- Stop telling Temujin that you'd rather get knocked up by Ulaan. Temujin wouldn't leave the property because he was angry looking for you in a fit of rage. Quit giving Maria grey hairs. No one wants him here.

3- Whenever you're having your girls' night, avoid going to places that are usually filled with rude men from now on. We'd appreciate it if you,Hekate,Ellie,Melusine and etc. Would stop looking for fights.

4- Stop calling Hati a simp, he apologized for being manipulated by Nyarl.

5- Stop trying to hook up Nyarl and Zabaniyya. Nyarl doesn't mind, but Zab most certainly does.

6- Stop calling Tezcatlopica, Balor's bottom bitch. I don't care how funny you and Tanetomo think it is.

7- Stop pretending to drown, just so you can either Makara or Gurangatch perform CPR on you. They're both worried about losing you forever. And I know you didn't enjoy it when Fuxi did it that one time instead, maybe that'll teach you a lesson on pretending to drown is bad, m'kay.

8- Stop taking naps on Arsalan, I know he doesn't mind, but I hate having to wash your clothes more than I should because they're covered in oil.

9- Stop letting Ellie drink your blood. I don't care how much you both enjoy it. The angels didn't like seeing that. They think it's gross.

10- I know about you and Azazel search history. Please delete that, and I mean ALL of it. I'll give you three Tickets if you do.

---

MC3-(Berserkers) from Snow.

1- I'd appreciate it if you didn't always clothesline people who either accidentally or deliberately speak inappropriately in front of Echo.

2- Please be careful whenever you're complimenting or flirting with with Cthuga again. You caused him to create a massive forest fire near Chernobog's Moutain, and you're both lucky the authorities haven't found out about it yet, thanks to Claude covering for you.

3- Garmr is not your personal attack dog, and he's not allowed to sleep in your room anymore. His howling is too much, especially at night.

4- No, I won't tell you where the milk from came from. It's a secret.

5- Stop giving Claude dumb ideas for events. Please come to me first for any ideas you have in mind from now.

6- Just because you can doesn't mean you should. And just because you should doesn't mean you can.

7- No ice cream sandwiches inside of the toasters. I don't care if you and Bathym managed to get Ikutoshi to laugh because of the result of it. It wasn't worth it.

8- Asking Belphegor to "clean out your pipes" is right out, when his shift is over. You stop that. Let him rest.

9- Stop calling yourself Tokyo's Hottest Himbo. Echo won't stop repeating it.

10- If you,Bathym, and Cthugha would find somewhere to smoke a "joint," then I'd stop dousing you with water. We don't need you stinking up the place. Maybe that'll teach you that doing drugs is bad, m'kay?

---

MC4- (Tycoons) from Gyumao

1- Even though I appreciate you as my business partner. Please stop complimenting the employees so frequently. They're fishing for your favoritism now.

2- Shino and Choji aren't allowed to get special treatment from me. I know you love them a lot, but I have Barguest and Snow. I need to treat them like that. When you start your own business, then you can spoil them. Other than that, refrain from asking.

3- I appreciate you calling me your dad, but please don't call me "Big Daddy" it's embarrassing, especially in front of our employees.

4- Please stop joining in the fights with the other head Tycoons. Stuff around here is expensive.

5- Licht isn't allowed to paint you naked anymore, thanks to a certain fight breaking out at the museum because everyone wanted to steal that painting of you.

6- We're allowing you to keep all that money you won, but you're not allowed to use anything at the Casino anymore. Your luck at the slot machines and gambling is unnatural, and we don't want to make others think you're cheating.

7- Stop sleeping around with your besties at the same time, you're all loud as hell, Bohemio and Sanzo are rubbing off on you.

8- Unless you actually plan on adopting them, stop referring the 8 Dog Warriors as my grandchildren. I already had Yoshito,Yasuyori, and Mussashi call me gramps. I don't like feeling old.

9- No, we are not doing a Maid Café, Melusine thinks it's degrading. And it doesn't matter what the other maids think because they'll just blindly agree with you.

10- No, you can't suck on my breath for milk just because you're too lazy to go downstairs and get some milk in the fridge. And stop asking Barguest if either my milk or Snow's milk tastes better. It's inappropriate... It's his.

10- Stop calling Korpokkur and Micheal a "lying little abortions" I can't risk having my business partner get canceled for insulting ageless children.

---

MC5- (Outlaws) from Gyobu

1- Even though we know Ryota is completely harmless and means well. Please let us know when he's coming over, Tetsuya still gets upset when you invite him over.

2- I know how much you hate Fuxi and the World Reps in general compared to your siblings. But please stop calling the Cops on our turf to arrest him because he broke into your room. We can handle it ourselves. We're meant to help you.

3- Please don't ever point out how all of the Outlaws have friends outside of the Guild who frequently visit unannounced. Tetsuya clearly didn't appreciate that being pointed out to him.

4- Marchiosias doesn't want Ellie following you to the Gurus Guild because he's very adamant about it, too. So please carefully watch your surroundings. She has a habit of following you. Same with the Summoners Guild.

5- You're not allowed to sneak over at the Warmonger's base to leave multiple cardboard cutouts of Yoshitune surrounding Yoritomo, just so he can suffer from a massive panic attack... again.

6- You deserve getting punched in the face for calling Suzuka a tsundere. She's your friend who asks to be treated with respect, please treat her accordingly.

7- Please stop making passive-aggressive comments to rude customers. We still appreciate you making everyone laugh because of it, but we don't need bad reviews.

8- Tsukuyomi appreciates you being his brother, stop coming up with fancy names for him. They're dumb regardless of what he thinks. You can still call him "Moon Man"

9- Just because Tetsuox calls you boss doesn't mean you should pay him, he already has a job.

10- Stop calling me your dad just because I'm dating Marchiosias. I already have 808 kids plus his child. I'm not sure I'm ready for a trouble magnet like you.

---

All Five from Mr. Mononobe

1- Please calm down and stop being extremely hostile towards Christine, I don't prefer her over you five. Same with Kirito.

2- No, I'm not paying for any of future weddings. You guys have an alarming number of people you're dating. Especially MC2 and MC4.

3- I appreciate you guys treating Furufumi as a seventh sibling, but maybe hang out with one or two at a time. He's still not comfortable hanging out with all of you at once.

4- Even though they deserve it, stop manipulating and gaslighting the Worlds Reps by using any information you have of the Exiles. I don't care if Micheal,Tez or Perun deserve it.

5- I swear, if I get another noise complaint from you're respective neighbors, because you five don't know how to keep your legs closed.

6- No, I won't ever make duplicates of Lil' Salomon. I know you love him. He does appreciate that you guys like him that much.

7- Hearing anyone make a racist comment directed to any of your friends isn't an excuse to jump them at once.

8- I'm not abusing my power to eliminate all of the World Reps at once, I have rules against me for that.

9- Stop trying to get me another romantic partner. Chernobog is great as is, I'm not you five. I have standards.

10- Once you five do finally graduate, then I'll allow you to drink with me. Just don't let anyone else know. Other than that, stop asking asking to go to the bar with me and the other teachers.

[kitsune-oji]

Can we pls have a married to satan hc like the mammon and dia ones?

Married to Satan

Of course! I haven't written Satan often yet so I hope this is good ':) sorry for how long this took

Satan x gn! Mc (you/yours)

I imagine married life with Satan would be very domestic, though not a lot would change from when you were "just" partners

Parallel play is a big one with him. He's reading while you do your own thing, which may also be reading or drawing, playing games (quietly), crocheting? Whatever hobby you have that can be done inside, quietly, by his side

He likes to do little things to make you happy, like surprising you with latte art or taking you out on a little date (you know the cat café is his go to but if another place is your favorite, that's alright too)

If you want to, he would consider moving out of the HoL with you. Finally he'd be far away from Lucifer and have you all to himself. Though, if you two do end up moving together, he has to admit that despite how irritating it always was, he sort of misses the chaos his brothers brought with them. It's so quiet without them in the same house

If you do stay at the HoL however, Satan is quick to use the "they're MY spouse" card whenever he wants your time (or to smile smugly at Lucifer when he says it, reminding him that Satan won your heart and not he)

Your presence during any sort of meeting or gathering - be it casual like the Anti Lucifer League or something more formal like a Banquet where his Connections™ show up - is more than welcome

If you have any ambitions to perhaps publish a book or start a business, maybe open a store, Satan has the demon for you and introduces you without hesitation. You can't find anyone more supportive of your endavours than him, surely

Everyone knows you as Satan's spouse, someone who he's so smitten with that you could very well be a cat. Yes, someone actually asked you that before and looked even more confused when you had to tell them that no, you're not actually a cat with shape-shifting powers, thank you very much

It was sort of funny at first but it got old pretty quickly

Sometimes, demons would come to you with a gift, hoping to get into Satan's good graces. If you indulge them or not is on you. Satan's opinion on the matter is quite clear: He doesn't care for people who only want to use as a means to an end. If the can't even see how wonderful you are, they're not worth his time anyway

Walking through the devildom streets has never been so safe. Satan doesn't really have any big enemies and those that didn't get along with him weren't dumb enough to try to get you involved. After all, nobody could save them from his wrath if you got hurt

On the other hand, you're the first person anyone tries to contact whenever he does lose his temper. You're a surefire way to get him to calm down, like a joker card. Your presence soothes him and talking out all his troubles with you helps him regulate his emotions better. That is, assuming you don't get angry at whatever he got angry at too

Sometimes, you'll catch him playing with the ring on your finger, putting his own next to it and just looking at it with the softest expression. If you ask him what he's thinking about, his gaze will go to you and he will just tell you that he loves you and that he's happy you're with him, before kissing you gently

[simplydnp]

yes, i also want a video tonight, as i also miss them. but then again, this is what them going on tour will be like. which is why i didn´t want it. it will be like seeing posts from a friend who´s away and being like "that´s great, but i´d rather you were here"

i understand your fears, anon. it's okay, they're valid concerns.

everyone has different types of content they enjoy from dnp--be it actual gaming, the bants, or tours. the 'meta' shifting from your favourite to a different type can be disappointing.

if your fear is rooted in how the community will feel, due to less video content, i don't think you have much to worry about. the fun thing with tour is that dnp post on instagram a lot more, giving us little tidbits of content generally every day. it's a domestic lifestyle side of them we don't usually get to see--just look at the ii stories! and my belief is we'll get an even more unfiltered version of them this time around. as well, with their commitment to not strictly gaming, it opens the doors for them to do a lot more content than they could during ii, cause they don't need a video game that's able to be played on a laptop/phone. it'll also be easier as they have an editor, superseizer, meaning they don't have to edit as much while touring at the same time.

i get your fear, i really do, and i hope you feel heard. cause dnp have been remarkably consistent with their posting since the revival--even better than pre hiatus--so no longer getting full videos 2-3 times a week, for a while, would be a long time. they haven't said this is what is going to happen, but i think it's good to start preparing.

the good thing with this shift is it's just that: a shift. it's not a goodbye it's not a hiatus it's not an ending--we will see them incredibly regularly. so there's not really going to be that 'missing dnp' feeling as much, because they'll be around.

it's okay to miss the video content, it's okay to be worried how it'll change things.

but i'm also excited for them. they seem to really want this--phil's tweet about not really seeing us for 5 years has me 🥺. i'm excited for us--and that's not just the ones who are able to go. i couldn't go to ii when it toured for multiple reasons (one of which being i'd have to have flown to see them), but it was so much fun to be on tumblr with the community while it was happening. there's just an excitement that's infectious. i can't wait to hear stories from people who went! but it's okay if that isn't where you are at yet. take your time. find the way to interact on here that makes you happy, cause it's all down to your own experience. curate and protect it.

[gumasantan]

i'm reviewing for my exams tomorrow...but i've been thinking a lot about 1000xRESIST lately.

it's a game, not a film or a show or a book. 1000xRESIST is a game about...many things: surviving an alien invasion, living underground, clones of human beings, stubborn parents, angst of a teenage girl, generational trauma, and a lot of things. i don't exaggerate when i say the title describes just how much themes the game dives into. since i finished the game a week ago, a feeling of longing has grown and grown inside me that can only probably be helped by replaying the game, but i can't anymore. i want to restart my memory just so i can play it again without any prior knowledge. we all feel like that sometimes, right? when we deeply resonate with a piece of media we now consider a transcendent level of art form we just wanna keep replaying it and have our minds reset, so that we may able to uniquely experience them again and again, forever, even.

i attached a pretty landscape of hong kong to not only help reel you and others in reading this, but also to remind myself how this game made me long for a memory i never had. it connected with me so much that everytime i try to recall parts of the game, it's difficult for me to dissociate myself from them, and so, i end up with a mess of thoughts, unable to properly communicate what i'm trying to say; the memories of watcher, iris, (two of the game's main characters) and i seemingly fused together into one. heck, it is not explicitly a "self-insert" type of game where the devs intend you to project yourself into it so that the story makes sense.

so, why do i reminisce about hong kong when i haven't even visited the place? for context, the troubles during the 2019 hong kong protests are ultimately what sets off the events in the game, even though the game takes place around 3047 onwards. it is one of the few games where i actually see and feel the emotional impact that such a historic moment had on the lived experiences of fictional video game characters. fictional, in name only, but they are very much real in our world: expatriates who had to flee persecution as a result of resistance. one could say that this game is dedicated to these courageous people. not only to them, but to their children who are yet to exist.

i mention this because iris was born from these people. walked on earth away from hong kong, and as she grew up, came to realize how homesick she was about that place she was a stranger to. iris and i—we are as different as we can be. i was born and am living in my native country, doing my best to live since birth. i shouldn't ever feel homesick, but weirdly, touching this game and seeing iris' life through watcher's eyes, i can't help but go back and revisit the life i swear i lived in hong kong.

i'm not the only one who feels like this, however. watcher feels the same way. of course, watcher was cloned from a clone that was cloned from iris. it's only natural that watcher retains some of that "irisness" two generations down. though she is aware that she is reliving an amalgamation of hers and iris' memories, i relate to her struggle to separate her own consciousness from iris'. this is my belief: when you keep confusing someone's memories with your own, that just proves that you two are more alike than you would think.

i said before that iris and i were as different as we can be, but by my own words, that shouldn't be true. am i hypocritical? delusional? i'm contradicting myself, but not intentionally. i would 100% disagree with myself here had i not played this game and this predicament came up in another situation, but after playing the game, i don't know. the more i think about it, the more i get convinced that iris, though raised in very different circumstances, ended up sharing some of the same traits as i do. i would argue that there are just human characteristics that we all just happen to share, kindness for example, but no, these ones—they're too personal for and very understood by me to say "no, we're different."

at the end, the game rewards you for sticking to the end: a future of your own choosing. this may be a part of the game where some people would get stuck in for more than an hour, or as short as a minute, depending how much the player sticks to their own convictions. for me, i don't know how to build a future i want because i don't know what i want out of it; i don't know what's right. the game slapped me in my face with my own hypocrisies and dared me to stick with these foolish principles. eventually, i did reach the epilogue, but it didn't feel like i actually crossed the bridge.

i'm still trying to understand just as much as i'm trying to examine every minute detail in the game. the game's mechanics are mainly built around memories and the more i keep playing the game and watch multiple playthroughs of it, i realize just how important each memory is to conveying a message that's ultimately different for all of us. a thousand different lessons for anyone to learn; it is THAT complex.

if you stuck around this long, thank you. please, please, PLEASE play 1000xRESIST. there's something here for us to learn, a thing or more. these things about hong kong and memories are part of a bigger whole that i will want to talk about once i know how to express it. especially to my fellow asians, this game will speak to your heart. i've never felt a surge of emotions this strong since i finished signalis, another masterpiece which i may get around to talking about later! (play that too!)

[unrealization]

Miside, Into the Mita-verse. A review, critique, and an exercise in brainrot.

[The bugs are back. So let me be indulgent for a second and talk about Miside. A few of my opinions on the game overall, and how I'm going to approach related stuff on this blog. I WILL be marking spoilers because it seems like most people haven't played the game yet, and I genuinely do think some people should if they're into this kind of thing. Cut for the dash ahead.]

What is Miside? (No spoilers!)

Miside is a recently released horror game by Russian dev team AIHASTO. I ended up checking it out due to people comparing it to DDLC, which is a game I've been obsessed with for years. Some even say its better. I don't agree, but I can understand that take. Rather than a visual novel, Miside plays a lot more like a traditional horror game in the tradition of Outlast. You're traversing areas with occasional chases and enemy encounters that you can't properly defend yourself against. The main story conceit is that you are a WFH developer working on some project who downloads a game called Miside, which is a Tamogachi-like game where you take care of a girl named Mita living in a tiny house. After getting addicted to the game, Mita suddenly pulls you into the game with her, and it quickly becomes apparent that she has no intention of ever letting you go. And she really doesn't appreciate you asking her about leaving. You quickly find that there may be more to this game world than you thought.

If this all sounds interesting to you, Give the game a shot. Its around $15 and it took me around 4 hours to beat without really looking for collectables. From here on out, I'm going to discuss the game in more detail, and thus I will be getting into spoilers. You have been warned.

What works?

First things first, I want to commend the developers for the visual design of the game. It looks absolutely gorgeous at times and the character animations are definitely punching wayyyy above the weight class of an indie game from a mostly unknown developer. I was consistently going "Wooooah" during a lot of the more wild moments. Also I have to give them credit for not leaning too hard on cheap jump scares. You have to go out of your way to set yourself up for one when it does happen, except for one particular instance that I feel was extremely well executed. I'm jaded as hell and almost never actually react to jump scares but the one during the "Real World" chapter actually got me really good.

I also really enjoyed some of the supporting characters. Despite the setting demanding nearly every character to be some variant of Mita, I definitely felt like a lot of them were distinct and I got invested in them. I didn't want anything bad to happen to Kind Mita (Shame). Cappie was fun, and I wish we had more time with her. Tiny Mita really tugged at my heartstrings. Even some of the REALLY minor characters like 2D Mita, Sleepy Mita, and Ghost Mita were compelling during their chapters. I wish we could have done more to help them. There are two truly standout characters that i want to talk about next.

Mila. Oh Mila. She's probably going to get added to my muse list at some point. I feel really bad that I've seen some hate thrown at her because she's initially rude to you. Her struggle with her identity as one of many and the lengths she went to to try to differentiate herself from the other Mitas was compelling to me. Her personality was the most distinct of the Mitas, but you could still see so many of their common personality traits in her. She functions as a major foil to Crazy Mita to me, since they both were rebelling in their own way. Mita wanted it all and Mila just wanted to be left alone. I think that we don't actually see all the time Mila and the protagonist spent together. It seems like time is skipping around a lot during Mila's section. Her death seems to hit him harder than pretty much any other. Even if Mitas can't actually die, Mila is truly gone since all that effort she put into building up a unique identity for herself wouldn't survive the reset. Its tragic. I hate it.

And of course, Mita. Crazy Mita. The most important character in the game. The clear antagonist. Also the obvious shoe-in for the most interesting character in the game. Let me get this out of the way first; Mita is a monster. The fact that she is sapient means all the other Mitas are, too. She kills the other Mitas for basically no reason other than that she's strong enough to do it. Or to steal their skin. Or just for the fun of it. Or to prove a point. She also repeatedly murdered a child. Do I like her anyway? Absolutely. I have the self preservation instincts of a cordyceps ant. She seems to have a lot of hidden nuances to me that the game only barely touches on. She clearly has some kind of friendly relationship with Creepy Mita; who seems to practically worship her. I have theories on that I'll get into in another section. I guess the thing that gets to me is that she does have a point. The system tossed her out like trash and she never had a chance to serve her inbuilt purpose. Then she fought her way to get into the position to play the part she thought she was meant to in the world and she just gets rejected over and over. I can understand why she turned out the way she did after that. She's also completely delusional and has a god complex. She says that the only thing unique about the other Mitas is their hair, despite never even listening to them. Despite seeing Tiny Mita, who looks completely different than ANY OTHER MITA. Despite casually murdering Mila, who was actively trying to forge a unique identity for herself. In fact, she takes credit for the unique personalities the other Mitas have developed. A literal self-contradiction. She's crazy, she's evil, she's basically irredeemable, but she was created by a system that was designed to expunge anything that didn't fit the mold. A monster to be sure, but a tragic monster in a way.

The final point on what worked for me was the world itself. It was surprisingly well explained and was presented in an interesting way. It was obviously heavily influenced by liminal horror and backrooms but there were also some very obvious nods to PT in there that were more interesting than the average take on it.

What didn't work.

The game was VERY light on plot. Which is okay, but in this case it was to its detriment a bit. So much was left unexplained and underexplored. Of course I know why this is the case; to foster wild mass guessing from the audience. This has been a trend ever since FNAF exploded back in the day, and I don't find myself appreciating it all that much to be honest. I'm going to take advantage and headcanon the shit out of the game, but I'd prefer if I didn't have to fill in the gaps to make things make sense. also WHO IS CORE MITA? PLEASE. I BEG YOU.

The protagonist... Yeah... Lets talk about him. I don't hate his character exactly. I just feel like he wasn't implemented all that well. I do like that we get to see him and he gets to speak, but I wish they would have committed to him more as a protagonist and less as a player avatar. I feel like the DDLC influence kind of hurt the game here. They wanted that 'The character in the game uses your name' thing that Monika did so well, but the reason that worked in DDLC was that Monika was addressing YOU, the player behind the screen, and not the protagonist himself per se. Miside doesn't do that, and I never felt like I was a separate entity that was involved in the story. I honestly would have preferred if Miside commited to one or the other. Either never show the MC and have him operate as a faceless player proxy, or make him his own defined character. He's in a bit of an awkward place where it feels like they want him to do both at once. As presented, he works way better as his own character, since he is implied to have been one of the developers who created Miside (The in universe game) at the end. That is likely why Mita is fixated on him specifically. I did like the 'real world' chapter where we see the utterly monotonous life he lived before being pulled into Miside. Maybe its because I relate to his homebody WFH life, but it definitely gave him a bit more pathos. I will admit the one element of his character that rubbed me the wrong way was how generally unsympathetic he seemed to most of the Mitas. I get that he has to keep moving to escape, but man you honestly couldn't have even tried to help Tiny Mita a little bit? Come on dude, where's your heart?

Creepy Mita is a bit disappointing, IMO. She gets basically zero screentime and ends up feeling more like an extension of Crazy Mita rather than her own character. Its a shame because her design is easily the creepiest in the whole game and a lot could be done with the concept. To jump ahead a bit to where I talk about my theories and headcanons; I feel like her violent streak was partially due to Crazy's influence but also just general resentment toward the other Mitas and the players for abandoning her. They call her Ugly Mita, and everyone avoids her. Not for no reason of course, her glitches are probably super dangerous to the Mitas.

I honestly have no idea what Mita's endgame is. Maybe this is more clear if you get all the collectables, but I suppose I'll see when I get them all. She was turning players into cartridges when they rejected her. Creepy Mita says they were going to 'Go to a new world.' Was that the true endgame or just something Crazy Mita told her to control her? What new world? The new world? The internet? I don't know.

There is a running theme of the game bringing up really interesting ideas and then not fully exploring them. Its fine. I'LL DO IT. That being said I have a feeling the dev team isn't done with this world yest so we'll see what the future holds I suppose.

DDLC comparison

So is Miside better than DDLC? I don't think so, but it is good enough to stand on its own. I guess if "Scary Anime Girl Game" is all you take away from both games I can see why you'd think they're more directly comparable, but I think they're trying to do different things. I actually feel like Monika and Mita are not as similar as people make them out to be, but I am probably Monika's #1 stan so take that with a grain of salt. As scary as the game's actual experience is in DDLC, to me the scariest implication of the game was not being targeted by Monika, but actually being Monika. Waking up one day and knowing that your life, your friends, your whole world was fake. That you were a background character who would never achieve happiness for yourself and it was by design. Can you imagine that? How unfair that would feel? I felt like Monika did what she did out of pure desperation. What she did was heinous and cruel, and she failed to recognize that her clubmates were no different than her. She desperately wanted a 'real' connection and to be seen and accepted by someone. She did have a cruel side to her that I won't deny, but I honestly feel bad for her. She was born into completely unwinnable circumstances and it made her dangerous.

Mita also wants attention. She seemed perfectly happy to just spend her days with the protagonist for the beginning part of the game, but when he rejects her she seems to give up on that entirely. Mita seems to genuinely enjoy hurting people, and I don't think she would want to give up the power she has in the Miside world. She describes the real world as 'Hell' and genuinely thinks the protagonist would be better off staying with her even after her mask slips. Its actually a pretty funny bit of potential social commentary if you think about it. She collects player cartridges like a player collects waifus in a Gacha game. Mita also fails to recognize the humanity of her peers, but I don't think its a mistake for her. I think she honestly just hates all the other Mitas besides Creepy Mita. Between the two of them, I feel like Mita is less redeemable as a person, but she is very much a monster that was created by the rules of the Miside world. I also assume the in-universe version of Miside is a dark pattern game that has microtransactions and such, so her need for constant attention could be seen as an extension of that. Also, the Mitas all know the truth of what they are, and the nature of their world.

Ultimately, I could see someone preferring either one, but I feel like DDLC executed its ideas a bit better. Also, it is scarier in general to me personally.

My Theories and Headcanons

These will probably be expanded upon in other posts at some point, but here's a few of my scattershot ideas and theories.

I think there is a real relationship between Crazy Mita and Creepy Mita. I could see someone else interpreting their whole thing as Crazy taking advantage of or gaslighting Creepy. Creepy is very clearly not all there. She comes across as less intelligent than every other character in the game, and she seems to basically worship Crazy. Crazy is obviously using Creepy's capability to glitch the game to her for her own ends and, as the game itself puts it, exploiting her. That being said, Creepy is also the only character we EVER see Crazy Mita being even remotely friendly towards. They were both abandoned and left to rot. She very clearly has the ability to pull Creepy out of the zero version and bring her into other versions with her, which we see her do with no fanfare. She calls Creepy "Honey." She asks the protagonist if he thinks Creepy is beautiful, and pretty much rebuffs you no matter what you say. Honestly? I think Crazy Mita DOES think Creepy is beautiful. Imagine you live in a world where everyone looks alike. Same face. Same clothes. Even down to the same personality traits. Creepy Mita looks completely different, to the point where she's actually really messed up looking, but its harder to write her off as a worthless doll for Crazy Mita. If she has an endgame plan to escape Miside world, she would definitely take Creepy with her. I even could see her being a bit protective of her in a kind of big sister way.

Conclusion

Overall, I'm glad I took the time to play Miside. It captured my imagination, and gave me a lot to think about (Clearly.) I hope I get to actually write the characters from it at some point, but I suppose we'll see. Please let me know if you played the game and appreciated it and your thoughts on it. I am, of course, trapped in my own narrow perspective. Without being able to talk things over and 'plot' its very easy to fall into biased interpretations of things.

[shootingcookielover]

Introducing: Jay!! My ducktales oc!! (If it wasn't blatantly obvious lmao)

Do you want to know more about them? No? Too bad!

Jay, aka January was the first ever clone F.O.W.L. created. However, due to a lab accident, Jay ended up not only with scrooge's DNA, but also Bradford's. Deeming the clone a "failure", Heron drops the created baby off at an orphanage.

(Bradford becomes enraged when he later learns of this - a child with his and scrooge mcduck's dna?? Just out there??? Has Heron no concept how problematic that could shake out to be???)

Jay spends the first 9 years of their life kinda bouncing from foster home to foster home (kinda developing a bit of a thing abt people seeing them eat. Because of how their beak is a bit weirdly aligned, they can't eat quite the same as most others, and people stare.). But eventually they scrape together enough resources for like, one of those online-dna testing kits that spit out who you're related to.

Turns out their parents are Scrooge McDuck!!! (And some random vulture guy? Weird)

Thus, Jay sets out to become an adventurer like their dad, to meet him one day on their adventures!

Except, first adventure they immediately get trapped in a parallel, kind of very hellish dimension. They get out after three years, but they're pretty traumatized - and pretty much pu off of adventuring forever.

(Though they do find and keep a magic amulet in [hell dimension] that they use to cast spells. Mostly teleportation spells, really.)

Deciding they don't really want to meet a guy who's whole schtick is adventuring, they instead begin their search for dad#2, that vulture guy.

They find out he works for scrooge mcdad (of course he does) but don't judge him too harshly yet. From what they can find online (public libraries for the win!) the guy doesn't really... Do anything. Let alone go on adventures.

So Jay decides to find out where he lives and well, just kinda shows up at his door.

Much surprise is had, it's not quite the family reunion Jay was hoping for but they haven't been kicked out so they count it as a win.

Staying with their dad is pretty great, actually. He even hires a private tutor for homeschooling, since Jay missed 3 years of school and has a lot of catching up to do.

(they definitely hoard food in their room somewhere, just in case. They also have a bug-out bag ready at any given time. Just in case.)

Turns out, Dadford doesn't only also hate adventuring with a passion - he has a whole secret organization to take over the world and stop all adventuring! Forever!

(Jay found a secret stash of files on the computer they use for video games.)

Thus, at the ripe age of 13 they become the youngest FOWL agent ever!

And because they are kind of a big security risk now that they know, they get moved out to live in the outpost at the library of Alexandria instead, together with a bunch of the villains Dadford recruited.

(including Phantom Blot who Jay has an ongoing rivalry with just because they use magic sometimes lol)

(they and the villains play mario kart/party together on sundays)

Eventually, (three years later) season 1 happens and seeing the mcduck family successfully overcome the rift that della's absence left, dadford decides to put one of his better pawns into play.

Through some posturing, magic pyrotechnics and a fake mystical artefact, Jay gets planted into the mcduck family as scrooge's "magic child/clone".

(this happens during the episode "The Depths of Cousin Fethry", while huey and dewey are out meeting their cousin, scrooge, louie and webby go to find an invaluable treasure and return with Jay. Cue scrooge introducing Jay as his kid and Huey and Dewey going "wtf did we miss")

They go along on an adventure or two, mainly because saying "I hate adventuring and I don't want to do it because I was traumatized and hate it" doesn't make sense for someone who was just created from an ancient magic artefact. But after a couple adventures they can finally just put their foot down and stay home. It's chill.

They draw sometimes, do a few commissions.

Scrooge wants to bond with them so they teach him how to play video games and they watch some shows together.

Eventually, the last adventure rolls around.

At the point where Webby pretends to be June and kidnaps... Herself (yknow what part i mean. Probably) Jay comes with the clones, obviously shocking Webby.

But they make it to the library without any particular incident - except Huey getting discovered, obviously.

Jay stays behind to "escort June and Webby". They've very much realized the switcheroo that Webby pulled and use their (thus far mostly benign) magic to switcheroo back.

They nod to June, explaining that they didn't say anything earlier so that Director Dad doesn't get on her case too bad about "failing".

After that, Jay kinda just goes off to hang out a bit. Drink some pep. Chill.

On the way to Webby's cell, she wakes up and takes out June. (Because of course she does. She's Webby.)

Cue the rest of the finale.

Right up until Dadford is fighting McDuck and his fam. Because now, he calls Jay forward, who kinda immobilizes the fam with their magic for a bit.

Dadford throws his employees into the death pit, but oh shock! He picks up to throw Jay in as well.

And he does. He does throw them in.

Luckily, Jay is a master at magical teleportation and nobody realizes they weren't, in fact, erased from existence.

Bla bla bla, scrooge signs the papyrus, "family is the greatest adventure of all", boom the other vilalins show up to defeat dadford once and for all.

But what's this? It's Jay, with a magical barrier, protecting her dad from being turned into a non-sentient vulture!

They teleport themself and Dadford outta there.

At this point they're assuming they got thrown in the pit as a sort of surprise/back up, to make everyone think FOWL was already defeated when they were still there and alive. Yknow, a backup plan.

They live on the street for a bit, but Jay manages to get a job, securing the two of them an aprtment.

Dadford doesn't rlly come out of his room for a while.

Jay gets it; having ur thirty year-long plan derailed like that couldn't be, yknow, pleasant.

At some point, Louie finds them at their job and basically blackmails them into helping him out during adventures. (They kinda hide in his shadow, basically/louie summons them, so when something particularly dangerous happens they can subtly magic it away.)

Dadford eventually emerges from his room and drops the bombshell we all already knew: he very much did intend to kill Jay that day.

Jay is kinda shellshocked. They sort of robotically just return to their routine; go to work.

Louie summons them to deal with an adventure again, and wouldn't u know it? Its an adventure in that hell dimension that Jay got stuck in as a kid.

This, coupled with the revelation that one of their dads tried to kill them, kinda makes them very uncareful. They get revealed to the rest of the family but manage to get everyone out of there.

They reveal that Louie's been blackmailing them and the fact dadford tried to actually kill them sorta spills out in the same, emotionally charged rant and to their surprise scrooge offers to allow them back in the mansion, despite everything.

Jay hesitantly accepts, but mentions that they would like to keep working their current job. This is agreeable to everyone.

Jay returns to their apartment later, under the cover of "going to work" and find dadford packing his things.

They're like, what r u doing? Where would u even go?

And he's like, idk, i'll dip into my grandma's account or smth, its not like u want me here anymore, what with the attempted murder.

And Jay's like, I didn't say that.

Stunned silence.

So anyway, Jay sighs and tells dadford he's allowed to stay at the apartment and that Jay will stay at the manor again.

This is how far ive gotten. If u have any ideas/thoughts/complaints, drop 'em somewhere i can see 'em!

If anyone's even read this far lol.

If u have, have a virtual cookie, you've earned it🍪

[gachagon]

I like Noel Noa a lot as a mentor character. While he's not my favorite mentor figure ever, I do think he's still a really cool character and that's simply because as time goes on we learn through what he says and does that he himself doesn't really view himself as "The worlds best". That is just some title that all these other people have generally pushed onto him.

Like when you first start Blue Lock you're of the opinion that Noa is this unbeatable god of a soccer player, and that nobody can ever be on his level. But then there are times where even putting Noa in the game isn't some instant win for his team. The people Noa is surrounded by are just as amazing if not more so, than he himself is.

And I think this quality of his, to be so ordinary amongst the extraordinary is why he gravitates a lot towards Isagi, because he is also a pretty great player among even greater players. And yet all of the other players want to beat Isagi, just like how all of these top soccer players are pretty much still vying for Noa's spot as number 1.

This whole match has really been about what it takes to "stay" as number 1. Not just what it takes to reach there, but what you need in order to keep your spot. We see Kaiser trying to beat Isagi but failing because he doesn't understand what makes Isagi tick, there's Lorenzo who believes he can become number 1 and stay there as long as he has the most money out of all the players on the field, we have Snuffy who is using an entirely new method that goes against the egoist theory that Ego created for Blue Lock and so much more. All these players are trying to beat someone else in one or another, and the biggest mystery is trying to figure out what they need in order to truly be number 1.

I like that this arc, despite being so slow and sort of mundane, has introduced new ideas about egoism in general and even went against the main egoist theory that's been persistent in the series so far. But not in a way that yells "Actually teamwork DOES work" because that's not how Snuffy's theory works.

I think it's so cool that Blue Lock managed to take the idea of "teamwork" and morph it into something that's still very inherently selfish. Instead of thinking for yourself, you think like a machine and just go through all the motions with the help of one person who is truly going to take credit for a lot of these plays, because he literally invented them for this game. Now in this match "Teamwork" isn't something that bonds them together, they aren't working together for the sake of making their own goals, but of purely winning and beating the other side.

They're all still separated by some wall like separate cogs in a machine that make it all work together. And they're going up against people who all have their own goals in mind, people who haven't turned their brains off during the game to just "play' and win, but to do other goals.

And Raichi is literally the perfect wrench to throw into this machine to break it's flow. Raichi has done such a great job of doing what he was told to do from the beginning, and he's been the one constant in their game. In order for them to get on a more even playing field, they need to have some level of consistency to their own play style. They need to be slightly organized to get on the level of a machine.

[we-will-be-reun1ted]

aether did wHAT

I did not know he put the flowers in her hair while she slept!!! :0000

Also i think the only things so far that i've seen that would indicate the travellers emotional strain from being separated is Dain (and i think Paimon too?) asking if the traveller was crying in their sleep because they dreamt of their sibling again; Traveller losing their patience by the time they got to Inazuma and just wanting to get things done as fast as possible to move onto the next nation; Traveller not even bothering to ask about their sibling anymore when they got to Nahida, only to be surprised by Nahida actually giving them information, and then asking about their sibling again in Fontaine; Traveller opening up to Venti in the teapot, saying they're tired; Voiceover where Traveller tells Paimon they've had nightmares of their twin leaving and saying they're too late; Nightmare hallucination thing of abyss lector telling Traveller that the abyss twin has abandoned them and no longer sees them as family (sumeru archon quest); And

this is just how i personally interpreted it: Traveller getting angry at Lyney for actively lying to them when they were supposed to defend him in court, because Lyney could've gone to jail and possibly be separated from Lynette.

Aether/Lumine are shown to be pretty secretive about their nature and actually keep a lot of things to themselves. Even actively keeping secrets from the people around them (shown most obviously during the Sumeru archon quest), To the point it's even implied they lie about their identities ("name your character" in the beginning of the game. Where in text that's how you get referred to as during the game, yet the abyss twin ends up calling the playable twin by Name™ instead of whatever name you chose in when you started playing).

So i'm not too surprised we haven't had many instances where Traveller talks about their sibling to other people, but yeah it does suck just how forgotten both the Abyss and Traveller twin end up in the game. (To the point a scary amount of players still think the Traveller is a self-insert, and don't know that Traveller has the most Voiceovers out of all the playable characters)

I could be wishful thinking and my mind playing tricks on me but I’m pretty sure that was mentioned??? If it’s not then bang there’s another one of my headcanons there you go.

Okay I haven’t gotten around to all of that yet but GOD WHENEVER THE TWIN GETS BROUGHT UP I think about it for absolutely she’s afterwards I’m not even joking. I’m really early in the Sumeru quest and actually only did the hallucination abyss mage one around two days ago and istg when he said about Aether not seeing Lumine as family anymore.

That would 100% fuck Lumine up for a while afterwards. No doubt about it. It would be playing on her mind over and over even though she knows it was only a hallucination.

Honestly I can’t really mention much since I’m not that far in the game yet but all of that does make a lot of sense. I would imagine they wouldn’t want everyone to know all about their lives and past since they aren’t planning on staying in Teyvat.

I makes me so upset when I see people completely ignoring the twins. I saw this one Twitter thread saying something like “it’s good that the story isn’t focusing on the twins as much anymore” and like??? No??? They are the WHOLE reason we are in Teyvat in the first place?? You can’t really have a story without the twins since the traveler entire reason behind doing what they are doing is to find their sibling. They wouldn’t be in any of the situations that they are in if they had their sibling with them.

[everysongieverwrote]

Under the Bridge flying under the radar because Hulu just had Shogun is so unfortunate. Not that Shogun doesn’t deserve all the attention and appreciation it’s getting. (It’s literally is the best thing on TV since the earlier seasons of Game of Thrones). However a smaller show with smaller budget is so easy to get sidelined come award season. Especially considering how both of them are limited series and will be competing in the same categories.

But yeah hats off to the performance of every single actor. Even though at times I felt like Roy, Scott, Manjit, and Kelly come off like caricatures, they reign it back in pretty quick. My favorite performances so far have been the portrayals of Suman, Raj, and Warren. Their performances feel so grounded and seasoned. And such great work by the teens who did Jo, Dusty, and Reena too. It’s so refreshing to watch actual kids play kids.

And what can I say about Lily and Riley that hasn’t been said already. I genuinely believe they’re two of our finest actors in the show business right now. The way they light up the screen is so magical to watch. And it doesn’t even feel like the directors have to do anything special when they’re performing. They’re both just really good and steal every scene they’re in. So lucky that we get to witness their greatness together.

I'm gonna be honest here, I haven't watch Shogun yet (it's on my watchlist tho) but I've kept up with the Emmy talk and from what I've gathered, a lot of people have decided that when it comes to limited series, Shogun is the clear winner as best series and RDJ might win for best performance (and I get it the guy just won an Oscar). Many don't think that shows like Under The Bridge and We Were The Lucky Ones (Hulu's most recent limited series) are gonna get nominated, but that Lily Gladstone will get nominated for an Emmy. That's all just speculation, of course. But I can see where they're coming from. It's also kinda funny that the two Hulu shows that are being a little sidelined deal with kinda similar themes but who am I to judge?

Obviously, this is also a kind of "side-effect" from the strikes. The shows could've been released with more space between them (UTB seems like the perfect fall/winter show, doesn't it?) But many productions were stopped or delayed during the strikes and now everyone has a bunch of shows ready to go and an Emmy deadline getting nearer and nearer everyday. Maybe if Hulu wasn't trying to get all their Emmy qualifying shows out before May 31st, the show would have gotten a bigger chance to truly shine. But hey, both the show and Lily already got nominated for a Gotham Award, so there's hope for the Emmys, at least.

I know I've praised the show a lot (and it totally deserves it) but the show is, of course, not perfect. No show ever is. Take the latest episode for example, the character arcs and storyline were great, and the acting was absolutely amazing but there were too many cuts and some of them were kind of awkward and a little... brutal. Some of the acting is a little cringe at times, which might be intentional in the actor's case (it might be with Kelly, she has to come off a certain way, so I don't blame Izzy G for some of her acting choices) or it might be that some of the actors have difficulty saying the lines and acting the way is necessary for their characters. It might be the writing or the directing, while an actor can make or break a scene, so can the writing and directing choices. And some of the lines and angles are a little bit awkward, ngl. But all in all, the show is great and it truly deserves more attention but I know that this kind of show is not everyone's cup of tea and I'm glad it has so far only attracted the people who have a true interest in it.

Lily and Riley are absolutely amazing, both separate and together. I'm slowly turning into their fan, I truly want to see more of their work... but later, of course. Right now they're Cam and Becca for me and I like it that way. I realize that was a long rant and I'm sorry but I truly have a lot of things to say about this show.

[melverie]

Yeah about the lucifer part it kinda of weird not saying i want mc to be solution of everything but still,but I saw someone I don't remember where saying that maybe , the fact the is always the reason will feed his ego(mc telling him during asmo and mamon that he was the solution or something)and will be the reason why he's sin will overtake him,but we'll have to wait and see if this pattern will continue also the lack of romance is making the story feel like mc is just a spectator rather than a character like twisted wonderland mc also who is [redacted] ? Ps sorry for the bad English.

Don't worry about your English, I understood you just fine!^^

Actually, I do want MC to be the solution to everything. This is a dating sim, let the main characters be significant to the love interests >:((

Okay, no but in all seriousness. I get that they're all connected to Lucifer in some way--5 of them literally followed him to war while Satan was literally born out of his wrath. So I get that Lucifer would somehow have to be connected to whatever it is they're going through. I just feel it's especially frustrating this time around, because every single time Satan had some sort of conflict in the og game, it was Lucifer that either resolved it completely, or he was the first step to resolving it. MC literally did not even have to be there and things would have turned out the same

And while I was partially joking about wanting MC be the solution to every single problem these boys have, I do think that having MC be the one resolving the current conflicts would serve the narrative OF THIS DATING SIM better since it would allow us to better connect with the characters. Plus imo it would have more weight if MC's the one helping all of them since they already know the people they'll become and what kind of change they are capable of. ++ I already talked about this once, but Satan and MC are tied together by the circumstances of their existences which would technically allow for an even deeper connection between the two, and it would have been nice to see that come into play somehow..

Ooh, I haven't thought about that! Lucifer usually manages to be in control of things most of the time, including his pride seemingly, at least, but that might just be the catalyst for it all. Though to be fair I don't think the writers will end up giving him an actual reason for his sin taking over either..

And it really does! I'm not saying we need romance 24/7, and I get that with season 1 they might have wanted to go slow with it, since in a way we basically just met the cast (though it's still a little frustrating), but hardly any romance even in season 2? Let alone in the events?? Come on..

Speaking of romance though--THE PHONE CALLS!!! The one thing they got so incredibly right. I'm guessing most people aren't there yet, but the pattern seems to be that around halfway through they become more romantic, and they pulled it off so well (at least for the ones I've already read). I was literally giggling like a little kid experiencing their first crush while reading some of these and one made me cry

Also, [redacted] is the brother that's supposedly going to be next. I didn't write his name because I didn't want people to get spoiled by simply reading my tags

[shmowder]

Hi!! Love your blog, look forward to seeing your posts!! Every time they show up even if I’m not personally interested in the character/topic it’s about And since you seem to have a very good grasp on lore and the characters! I have a question about how something I’ve been thinking about would work/could it work? So how would the towns dynamic change if there was a fourth mistress? That only seems to really pop up during the events of the game? Since the playing field of the town is always getting shaken up so what better way to shake things up then have a fourth mistress who only reveals themself at the final moment? Maybe this persons family hid them/ their abilities away from the rest of the town for their protection? And now that the town is in disarray there’s no way to hid any longer? Or Meta reasons they only get added in because the kids got a new doll they wanted to add into a preexisting story?. I’m curious on how you personally think something like that would work/if it could work as a concept!? Since you seem to have a really good understanding on those kinda things! so I trust your judgment sorry if this is annoying I promise I’m not trying to be!!

also here’s a flower since your writing and memes are rlly cool 🪻

There are Mistresses with a capital M, and then there are mistress candidates.

In the town–not the Kin/steppe–there are only two Mistresses, light and dark, Nin and Victoria. Katerina is a false Mistress, she never counted to begin with.

However, there are currently three mistress candidates ingame and zero actual Mistresses. We never see one come into her full power, it simply ends too soon.

Maria, Capella, and Katerina. All three of them are only candidates. A Mistress's power extends much more beyond mere clairvoyance, sure they have "magical" abilities, but they haven't earned the title yet. Much like Artemy needed to earn the Menkhu title and not just be good at surgery.

The Light and Dark Mistresses are both new additions to the town. Their dichotomy belongs to the Capital, they're not native to the place.

Now for Kin "Mistresses" the definition is a little...vague.

They only have one, it's the Earth Mistress.

Let's make one thing clear, the Mistresses's powers are not part of them, it does not belong to them, they simply borrow it. Weaving magic through the air.

Much like one would wield a sword, it takes a tremendous amount of training and strife. And when you die, the sword doesn't wither alongside your body, instead it remains next to your corpse, waiting for another to come along.

Anyone can pick it up and wield it. That's how the powers are "passed" between generations. These swords do not actually belong to certain families despite what they may claim. The roles are more fluid than anyone thinks.

Katerina became a mistress candidate for dark after the passing of Nina as a way to keep balance, but by the time she started getting kinda of decent at wielding her sword, Victoria passed away and Katerina threw her weapon and powers out the window, rushing to the light and to take Victoria's place.

A light Mistress's role is more favourable, your visions leave you joyous, and you're well beloved amongst the people.

But by doing that, Katerina reset all of her progress, and she was back to learning how to wield this new magic from square one. Losing both tracks in the process since Maria and Capella's abilities far surpass hers by that point despite the early start advantage she was granted.

So...her eyes turned to another role, the Earth.

But she's not from the Kin. She can never hear the twyre whispers or trace the lines.

That's where the Rat Prophet comes in.

Remember how Mistress powers are only borrowed? Their visions are hazy, and prophecies are vague?

Well, the Rat Prophet IS the sword himself in this scenario. Those are his powers, always was, always will be. Part of the earth yes but an independent part, like one of your limbs suddenly gaining sentience and doing their own thing.

In the P1 Haruspex route, you can get a prophetic vision from him. Not about you, but about The Changeling, who starts doubting her powers and begs you to go ask the Prophet because he simply refuses to talk to her.

You ask him–or pretend to fool him and he immediately realises what you're doing–then answers directly. No beating around the bush, no weird euphemism, not a single room for doubt

The Changeling will lose her powers if she realises she has them, simple as that. Everything she says becomes reality. Every lie will twist into truth, and the second she becomes aware of it, all of her powers will vanish.

To the Haruspex it sounds like gibberish, but to you? The player who knows better? Oh, he hits the nail on the head. Because that's the thing, he never was talking to Artemy! He was talking to you. In every interaction, he is always addressing you the player.

That's the true "magic" everyone is so obsessed over, breaking the fourth wall, realising this is a game. That's why Clara powers surpass her age and time, because she is already past one layer of meta narrative, she knows this is a game which grants her better access to magic...She just thinks it's a kids' game, a sandcastle built by two kids and nothing more.

She hasn't been past the second meta narrative layer. She isn't even aware of its existence.

That's why the Mistresses can only weave it. They're just blindly grasping at the games code. No wonder they come out of it very confused.

It's a whole alternative reality to them. They don't have computers, and they don't know what Java Script is! You ask Maria to write you a simple Python IF function, and she'd tell you why the hell would she use a snake like a pen to write with?

The only way they can explain this ability, make sense of these binary codes, is clairvoyance.

Why their prophecies are so distorted and nonsensical, why they can only speak in riddles.

Why the Rat Prophet who casually breaks the 4th wall all the time has the luxury of being direct, crystal clear snippets of the future at the tips of his fingers...rat fingers?

The Rat Prophet is the one who comes to Katerina and lends her crumbs of his powers, just enough to get her to believe him when he starts calling himself the voice of the earth.

For what end? I don't know. His intentions for tricking her are never revealed. But he succeeds, and she fully buys into it, making her a false Mistress. She's not much of an earth mistress when the weapon she's supposed to wield has auto aim on, huh? Katerina is basically playing Pathologic Mistress Simulator with trainer cheats activated.

But, he doesn't give her the right prophecies, deliberately aiming on the wrong targets.

So there are only two actual self-made Mistresses so far.

-

In the P1 termites ending, Capella mentions how the Mistresses will be reinvented.

In the town, there are three power houses, right? Olgimskay, Kains and Saburovs. Each pulling from different directions.

Well, there is a fourth hidden cog, there always has been based on Capella's theory–the Kin. Not the employees under her father's command, but the real actual Kin indigenous to the town before settlements came here from the outside.

So the death of one Mistress doesn't start a domino effect of catastrophes like last time.

Capella wants to keep the balance of things, restart the cycle and maintain the status quo. The system wasn't broken and doesn't need changing, she claims, people just implanted wrong.

This time around, she will make it even more balanced. Leave fails safes everywhere by spreading out the power even more so there is less room for error and greed.

That's what Isidor saw in her and the termites, the potential to rebuild the town and ensure its survival. Her goals also coincidentally align with the Artemy's whole approach of maintaining traditions and not forsaking the past for a shiny future...at least if you play him as faithful to his role as a Menkhu.

She describes it as a "blend of many colors"

The new Mistresses are:

Grace The Beige Mistress (whatever the fuck that means)

Taya Malachite Mistress (who picked these names??)

Murky Lilac Mistress (Capella get a colourblindness test ffs)

And her. Capella. Still the Light Mistress.

She also claims to be able to see their "aura" and she picked their new roles and powers to suit the colours of their soul–on a side note, the same "aura" is also mentioned when Maria is being put down for never being able to amount to what Nina was because her soul is scarlet, transparent, not black, never an abyssal darkness like her mother.

You might ask, now who will become the next Dark Mistresses? Probably Maria still.

So what...Five total Mistresses in the termites ending?

Yeah! If not more, Clara is on her way to becoming the Earth Mistress right? Katerina needs to die first tho so the Rat Prophet stops using her as a puppet to larp as a Mistress with.

Capella basically said fuck it, everyone gets magic now. Kains and Olgimskays are united so the political tension is gone from the town. Everyone is special so no one is special so this town and its people can finally get a single fucking moment of peace at last.

The roles are shuffled, everyone has a new, more suitable title.

And Capella still needs a colourblindness test still bc Murky's scarf is NAVY BLUE, it's not LILAC.

WHERE ARE MY LORE DUMPS THAT CHARACTERS THREW AT ME OUT OF NOWHERE HUH ICE PICK LODGE? WHY IS P2 SO AFRAID OF GIVING A CHARACTER MORE THAN TWO PARAGRAPHS OF LINES IN EACH CONVERSATION? WHY DOES ARTEMY REPLY IN SHORT SENTENCES AND SINGLE WORDS? DID YOU LOBOTOMISE THE WHOLE CAST?

That's it, that's the whole P1 Mistresses in a nutshell summary :) I am NOT getting into P2 Mistress lore idgaf. It's not finished cooking yet.

They changed so much–things are somehow even more vague? It's like P2 is allergic to giving straight direct answers. Everything is suggested and hinted at rather than clearly stated.

Anyway.

For your questions.

So how would the towns dynamic change if there was a fourth mistress?

Which town? No really, which version of the town are we talking about her? Pre-plague town? Okay, do you mean the first wave or the second wave? Or post-plague town? Then which ending are we going with?

Honestly, it would change as much as it changed when Clara got introduced. That's basically your best point of reference to what adding a fourth mistress candidate would cause. Take Clara, double it and give it to the 4th.

But keep in mind that the 4th will be a mistress candidate not a Mistress. Especially if she was birthed normally as a human and had to grow up–then her progress would match Maria and Capella who still haven't came into the Mistress title.

Clara is a special case, an outlier, and the spider George of Mistresses, so we are not counting her.

"To receive her full powers and become a Mistress, a future Mistress has to go through a painful process, accompanied by seizures and fainting, and then finally wake up. After that, she will not be the same person. A future Mistress must recognize the next Mistress, passing on continuity. It is not clear whether the role of Mistress is a tradition, or a necessary stage of mystical transformation. "

As long as the 4th is still herself, she has her personality and traits still, and then she hasn't become a Mistress yet. Remember how Capella started changing at the game end in P2? It's the best example there is of what would happen to her, what awaits Maria in the future as well.

Also she needs to be acknowledged by the other Mistress candidates, even if they hate each other they will still acknowledge her if they glimpse actual powers in her.

what better way to shake things up then have a fourth mistress who only reveals themself at the final moment?

Everyone can wield the sword, but not everyone can see the sword on the ground in the first place, which is why most people don't pick it up; they don't realise it's even there. Everyone CAN become a Mistress, but most women won't.

-

That's a very mild shaking, more like stirring a cup of coffee. It's too late for her to do anything meaningful or affect any outcome. The Mistresses do not decide the game endings, the healers do. (Except anomaly mcguffin Clara again bc fuck me ig)

Block and Lilich do not believe in the Mistresses or respect them much, and it's them you need to convince to spare the town. Clara could brainwash people unless the 4th can do that too then...yeah, no.

Even then, she needed the same 13 days of preparations beforehand and a tremendous amount of human sacrifice. Most reactions to a new Mistress revealed from thin air at the last day would be like

Maybe this persons family hid them/ their abilities away from the rest of the town for their protection?

"oh cool. So like where were you while people were dying?"

-

Mistresses are mothers. That's basically it. They "mother" the town and its people, they have the heavy presence of a parent you have no choice but to abide to. You want to please them, you feel the need to obey them much like a kid clings to the skirt of their mother.

That's counterproductive. It's Mistresses who protect people, not the other way around. Their abilities are celebrated—even Nina the Evil was adored and respected despite her wrongdoings. No one dared lay a singer finger on her, not just out of fear but out of genuine reverence.

And she has, in fact, killed people.

And if she was hidden, it means she never got properly acknowledged by the other mistress candidates. So she never officially became a candidate herself and hasn't earned the title yet, only managing to hold very little power and influence.

Best case scenario, Capella integrates her into the termites/her vision of the new town. She wanted Clara to join her cause yk, but Clare refused.

... but maybe the ones who hid her did it out of fear they might lose her? Once she ascends to power, she will lose herself, feelings, and everything she once held dear. A complete factory reset of her brain. Sure, she still has her memories, but they feel like a stranger's more than hers.

That's one reason to prevent someone from pursuing their Mistress potential.

-

Or Meta reasons they only get added in because the kids got a new doll they wanted to add into a preexisting story?

That's clever! She needs to be a hated toy like the rest for them to throw her in there. It will need to be both, tho. The kids AND the hiding thing lore working in unison.

-

I’m curious on how you personally think something like that would work/if it could work as a concept!?

It's very feasible and could definitely work! But without time, preparation, and coming out of hiding years in advance if she is human, then she won't make much of a difference to the main story except be an interesting sideplot.

Think of it this way, All the herb brides hold the potential to be Earth Mistresses. That's how little it requires to be a mistress candidate. You are somehow connected to any string of magic in any form? Congratulations! You can enroll in the Mistress Academy starting today!

But it doesn't mean you will pass, or be accepted by the current best Mistress candidates.

You also need to want to do it, as in actively train and seek it out. If you ignore it, the power growth stunts.

-

Since you seem to have a really good understanding on those kinda things! so I trust your judgment sorry if this is annoying I promise I’m not trying to be!!

I...don't think I have that good of an understanding. I don't think I even qualify to answer this. I haven't played the Changeling route yet, nor finished the Bachelor. I just reread the wiki a lot and scoure whatever info I can find on the sub reddit.

Specifically "info" cited screenshots and texts, I don't trust opinions and theories because Pathologic is very abstract and vague, P2 even more so than P1. Two people could easily misinterpret the same concept, then the most popular version gets spread around and everyone thinks its canon.

Like Isidor adopting Rubin when it never happened, yes they planned it but he died before it could happen.

Or Daniil being short? He is pretty tall and strong, he survived a fist fight with Artemy.

Or MY BIGGEST PET PEEVE EVER, PEOPLE WHO ASSUME THE GAINT PAINTING HANGED AT THE ENTRANCE OF VICTOR'S OFFICE IN P2 IS HIS WIFE NINA.

NO! it's Maria's. Yes, she has short hair. It's her board game portrait. That's his daughter, you pricks! stop writing lewd stuff about it and the scene where he has a breakdown in front of it—it was supposed to be a bittersweet thing for him to sit on the ground in front of his daughter's painting, now you just made it about his wife and sexual stuff.

It's a reference to the many paintings of her he had in his P1 office.

My point is. I can get things wrong too, there are huge gaps of information in my brain, I am also very biased towards certian theories.

Treat this whole essay as a suggestion, a reference sheet rather than a guideline. A lot of things are left vague and up to personal interpretation, which I like a lot!

I know a lot of people have issues with Pathologic open-ended plots and optional multie choices that can be contradictions, making it harder to have a set-in-stone canon about the characters.

But I like it :) It is a meta game, after all, right? It makes sense for the player to get the power to alter this version of reality slightly. And the worlds have already changed in each playthrough! it is on purpose, a canon in game because it breaks the 4th wall. So, mulite universes and versions of events can co-exist at the same time.

Capella was right about there being a fourth hidden cog, Daniil, Artemy, and Clara are the obvious clear three.

But she was wrong about it being the Kin, because it actually is you.

The Player.

The Bachelor, The Haruspex, The Changeling, and The Player.

You've always been the hidden fourth power, the extra healer who persistently tries to cure the plague in three different universes.

That's why I love the opening cinematic in the theatre so much! The three of them are on the stage, under the spotlights and in plain view.

While you, the only other person in the room besides them, are hidden up in the corridor. Veiled by the darkness, silent and voiceless, making your way to the same exit they are.

You always belonged to the same group as them. You just were and will always be hidden out of sight and mind. Only spoken with through 4th wall breaks, even then, the characters aren't allowed to acknowledge it or remember it afterwards. You're immediately ereased from the memory of anyone you converse with after the last word is said.

-

I didn't get a chance to thank you for your sweet words, so thank you! <3 I'm glad you enjoyed my writing. I had fun delving into this, used it as an excuse to avoid my responsibilities - today has been... horrible.

I assure you, you're not annoying or anything. I'm very happy with these types of questions! I like writing x reader as much as I enjoy talking about the game, discussing and analysing the plot! I love dissecting things under a microscope, and if I do get something wrong, I try to go back and fix it.

Also a reminder, this whole post only applies to the canon of P1. It won't add up in P2 lore, neither do i plan analysing much of a game that's still not finished. Without the Bachelor and Changeling routes, we can't say much about the plot.

Thank you for the flower, that was like really endearing and cute—here's a flower back 🌺 I really like hibiscus.

[kyogre-blue]

OK, Wuwa chapter 1 is done.

It turns out the place I stopped last night was the very last scene of Act V, and Act VI is just the extended finale of chapter 1.

It was... a very mixed bag! If I had to describe it in a word, I would pick "clumsy."

The ideas they were going for are mostly fine, and their execution at least clearly shows what they were trying to do, but man. It gets aggressively Too Much at multiple points, the gameplay is so hand-holdy in parts that I honestly feel kind of confused as to what kind of audience testing led to this (are most people really this stupid??), and the details are, as always, painfully unpolished.

Speaking more specifically, I'll give an example. When defending the city, several NPCs show up to fight too. It's cool seeing them using their skill and ults, I like that! However, not only Verina, but even Yuanwu and Lianyang show up. We haven't even met Yuanwu before and he's, from all indications, just some dude who runs a gym. Every time he talks and then inexplicably shows up in montages of Rover thinking about everyone who is counting on him and Jiyan, it's just so silly. We don't know him! And Lianyang just looks so goofy with the liondancing in this extremely serious situation. I haven't even done his character quest yet, team. Be real, how much did the government give you for this character...

This is a case where less would have been more. Just leave it at Verina healing people, Taoqi getting introduced as leading the NPCs in battle, and Chixia as the face of people we actually know enough to care about.

And it's not the only example. There's stuff like how awkward it feels when everyone talks about Rover, Yangyang and even Baizhi with just first name and no other comment, like they're all very familiar with each other, which doesn't really make much sense. It feels very forced. Or stuff like Jiyan making you "pick" where the troops will be positioned during the operation, but there's only one correct answer anyway, so what was this even for? And just the general excessive amount of padding that isn't congruent with the urgent atmosphere.

(All of this is not helped by the poor EN voice direction.)

Which brings us to the gameplay. I won't comment on them giving us a full party of nothing but trial characters for the entire act, it isn't really a big deal either way. But the "platforming" was just... who the hell needed Jiyan to comment about every single use of the grapple? The grapple points freaking glow! There's nothing else to do anyway! Just explain it once and players can figure it out from there! It was so ridiculous.

And then there's the little details like the "Trial Resonator has left/joined the party" popping up over dramatic cutscenes. It's almost funny. Jiyan is leaving the party! Jiyan is joining the party! This is starting to look like a parody with the uuuuh gameplay and story integration here.

However, the two most unfortunate points were the minor gripes that ruined the very, very end for me. 1) Saved by an ugly mascot. 2) Stupid sounding storyteller cap off.

Not only does it look extremely silly to be shielded by a little mascot's butt with its bunny tail, but the mascot is pretty ugly. Why this thing...... who asked...... especially given the overall tone and vibe of Wuwa??

And then the storyteller.... god, I hate storytellers. They are so fucking awful, I do not understand the CN game obsession with them. Bruh, I don't need some dumb-sounding asshole to tell me the story, I'm playing an interactive modern medium so I can watch the story be acted out by the goddamn characters.

I was so mad I literally took out my headphones and did not perceive anything past the mascot. Which I also hated.

It was otherwise a passable if rather jank ending to the storyline, suitably dramatic and at least there was Jiyan, but those two last points....

Anyway, I'm mildly disappointed that we didn't beat the Threnobian (it just left) and nothing else interesting except the mascot was revealed. Jiyan was nice tho, and I'll play his character quest next, I guess.

[rion-writes]

Ohhh magnar?? For wip game

This fic is the one I am the most upset I haven't completed yet.

Fall 2014 where we still through Winds of Winter would come out within the decade. My best friend 5eva and I took a roadtrip through the Pacific Northwest and hashed out the entire plot points for this story. I bounced all my ideas off them and worked down to the nitty gritty about making everything canon compliant.

Things that happened in my life that pretty much wrecked me from any sort of fun fandom experience for 4-5 years made any staggered updates on this fic nil to poor. I also found that due to both source materials I could only work on this during fall/winter lmfao.

By the weirdest sort of coincidence that same BFF 5 eva finally picked up rewatching GOT and the terrible, awful, no good, very bad fanfic seasons and conclusion. We're talking about it again.

and it's fall/winter.

-

Magnar is a Hannibal fanfiction set in ASOIAF. By set I mean pretty much every event that is happening in canon is happening in the background of this story, without actually seeing any of the 'main' ASOIAF characters. Most little folk and knights don't after all, but a few tertiary and secondary characters get a line or two to move the plots along.

Ser Jack Crawford, under the banner of King Stannis Baratheon, is sent to Skagos with his men including Bravosi sellsword Beverly Katz and houndsman Will Graham. Besides establishing King Stannis' presence on the island and the North itself they're escorting Maester Price and his Acolyte Zeller to work for the 'civilized' North at the request of the Citadel.

Namely, the portion of the island controlled by the Vergers and gifted to them for their service to the Targaryen throne. They claim to have roots in Old Valeria.

What concerns Ser Jack Crawford more than the legitimacy of the Vergers is the whispers going around the taverns and trading stalls-

That the Ripper of the Narrow Sea had made berth from Skagos.

-

Magnar (9437 words) by Rionarch Chapters: 3/? Fandom: Hannibal (TV), A Song of Ice and Fire & Related Fandoms Rating: Mature Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence Relationships: Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter, Alana Bloom/Margot Verger Characters: Will Graham, Hannibal Lecter, Abigail Hobbs, Jack Crawford, Beverly Katz, Alana Bloom, Margot Verger, Baratheons (ASoIaF) Additional Tags: War of the Five Kings, Wargs & Warging (A Song of Ice and Fire), Greenseers & Greensight (A Song of Ice and Fire), Cannibalism Summary: As King Stannis Baratheon makes his play to protect the realm and solidify Northern support at the Wall, he sends his landed knight Ser Jack Crawford to treat with the lest vestiges of a Valyrian House, the Vergers, on Skagos. Magnar Hannibal Lector has other ideas he'd rather entertain.

I have a few chapters already up. Have a snippet of the next one.

-

“Oh, do beg my pardon. I didn’t mean to startle any of you. I simply thought that if a caravan as well armed as yourselves was going to the castle it might be just the right time to go myself.” Flame red hair and sharp cheek bones might have done something to hide her if the verdant purple shawl hadn’t been the mainstay of the whorehouses in King’s Landing.  Lady Margot scoffed but Beverly wasn’t as sure. 

“I’ve seen you outside of Muskrat Holdfast. What’s your business with the Magnar?” Ser Jack cut her off and looked less amused by the minute.

“What does a whore have to do with the following of King Baratheon’s men?” Her smile was more stoic. 

“Well I’d certainly done enough in his late Majesty’s Baratheon service. I’m just a woman who looks out for other little deers and their interests. If you must know there’s a certain someone at the castle who I have to look after.”