#this is one of those dialogue choices where I was dying to know what the percentages were on what players picked

[asleepinawell]

if you did the omega: beyond the rift quests (the alpha quest chain you can do post endwalker in patch 6.15) how did you answer omega's question about which of the ancients was most justified in their actions?

[shigayokagayama]

What are the biggest losses between the manga and anime? I just finished watching mp100 and I'm curious what the manga has!

ok biggest losses are kind of hard to define because like. anime and manga are two inherently different mediums and there are a good amount of cuts that improve pacing and then a good amount of cuts that people sort of argue over the merit of so im just going to go for biggest differences. i would also highly recommend reading the manga just because it is a pretty different experience tonally along with the minor plot differences and cut scenes + theres a bunch of omakes that both flesh out characters that dont get too much focus and have some really good bits in them. putting the rest of this post under a cut bc i ramble

mogami arc

this one is kind of inescapable i feel like but the anime version of the mogami arc had a LOT of things trimmed for a couple different reasons. season 2 already got an extra episode in order to do the fire scene as a cliffhanger so with the way things shook out the director had to choose between a. cutting a bunch of stuff out of separation arc to make it one episode so mogami arc couid stay three episode or b. cutting a bunch of stuff out of mogami arc so separation arc could stay two episodes. imo they made the right choice, whats even the point of adapting mob psycho if you dont get confession arc right, but some of the cuts to mogami arc will be dearly missed and others will be fought over to the end of time. cuts include:

minori being established as a brat in a video everyones shown and the video being part of how reigen deduces shes possessed (reigen deducing her possession in the manga is generally just a lot better done and after you read the manga the scene in the anime feels so awkward because you know whats missing

the psychics deciding to band together to beat this little girl to death to save themselves and shinra stepping between them to protect her and getting utterly thrashed, not by mogami, but his fellow psychics

reigen trying to convince mob to leave without him and call for help while he distracts him which leads to this

the general mogamiland section lasting a lot longer and being more brutal (notably the stray cat mob feeds getting killed in front of him)

mob getting fucking torn to pieces by spirits during the fight instead of ambiguously dying offscreen

generally would recommend if nothing else reading the manga version of this arc and confession arc because i feel like these are the only two where you lose like. a significant amount of the story and themes from the cuts. speaking of....

2. WHY THE FUCK DID THEY CUT THIS I WILL BE MAD UNTIL I DIE

maybe its just because i reread this arc on its own probably 50 times before the anime came out but this is the only arc where the cuts actively piss me off because there is absolutely no reason they had to do it. they cut a bunch of important shit, left in things that didnt need to be there, and added scenes that contribute literally nothing to the overall point. if they just did any one of those things or combo of two of those things i wouldnt be as mad but it feels like they put a bunch of filler in then speedran the actual story

cut #1 that pisses me off: HOMOPHOBIA?????

THERE WAS SUPPOSED TO BE A HEART IN HIS EYE. WHY DID THEY NOT INCLUDE THIS. THIS IS THE CULMINATION OF TERUS ARC. THIS IS HIM SEEING THE PERSON HE HAS IDOLIZED AND DEIFIED IN HIS HEAD AT THEIR LOWEST AND STILL CHOOSING TO LOVE HIM, AND THROUGH THIS HE IS CAPABLE OF BEING LOVED EVEN THOUGH HES NOT PERFECT BECAUSE NO ONE IS. WHY WOULD YOU CUT THIS?

cut #2 I NEED WHOEVER CUT THE DIALOGUE FROM THE FIRST PANEL IN PRISON

the lack of inclusion of the first panels dialogue along with the cuts to the mob and shigeo conversation (WHICH WE WILL GET TO) make me think the person who adapted this arc fundamentally misunderstood what was happening. this line. is. THE POINT. THIS ISNT SOME SEPARATE SCARY THING. THIS IS MOB. HE IS CHOOSING TO DO THIS BECAUSE HE IS SCARED AND ANGRY AND HURT BUT HE IS IN CONTROL OF HIS ACTIONS AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN.

cut #3 HE DOESNT WANT TO BE HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR HIS ACTIONS

this entire conversation is so good and i was looking forward to watching it voice acted for so long and its just. gone. for me the "i am shigeo kageyama who are you" reveal felt like a gut punch because the opening being "i knew i would be needed" made me go "oh hes like possessed or his powers are sentient or something" and this conversation was the slow unraveling of my view of these as two separate people and instead as a scared, traumatized teenager who has convinced himself that the parts of himself he hates are something else outside of his control instead of an intrinsic part of who he is because if he's convinced that the parts of him that are able to feel desire and frustration and anger and malice are him then he'll lose all these relationships he's worked so hard to cultivate as his perfect, non confrontational self. and of course that isnt true. all his friends and loved ones are making their way to the center of a damn hurricane because they see he's in distress and want to help him. but he cant see that so he pushes them away. ugh. mob. protagonist of all time.

cut #4 WHY WOULD YOU CHANGE THE COMPOSITION OF THIS I CAN LITERALLY SEE HOW THIS WOULD BE ANIMATED IN MY MINDS EYE W

can you imagine how beautiful this would be in motion. just. god.

cut #5 HE WAS TALKING OUT LOUD. REIGEN HEARD ALL THIS

:(

cut #6 the bowling arc

so the scene where reigen takes his shoes off is supposed to be a lot more solemn bc like. taking your shoes off before killing yourself is a trope in japanese media (ive heard it started in media and bled over into real life but i might have it backwards?). reigen knew he was probably going to die. anyway i cant take this scene seriously because of this edit

the bowling arc.

cut #7 WAAAAAAAAAAAA

WAAAAAAAAAAAA *sniff* AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

cut #8 homophobia again

rip pensive fruity tea sip

cut #9 mob threw the cake directly in reigens face on purpose

i literally experienced every stage of grief realizing this got changed. why. its so perfect. why would you change this.

3. World Domination arc

so WD arc is in a very interesting place where it had a lot of scenes cut but unlike the other two most of the cut content youre like. yea probably best not to include that. ill start with the good content that got cut then go into the weird content

serizawa got his power drained by toichiro. i am quite sad this scene didnt make it in because its sorta heartbreaking

teru fighting off the claw assassin is shown and we see that teru can both make shadow clones AND hold a barrier while attacking, he seems to be the only esper with this ability!

the reason dimple could tell mob's family was alive is that there was no sense of grudge at the house which would have been left behind by people passing in a violent manner

mob briefly goes unconscious during the start of the toichiro fight and dimple possesses him and says "shit"

dimple possessing mob shoots shibata with a gun

we get mukai lore.

it doesnt make any sense and just raises more questions but we get it.

toichiro has a team of telepaths to recap where everyone is because this arc took an entire calender year to update

literally everyone shows up to fight shimazaki. i cannot stress enough how many people show up to fight shimazaki. it would be faster to list espers who dont show up to fight shimazaki

the middle school delinquents show up and start fighting the claw grunts literally completely out of no where and this is never brought up or referenced ever again

when mob and ritsu get home ritsu says all their stuff is in boxes and they need to hurry and redecorate the house before their parents get home which implies that shou packed the entire households worth of belongings into boxes and hid it somewhere before lighting their house on fire which is such a funny mental image that i cant even be mad at it. loony toons ass plot point.

4. other random interesting cut things

takenaka is just generally more of a bitch during alien arc. "ah i think they took him" remains one of the funniest goddamn panels in the manga

peak

alien arc overall is a lot funnier in the manga, i have a slight preference for the manga version just bc theres a lot of really good bits that didnt make it to anime but the anime version is so heartfelt and nostalgic it makes me happy

between omakes and small things that got cut or changed for the anime teru just feels way more fleshed out in the manga. like. anime teru is a completely different person. its hard to explain if youve never read it.

the all girls school part originally went right before the ghost family stuff and was the beginning of mob's existential crisis about why spirits and people get different treatment but tbh it works well where it is i just wish it werent. like that.

the scene where ritsu and teru shake hands was teru draining ritsus power which he seems to have learned to do from encountering ???%

teru.

ow

thats all i can think of off the top of my head, im sure ill realize i forgot something some time after posting this but. yeah. read the manga its good

[nelkenbabe]

the conversations between solas and varric drive me to insanity, i think they might be the longest consecutive, interconnected pieces of dialogue between any companions.

there are so many layers and so much back and forth pushing, so much being said without saying it. they explain so much about solas’ current state of mind, but also show the effects of what happened in da2 on varric

Solas: I find the fall of the dwarven lands confusing.

Varric: What's so confusing about endless darkspawn?

Solas: A great deal, although that is a different matter. Dwarves control the flow of lyrium. They could tighten their grip on it.

Varric: It's hard to get the attention of the humans when the darkspawn aren't up here messing with their stuff.

Solas: You're active in the Carta. You know your people could tug the purse strings. You could claim sovereign land on the surface, or demand help restoring the dwarven kingdom, but you don't.

Varric: You're not saying anything I haven't said myself, Chuckles. Orzammar is what it is.

───────

Solas: Is there at least a movement to reunite Orzammar and Kal-Sharok?

Varric: What is it with you, Chuckles? Why do you care so much about the dwarves?

Solas: Once, in the Fade, I saw the memory of a man who lived alone on an island. Most of his tribe had fallen to beasts or disease. His wife had died in childbirth. He was the only one left. He could have struck out on his own to find a new land, new people. But he stayed. He spent every day catching fish in a little boat, every night drinking fermented fruit juice and watching the stars.

Varric: I can think of worse lives.

Solas: How can you be happy surrendering, knowing it will all end with you?  How can you not fight?

Varric: I suppose it depends on the quality of the fermented fruit juice.

Solas: So it seems.

Solas:: I am sorry to have bothered you with my questions about your people Varric. I see so much of this world in dreams. Humans, my own people, even qunari. Dwarves alone were lost to me, save scattered fragments of memory where some spirit cared to watch. Now I know why I see so little.

Varric: And why is that?

Solas:: Dwarves are the severed arm of a once mighty hero, lying in a pool of blood. Undirected. Whatever skill of arms it had, gone forever. Although it might twitch to give the appearance of life, it will never dream. 

Varric: I'd avoid mentioning that to any Carta, Chuckles. They might not take it the right way. 

───────

Varric: What's with you and the doom stuff? Are you always this cheery or is the hole in the sky getting to you?

Solas: I've no idea what you mean.

Varric: All the "fallen empire" crap you go on about. What's so great about empires anyway?

Varric: So we lost the Deep Roads, and Orzammar is too proud to ask for help. So what? We're not Orzammar and we're not our empire.

Varric: There are tens of thousands of us living up here in the sunlight now, and it's not that bad.

Varric: Life goes on. It's just different than it used to be.

Solas: And you have no concept of what that difference cost you.

Varric: I know what it didn't cost me. I'm still here, even after all those thaigs fell.

───────

Solas: You truly are content to sit in the sun, never wondering what you could've been, never fighting back.

Varric: Ha, you've got it all wrong, Chuckles. This is fighting back.

Solas: How does passively accepting your fate constitute a fight?

Varric: In that story of yours—-the fisherman watching the stars, dying alone. You thought he gave up, right?

Solas: Yes.

Varric: But he went on living. He lost everyone, but he still got up every morning. He made a life, even if it was alone.

Varric: That's the world. Everything you build, it tears down. Everything you've got, it takes. And it's gone forever.

Varric: The only choices you get are to lie down and die or keep going. He kept going. That's as close to beating the world as anyone gets.

Solas: Well said. Perhaps I was mistaken.

Varric: You know what I like about you, Chuckles? Your boundless optimism.

Solas: It's comforting that whatever qualities I lack, you'll invent for me, Varric.

Varric: No, really. Why else would an elven apostate help crazy Chantry folk close a hole in the sky?

Solas: When you put it like that, I must concede your point.

PLEASE

[difeisheng]

duel meta — a brief addition

written in reference to the original meta here. i'm making this point its own separate post, as it doesn't fully fit into the thesis of that essay.

in my previous discussion of the donghai duel, i highlighted three lulls in the action where di feisheng could have decided to attack li xiangyi, but didn't, even when he was the one forced into a defensive position. instead he paused, until li xiangyi chose to make a next move against him. my point in talking about these moments was that it demonstrated how di feisheng saw this fight as a proper back-and-forth between equals, not the battle to the death that li xiangyi intended for it to be.

however, what i ignored in that analysis was the point in the duel at which di feisheng moves before li xiangyi, breaking away from their locked blades. it's right after this line:

before this is a cutaway to the battle on the mainland— fire, screams, people on both sides dying. and it's with that carnage weighing on both di feisheng and li xiangyi that di feisheng says this, then shoves aside shaoshi and stabs li xiangyi through the shoulder, pinning him to the roof.

if i had been trying to integrate this into my prior reading of these two's motivations during the duel, this moment would have been an anomaly. my point at the time was that di feisheng pictured the duel as being between two swordsmen, just himself and li xiangyi. while to li xiangyi, this was a battle between sigumen and jinyuanmeng, and the two of them were simply two figureheads. for di feisheng to draw attention to the other fighters he and li xiangyi have with them, is not quite in line with this. i said before that di feisheng purposefully isolated himself on his ship knowing li xiangyi would find him there, as well, so that others in the battle could not interfere.

but, to push that aside and examine this on its own: i find it very interesting that this dialogue, the sole point where di feisheng acknowledges the world beyond the duel at all, is also the singular moment that causes him to alter his previous behaviour throughout the entire fight. it's not li xiangyi attacking him that finally makes him strike first. it's not his own injuries or desire to win, or desperation. it's the awareness of the fact that other people out there are dying while they fight.

di feisheng's leadership of jinyuanmeng warrants a lot more analysis that i'm not going to do here, but to summarize some things myself and others have observed before, he's efficient. he's established the alliance in such a way that there's a clear hierarchy and duties for each person, and that level of organization can function even when he's off dealing with his own matters, communicating things via wuyan. although he shows little interest in managing jinyuanmeng in the present day, i don't think he could've built the alliance up to such a state that it would keep running without him, even while he abruptly went into seclusion for ten years, unless he actually cared about the people who were serving him. and we do his anger when those who were loyal to him die, like when he snaps at jiao liqiao for the deaths of his twelve phoenixes, even though they got a blink-and-you'll-miss-it amount of screentime. they were still important to di feisheng.

(i know jiao liqiao was the one who kept jinyuanmeng going in his absence, but it seems she didn't make any huge changes to how jinyuanmeng was functioning up until di feisheng recovered from his injuries. before that she was ruling, at least outwardly, in his name and interests.)

all this is to say that, looking at his choices in this moment of the donghai duel, i think that that line of dialogue— breaking from his precedent of letting li xiangyi lead the fight— is fascinating characterization to add to di feisheng this early in the show. i've said before that from the moment he appears onscreen, after the opening monologue declaring him a villain and a 大魔头, our expectations of him begin to be subverted. this does honestly alter how di feisheng and li xiangyi could be viewed; di feisheng is now seemingly the one whose people are being attacked and who cannot stand the wasting of unnecessary lives, while li xiangyi is the one who led all this followers to battle for the sake of his dead shixiong's body, and arrogantly miscalculated that he could win.

i love how this show plays with character perception, and how they've built up di feisheng in this way, especially when the majority of his screentime isn't from the source material. this is just one part of it.

[sparklingcid3r]

the amount of mental gymnastics darry had to do in high school. the way the socs ruined his rep w the greasers and then disposed of his friendship anyways. also how he is still seen as the least emotional of the greasers but still too in touch w emotions for socs

I don’t think Darry even justified the Soc’s disdain towards the greasers, which you could take as being worse than if he did. But yeah, Darry had such drastically opposite roles to play in both worlds, I kind of doubt he ever got to figure out who exactly he is when he’s by himself. Especially when the Curtis parents die, Darry puts his own wellbeing last in favor of getting his brothers through their days, through their childhoods, and once the day comes that Pony leaves for college and doesn’t exactly need him anymore, Darry will finally be forced to come to terms with how detrimental the constant switch-ups were in high school.

It’s so crazy to think about how his parents dying was the last straw for the Socs. It probably reinforced the belief that no matter how intelligent and put-together an East sider is, the grease will always have a hold on them (ha) and drag them right back to where they started.

You know I was listening to the cut song “Cut that Hair” from the La Jolla production and there’s a piece of dialogue between Johnny and Bob that pretty much goes along the lines of Johnny saying (about Pony), “He’s Darrel Curtis’s little brother, so I’d watch it if I were you!” and then Bob just mocks, “Darrel Curtis, the famous dropout!” And then just a crazy line about “Dropouts galore in that family—” “Orphans galore!”

And I was just like ??? Ayo CHILL first of all✋let him get up, damn. Second of all, they know exactly what happened to the Curtis family and cut Darry off anyway for something that wasn’t even his fault?? His plans were doomed from the start if that’s reason enough to kick someone to the curb.

YESS U GET IT🙏🙏Darry’s reputation among the East side is that of the impenetrable “Superman” who probably needs five Socs just to keep him down. He’s got cold blue eyes and never smiles anymore. He’s perceived as unemotional when he’s so clearly one of the most emotional characters in the story, he’s just not the best at expressing those emotions. And I always thought that his history with the Socs had something to do with it (his parents dying and him having to be the rock his brothers depend on is the bigger, more obvious reason, but cmonnn lemme hc).

Keeping his feelings in check was the best course of action around the Socs, one: because the whole point was keeping his status as greaser as far out of their minds as possible, and two: because Cherry says (in the musical) that Socs keep their feelings to themselves. So: Darry has spent the better of four years keeping his problems and emotions under lock and key, and he needs to do it again if he’s going to be responsible enough to take care of his younger brothers by himself. It’s always been the one thing that’s an asset in both worlds, but it completely ices him out from both worlds as well, a double-edged sword that he has no choice but to use now.

Can you tell Darry’s my fav character yet😭 Ty for the ask!! i can yap forever about this guy

[grollow]

What are your opinions on the pale king?

Oh boy. Uhm. This feels like a massively loaded question considering that I know that Pale King-related discourse is very common in this fandom but I'm feeling brave today so let's go. Prepare for a long reply, anon, hope you're ready for Ashe to actually write their headcanons on main.

Well first off, I think the fandom does the character a grievous injustice the majority of the time, which is exceedingly frustrating considering that he’s one of the few characters in the game to have any nuance at all. The majority of the fandom either goes out of their way to demonize him (by far the most common sentiment, which is infuriating), or they make him way too sympathetic and/or try to excuse/write off/defend/redeem him for the horrible things that he’s done in the events of the game. Both of these stances ignore that the character is layered like an onion and deserves to be treated as such.

I’m gonna address the demonizing thing first, because it’s more common in fanfiction which is where the majority of my followers found me, and is also where the mass of my experience can be found. Demonizing PK as “ruthless, evil baby killer” ignores the fact that he was put into a no-win situation as king of a kingdom that was entirely reliant upon him (whether by his choice or not is unclear, canon makes it obvious people are inclined to follow wyrms but we do not know for sure if this is something he wanted or just incidental). His own dialogue and actions show us that everything he did, he did with a heavy heart. He did not do these things to be cruel, he did not do these things thoughtlessly, and he certainly did not do these things and forget about them.

PK in essence was presented with next to no options to defeat an enemy that was willing to stop at nothing to get what she wanted; she was willing to kill countless people, with no thought for what all she harmed and damaged along the way. He was king and responsible for those people’s lives. He had to do something.

We don’t know what he knew going into the vessel plan. Based on Monomon’s studies, and the Pale King’s own, we can assume that he probably tried other options. We have wingmoulds and kingsmoulds to show us that he absolutely was experimenting with void before he reached the conclusion of sacrificing his own children. He had to have come to the conclusion that this was the only option that he had. Based on the seal on the Abyss, it’s one that he regretted, found disgusting, and if you take his death in White Palace to be from guilt (which I do), it’s one that he never forgave himself for. “No cost too great.”

Vessels by design are supposed to be empty. I do not think this design choice was to be cruel. I think he tried to design them not to feel not only to protect them from Radi but also to protect them from experiencing what he was asking of them. And I truly, 100% believe that by the end, he realized he’d failed. That Hollow was not empty. He just had no other option, his grand be-all end-all plan was relying on their success.

(Note: My headcanon is that World Sense is PK’s apology to Hollow, in his own way. I also headcanon that PK foresaw Hallownest being saved in one of / all of the endings, and all of them involved Hollow having to be sacrificed. I believe that he died of guilt for doing what he thought he had to.)

So with all of this in mind, though: How can you demonize him for a choice that he made, that was a no-win situation? Is it a wrong choice? Probably. Were there better options? We’ll never know. What we do know is it is not one he made lightly. He knew his acts were monstrous. He did not go into these decisions thinking himself a hero. He locked himself away afterwards and it ate away at him slowly. Heavy is the head that wears the crown. He lost everything in an attempt to save his kingdom from dying to the Radiance. Whether you like him or not, you have to acknowledge the fact that he did think that his plan would save his people. That his end goal was a good one.

(And I will not get into arguments about colonizing / conquering / etc. I do not think this is usually a source of discourse, but when it does come up, it’s usually in defense of the Radiance, who is as guilty as he is of the same damn shit. @ruthlesslistener wrote a post on that subject that I’m sure I’ve reblogged. There’s no point in me repeating it.)

So with that in mind, you might be asking yourself, “So are you not a PK apologist?” And the answer is no. He’s done fucking horrible shit and I am not sorry at all for him. I do not pity him. I do not think he deserves forgiveness. I do not think he deserves to be redeemed. There’s a big difference between understanding the reason a character does something and agreeing with it. Most of the time, when people try to redeem him, it is either erasing the whole baby pit thing (either by time travel or just simply saying it Never Happened), or altering Hollow’s perception of that act (as if they are the only one who was hurt by that act). In the case of the former, you are no longer writing the Pale King. You are writing a wyrm shaped guy. The choices he made exist for a reason. Wiping them out, without good cause, drastically alters his character. I understand people think he has a cool design/character motif, he does. But that’s not even the tip of the iceberg of what makes him an interesting character.

He isn’t a villain.

He isn’t a hero.

And he would not want you to redeem him. He sure as fuck didn’t try to redeem himself.

Let him be morally gray. That’s what makes him a fun character to write and an excellent plot device to include. Let him be complicated. He deserves at least that much.

[spacedlexi]

Of all the difficult choices in each season of TWDG, What would say are the ones that you struggled with the most for each season?

HMM good question. there are some choices i feel conflicted about when i get to them but these are for the most part the ones that i actively dread having to make (which i like 😏 those are the best choices). there are other choices throughout the series that i feel Bad about, but not necessarily conflicted. like. i Know what my choice is, but i still feel bad about the consequences 😔 these are the ones that i actually mentally find myself battling. i just love the kinds of choices that make me sit on a pause screen for too long when its really Not That Serious

S1: help lilly/help kenny - the circumstances of this choice are what make it hard. literally a ticking time bomb. do you try to save lillys father? even tho hes been nothing but a complete jackass to you AND the group this entire time and put himself in this situation? or do you try to save the group by destroying his brain before its too late? clem being there watching doesnt help because now theres the added layer of "do i brutally murder this man in front of this child even if it means saving her life?" i usually end up trying to help lilly just because i know kenny is gonna do it regardless (and i dont want her to feel completely ostracized by the group). the idea of puling this woman back from her dying father so we can brutally murder him in front of her is.... a lot. like.. you can TRY to save him you know?? even if he turns hed still have to get off the ground first just hold the salt lick ready kenny 💀 plus you still have to actually Die first before turning. theyd have a second to feel his pulse stop. but its a very hectic scene where youre forced to act first think later. and either way clem is forced to see it. the worst part about it is knowing kenny is gonna be on my ass about it even tho i side with him on LITERALLY EVERYTHING ELSE 😐😑

shoot lee/leave lee - its just 😭 telling this little girl to kill the one person she has left, moments after seeing her dead parents. its time for her to start doing the hard things. but to tell her to do THIS?? you are fucking that child up beyond belief. but also the guilt she'll carry if she DOESNT do it, knowing hes still in that jewelry store, possibly chained to it, forever (which the narrative impact of lee starting and ending the game in handcuffs (possibly a prisoner in his own body??) makes me SCREAM AND CRY LEEEEEEEEEEE THATS GOOD NARRATIVE BAYBEE).

S2: shoot kenny/look away - another "is clem ready to do this?" kind of moment. its time for her to start making her own choices. what does SHE want?? i think even a clem who shoots kenny is gonna be conflicted about it on some level. recently i played a clem who let kenny kill jane then shot him anyway. that was cool :) and the moment is way more dark than shooting him outright. no heartfelt goodbyes. just a tired "do it". oof. the set up for the kenny/jane fight is Not Good like we ALLLLLL KNOOWWW it shouldve been luke ok. but the choice itself is still a HUGE character moment for clem, and its one of my favorite and most dreaded choices in the series. how is clem feeling about kenny at this point? is shooting him something she can do?? before its too late?? or will she be paralyzed by choice? this is a choice she Never shouldve had to make, but here she is, and she has to. before time runs out. i like my clems alone so usually i either wait out the clock (no choice is still a choice. clem just cant do it but cant look away either) and stay at wellington (good alone ending), or i shoot him 1 of 2 ways (clem Can do it)(bad alone ending). shooting him after he kills jane is just like 2 birds one stone to me SHDHSJKDS 💀 and it hits that middle ground of being paralyzed by choice but still ultimately Making A Choice, just too late for it to matter to anyone but herself. and her line of dialogue finding aj alone "we're gonna be ok, we're gonna be ok" like shes trying to reassure herself more than anything WAAAHH i kinda liked it a Lot actually 👀

S3: ??? romancing kate or not i guess?? - its the only one that really made me feel conflicted (aside from maybe the conrad thing?? sorry clem but im gonna force you to stick around actually i like it for the Narrative and it makes gabe less annoying later. also conrads alright). do you respect your brother or do you get with his wife who hates him LOL. because its not one choice you make, not really. its one the game is constantly asking of you, putting you in situations where the choice needs to be made again and again until finally you make the Ultimate choice about it. people who complain about the game being so pushy about it are kinda funny to me because like, ya.. thats the whole point.... (ive pushed back defiantly Literally just because of how pushy the game is about it tho so like i get it) she is a temptation the game is intentionally dangling in front of javi. she is the Final source of conflict between the brothers. will he remain loyal or give into it? i say give in 😏 give david something to actually be mad about. ive both romanced her and not, and the game kinda feels stunted if you dont? like... i Get It. thats your brothers wife who is still wearing her ring after YEARS of him being gone. theres 😬 feelings there. but even if you dont romance her the game still punishes you by having her be weird about it in the garage in front of david anyway. i say do it even tho its messy. it makes the story more sound imo which S3 desperately needs at that point. javi can still feel bad about it. what DID david expect?? i love mess :)

S4: kill couple/send aj inside - i love a choice that gives me a lot to think about. even if the actual in game consequences are flimsy to none. with this choice specifically, what makes it hard is the fact that the couple asked to be left alone. if they were just two walkers it wouldve been a no brainer. but with their final request, it becomes a matter of respecting the dying wish of this sad couple (which becomes narratively relevant at the end of the game OUGH WHEN IT COMES BACK). and will you teach aj that respecting those wishes is important? he needs to learn to become self sufficient anyway. clem crawled through her own number of dangerous holes in her youth. but thats the other side of it. that clem, knowing personally how dangerous crawling into those spaces where no one could follow was, i dont know how comfortable she would be letting aj do the same. but also, she doesnt want him to grow up too hardened. if she kills this couple, its pushing him further into that hardened mindset. to do whatever you have to to survive, no matter the cost to others. its a choice i find myself sitting with the longest even tho its consequences are pretty much just 2 lines of dialogue ("that couple clem tried to Guilt me about" LMAO YEAH ITS TRUE AJ THIS IS A LEARNING MOMENT FOR YOU). but yeah this is a choice i have a 50/50 chance with going either way on. every time i kill the couple i feel so bad about it 😭 (and so does clem 🥺). it being more of a philosophical question instead of an actual gameplay decision is what i like about it

not sure/take things slow/girlfriends/kiss - NOT JOKING ABOUT THIS ONE its actually so hard for me HSDHSDJKSJKDJK i dont have a paragraph of reasons why tho i just love them all differently. the first two feel the most realistic. i do like the idea of taking things slow and the dialogue for it is really sweet. but also. they might die or be taken tonight. so one kiss before everything could come crashing down on them is nice. but also hearing them call each other girlfriends???? adds years to my life. vi in ep 3 being like "um so you said you wanted to be girlfriends 🥺?" and clem like "😏 ya" i just love hearing them say it 😭 Out Loud 👁👁. and then either way clem gets another chance to kiss her in the woods in ep 3 so it works out. and 2 more kisses in ep 4 from vi this time!! thank you devs for my life 🙏 what a wonderful choice

i love choice games so much just because of the questions they ask of you. i honestly LOVE looking through the player choice stats i find them SO INTERERSTING ESPECIALLY the ones that are split perfectly 50/50. i would literally look at the stats for every single choice im not joking. where are the stats

[jacky-rubou]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers

thank you @septic-dr-schneep for the tag!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

44 public works, 48 if you count anonymous

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

486,495

3. What fandoms do you write for?

Gravity Falls, which is the only one I really write for. Any other fandoms I have are either from previous fandoms or crossovers with Gravity Falls lmao

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. A Hug For Those Who Need It with 205 kudos (first fic to hit 200, woot woot) 2. The Trouble With Sweaters with 190 kudos 3. Sometimes All It Takes Is A Sleepover with 132 kudos 4. He Signs I Love You with 125 kudos 5. In The Dark with 112 kudos

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

I always try to at least give them a single sentence of gratitude, if not an author's cut of why I did what they liked. Sometimes just a heart if their comment doesn't have much to respond to. or a winky face if I'm being coy lol. I just like to let my readers know that I appreciate the comments and that they're not commenting into a void lol.

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

that is so hard because almost all my fics are angsty in some way haha. but i guess there are some with bittersweet endings that aren't as crushing as others, so I'll go with Sacrifices Must Be Made (major gore warning), The Things You Can't Live Without, The Twist of the Knife That is Fate, and Lost in Loving Memory (suicide and self harm warning) all with major character death.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

define 'Happiest'. i got some hopeful endings after soul crushing angst like Not So Different (And We're Dying For It) (suicide attempt warning) and Barely Living (And All It Takes Are Some Pills but idk.

8. Do you get hate on fics?

occasionally. mostly just peeps upset at pacing or my weird choices. i haven't gotten a lot. if i do, i delete it right away usually.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

haha no. (no shame on anyone who does but... that's not my style)

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

I've written a fair bunch. I think the wildest one was a Courage The Cowardly Dog and Undertale fic I abandoned on ffnet.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

no idea if I have and hopefully i haven't. anyone who notices someone stealing a fic of mine please let me know.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

if i have, they haven't asked or told me about it.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

nope and the idea terrifies me. though if helping with ideas counts, i have had someone help me with one of my fics in a more 'major' way but i don't want to talk about them further for personal reasons.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship?

right now, i like fiddauthor.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

there's a wip i made a few months ago inspired by a small angsty comic about ford's ptsd being triggered by water guns and almost shooting his family with a real gun i saw but i lost interest pretty quick when i didn't know where the hell to go with it.

16. What are your writing strengths?

emotions. i have made many a reader cry and i love that about my writing. and I think I have a good grasp on world-building.

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

probably my bias towards specific characters blinding me to implications. specifically Ford.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I think it's fine. I don't do it because I fear writing something wrong. Also I don't really write with characters that would know other languages (except for Stan I guess but I don't get very much opportunity to add it where it makes sense haha)

19. First fandom you wrote for?

regrettably, the transphobic wizard franchise mixed with Sonic the Hedgehog for some godforsaken reason. never posted it anywhere though, thank god. just something i handwrote as a kid. for first ones I've actually posted, see the courage the cowardly dog and undertale fic on ffnet i mentioned earlier.

20. Favorite fic you’ve written?

ARRRGGGGHHHH SO HARD TO CHOOOSE!!!

A few I love from myself are my suicide!ford duology (soon to be trilogy, shhhh), my paralysis!ford trilogy, my blind!ford duology, and Dead On Arrival

anyway, tagging @ferretwhomst and @thereareeyesinsidethetrees

[soartfullydone]

Did you ever read ACOSF? What did you think of the twilight baby plot?

Everything I know about ACOSF I've learned against my will lol. One of my best friends kept a play-by-play of each chapter in a Google Doc, so she could spare me the reading experience but also so we could make fun of it mercilessly.

In all seriousness, I knew I was never going to subject my eyes to it directly because I hate Nessian with a burning passion. I one-hundred percent believe that Nesta deserves better than everything she got, and she should've been meaner actually. Even when I somewhat liked ACOMAF, I felt utterly indifferent to Cassian. Who is this bland rice cake taking up the space where Lucien should be? No good dialogue or anything out of that guy. And then SJM wrote Nessian into MAF with all the subtlety of a clown show, and it was over. Nesta hates him! Keep him away from her! If she doesn't kill him, I will!

Most baby plots are horrendous in fiction, and I hate them deeply also. They often reduce women to being pure idiots (why do I have morning sickness after unprotected sex? a mystery!) or they reinforce this false idea that women can only achieve ultimate happiness by having their One True Love's baby. Ah, the number of women I know who are stuck in unhappy marriages, their sense of self completely lost because being a Wife and Mother comes first! Can those things be fulfilling? Absolutely. But a lot of folks are selling a romanticized idea of both, and SJM is no exception here.

Because look at what the Twilight baby plot does. It takes away all of Nesta's power, asserts her feelings of worthlessness, and encourages her to be a breeder for Cassian, who never even told her he loved her in their romance book. It puts her firmly and forever under Rhysand's and the Night Court's boot. It confirms that Feyre has also lost all her agency, that the High Lady title is meaningless, that her found family and Court do not respect her, that Rhysand will lie to her and trap her if it serves him to do so. That, ultimately, her body does not belong to her and she doesn't have a choice.

What really gets to me, too, is that these two women have to change their bodies to accommodate their love interests, their supposed fated mates. Methinks if it was fated, if they really were perfect for each other, this kind of change wouldn’t have been necessary 🤔. But also if this really were a fantasy story with all-powerful magical beings, there’s no reason why Feyre’s pregnancy should’ve been so risky to begin with. Barring that, there’s no reason why a C-section couldn’t have been an option. It was drama for the sake of drama, pain for the sake of pain. All filler, no substance.

Everything surrounding the baby plot and Nesta's forced captivity prove ACOMAF for the lie it is, a romanticized idea about overwritten trauma and choosing the Perfect Guy because he can read your mind and tell you the things you want to hear. I mean, how else do we go from Feyre earnestly believing she wants time with her new love, that a child can wait, to a Feyre who can't think of a single gift to give Rhys besides the news of her pregnancy? (Cue him cumming to the sight of their unborn child. I will never forget, and neither will you, dear anon, I'm sorry. But I didn't write it!)

And idk, given how much pregnancy in general squicks me out despite being a woman myself, how much medical care for women generally sucks, how many people are going through such pain with miscarriages, unviable pregnancies, and unclear yet strict abortion laws... This ain't it, fam! If SJM wants to talk real-life application with her trauma bullshit, then let's talk real-life application! Because no one, not a single person, has an I Am Become Death magic sister who can pull a dying mother and their dying baby back from the brink where medicine and the law have failed them. No one can have their premie who can't survive on its own suddenly turned into a healthy six-month-old. Who does this plot serve? Neither the reader nor the characters benefited.

I genuinely can't understand how SJM, as a mother herself, could write something so tone deaf, without even being brave enough to explore this kind of fear and pain with any care whatsoever. If she wanted Feyre and Nesta to actually bond over something... Feyre's pregnancy and what that means as a human-turned-fae and a mother could have been it. That could have been something the sisters discussed and helped each other with, where they could have learned more about each other and their deeper fears as young women in a society that does not truly respect them. Both of them share in family trauma, for fuck's sake! Now here Feyre is starting a new family at great risk while Nesta is still guiltily mourning the one she lost! The dots are there!

But no. Instead, not even Feyre is allowed to learn the truth about her pregnancy until Nesta tells her, and then Nesta is painted as a villain for doing so. Feyre isn't allowed to have any real opinion or lingering fears or doubts about her fate whatsoever. Because none of this stuff really matters, especially not the trauma. It's about the fucking, rutting, animal sex. It's about the smirking males, their dripping seed, and their inability to be anything besides horny at any given moment. It's about the washboard abs. Hey, a sexy story would be just fine with me! I just wish SJM would fully embrace that (and also write it better lmao) and get off her "I'm God's gift to feminism" soap box. Maybe take off the girlboss shades, too, because ain't none of her female characters even living up to the shallowness of a girlboss. The narrative undermines and undervalues them too much.

Actually, I have to clap my hands to SJM for this baby plot. I've never seen one that destroys two main female characters in a single stroke before. That's how powerful Rhysand's dick is.

[halliescomut]

My Personal Weatherman EP. 8- No subs watch

It's the last one!!!! (sobbing) But I shall carry on and provide you with the best (unlikely) post you've ever seen on MPW. Again, if you've never seen this before this is me watching a sneaky link to the new ep of MPW, but my friend speaks Japanese and I don"t so there's no subtitles so I must go off of poorly remember Japanese based on badly subbed 90's anime.

-I mean, I knew we were starting where we left off but....ooooh- and the straight to the opening credits?!? Bold

-I swear this is the most we've ever heard Mizuki talk at once and also the strength of tone!!! Oh it's making my heart beat fast.

-Say it out loud Yoh!!! Whatever it is say it fucking out LOUD!!!

-Not gomen!!!! I know that word!!!(sobbing)

-This camera choice of only seeing Mizuki's back is very affecting and also really making this difficult.

-Such soft kisses!!!! (I am using so many exclamation points, sorry)

-Shy Yoh...so cute. But also thank you Mizuki for not letting him hide.

-I'm dying!!! Poor Yoh. The rain made him sick and now no D for him....so sad.

-I don't know what his argument was but Mizuki sure folded fast on that. haha

-Is he telling him about the manga??????

-Poor Man-san didn't get her Meterologist Mizuki fix.

-Aww...we love caregiver Mizuki, he's just so gentle.

-Man-san's reaction to Segasaki....oh I love her so much.

-I wonder if we have those cooling patches in the US. They seem refreshing.

-Is he reading the manga??? Awwww!!!!!! (I'm pretty sure for part of this he's reading the dialogue in the manga, so I'm fully lost. That's an interesting reaction to whatever Yoh said though. I think Yoh accidentally ruined the moment.)

-Man-san!!! God I still love her styling.

-So he texted what he wanted for dinner maybe? And something else, because a meal request I don't think would get that smile from Yoh.

-Daddy's home!!! I really do mean it that way, I don't know why I ever pretend I don't.

-"My name's Mizuki and I love warm hugs." (Tell me I'm wrong!)

-Sneaky hands sir, very sneaky.

-These motherfuckers only being honest when they're not looking at each other is killing me!!!

-Yoh is a fully grown man and also so smol. I love him

-So based on my keen observation skills, he made the curry again. And it's not crunchy this time. Yay!

-I'm pretty sure that last second is just Atsuki and Kouhei.

Ohhhhhhh, this was so good!!! It was so cute, and sweet, and so MUCH TALKING which was SO NECESSARY!!!!!! I can't wait to watch it all over again this weekend!!!

But also Season Two when?!?!?! I need a solid 3 hours of them in domestic bliss! Please!!!!

[blackjackkent]

15 Lines Tag Meme

Tagged by @morganaseren

Tagging: @istibaethoriel @thedarkstrategist @astreamofstars @bardic-inspo (also retagging @morganaseren and @writer86 bc I did this slightly differently than y'all did and maybe you wanna try it this way too :D )

(Want me to tag you in work-sharing memes like this in the future? Toss a like on this post over here! Would love a bigger list of folks to tag. :) )

Rules: Share 15 or fewer lines of dialogue from an OC, ideally lines that capture the character/personality/vibe of the OC. Bonus points for just using the dialogue without other details about the scene, but you’re free to include those as well!

I just realized that I don't actually have a WIP currently running that involves an OC, which is a bit wild. (Two WIP Jaheira longfics and a bunch of one-shot ideas I haven't started yet. XD ) So I'm going to do this as not a WIP fic quote but instead fifteen different quotes from Hector across several different existing fics that are representative of his personality. (I'm not sure which the originator of the meme intended and I know prev (Lee) did it the other way XD but I'm gonna reinterpret the instructions bc this is where my brain is taking it instead.)

-----

“Where your Lady looks for emptiness, mine looks for…self-reliance,” he finally says slowly. “Which is itself…not conducive to…” He trails off. “I have not ever felt this way before.” (Happy For You)

Hector hesitates. “I think perhaps I ought to ask you to forgive me,” he says quietly. “There were– and still are– many steps along this path that I have not handled as I should have. I was…very confused for quite some time, and very afraid, and perhaps my actions betrayed too much.” (Happy For You)

“It was one of the mantras of grounding I was taught from when I was a very young boy,” he says. “To…calm myself when I was upset or angry, to stop crying or raging, take control of the feelings and quiet them.” (The Center Cannot Hold)

“I love it,” he murmurs. “And I will keep it close to me going forward, you can be sure of that.” He turns the small talisman in his fingertips, watching it catch the light. “I've seen many of these,” he adds reverently. “But never one of such fine make. And old, too. Some monk carried this through hell before it made its way to you. I suppose I will add to that tradition...” (The Mystery of the Night)

“I don’t think I can go back,” he finally says quietly. “Not after all of this. I’ve… changed too much.” (Riverbed)

“I don’t know how to do what they want me to do,” he says softly. “How to… be what they think I am.” (Riverbed)

“It is only through meditation and strength of will that we master our emotions,” he says. “So I was taught.” (What Good, This Heart of Stone?)

“Discipline,” he mutters. “To control one's body is to control one's mind.” (What Good, This Heart of Stone?)

“SHUT UP!” The roar bursts from him and cracks apart into a sob. Tears flood his eyes, blurring his vision. “Gods… please… just leave me alone. I can’t… I can’t… she is dying and she is in so much pain, and I can’t help her, I can’t stop it. If you were anything less than a monster, you would grieve with me, you would want to help her… you would give a single, solitary damn… but you don’t. All you care about is your fucking worm, and it’s all falling apart… it’s all gone… it’s all gone…” The tears are coming heavier now, choking him, blinding him. “What the hell am I going to do?” he whispers. “I won’t… I won’t do it, I won’t do what you want… I won’t become an… an abomination just to save my heart… I won’t take her choice from her… but how will I bear it…? ” ("Because of What You Are" - drabble)

He swallows the lump that forms in his throat at hearing these words. “There is so much… so much more to the world than I ever imagined…” (vision of selune - drabble)

He flinches, not meeting her eyes. “I was thinking about how I’m scared because I could die. And then I thought about how perhaps there is a certain level on which that would be the simplest outcome.” (night before the brain - drabble)

“You’re perfect,” he repeats softly, and to his shame he hears his voice tremble. “I just…have no idea what I’m doing, and you surprised me.” (Prayers and Hellfire)

“You make me smile,” he goes on when the kiss finally breaks. The words come slowly, carefully - he considers himself no orator, but there is an ocean of feeling inside him waiting to be spoken of. “So many terrible things we see out here, and yet you make me laugh. You see the good in everything, even when it looks so dark to me. You've suffered so much and you're still kind, still want the best for everyone.” He pauses, then adds with fervent sincerity, “And you are so… so beautiful…” (Prayers and Hellfire)

[stellariders]

I know you might not agree with me but After reading the latest tvline article, I hope Merinda or Taylor leave the show or something happens and the characters break up for good. I used to like this relationship, but after catching up with the last 5 seasons, I hated how Severide turned to a screwup so a woman could fix him. I always loathed this kind of plot. One chicago the the three shows, don't know how to write a character development away from romance.

This whole promotion thing and Severide career don't depend solely on his relationship or how his beliefs were 7 years ago. The constant comparison between him and his father is frustrating. He always has been his been his own person even in relationships. I cringe everytime Stella's dialogues bring Benny like the writers can't come up with any other conflicts other than he is benny's son.

And supposedly they made Stella realise her mistakes from first marriage was her hope she can change her husband and fix him yet with Kelly they making her repeating the cycle the same trying to make him the man she wants a worthy man.

If we are in season 12 and she still thinks he is like Benny and staying with with wouldn't that being the same with Garrett and his addiction minus the abuse but I wouldn’t be surprise if the writers made her accuse him of that too later or made that her argument for not wanting kids after all they revealed in the final Benny was to Damon and they love writing lines making her compare how kelly and Benny are the same.

This relationship started beautifully with Severide questioning his life choices and Stella was looking for a fresh start and a good build-up. Both successful ambitious people wanting more. Then it turned to screw up kelly and strong fixer Stella. I get it with Merinda being the only longest WOC after Monica left and the need to the strong independent female representation most show doing in the last few years in not too good way. They failed what made this relationship interesting, became unhealthy in many occasions. While Stella character may be thriving, Severide character lost what made it interesting himself and his ambitious.

this is going to be so long and my thoughts are probably very unorganized so sorry about that!

yeah, i’m going to have to respectfully disagree with you on this. and i really don’t think there’s any chance of them breaking up. one of them dying? yeah i could see that. but i really don’t think the writers would divorce them. and i don’t think kelly has “turned into screwup so a woman could fix him”. kelly has always said that he wants to be the opposite of benny and this was before he even got into a relationship with stella. parts of those qualities that benny possessed was ghosting and lack of communication. yes kelly has always been his own person but he’s always had that fear of becoming benny. and he’s always had those feelings. he told stella before they started dating that he looked in the mirror and thought he started to look more and more like benny and he didn’t like that. if i’m remembering correctly he also told someone that he’s spent his entire life trying to be the oppsotie of benny. so it’s not like once stellaride got together kelly randomly had a fear of becoming benny. he’s always had this fear of his.

i honestly don’t recall any conversation between stellaride specifically where stella randomly brought up benny just so she could compare to kelly. i remember in early season 10 kelly told stella he talked to his mom about them getting married and she said something along the lines of severide men being doomed for marriage. but stella told kelly that he’s no benny. in the season 11 finale i remember stella comparing kelly and benny. that felt so out of character btw. i’m still shocked about that. but writers really fucked up either how they handled taylor’s leave of absence by writing kelly so out of character. but yeah kelly fucked up big time by ghosting her (as did stella in season 10). he made a huge mistake then and he made amends with stella and now they’re completely fine.

and i know it might be wrong but it’s genuinely hard for me to stay mad at stella and kelly for going mia when the circumstances behind the scenes with miranda and taylor were what they were. the writers truly fucked that up by making them both do out of character things.

grant was a completely different situation. that was an abusive marriage and leaving abusive marriage isn’t as easy as just walking away. especially when there a history between grant and stella where she has said she wouldn’t have survived without him. she wasn’t trying to help grant just so he could be worthy of her. she helped him because he saved her and and she wanted to be able to do the same for him. but she just couldn’t. with kelly, all she wanted was communication from him. she’s not changing his entire personality to make him a “worthy man” for her. that’s just the basics of a relationship.

stella staying with kelly after he messed up is very different then from when stella stayed with grant. i won’t repeat myself about the grant stuff but i will add that grant was entirely dependent on stella. he was literally living off her. and no i’m not exaggerating about that. stella told brett that grant doesn’t have a job and he’s been living off her (i’m paraphrasing). i think kelly’s actions of ghosting stella in season 11 clouds up the fact that his communication has actually come a long way. before he went mia in season 11, the last time he didn’t properly communicate with stella was in very early season 9. and again this mia storyline wouldn’t exist if writers knew how to properly write taylor out.

stella would literally never accuse kelly of abuse. that’s kind of a wild assumption to make. she defended him when tyler tried to compare him to grant. she went through hell and back with grant and kelly is not grant. i’m honestly not understanding your point of bringing the damon/ benny stuff up. are you saying that stella would accuse kelly of abuse since damon implied benny was abusive and she likes to compare them? maybe i’m just not remembering but stella doesn’t compare benny and kelly. i only remember it happening in the season 11 finale. every other time benny is mentioned it’s been stella saying kelly isn’t him.

i still think their relationship is beautiful. they’re just a victim of being the only main couple right now so they get all the drama thrown their way. i still don’t think it’s become “screw up kelly and strong fixer stella”. wanting good communication is the only thing that stella has wanted since the beginning and they have tremendously improved on that front. stella still had made mistakes so it’s not like she’s portrayed as perfect either. having problems within a relationship doesn’t make it “unhealthy” it just means there’s room to make improvements and that’s what stellaride have done.

[thatgirl4815]

Hey, I’ve been interested in your Only Friends theories since the beginning of the show and I like how you delve into how SandRay’s relationship is and how far they’ve developed. It’s very articulate and impressive. But there’s this theory that I’ve come across where if you remember back in episode 7 when Rays father asked Sand something but we don’t know particularly what. And the though this theory isn’t mine, the theory states that Rays father is dying due to some unknown illness and that he asked Sand to take care of Ray. And yet it’s only until the last couple episodes where Ray finds out and lashes out at Sand bc he knew all this time and hasn’t said anything. And hence we get the upcoming fight between Sand and Ray where Ray tells him that his life couldn’t get better with him and it’s going down to hell. And the scene where Sand looks unhappy while sharing the bathtub with Ray. Though it would be strange how Sand would only know this and not Rays actual group of friends since he knew his freshman college year? Like why would Sand know and not the others? Do you think this could affect their relationship where there is no coming back from it? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Hi! First, thank you! :)

About the theory - that is super interesting! I haven't heard that one yet. I know the pervading theory atm is that Ray's dad asked Sand to convince him to go to rehab, possibly even paying him to watch out for Ray. I've always thought even that seems like a little bit of a loaded ask for someone he's just met; he asks if Sand is Ray's friend and Sand says yes, but Ray's dad has no other way of knowing the extent of their relationship. For all he knows, Sand and Ray are classmates or something and Sand just happened to be there when Ray got into his accident and offered to help. So in the case of Ray's father being terminally ill and asking Sand to watch out for Ray, I personally find that to be a bit of a heavy topic for a first meeting. Especially because, if Ray's dad was going to tell any of Ray's friends, it would likely be Mew (that's assuming he even knows who Mew is).

I think the biggest reason why any deal between Ray's dad and Sand would anger Ray is the depth of Ray's grudge against his father. We've only witnessed one interaction between them, but it's clear Ray thinks his father cares more about money than about him, and we can assume Ray blames him at least partly for his mother's death. I can imagine how any notion of a secret dealing between his father and Sand would feel like a betrayal, but I still suspect Ray will blow the entire situation out of proportion (no matter what it may be).

I don't think Ray cares too much for his father, but at the same time, I believe his death would reaffirm to him that he's a problem—it would only instigate an "everyone around me dies" mentality. I can see it creating a wedge between him and Sand, but I'm not sure it fits the context of the apartment fight with everything we've been shown so far. The only dialogue we know of there is “You think my life will be better with you? It's only going down to hell" and Sand asking Ray if he thinks he has no dignity. Both of those, but especially the dignity line, don't connect very well with this theory imo. The dignity bit most likely refers to either 1) Sand being a "second option" for Ray, always at his beck and call despite being mistreated or 2) Ray's suggestion that Sand is being paid to look after him. I find the second option more plausible since we seem to be moving on from the "second choice" conflict after RayMew ended last episode.

Of course, Ray's dad could offer to pay Sand to look after Ray, even in the scenario where he is dying of an illness. I find it a bit less likely that this is the case overall because, as I said above, it seems like such a weighty thing (it would be as if Ray's dad is saying "So I'm gonna die soon and I don't know you, but I'll pay you if you look out for my kid"…that just feels very off to me).

Anyways, I'm starting to ramble, but while I think this scenario could create conflict between Sand and Ray, I don't think it's the most plausible option based on the reasons above.

[theinstagrahame]

Saw a headline about the CEO of AI being really excited about the prospect of Generative Large-Scale Computing (AI) giving billions of players a chance to make their own content for games. I also nearly applied for a job at a company that makes LSC/AI models for video games (the market is bad y'all, but I couldn't bring myself to do it).

Which got me thinking about the future of gaming, and honestly, it feels like it's gonna be bad.

One of the selling points seems to be the chance for each player to have their own unique experience, shape the game with their choices and actions, that kind of thing. But like, I kinda don't want that? Don't get me wrong, I like playing games where choices matter and branching storylines give me some replay value.

But I also like knowing that other people are having those experiences too. I like talking to people about my favorite side characters in games, and I love the memes based on their iconic lines. I like commiserating with people about the hard parts, or swapping tips about stuff I found but others missed. I enjoy that video gaming, even when it's a single player experience, can become a social one through shared moments. And even when there are interesting, unscripted moments, they're a fun surprise.

The promise of LSC AI gaming is essentially to do away with this. All moments are both unscripted and unique. Players will talk to NPCs who will respond "like they're people", so who knows what you'll get?

I worry that this also threatens the dying art of the walk through, because nobody's going to have the same conversations. Not all game really heavily on dialogue, but I'm picturing future iterations of Disco Elysium or Baldur's Gate where you genuinely cannot know what dialogue options lead to what outcomes, because there are none.

It's bad enough that we currently have some AI-written online guides with totally made up locations and events. Now the game is going to do it for you. At its worst, it'll direct players on random journeys to nowhere. At best, it'll be impossible to tell when an NPC is misleading you on purpose for game reasons or just because you used the wrong keyword.

I dunno. Just, with the layoffs in gaming and the tech industry in general, with so many rich people putting so much into the marketing hype of LSC AI's, and with so little being done to mitigate it all, everything looks more and more bleak...

[vigilskeep]

Hello! I was wondering how Keir ended up handling the choices in the legacy dlc? Who he ended up siding with and how he felt about everything? I always love hearing what you have to say about him:), thanks in advanced!

thank you so much for this ask, i loved the legacy dlc for keir and i went slightly unhinged on this blog at the time but i dont think i was super clear about his choices. disclaimer this response got so long im so sorry

my poor lad had a MISERABLE time in the legacy dlc. first off, keir is afraid of darkspawn. not for himself, exactly, but they immediately up his protective anxiety to 300% (it’s characteristically always at 100%). he was at ostagar and then the darkspawn killed his little brother, so sure, let’s lock him and three of the most important people in his life in an enclosed fortress full of darkspawn, that’s fine and he can handle it. for sure. then you throw on top of that: bethany is here. keir adores bethany but the distance between them has only grown since she was taken to the circle. she’s increasingly frustrated by the way he acts and he barely knows how to talk to her at all. both keir and anders in canon dialogue try to persuade her to make a run for it during this dlc, leading me to suspect this was the whole point of keir bringing her out at all, in all likelihood a trip he’s had to make a costly bargain with meredith for, so that’s got to be a huge tension the entire time. not to mention, again, the darkspawn: bethany here with the darkspawn is the very thing he left her behind in act 1 to avoid, and she got taken by the templars because of it, and somehow they still ended up here where he could lose her like he lost carver

then on top of that you have anders. keir is afraid of losing his loved ones to the darkspawn, and in this dlc not only is that basic threat to life thrown at him, but it’s made very painfully clear (with a whole corrupted warden showing up just to underline the THIS IS YOUR FUTURE point) that, just like with bethany, with anders we will always end up here. anders is a grey warden and this is how grey wardens die, and there is precisely nothing keir can do about that, ever, except i guess fucking beat him up when he and justice struggle with corypheus, because that’s not going to do any permanent psychic damage (at least there will never be a situation again where anyone expects him to harm anders haha because who would ever expect him to do that twould be crazy haha its not like anders himself believes keir would willingly do this again haha 🙃)

(edit: i’m adding a cut this is so stupid long)

so already keir’s having what you might call a Bad Time. then there’s the malcolm’s will quest. because why not throw ALL his dead or dying loved ones in his face at this point. the malcolm that keir knew was fiercely set against blood magic. keir has much fewer qualms with blood magic himself than malcolm did, but that’s always been one more failure of his character in comparison to his father. he’s not upset his father was a blood mage, he is upset that his father was a hypocrite who claimed otherwise, and who was so weak in strength and will that he could have been forced to blood magic by circumstances. a red hawke refers to malcolm as strict, with high expectations. keir has held himself to those high standards his entire life because they were placed on him by malcolm, and he has always harshly criticised himself for not living up to the guy. the promises he made to malcolm that he has not been able to fulfil are like the centrepiece on which all his issues hinge. he made himself a reaver, a very irreversible process and weighty choice that continues to cause him pain most days, so he could do better. to find out that malcolm had broken all those standards himself first, and been too ashamed to even admit to it like a man? there goes keir’s entire worldview i guess! because he’s not having a bad enough day already

anyway, that was a three paragraph sidetrack to explain the emotional setup. choices. keir sides with larius... initially. keir has already established larius in his head as What Is Going To Happen To Anders and thus leans towards defending him, bethany votes larius and invokes malcolm’s memory to do it (keir is trying to make common ground with bethany and really trying to have faith in malcolm right now), anders votes larius and uses the warden-commander as an example of what not to do (keir has invented a mild unspecific grudge against the warden-commander based on hearsay evidence), and furthermore corypheus’ influence threatened keir’s family and made him fight anders so whatever the guy is, keir leans towards fucking killing him. so he does side with larius at that point. HOWEVER, despite all that, it’s not an open and shut decision. keir has a tendency to trust the intelligence of mages with big ideas, so dismissing janeka isn’t natural and obvious to him. what’s more, she’s talking about the end of the blights. the end of what killed his brother and the threat that’s been terrifying him this whole trip. he turns it down but he’s sure as hell not comfortable doing it and it’s tearing at him a little that he did

and then you get to the final bit where janeka throws it in your face that larius threatened leandra to force malcolm to blood magic. so keir’s already doubting his choice and in a very keyed up emotional state and then larius becomes the threat to his family and the one responsible for how keir feels about malcolm right now. on all that angry impulse, he switches sides. janeka immediately kills larius—REAL punch to the gut of immediate regret because of the whole That’s Future Anders thing—but it’s too late now. they try to free corypheus. It Goes Bad. anders and bethany both get knocked down like the squishy mages they are and varric only narrowly missed doing the same so that’s all terrifying

but eventually they kill corypheus. so, hey. horrible horrible trip maybe one of the most miserable days of his life and he’s questioning a lot of things but ultimately, he can drag everyone he loves out of there alive, and that’s what matters. and it’s not like setting corypheus loose will have any lasting consequences. right?

[thechaoscryptid]

Fic authors self rec! When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you've written, then pass on to at least five other writers. spread the self-love ❤

Thanks for thinking of me, nonnie 🥰 This was actually a lot harder than I thought it was going to be, picking 5?? It was a good excercise in remembering I actually do like a lot of my past catalogue lmfao

The summaries got kinda long and I also wanted to do a little commentary on each so I'm gonna put the full post under a cut but the short list is:

Singularity (Shigadabi)

i've looked for love in every stranger (to get to you) (Sylvix)

Hello, My Name Is Human (Odazai)

Divinity (Matchablossom)

Blur (Sheith)

Singularity | ShigaDabi | General

Alpha Arietis dies in a brilliant storm, spraying billions of years’ worth of accumulated gas and matter through the cosmos as it collapses in on itself. Great fingers of dust reach toward the endless abyss, and cradled in the palm of the cooling nebula, a godling sleeps. His heart is white-hot and aching, all the pain of his progenitor’s end pulsing through him as he curls in on himself. The gazes of the other gods weigh heavily on him as the universe swims into focus. Their whispers ripple across galaxies to wash over his still-tender form, awakening in him an anger that beams into the darkness as his eyes open, twin crimson spheres cutting through the endless night.

This was such a fun style experiment!! I wrote it for a zine and it was by far the shortest fic bc I decided to go with the dialogue-less option; it felt better suited to the space vibe.

I looked up so many astronomy facts for this too, which was fun bc I'm a bit of a space bitch (even though I probably fucked it all up for the ~narrative~ lmao). Did you know! Beta Capricorni, one of the stars in Capricorn (Dabi's sign and mine - we share a birthday, and it is my favorite BNHA factoid), is commonly known as Dabih, derived from an Arabic legend saying Beta Capricorni and Alpha Capricorni, aka Algedi, were "the lucky stars of a slaughterer."

I really really want to dive further into the concept of gods being birthed from dying stars at some point - there's so much I didn't get to in this fic just bc of limits and themes and such, but I think it's fucking cool even if it's not popular.

i've looked for love in every stranger (to get to you) | Sylvix | Explicit

“Yeah. Listen, Fe, I’m sor—” “Don’t,” Felix says. When Sylvain opens his mouth to protest, Felix cuts him off. “Seriously, don’t. I don’t want your apologies.” Sylvain arches a brow. “I just want you—” (And oh, those words on their own are nearly enough to unwind that barbed wire, but somehow it hurts worse knowing it’s not what Felix really means.) “—to be better.” Felix takes a deep breath, turns to the kitchen counter, and fiddles for a second too long with the tabs on the pizza boxes. “I hate watching you hurt yourself.”

Man, where do I start with this one. I picked at this fic for over a year and a half before deciding to finish it for a bang, and I'm so happy about how it turned out. One theme that shows up a lot in my writing is "love is an action and a choice," and I think this fic showcases that beautifully.

Sylvain's so fucked up here and I love him so much. This timestamp from the middle of a breakdown and subsequent guilt about said breakdown just...really hits home. And Felix being there - CHOOSING to remain there - through that one and all previous ones? clenches fist They're in love, your honor.

I just think it's important to show that being kind of a shitty person doesn't preclude you from being loved, nor should it.

Hello, My Name Is Human | Odazai | Mature

“No need for sorry,” Oda says, the words automatic. “That’s not your place.” It’s the wrong thing to say, comes out nothing like he’d intended. Dazai flinches as though he’s been shot, curling up into himself and away from Oda before scrambling to his feet. There’s no easy grace in his movements today, only a quick, jerky retreat before Oda comes to his senses and darts after him. He wraps a hand around Dazai’s forearm to tug him back, and there’s nothing but rawness in Dazai’s eye when he turns around. “Let me go,” he says icily. “It’s not your place.”  “Dazai.” “Fuck off,” Dazai mutters, shrugging Oda’s hand away. “I’ll go die alone, then. In my place.” “Hey,” Oda says, soft as anything as Dazai’s turned half away. He holds his palms out, the same way he would for a stray or lost child. Dazai takes a shuddering breath. “I’m sorry,” he continues. “Your place-” “An executive doesn’t have a place,” Dazai says. “A weapon doesn’t need one.”

This was the spiritual precursor to in the morning i'll be with you, and upon rereading, I realized I wrote pretty much the same fic twice 😅 There's just something that hits EVERY time about softness in the face of bluntness about doing and wanting terrible things. I chose this one instead of in the morning because of one of the places the two fics diverge, actually.

In this fic, Oda actually says "I love you" to Dazai and Dazai does not take it well, and it feels important to me that not every I love you is received with an equally passionate "omg I love you too." But like I said for the Sylvix above, it's also important that it's expressed, even if it hurts or isn't received or reciprocated.

Divinity | MatchaBlossom | Explicit

“I don’t need anyone,” Kaoru whispers. He’s always been good at making bad decisions when it comes to Kojiro; this is another in a long line of failures and he’s not willing to admit yet that maybe Adam fucked him up past the point of no return. “It’s fine,” he mumbles when he hears Kojiro shifting. He’s too afraid to watch him walk away. “You can just go.” And instead of leaving, Kojiro shuffles forward and hugs him. Kaoru is surrounded by impossibly gentle arms and the scent of pine, and though he’s used to the latter, he hasn’t been touched like this in a long, long time. “I’m not going to go,” Kojiro says softly. His face is buried in Kaoru’s shoulder, lips warm where they brush across his skin. “I’d say sorry, but I’m not, Kaoru. I don’t want to.”

God this fic actually kickstarted my writing motor after being really burnt out and plateaued on skill for a while. While it's not my most technically skilled fic (I don't think any on this list are, tbh?), it was fun to write and it's still fun to read.

I loved being able to take a softer turn with Kaoru's anxiety as opposed to some of the harder mental health issues I'm used to expressing in my writing. And Matchablossom were really just out there on screen being Like That at all moments, huh? Their dynamic is just such a joy to play with, whether it's softer like this or harder like some of my other SK8 fics.

Blur | Sheith | Mature

“Everything I’ve done, everything I’ve made of myself, and it still isn’t enough. You know they always said shoot for the stars? I didn’t just shoot, Shiro, I helped save those stars. Where is there to go from there? There’s no coming back down to Earth after you’ve seen realities collapse around you. There’s no normal.” “It doesn’t need to be normal,” Shiro says. “I WANT normal!” Keith’s chest heaves, throat raw with the force of his insistence as his truth is birthed into the world. Twenty-five years’ worth of longing shake themselves loose from inside him and when they bleed out, so does his energy. He sinks to his knees, shaking as he repeats the words again and again. “I want normal. I want to be normal, Shiro, why can’t I be normal?”

This fic is just 9k of me bleeding my truth onto the screen, I'll be real (it should also be stated my self-destructive behaviors aren't physically harmful, that's artistic license). It hurt to write and it hurts to reread bc not much has changed in the years since I wrote it, but it's good, and I stand by the rawness of the narration. Dealing with a personality disorder and suicidal ideation (especially unmedicated and without therapy - bitches be rawdogging reality and I'm bitches) fucking blows. It's exhausting, and it makes you feel inhuman.

This scene especially knocked a few realizations loose for me, bc I don't remember writing it; my head just shut off, and then I looked at the page and went "ah. Oh dear. This feels like something I need to unpack, huh." And here we are, several years later, still unpacking lmao