#this is about bg3 mods if you're wondering.

[song-writer-melo-wrath]

I dunno. I think maybe. Every time I witness a "de-aging" or "skin smoothing" or "fixing" mod that is just taking away a character's wrinkles. I should be allowed to kill something.

[nebulousbren]

Meet my Tav! His name's Lyric, a tiefling druid/rogue. Don't let his baby-face fool you, he's got quite the feral side, a trait which, along with his biting sarcasm, won Astarion over pretty quickly. Though not one for starting fights, he'll always gladly finish them, especially if there's a reward involved. Otherwise he's fairly easy going, always up for a good prank. Act like a prick, though, especially toward his friends, and you'll soon find his fist in your face. Like Aradin. Fuck Aradin.

[animentality]

I see a lot of BG3 fans saying that they need to add a married with children ending for all the companions or add a Zevlor/ Dammon/Roland whoever romance option, but with all due respect... you're all wrong.

You don't need a fucking domestic life scene with all the companions, you don't need those random npcs to fuck you (that's what mods are for).

What they need to fucking do is finish the upper city.

Give Karlach actual fucking quests and the option to fix her heart.

Give Wyll fucking quests in the upper city and more romance scenes because his number of fucking unique scenes is ridiculously lower than Gale or Astarion's and gee I wonder why.

Please for the love of God, fill cazador's palace because that space is way too fucking big for how little is in it. It's actually kind of embarrassing how empty the palace is.

Fill the temple of Bhaal which has the same fucking problem.

Also while we're fucking at it?

When you're doing all that shit, why don't you attempt to give Orin and Gortash any of the same weight and respect you gave Ketheric???

The entirety of act 2 set him up as a major villain and made him intimidating and then sympathetic and then back to intimidating, and then back to tragic.

He had a whole descent into villainy story arc, with entire quests dedicated to understanding what happened to him.

He's a rich character because of it.

Gortash and Orin??? I mean come the fuck on.

Gortash either dies or dies, and Orin is literally your SIBLING if you're the dark urge, but all you can really do is kill her after she says the same shit to you that she says to a Tav.

You can't talk to her or learn more about her or your past, aside from talking to her dead mom.

She and Gortash come across as mini bosses. They almost feel like optional fucking side quests with how not involved they are.

Also remove lady jannath's house entirely from the game, thanks.

[sorcerous-caress]

So fun fact about me irl I work with children but often my teacher language slips out like telling my friends to say “bye bye bus”, telling another person in my lecture writing to “be nice to the pencil, it’s your friend.” And greeting a roomful of grown as adults with good morning boys and girls. It’s mortifying but How do you think the companions would react to having a teacher!tav slip up like that.

Dealing with a Teacher Tav

[Bg3, fluff, platonic kinda, nb!reader]

[Gale, Shadowheart, Laezel, Wyll, Karlach, Astarion, Halsin, Minthara, Jaheira, Minsc]

Gale

He delightfully plays along whenever you tell him to thank a stranger or say goodbye to an inanimate object. He thinks it's very silly and joyous.

Teachers have always been a big part of his life, it doesn't phase him in the slightest when you unawarly awake the deep memories of being in wizards pre-school for him.

Says good morning to you back, adding a teacher honorific at the end for the sake of being playful while asking if you've finally graded the homework he handed in.

He gives you an apple occasionally. He thinks he is very hilarious.

Shadowheart

She freezes in awkwardness whenever it happens, not sure if you’re being serious or just playing around. Sometimes, you don't even register slipping up as go on with your day, leaving her wondering if she's imagining things.

She has zero experience with the school system, completely confused by the need to say thank you for carriage after it arrived. It's just a carriage, why should she?

One time while her and Laezel were arguing, you used the same call you'd use in the classroom to get the kids to quiet down and it completely caught them both off guard. They just stood there baffled, forgetting their original argument.

Laezel

Why, yes, she is very familiar with teachers. In fact, she was the best out of her class, ask any githyanki teacher, and they'd tell you endless praise about her throat cutting techniques and sword welding stances.

You, whoever, use very unusual teaching techniques. How would learning a song about washing your hand and brushing your teeth help her in slaying her enemies?

Intriguing, so you take advantage of the brain's tendency to latch on to phrases that rhyme, which makes them easier to remember? And you encode your melodies with instructions to embed them into the impressionable youth?

Huh. She actually is impressed. She made her decision, you will lend your teaching skills to help her embed the most effect way of fracturing someone's spine into a melody to spread to the githyanki children.

Wyll

As someone who has been an unofficial teacher for so many kids throughout his years, he can relate to your struggle a lot. He slips up more than he cares to admit.

The both of you meeting early in the morning while still groggy and tired, your brains working on automatic mods as you greet each other with the same high pitched enthusiastic voice you use to greet a toddler.

Then just stare at each other, complete understanding between the two of you. Like two people accidentally using their customer service voice in front of the other.

You struggle to tie your boots once, and he unconsciously bends down to tie them for you while using the rabbit loop euphemism, only to stop in his tracks as he realises what he's doing.

He uses a curse word once, and you immediately use your teachers voice and say, "we don't speak like that here, that's wasn't very nice."

You're both tired, you both need a nap and neither of you brings it up when the other slips.

Karlach

Much like Gale, she finds it extremely amusing. Top tier comedy to her. Unlike Gale, she hasn't been to any proper schooling system, so she doesn't exactly know what most of these phrases mean or imply.

In a way, it lets her pretend she was a part of something like a school in her youth, like she could've had a normal childhood like everyone else.

She'd indulge you, saying goodbye and thank you to the pigeon that delivered her a letter, or overhearing Wyll's rabbit loop ryhme and whispering it under her breath as she ties her own boots. Who knew this could've been so easy?

Astarion

You remind him of how Leon was with his daughter back in Cazador's manor. Astarion never was close with any of them, but still, he sometimes overheard him attempting to give his daughter a semblance of a normal childhood and growth.

It's endearing when you accidentally use your teaching ways while dealing with the owlbear cub, but he'll never admit it.

Doesn't indulge you with it, he has appearance to keep. Well, unless he has a chance to twist your innocent meaning words into a sex or gorey joke like the 12y old humour that he has.

Ah, the scrowl on your face is the exact same one Leon had around him, such fond memories.

Halsin

Ah, you bring him back to his old days of having to deal with the children at the grove. Although his methods focused more on showing them that nature is a friend rather than inanimate objects.

But who is he to judge your ways? If anything he could learn a thing or two from you to add to his skillset.

Tells you about the fables that were passed down from elf to elf throughout the generations, animal stories have always done a great part in teaching him morality.

Do you happen to have any? Maybe you could tell it to the children of the grove, they are good kids.

Minthara

As a noble, she was only given the best and most prestigious of teachers while growing up. Even the ones that weren't a drow would still be considered the best of the best, crème de la crème.

Yet not a single one of them applied such...childish methods. etiquette and discipline were taught by the lash and threat of punishment, not lullabies and gentle guidance.

....it's not as bad as she imagined.

She doesn't get why some of your companions find it amusing. She doesn't bother indulging either.

But sometimes, sometimes, when it's just the two of you, and she is sure not a single soul is around, she will reply with a pun with the most deadpan face expression you've seen.

Jaheira

Despite what most would think, she actually integrated the same methods into her teachings back when her kids were little, it just happened to be weaved with her more dangerous lifestyle ascept.

Here comes the plane, with the airplane usual holding a good dosage amount of poison to build resistance.

A short rhyme about what to check before leaving the house, except the list has a suspicious amount of daggers and trap disarm kits in it.

If it works, it works, so what if she had to alter a kid's book about a honey loving yellow bear into one with decipherable texts to teach them Harpers' secret communication language.

Minsc

Ah! Boo does use the same method on him sometimes, the two of you have a lot in common. Although Boo's methods do involve a bit of biting every now and then.

Say, how about he teaches you some fables from Rashemen, a lot of them are about a rabbit who got lost after not listening to his witch frog companion.

You could use it in your teachings later! Show the youth the importance of good teamwork. Yes, he is aware of the fact he didn't listen to Jaheira and got captured by the cult. No, he doesn't see why this is relevant? Why is Boo suddenly agreeing with you? He is supposed to be on his side.

[midnightcatharsis]

Astarion haters are usually pathetic liars and the worst part of bg3 fandom. Here is a prime example of an absolutely pathetic individual (screen and context below, btw the first screens don't look that bad but the last one is important here and sheds a different light on them) : They go under every Astarion-related video and hate on him and his fans. They also almost always lie. They're the ones who said "AsTaRiOn DiSaProVes oF sAvInG thE GnOmEs at MoOnRiSe" and "AsTariON oNlY apPRoves oF sAviNg the HyEna and the OwlBeaR because he wants to eat them" I've debunked it with information from the game and wiki, but they continue to say that. You can find my post here. The same individual some time ago went under another Astarion video and made a comment hating on the entire Astarion fandom in a comment that at first glance can look innocent to neutral fans. They were enraged that some Astarion fans disliked people who purposefully downloaded a mod that allows you to put a collar on an escaped slave and makes him crawl. Of course, they failed to give any actual proof or link and expected everyone to blindly believe them which would be very unreasonable since I've already proven they often lie (the entire gnomes at moonrise situation I've mentioned) but they target neutral people in hope of deceiving them. Anyway here's the comment:

While there's no evidence and the only proof is "trust me bro", the comment itself doesn't look that bad, right? After being told that playing slave-owner simulator and purposefully putting a collar on an escaped slave to "make him crawl" is bad and people pointing that out were not wrong they went on to explain that the mystery "streamer didn't know and has only been playing for 6 hours"

Hmnn… They once again failed to provide ANY evidence. Which I wonder why? They seem to know the story and the streamer quite well, so why not even tell who the streamer was so people can check for themselves what he did, with what intentions and what was the real answer of Astarion fans? Perhaps the "evil Astarion fans" were just people telling him that playing the slave-owner simulator was disgusting. The story and justification itself sound extremely implausible. Why would the mystery streamer who had never played bg3 before, never had heard about it, and had not known the story before specifically look for and download a mod just to make one specific character (an escape, traumatized slave) into his own slave… Something doesn't seem right in their story. They explicitly stated that "the streamer " had only played 6 hours and hadn't been caring or paying attention to the story at all. Yet only after merely 6 hours, he searched for that particular mod to use it specifically on Astarion? I've played the game, and I've watched numerous playthroughs on twitch and youtube. Character creator alone takes almost 1 hour on your first time and the nautiloid tutorial takes another one. It leaves barely 4 hours of the game… Most people, even experienced gamers with gaming channels, are still learning basic mechanisms and are experimenting with them after 4 hours. They're exploring the vastness of the bg3 world and trying to grasp the story. You don't get a lot of companion interactions during the first few hours, and even Astarion's bite scene doesn't usually happen that early. After 4 hours of gameplay most gamers I've watched (and I, myself) were still getting around long/short rest mechanics and trying to learn how combat works… Most people try to understand how the main game works and what it has to offer before getting mods. And you're telling me this streamer who didn't care and didn't pay attention went out of his way to download such a specific mod for Astarion?? It sounds like a bad lie to me. Nobody can check it or verify it without a source, but the comment may sound innocuous on its own. Almost immediately in the same thread, another account started backing them up

Again, it looks harmless, right? Neutral fans and even some Astarion fans may think it's a valid opinion as everybody can dislike different characters.

Imagine my surprise or rather lack of it when I found THE SAME two usernames under another Astarion video talking about how they enjoy putting a collar on Astarion, making him crawl, torturing him and helping Cazador:

And they claim Astarion fans are the toxic ones XDD

There are several messed up things here:

Notice how they talk about enjoying torturing him and playing slave-owner simulator months after making comments defending the "streamer" on the basis that "the streamer didn't know about enslavement". Well, they surely know about Astarion's past and story because they both acknowledge it in their previous comments yet they both are proud of torturing a slave.

They think they're good for doing that

The sheer f* hypocrisy and audacity to say that they're bullied by "toxic fans" when people point out that messed up behavior

The dates. The "newer" comments were made under a video from several months ago, and the original comment had only a few likes and was one of the last ones under the video. You have to scroll a lot to see it. The fact that there is only one hour pause between them is strange. Additionally, the older comments made by those "two" accounts were also made back-to-back. Both are under the same comment/video, in both cases the original comment is not that easy to find because it's either hidden in replies or you really have to scroll the comments to see it, both made in the same very short period under a much older video/thread, both backing each other up and making THE SAME bs points. Interesting… very interesting indeed. XD

I have a strong suspicion that the "mystery streamer" was the second account (if the streamer wasn't made up) and I am practically certain those two accounts are the same individual. Which makes them one of the most pathetic characters I've ever met. They do similar things under other Astarion videos and comments too - purposefully lying making bs takes, and doubling down on it.

I'm too lazy to search or cite all of the bs I've seen them spew and I'm sure there's much more of it under different Astarion content but here are some examples that I find the most ridiculous:

Astarion doesn't approve of saving gnomes at Moonrise (proven to be a lie)

Astarion only approves of saving the hyena and the owlbear because he wants to eat them. (XD)

Astarion admits that he's evil in his good hero epilogue because he answers that he "embraced the darkness" when asked whether he misses walking in the sun

Astarion is evil because he disapproves if you forbid him from drinking animal blood (Don't tell them that other characters eat meat too, that meat is made of dead animals or Karlach knows how a dwarf tastes)

Playing the slave owner simulator is ok. (When said mod was compared to mods of Male Aylin or the mod whitewashing Wyll they said, playing with those mods is ok too)

Having nightmares is not a symptom of PTSD, and having nightmares of your abuser enslaving you again is also definitely not that. When asked to do some basic research they said they don't care what Wikipedia or the Internet says

The wiki and mods are lying and shouldn't be believed, only they're telling the truth and should be blindly believed

They also tried to decanonize the official in-game narrator lines and said origin runs are and events in them are not canon and don't offer companions' perspective. (Like they're arguing that Astarion nightmare doesn't happen despite it being in the game because their character can't see it XDD)

And many many others I don't even have energy to describe. How pathetic do you have to be to create numerous alternative accounts to go under all Astarion videos or threads and lie about fictional characters? They most surely have other fake accounts too. Do you know what's even funnier? They claim "they're not an Astarion hater" to convince neutral fans to believe them blindly. Yes, sure "they are not a hater". They just think Astarion is a disgusting evil monster who deserves to die and they brag about enjoying using slave collars on him and making him crawl. XDDD

I think it would be difficult to find a more hateful, dishonest, contemptible, and foul individual.

P.S. If you ever see a comment where somebody claims they're not an Astarion hater but then lies or tries to spread misinformation about him don't let them deceive you. It's their tactics. Please don't believe them or check every piece of information for yourself. Later, they go and brag about killing him, making him a slave as this individual here. Part 3

[powdermelonkeg]

You reblogged a post about the practical female armors mod for skyrim and now i am being sucked back into the pit of skyrim modding. any mod suggestions? its been a solid couple years since i played and there's a LOT to choose from

Oh man I haven't had a chance to play since my computer broke lemme see what my last modlist was.

(One moment while I force my broken computer to work)

So fair warning, I like survival aspects. I like it when games require me to eat/sleep/do things to live, because then the 15 cheese wheels in my inventory actually mean something besides instant health. I also really like companionship and roleplaying elements, so most of my playthroughs are built around that.

Dependencies not included:

Campfire: Camping mechanics. Supports a party of 4, if I remember correctly. Also lets you craft a few things, but I'm more interested in stargazing with my buddies.

Vitality Mode: Current iteration of "better than Survival Mode" mechanics. Eat/drink/sleep/etc. Does it very nicely with a corner icon that gets more red the worse off you are, rather than whatever SM had going on. Also lets you configure modded food items for it just by eating them!

Pronouns: Pick what pronouns you go by regardless of default body. Will attempt to exclude gendered language if possible (like, it's unavoidable with Brynjolf calling you lad/lass, but you can pick which one it falls back to) if you pick they/them. You can set percentages of different pronoun sets or even have it change randomly on a timer.

Quality World Map: PUTS. THE ROADS. ON. THE MAP. If you're doing no fast travel, this is VITAL. Base map is terrible, next question.

Delphine's Map Reveals Dragon Mounds: Because it should.

Delay the Foresworn Conspiracy Quest: Ever get sick of being roped into that quest immediately? (Makes it so that guy doesn't hand you the note unless you talk to him directly. Main Street Stabbing™ is still there)

Dragonborn Delayed: Ever get sick of being roped into THAT quest immediately? (Especially given the suggested level of Solstheim...you can pick when it happens: after returning the horn, Delphine, Alduin's Wall, meeting Paarthurnax, getting the Elder Scroll, kicking Alduin's tail at the top of the mountain, or killing Alduin)

Extended Encounters: More encounters in the wild! Mercs, adventurers, vampire attacks, etc.

Vittoria's Alternate Wedding: She can get married without you killing her! She's not in engagement hell!!! Only triggers if you destroy the Dark Brotherhood.

Immersive Realistic Party Clothing Overhaul: Wear any "rich" clothes to the party instead of what Delphine gives you. I usually use this with mods that add more fancy clothes.

More To Say: Everyone talks more about a wider variety of things. Lets you tell Meeko he's a good boy and give him a treat. Makes a few new lines with splicing, but I haven't noticed any hard cuts.

Wonders of Weather: Splashy rain and rainbows, occasional shooting stars, scheduled meteor showers

Darker Nights: What it says on the tin. I like using torches and fires, and regular nighttime is unrealistically bright for me.

Whiterun Watchtower Doesn't Start Broken: Because why should it?

Cooking Inns and Taverns: Because I need more cooking pots and ESPECIALLY Hearthfire ovens to find.

C.O.I.N.: Adds immersion by changing coins based on where you are. Ancient Nordic coins are going to be worth less than the standard Septim, while Thalmor gold is worth more. There are Dwemer coins.

More Thalmor Dossiers: Makes more lore books on characters to pick up when you're in the embassy. Also has patches for some followers. Very fun.

Bandolier: More carry weight and it looks cool.

Guard Dialogue Overhaul: Gives guards more to say, and changes their opinions of you as you complete quests.

Bandit Lines Expansion: Bandits talk more, 500+ new lines. Spliced, but it sounded smooth to me.

Alternate Start: If you're sick of the standard Helgen entry, THIS. Also the New Beginnings add-on gives even more options.

No Fast Travel: Honestly this is just a me thing, because I use Vitality Mode and want realism. Only go for this if you're like me and it won't frustrate you.

Followers (aka, my party pre-BG3)

Gore by @goredev: A young Imperial mercenary from Cyrodiil, was ambushed by Thalmor because of some traitorous members of his band. Absolute sweetheart, riveting story, fantastic found family vibes all around. 10/10 would kill for him. Updates often, so check the mod page every now and then after install.

Inigo: An indigo Khajiit who put himself in prison because he thinks he killed you. Amazing banter, very cheeky, comes with his own whistle-signal mechanics. You can buy him a horse if you have the right patch! (He interacts with Lucien right out the gate and has a banter patch with Auri)

Lucien Flavius: An Imperial scholar from Cyrodiil with a myriad of unique mechanics, letting you teach him your own skills in order to customize his battle style. He's in Skyrim looking for a (custom made, well-implemented) Dwemer dungeon. The lad has a MILLION compatibility patches that let him comment on all sorts of mods. (Interacts with Auri right out the gate)

Auri by @sotgofficial: A Bosmer from Valenwood who's having a lot of culture shock in Skyrim (where she's from, canonically, her people are cannibals and don't harm plants—she HATES Faendal with a seething passion). A fantastic character (and archer), a heartwrenching story, openly poly and likes to tease. Will be a little annoyed/depressed until you do her personal quest, so I recommend chipping away at that as you travel. I usually use her with the Refined Auri replacer.

Taliesin by @dynamite124, voiced by @nevermorepjm: My personal favorite, an Altmer and former Thalmor agent you help after he's been mortally wounded. Lots of sassy and witty dialogue, bursting with personality, changes his opinion of you over the course of the main quest. Please I'm begging you watch his trailer.

Khash by @rabbittwinrithings: Darling little Argonian teenager you can take along with you. Doesn't get sarcasm, speaks her mind often, can be coaxed into talking about her past—that's not a typical Argonian name, is it? Resident gremlin alongside Auri.

Back to normal stuff, visuals

Tempered Skins for Males/Females: Gives a decent look without airbrushing everyone because I am SO sick of airbrushing everyone... There are dicks in the setup screen (when you set whether you want them or not), beware.

Improved Eyes: Just a little tweak.

Brows: Another little tweak.

Subliminal Traps: Makes traps less obvious. It's masochistic, yes, but I like my immersion.

Awesome Potions Simplified: You look at these and tell me they aren't the coolest looking potion bottles you've ever seen.

[preciouslittle-bhaalbabe]

Hey I just saw your post about mod asks so here i am haha, I need to know

What mods do you use for heads? And there’s an older post about Amaris and she has like. Tiny wings in her hair (i think there were 3 of them?). What mod do you use for those?

I use alot of head packs for mods but the one I use most often is from "character creation presets WIP" on Nexus. The feathers are from the half angel mod also on nexus. Also, like I said in that post, I do link these mods quite often because I get asked often to the point where I have a tag for stuff like this. So if you ever wonder what mod something is from, it might be linked in that tag already. It's #bg3 mods on my page and I try to tag every post talking about or linking mods I use to that tag.

If you can't find what you're looking for there, you can always try checking the #asks tag because I link alot of mods in those posts too.

[bharv]

just saw your dao mention in another ask and i'm wondering if you have a ted talk about why you love it?

i also REALLY loved dao but i recently replayed it and i'm wondering how much of my affection was just nostalgia. some of that is just an aging game of course, but if dao came out today i'd be even crankier about some of the design choices than I am about bg3 (and I have a lot of cranky bg3 thoughts that I don't post haha)

I think I last played in 2021 probably, and that was my 9th playthrough lol.

Is it perfect? No, but to me it stands up really well still. I like CRPGs but with older ones I sometimes struggled with how much you needed to use your imagination and/or how unintuitive the UI was. I will say I first played DAO on console and switching to PC was a revelation, it was so definitely built for hotkeys and mod support! But I loved the voiced companions, the 3D graphics.

I think there have been other less graphically ambitious CRPGs that have also done things I love. The Pillars of Eternity games, for sure. Some of the Owlcat games. But there's something about the character design of the companions, the way the dwarven origins weave into the main narrative, the way the story unfolds in exactly the amount of time it needs to take that I love in Origins. (side note I think people that didn't like it so much really should play as dwarves, and if they don't like it for aesthetic reasons they need to. Grow up. That's my TED talk lmao)

Some of it is nostalgia, for sure. We've come a long way in a lot of areas from 2009. But I think the balance of exploration and linear storytelling is a sweet spot for me, I find endless open world really tiring unless there's excellent environmental storytelling happening (Skyrim and Fallout New Vegas do it very well, a lot of other games including Inquisition don't do it as well for me.) I love the writing on the whole, especially the two dwarf paths which are the highlight of the whole series IMO. You have a lot of narrative freedom with your warden in a way you don't with Hawke or the Inquisitor, and that's got a lot to do with not having a voiced protag. I'm not a voiced protag fan at all, unless you are telling a very tight story. I feel like if you're trying to allow for a really customisable main character it always hinders things. Shepard is that sweet spot for many, but is extremely hard to get right; it basically works because they are set in a very particular position at the start of the game, but their past is very broad brushstrokes, and the v/o is kept very neutral.

I actually am in the minority of loving BG3, lol. It's again not perfect and I do mourn the game we might have had from early access, but they struck a balance between appeal to audience, graphic level, scale and sheer amount of options that I think is insanely impressive technically. I just wish they'd kept a little more of what they wanted to do instead of responding quite so much to fan desires, but then again the game would have appealed to a much smaller audience had they done that.

But to me, BG3 combines gameplay I actually enjoy, characters I actually love, environments I like playing in, and choices that feel really juicy, and that's what I want in a game. And that feels like origins to me.

Origins certainly isn't perfect and there's BIG things I would change (why do the villainous men all have big noses? Why are the skin tones so poor? Why would a human society based on a church led by women with a woman as prophet still be patriarchal and sexist?) but I think it still has some of the more interesting writing of the series balanced with the narrative freedom I like in an RPG like that.

[oathkeeper-of-tarth]

I was wondering about this as I was reading a fanfic the other day but, did Isobel have white hair before she died? I can’t remember if any of the in-game lore said anything about it. Based on my light perusal online I can’t seem to find anything either. If anyone knew, I figured it would be you! (I love your blog btw!)

Hi there! Thanks for that vote of confidence, I do appreciate it. You're very kind.

Sadly, there's nothing I've seen in-game or datamined that talks about Isobel's hair at all. The concept art of her that's been made available also shows her with light hair only - it's the current, in-game version of her anyway, mostly exploring various concepts for her outfit and toying slightly with the hair length. An example:

The full versions of these were posted by artist Konstantin Porubov on his artstation (which has other cool BG3 stuff and I recommend taking a look). I love that she's holding a very Wand of the Four Moons looking mace there, and that top right white hooded cloak look is very Silver Lady of her. Tasty setting lore deep cuts, mmmm.

If we reeeeeeally want to stretch it, you can see a "dark-haired Isobel" in this fun EA datamining video by Chubblot from 2021 which shows what Isobel's placeholder model looked like early in development, when a lot of the NPCs just used character creator presets:

While I don't think this can really be taken as representative of anything and thus isn't super relevant to your actual question (and it's not supposed to be a pre-death version of Isobel anyway), I do recommend watching the video - it's really interesting and especially so with the layer of hindsight we now have. Also, Gortash and Orin's placeholder models are hilarious.

Unfortunately, we also don't actually know what her mother Melodia looked like, because the one image of her in the game is... a painted-over Aylin (as the picture looks to be a slightly repurposed asset, more about that here, Magical Photographer Isobel my beloved).

It's a really cool bit of fanon though, I find! I genuinely really like all the various versions of it I've seen: the idea of Isobel being this super-special moon-touched moon-blessed white-haired gal from birth is neat; then the idea of the practice of hair dyeing as a sign of religious devotion which has a nice resonance with Shadowheart (and goes well with Isobel's tats, too! I want more cool body mod stuff for clerics always); and finally the angsty one of her originally having dark hair and eyes like her dad and the paleness being a result of the weird resurrection and curse, and the century of darkness visibly leaving its mark on her just as it did on Aylin.

Anyway, that's all I've got - comments and contributions welcome, as always!

[loquaciousquark]

hi! i’ve been a fan of your writing since da2 and i’m so glad you’re playing bg3 now too. it’s been really interesting following your play throughs and character choices and how that ties in with your fic. i know you went with the choice to have astarion kill tav when he firsts bites her because it’s hilarious and i always want to do that, but i think i’d miss the scene after with the whole camp (and all the approval for defending him lol) and ahhhh i just don’t know! if you feel like it, i was wondering if you would talk more about your HCs around that choice and what to you makes it worth losing the morning after scene with everyone because i feel like it’s such an important group moment but… i want to punch him for killing me and also kind of slow things down with him so we stay just reluctant but oddly compelled allies for longer

Ahhh, what a fabulous question! Thank you so very much for this handcrafted opportunity to sit you down at my kitchen table with a cup of coffee and trap you for the next three and a half hours.

So the first bite scene ending in Tav's death wasn't actually intentional! I started playing BG3 in a three-person MP team with @eponymous-rose and @mystery-moose, and it so happened that my character (Tavish Gale, already ironclad) was the one who came across the boar and triggered the bite scene that night. By pure chance I rolled two natural ones on both those checks, and when it cut to the next morning and Tav was outright DEAD, we couldn't stop laughing! We had no idea what to expect or what the consequences would be, and when I switched to a SP campaign so I could horrifically binge this game like the gremlin I am, I felt compelled to recreate that glorious, character-defining moment.

However, as you note, that does mean you miss out on that lovely post-feed conversation where everyone says they're okay with him. On the other hand, you get that absolutely flat read of "Oh no. Something terrible happened here. :|" and then you get to punch him, so, you know, basically equal losses on either path. I know you get a ton of approval points after with the survival track, but I'm finding I'm not hurting for approval even in early game (I actually had to go and mod his approval 15 points lower about halfway through Act 1 this run because I was triggering his romance scene too early ahead of the party).

I actually need to probably sit down and write out the details of what happens here, but I do think a couple things take place. I know for sure that Tav fails the checks & doesn't fight it because she gets sucked into the feeling of relaxation and lethargy and the sense that nothing matters anymore. She spends most of Acts 1 & 2 fairly certain they're going to die any day, so why not live life to the fullest and do whatever you want in the moment without thinking about the consequences? If she's going to go out early anyway, why not to a relatively painless vampire bite instead of the agony of ceremorphosis? She probably realizes she's dying in those last seconds, but it's very much a "finally" instead of "oh no," so it's not really any skin off her nose.

I'm almost certain Astarion is shocked out of his mind when her heart stops. I don't think he realizes what's happened until he sits back and she's ice-cold and smiling, and his first instinct is to run off into the dark ASAP before everyone else wakes up and shanks him. Except because this happens IN THE MIDDLE OF CAMP, LARIAN, I think someone sees the whole thing go down and realizes Astarion didn't mean to do it and Tav was a brick-thick idiot who leaned all the way into her own death.

On pondering, I kind of think it was Shadowheart, who is utterly disgusted with both of them but who also knows she can bring Tav back with a scroll and does so without much drama. She'd be the kind of person to see what was going on, but who doesn't care enough to intervene or go "hey everything okay over here I can't help but notice you're engaging in some risky behavior", but who also wouldn't leap to TIME TO KILL ASTARION the moment it went too far.

I think Tav wakes up with a raging headache, and now that there are suddenly consequences she can't immediately brush off, she gets embarrassed and mad. Cue the punch, the argument, and probably everyone else waking up in the aftermath. Lae'zel initially wants to boot him from the group, I think, but Tav's anger burns out pretty quick (and she's pretty aware of her own failures to stop him), and she points out that if they're going to saddle themselves with Wyll's, Gale's, and her own baggage, it'd be pretty hypocritical to dump Astarion over his. So we still get some defense of him to the group, and I think Karlach (and probably Wyll, and honestly maybe Shadowheart who saw his fear) would be onboard with keeping him around pretty quickly. Promises never to do it again, keep your teeth to yourself, etc.

Astarion I think spends this entire conversation very, very scared and doing everything he can to hide it. I think he's completely overwhelmed by euphorically feeding on a thinking creature for the first time and then completely horrified by killing her - not because he likes her but because what if this is why Cazador commanded us not to, what if I can't control myself on my own without his compulsion, what if I really am the beast he's always said. He's panicking from the outrageous swings of emotion and talking really quickly and trying to put up a bold front, but inside he's about half a hair from snapping off into the woods and never coming back.

I think it's the punch that kind of shocks him out of the spiral, and then Tav then defending him to the group helps him flip into the "well obviously I deserve to stay and in fact to kick me out of the group would be not only stupid, but deadly" mode long enough to get through the night. He tries to put on the usual devil-may-care indifference, even though everyone can see through it, and they have a tense few days where everyone's pretending everything is fine even though it's really, really not.

Astarion & Tav are also avoiding each other religiously here, until something happens in a battle (the harpies, I think) and one of them gets injured because of that avoidance. That night, Tav stakes him to the ground and makes them talk about it. I think this is where she says she's not actually averse to him feeding on her and in fact asks him to do it that night - to get them both over the hump of what happened the first time. Astarion needs to feed without fear & she needs to not get swept up in the lethargy, and if he's going to get back to the sneering equilibrium he ought to have in the first and second acts, he needs to be successful at this and he needs to feel like he's won, or at least like he has an edge over her again. She's a little transparent about wanting to be bled in part to help him get back to this position of control, and in part because she does like forgetting the weight of reality, and in part because, again, they're gonna die in like twelve hours, surely, so who cares?

Anyway, it goes as well as it can for the two of them, even if they're both a little prickly throughout, and by the end they're a lot more comfortably back in that manipulative space they prefer. From there it moves on compliantly with canon into the party leadup (Loviatar and such) and then the party itself, and then progresses as scheduled with the rest of the game.

Ahh, it's so fun to think about these kinds of things. I'll continue to ponder, but I think this is either it for them or very close. Thank you so much for asking and for letting me ruminate! <3

[csphire]

A collection of my favorite posts and reactions to others.

(Is it mostly about Dammon? ...um yes, at least for now.)

Any asks (scammers) requesting donations will be 🚩Reported and 🚫Blocked!

🔨 Updated Dammon Build Guide! 🥰 Dammon Chatbot on Backyard AI

💡The mystery that's a part of Dammon's appeal and a solution to preserve it. 💡 🧂 ❤️

Forge of the Nine Interior Shots. 📖😳

Dammon's Basement and bonus The Devil's Fee

The Stable at Last Light Inn

💣What I keep in mind while writing Dammon

📌 - The Gift of Good Luck 2/?🍀

Dammon/Anna (Tav) so far... Multi-chapter WIP and NSFW!

Dammon's Voice Actor Issues Neatly Summed Up. 🫣Oof yeaaah, it's bad. This is like Cullen's VA from Dragon Age all over again. I love Dammon but his VA? As a genderfluid pansexual, this is heartbreaking and disappointing. Yikes, not sure how he's going to dig himself out of that hole.

My Tavs:

Who's Anna? (My cannon Tav)

Who's Karye? (Still a WIP)

Meet Mouse (My third cannon Tav.)

Meet Tav (Gustav the VIII)

A Warning ⚠️

~couple questions~ for when you need an excuse to talk about your characters/ship 😽

-For the couple questions promt, 2, 5 and 17 for Tavetha/Dammon, and 3, 6, and 15 for Anna/Astarion? 👀

blossoming romance writing prompts

Tav Asks 18, 19 and 20 | 7, 12 and 30

...

Love Trial

I can die happy now?

The only two things I would steal from Dammon

(Admittedly if we all could)

Did you take my scarf?

Dammon as Player Character Meets Karlach.

Why you should not let Astarion ascend.

Infernal Machinery

Mods that turn companions into Dammon

This look honestly breaks me

A silly (thirsty) dream

Early Access Dammon

Things I miss the most from Early Access

Headcannons:

My firsts thoughts and headcannons about Dammon

Food-related Headcanons for Dammon

Just wondering what Dammon's Parents were like.

Why do we like Dammon?

My headcannons to swordcreature's question of, What are some of the shitty things about Dammon?

His Charm is NOT his "Mystic"

Tiefling Horns and Claws

Images, Videos & .gifs:

For any of my screenshots or gifs feel free to use any of these for drawing references but please tag me because one, I can't get enough of him (and Karlach), and two, I want to reblog your hard work. 💕

Dammon and Stars

More Expression Drawing References for Dammon

Fireflies and Northern Lights (.gif version)

"You're welcome to stop by anytime, Dammon."

Part 1 | Part 2 | .gif version

Dammon is being rather cheeky here…

Dammon x Karye 💗

Whispers and hopes when it comes to a future BG3 DLC

Tav as Dammon

Dammon in Astarion's love scene (.gif version) Smooches

Dammon as Halsin? (It didn't really work but it was hilarious.)

Perception Fail & So this happened today

More Dammon Anyone?

The Bearer of Bad News ;_;

Karlach & Dammon

Eclectic Talents

Internally Panics

We need more love for Lakrissa!💜

The strange ox!🐂

Made By Others That I Just Love :

Lick 😋

Oh, the struggle...

Fantastic Art

Dammon sad? Oh nos... *cries*

Warm feeling 🌻🌞

How would Anna react if Astarion were to Ascend?

(She would dump him and buff Dammon to deliver a swift message.)

What we all wish we could have done in that moment.

Gale's Home Closeup Shots

Writing Prompts:

Take these ideas and run with them. But tag me so I can read and reblog what you come up with, okay? ^_~

"I like ducks"

My Fan-fiction: (my writing style in a nutshell here)

Rosemary, Lilacs, Lilies and Bergamot Astarion/Anna (Tav)

Purples, Blues, and Gold Astarion/Anna (Tav)

Sweetums and Sunshine Dammon/Tav NSFW!

[simmancy]

Happy Spooky Season, pumpkaboos! 

Here’s what’s happening this month / going forward on simmancy-dot-tumblr-dot-com.

𝙷𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚘 𝚗𝚎𝚠 𝚏𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚘𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚜! 👋

Hi there if you’re new! My name is Kit, I am 32 now, this is my simblr, I am active on and off. If any of that bothers you, unfollow, it's okay! If you're here because I posted a mod list or a random piece of CC you like, then I have good news - I do those things occasionally! When I am actively posting, I usually dabble in gameplay. I don't do much storytelling anymore because... well, I don't have the time!

𝚂𝚒𝚖𝚋𝚕𝚛𝚎𝚎𝚗 𝚂𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚍𝚞𝚕𝚎 🍬

I have SOME stuff I've been poking at in my ~spare time~. I love Simblreen, it's the best time of the year imo and it's just... a tradition. It's a tradition. So I'm going to try 🤞

I have been writing out a mod list centered around occults/spooky gameplay at least. So that's seasonally appropriate????? If you have a mod list request hit my inbox because I still fucking LOVE WCIFs and that's a sort of WCIF.

𝙾𝚌𝚝𝚘𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝 🎃

This year (and likely going forward), I'm going to try to use my blog to showcase the community. There's SO many cool things in the ts4 tag!! So I've been scouring it at the dead of night to refill my queue 👻 That's what you can mainly expect this month. No CAS challenges, no CC challenges, just some creepies and kookies from others around simblr.

𝚁𝚎𝚐𝚞𝚕𝚊𝚛 𝙲𝚘𝚗𝚝𝚎𝚗𝚝 🌕

Hi regular followers!! I’m so sorry if you've been here a long time, because I don't have much updates on my ~classic~ gameplays and saves and they just...... won't be. For a while.

Not So Perry... I have a bit of Gen 4 but I haven't played in a whiiiiile so. I might revisit that/redo/we'll see.

Star x Crossed is indefinitely on hold - I will probably revise how that was posting because the full episodes just aren't possible right now. I might do it more as like... an edit type thing, where the edits tell the stories or whatever. It SUCKS because I had really big hopes and dreams for that save and instead I... had a child.

The Nobel ABCs will return because I have 10 generations done in game. I just need to queue.

Maggie's Wonderful Life WILL eventually be done LMAO. I'm hoping to get back into that save soonish. I LOVE farming gameplay! So I want to play/finish it. I had about half of the introductions shot before I got distracted with other things and then... well. yeah.

New saves? When I manage to play, I play a lot of newer saves LMAO. Mostly because when I have time right now I need... something easy.

𝙻𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝚄𝚙𝚍𝚊𝚝𝚎 🔮

I decided I like doing this once a year Simmancy Newsletter during my favorite time of the year. Halloween remains the BEST season, and there's also no guarantee I won't drop off the face of the planet again.

Obv the main thing is that, as previously stated, I had a baby. A whole ass baby. She's now 3 months old, and she is so much in the best way. We're currently teething and if you're like "Kit that seems a bit early," you're absolutely right but this is the lot I've drawn in life. She likes to be sat up, and stood up, and to talk to the Baby in the Mirror. She also is obsessed with trees and the cat. I know new moms are annoying and I'm absolutely that annoying new mom, I literally cannot shut up about her and therefore make my sims blog also about her.

I go back to work next month and I'm absolutely dreading it. Can I just be a sim and have someone press motherlode for me? Please?

Otherwise, there's very little in Kit World. The past 6 simblr years remain wonderful, and I've met some of my best friends on here. I go between BG3 and Sims when I have game time (which isn't a lot because Baby Simmancy is increasingly awake and mobile). I WISH I had more time to hang around here but maybe in a year or so.

Anyway, that’s my update of the year. Happy spooky season everybody! I hope it’s a good one!

Stay safe & spooky out there!

[write-in-time]

If you enjoyed/are enjoying Baldur's Gate 3 I beg you to try out Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous. This is a long post about why.

The scope is huge, the companions are wonderful, and the dungeon delving is fun. There are some really impressive set pieces even given its more limited presentation.

Did I mention the companions are wonderful? Pathfinder still uses the alignment system 5E has since ditched, but I was impressed with how well it made "Evil" characters still work as comrades or love interests even if you're playing a purely "Good" protagonist. Alignment is a simple system, but these people are complicated.

I love that they form friendships outside of the player and interact with each other in skits and during conversations. I like that there are some pretty wild swings their arcs can take depending on your encouragement down one path or another, even if I will never be able to make some of the Evil choices myself.

A few warnings:

-Pathfinder is a significantly more complicated, crunchy system than 5E. It can be pretty intimidating making a character and leveling up. Don't be afraid to use a guide, and definitely don't be ashamed of using a lower difficulty.

-There are straight, gay, and bisexual party members, so not everyone is available to the protagonist depending on your character creation choices. If you don't want to be disappointed, look it up beforehand.

-You cannot date Woljif without a mod. I'm sorry. I was disappointed, too, until I met Daeran, the perfect man, my beloved horrible beast.

-There is a game within a game mechanic that starts after the first act. It is basically a limited version of the game Heroes of Might and Magic jammed into this game. I like it, some probably will hate it.

-Companions can be respecced, but they're forced into their default class for at least one level.

A few mechanical things WOTR does strictly better:

-Controller support is less prone to bugs, and almost all items in the world are either in boxes or on corpses rather than scattered about individually. It's much more manageable and comfortable if you're stuck using controller like what I am.

-You can loot all of the corpses in an area at the same time, and it prompts you when you leave a zone to loot any significant drops you may have left behind.

-Your companions' skills can be used for skill checks in dialogue and out in the world. If someone has a higher Lore (Religion) skill than you, the game uses theirs instead of yours to determine what dialogue choices are available.

-It auto selects the character with the highest lockpicking/disarming skill when you choose to go after a chest or door or trap that needs it.

-The greater complexity of Pathfinder means you also get a lot more options for character class and progression. Build diversity is high.

-Party size is 6, so you've got some flexibility to bring along the folks you like rather than having to worry as much about filling specific roles.

-Two battle systems are available: Real Time With Pause (think ye olde Baldur's Gates) and Turn Based. I do NOT like RTWP, so I stick to Turn Based, but if you like that one, enjoy.

There's probably more but this post is long already. Anyways, if you want more CRPG after your BG3 adventures are over, give it a go. It's good! I love it! It's extremely long so WATCH OUT!

[spacedykez]

m0thmenace --> foxbride-sunlight --> lovequeerloki ₓ

❤️ i go by multiple names. my favorite right now is zariel. ❤️ you can find my pronouns here. i use mainly he/it, if you're unsure. ❤️ i am very queer. i am genderfluid and very genderqueer. i identify as bigender, agender, transmasc, and xenogender at various times. im also aroace but girls pretty and fictional characters hot. in other words Its Complicated. gatekeeping is bad i love all queer people here. contradictory labels rock. mspec lesbians rock. he/him lesbians rule (hi!!). if youre gonna be a bitch about any of that then Get Out ❤️ i am in a qpr with my wonderful girlfriend who you can find @felicityphoenix5. i will mention xem frequently. ❤️ i am a therian! grey fox, otter & moth kin. also crow and dragon kith! i don't mind being called human, but i do tend to call myself a creature, critter, or cryptid instead.

i'm mainly a variety blog and post about anything and everything i want to! my interests and the things you will see most on this blog are:

aesthetics corvidcore, goblincore, forestcore, animals, nature photography

minecraft mineblr, hermitcraft, empires smp, traffic life, origins smp, new life smp

musical theater team starkid, tin can bros, shipwrecked comedy, six the musical, epic the musical, addams family, a wide variety of other musicals

video games legend of zelda, diablo, wow, bg3, more minecraft

animation trigun stampede, lego monkie kid, nimona, rottmnt, arcane, httyd, toh, tts but like. Just Varian.

music the oh hellos, thefatrat, owl city, ajr, the crane wives, the forgetmenauts, the mechanisms, hozier, the score, oh the larceny, neoni, fall out boy, set it off, musical/movie soundtracks

tolkien lord of the rings (both book and movies), the silmarillion and related works, and the hobbit (both book and movies)

ocs mainly the fablewilds and assorted characters, but minecraft ocs as well

GOOD OMENS <333333

and a variety of assorted other things, including greek mythology, roleplays with my friends, queerness, space, hopepunk, and misc tumblr things.

i don't have a ton of sideblogs, and the ones i do have are likely to be inconsistent with posting, but i do have a few!

@lgbtsea sideblog for saving genders, pronouns, and names that i like @foxofgondolin tolkien sideblog

i'm also a mod on @qprsmackdown and @branzy-but-everywhere!

🩸i am not a system, but i have support all types of systems. 🩸i am very against censorship, exclusionism of all kinds, and bigotry of all kinds. 🩸i try not to post frequently about discourse. please do not send me asks about it (unless it's in response to something i've posted) 🩸i block nsfw blogs and blank blogs. please be aware i am a minor. do not send me nsfw content. 🩸discourse & politics heavy blogs are welcome to follow me, but be aware i probably won't follow you back.

terfs fuck off ✧ was the night endless ✧ vampires ✧ demon ✧ hopepunk ✧ special interest is lotr ✧ special interest is black holes ✧ i desire him ✧ felt in love ✧ bat dividers

[g33se]

Playing bg3 right now. Got to the point with the druids and the tiefling city. A couple of opinions about the party:

Lae'zel: I liked her a lot when I met her first (competent, straightforward, my type of girl) but she's being very rude about the tieflings. Given that I'm playing a tiefling... well. Not keen on the way she compared us to cockroaches or the way she made the tiefling bow- granted the tieflings did have reason to want to stab her. So liking her quite a bit less now. Still, looking at her respectfully. She is hot.

Shadowheart: Never really liked elves all that much. Not super keen on the way she did a racism at Lae'zel as soon as we met her, but the moments of emotional vulnerability have me liking her a lot more.

Astarion: Stupid loser bastard. That man is clearly a vampire- I mean, look at the eyes/teeth/the literal VAMPIRE BITE on his neck and the ten thousand clues he's been dropping. Sexy of him to greet me by holding a knife to my neck I thought he was going to rob me. He's such a fucking idiot I want to jump his bones.

Gale: This man has bard energy. At least, the way I play bards. Also kind of single dad energy? Just a random wizard running around. Just a Dude, if you will. Had to put him back in the campsite since I'm a sorcerer and party comp will get fucked though.

Wyll: Thought he was a paladin at first. Then he started doing warlocky things. I like how he acts it's a nonstandard edgy warlock thing, I hope his storyline pans out well. Really like his back-and-forth with Lae'zel about ever doing nice things with her life. Immediately taken with the fight scene I saw him in first, looked fucking epic.

Overall, I really love Mind Flayers. They're fucking cool, that little starter scene when I converted a woman into one was fucking nightmare fuel. I did see the button saying perfect and press it knowing what it would probably mean. What the hell were they doing in Avernus though. And isn't Zariel the angel who fell because she wanted to kill demons with GREAT PREJUDICE?

I've also been save scumming whenever I steal stuff a lot because, habit. I just want to collect all the boxes and put them into the campsite. Also reloaded the same save three times because I wanted Asterion to take that one potato off a crying guard. (Probably going to try to see if I can do a revivify on the dead guard later? I don't know if the game has the 1 min timer on revivify or not.) Also I do like how yoinking just makes people do 'hey wtf' or 'you're getting arrested' because instantly trying to kill the party is. Weird.

Also reloaded the save once because I couldn't revivify Shadowheart because she died on stairs that were on fire. I know how to play dnd I just have a hard time conceptualizing it with game graphics.

Lower level dnd's always interesting. The take action to restore someone else at 1hp is also... inspired. Would be interested to see normal downing rules- that would force me to think in more dnd terms to play the game. I also keep clicking wrong and wasting attacks on the space right next to a person.

Weird how everyone can use scrolls.

I hate the 1/short rest mage hand it's a fucking cantrip and it can do, like, nothing. Going to download a mod for it later.

Going to have to use the speak with dead amulet a lot I hope. I love that spell. Not quite sure how I feel about your camp being a separate room- I feel like it trivializes inventory management and sending things there is. Weird. Where is all the weight going. I do like stacking all the boxes I find though.

Thought the Absolute people were part of a mind flayer cult so had to kill a few of them.

Current leader druid is a bit cringe. Don't want to kill her but definitely ousting her asap. Stop being a dick to my people (tieflings). Also really liking the tiefling responses so far.

Also wonder at the deal about the tiefling village. They seem to have a lot of hell stuff going on there.

Anyway, this is cool! Looking forward to what happens next.

[baldurs-gay-three]

hey i saw your post in the tags lamenting about how halsin wasnt fat and boy do i have the mod for you boss, if you like mods. www nexusmods com/baldursgate3/mods/2568 It's not a perfect world, its not 100% complete, and we still lack fat models for the feminine bodies, but it's such a wonderful little treat in a bleak, fatless world.....

Also, if you're looking for something to re-hydrate the men in your party and get rid of their abs, I have something for this ailment too! www nexusmods com/baldursgate3/mods/1127 I wish all of this was base game, and I haven't seen anything like this for feminine bodies yet, but I am so thankful for these treats nonetheless. Godspeed soldier o7

Hi! im so sorry for the late reply, we saw this the day you sent it but it was immediately whooshed out of our brain ^^'

thank you so much. seriously, this was out of your way and i really appreciate you sharing these with us. unfortunately we don't have our own system to play bg3 on right now, but we will be getting one soon and when we do we will definitely look into these mods!

thank you again!