#this part actually kinda drove me nuts

[astralzeraphias]

“he was mentally ill. this monster was a- was a sick fantasy. a product of his dementia.”

“…i saw it too. does that make me disturbed? demented? does… that make me sick too?”

[gracebethartacc]

I woke up and was haunted by visions aka Mlp redesign/rewrite ideas yayyyy :3

[enidette]

PERV carl grimes x fem!reader

warnings — both are 18+, part two to caught, carl is a few years older than reader, reader is daryl’s adopted daughter, perv!sub!carl, carl is a peeking tom, cock slapping, oral (m and f!receiving), reader is kinda a mean!dom

ever since that night you haven’t left carl’s mind. the way you controlled him without even touching him, it drove him crazy. you instructed his every movement, told him when to stop, told him when not to stop. safe to say he was fucked stupid even though you didn’t lay a finger on him.

and he swears you’re tempting him.

the skimpier clothes you wear, always talking about how hot it is so no one bats an eye. but he sees right through you, he sees that teasing look you give him. you want to get another reaction out of him. his pride is telling him not to satisfy you, but everything else in him is screaming to give in.

then there’s the closeness, all of a sudden you’re always near him. if you can get away with it, touching him too. not in the way carl wants, in the way it’s so sickeningly close it drives him nuts. he’s always had his eye on you, you weren’t that much younger than him, close enough in age. but it’s different now.

“hey carl.” fuck, he can just hear it in your voice. it’s teasing and it’s flirty, and no one seems to notice a thing. trust, if daryl could tell, carl would be pounded into flat stanley.

carl gulps when your arm comes over his shoulder, your face way too close to his for him to act normal. “hi,” he breathes out, hand nervously coming up to your waist. he was standing next to his dad, who was going over something with your dad, and everyone’s dad, glenn.

“now that’s a little close.” daryl grumbles, pulling you more towards him. they’ve come to notice the shift in your friendship, of course never chalking it up to you watching carl fuck himself. but did they need to know that anyway?

you look up to your dad with pleading eyes, “actually, i was here to ask if i could babysit judith today?” carl’s eye widens, babysit judith his ass. she’s at the age where she does hardly anything but sleep. of course, that’s in his favor, and he’s growing nervous at your offer.

daryl looks between you and carl with a scowl on his face, then to glenn and rick who shrug. rick’s always happy for the extra help, not yet knowing what it’s like to have to watch over a grown daughter. “fine.” you clap and grab carl’s hand, walking away with him with a small ‘thank you’, ignoring their confused looks.

“why are you taking me with you?”

you take your hand out of his and cross your arms, “do you not want me to?” he shakes his head frantically and grabs your hand again, letting you lead him. he soon realizes you’re on the path to your house, not his.

he tilts his head, “what about judith?”

“she’s with olivia. she’ll cover for me.” you’re not exactly sure about that, but you’re willing to risk it.

carl nods, walking with you and trying to keep up the same pace. despite being so lost in his head. he clears his throat, “so… uh, what are we gonna do?”

you giggle, “you’re cute carl.” you don’t miss how his ears turn red, the confusion spreading over his face. no doubt he’s never been called that before. “we could… read comics?”

he can hide the dejection on his face, that little cover up story, sneaking off together, all to read comics? “are you just trying to drive me crazy?” you turn to him with a smile and wink, walking him up your steps.

the longer he’s there the more pissed off he gets. you truly did just read comics. despite the glances you kept sending his way, like you were waiting for something, you never actually did anything. don’t get him wrong, he loves the spider-man volumes you have, but he thinks he’d love his head buried between your thighs more.

he can’t help but zone out thinking about it, adjusting his jeans when they get too tight. you watch him amusedly as his eye stays on one page for a good five minutes. “you done yet?” his gaze snaps up, looking to his side for you before looking up.

“when did you get up?”

“oh a long time ago.” you didn’t, you just stood up to go shower, but it was funny to mess with him. watch his pretty face turn red knowing you’re the only one who’s done it. “anyway, i’m gonna go take a shower.”

his face turns possibly even redder and he just nods curtly. he watches you walk around your room to grab everything you need, focus trained on your hips especially. when you turn around he scrambles to pick his comic back up, squinting his eye shut when you laugh. he waits until you go into the bathroom, he waits until the water runs to finally breathe.

he looks down and fucking hell is his boner obvious. he doesn’t know whether to be upset that you didn’t make fun of him this time or not. he sighs, unzipping his jeans and palming himself through his boxers. he has to be quick, before you can get out and catch him, again. or maybe he could let it play out… his head was a mini battle field.

no matter how hard he focused the running water brought him out of his head. he felt so gross, but it couldn’t be too bad if he stole a peek? just so things wouldn’t have to be all his imagination anymore.

he zips his pants and looks out the door, making sure daryl hasn’t come home yet. he crosses the hall to the bathroom, furrowing his brow at the ajar door. he pushes it a little and pokes his head in just enough to see. he swore he could cum then and there, and he couldn’t tear his eyes away no matter how hard he tried.

he lost track of time, practically drooling at the sight in front of him like some stupid teen boy. which he guess he had a mind of, after all that little night you two had together was the first time he did anything with anyone.

his eye widens when you step out, while body on display with water droplets cascading down. he was frozen, unaware of his hand going down his pants as you changed in front of him. he felt dirty, you had no idea did you?

oh you did, he should have known better, seriously. it’s you, he’s him, he’s a fucking perv. you knew it, you knew you had to tempt him. it’s what you had been waiting on. you needed him to finally give in and do just what you expected so you had the excuse to use and punish him just how you wanted.

he leans his head against the edge of the door frame, eye shut and mouth agape in a silent moan as he tries to get off before you notice. but you swing the door open, fist latching onto his collar to bring his face towards yours.

“what are you doing?” you ask with a knowing smirk. god, he’s so shameless. he looks embarrassed but he hasn’t faltered or slowed his movements at all. he kept eye contact and his heavy breath mixed with yours before he kissed you. it was needy and hungry and messy, full of inexperience and desperation.

you separate from his lips, attaching yours to his neck. you smirked at his moans, pushing him against the counter and motioning for him to sit on it. you place your hand over his and squeeze, a whine leaning his throat in response. you suck and nibble on the skin of his collarbone, hand traveling from his back to his hair, giving it a small tug.

he whimpers your name, “so loud, what if someone walks in, huh?” he squirms and you smirk at his reaction, picking your head up to look at him. swollen lips, dilated pupil, and that look that was begging for you.

"y/n!" carl gasps, your tug a bit harsher this time. the force led you to be in control of his head, and you lifted it so he would look into your eyes. he looked embarrassed, his pretty face painted with pink. "don't look at me like that.”

he attempts to get out of your grasp to no avail. he felt so small under your gaze, like a prey facing its predator. and he hates how turned on he was getting from it. he hates how despite everything he’s built up, the thought of finally getting taken care of is too fucking good to pass up.

he was lost in his head until he felt the cold air of his room hit his now bare cock. he whimpered at the feeling, glancing down to your eyes that were already set on his face. his cheeks once again returned to their pink hue that seemed to come around every time you did. he sucked in a sharp breath and let his head fall back when he felt your hand wrap around him, giving his cock a few strokes.

he felt bliss in that moment, eye screwed shut. but his moment was quickly ruined when a searing pain travel from his erection and up his body. he jerked forward, tears springing his eye as he looked down at the culprit. you just stared back at him with that innocent smile that kills him.

"why'd you do that?" he asked, lip trembling.

“you didn’t think i’d let you get away with being a dirty perv?” he blinks and you just start jerking him off once more at the lack of response.

he whines your name, shutting his eyes, snapping them open again when you slapped his cock for a second time. "stop!" he cries, his head falling back.

"you know, you look pitiful," you mutter, voice merely above a whisper as you slowly dragged your hand up and down his shaft. "nothing is tying you down or forcing you through this. you like it." carl rolls his eye at your accusation. he knew you were right, he just wasn't going to admit it.

you begin licking from the base of his cock to the tip. carl was a whining mess now, squirming on the countertop, trying his best to keep his eye on yours. you started to bob your head up and down, delicious noises escaping from the boy above you. you wanted to laugh at him, how desperately he wanted to close his eye, shy away from you.

you slide off him with a pop, "what's wrong, carl?" you ask innocently, the look on your face similar to your voice. he whimpered at the sight of you, your mouth so close to him while all you did was lazily jerk him off.

carl just pants, breath quickening when you went back to the task at hand. it took everything in him not to buck his hips up, because with your rules, he didn't know what would come to him if he did. your pace quickened when carl warned you of his approaching orgasm, whines, moans, and groans leaving his pretty pink lips. his stomach muscles would contract every now and then. finally he came, whimpers of your name falling from his lips as if it were the only word he knew.

you kept going until he pushed you away, "no, can't take anymore..." his voice was shaky, and he repeatedly took in breaths. he looked so pretty, shaking and panting. all because of you.

"well, what am i supposed to do then?" you fake pout, tilting your head teasingly. you stand up, taking off your shit and giggling at carl’s shameless gawking gaze. he adjusted in his seat, watching with amazement as you continued to strip in front of him. "shirt off," you instruct, the boy obeying immediately.

carl thought for a second before he opened his mouth, "sit here." his face was red as he moved, picking you up and placing you on the counter.

you quirk a brow at him, “what are you planning?” he opens his mouth to speak, but you’ve reduced him to something so small he can’t even force it out of him.

“i’ll show you.” his hands messily fiddle with your shorts, tugging them off of you. he attaches his lips to you immediately and you feel him groan into your pussy, the vibrations causing a moan to leave your lips. you couldn't help but move, slightly riding his face. he seemed to be enjoying it, his eyes closed.

you gripped at one of your breasts, then using one of carl’s hands to replace your own. you knew he was trying to jerk himself off secretly, failing miserably, but you decided not to interrupt him. after all his mouth was so good, albeit inexperienced it was him. and he was enjoying it as much as you were. if not more.

carl whimpers, mumbling the words ‘gonna cum’ into your cunt. "hold it," you command, combing your fingers through his hair, causing a moan to rip from his throat.

"can't!" carl’s eyes were screwed shut, nose scrunched up and lips forming an 'o' shape.

"you can, and you will. you're not incapable of such a simple task, carl," your voice was stern, the control you had over him driving him crazy. when you felt let yourself dangerously close, you gave carl permission. he was very loud, adorable moans of your name leaving his red and swollen lips, although muffled. his hands go to grip your thighs tightly when you cum on his tongue, afraid you were going to disappear if he hadn't kept you close.

he rests his head on your thigh, looking up at you with a small laugh. "thank you..." he trails off, his face was red, and his voice was very quiet. everything seemed awkward to him now. he stands up and you lean forward to give him another kiss, it was softer this time, a small moan from carl traveling to your mouth.

“you shouldn’t be thanking me for a punishment.”

carl shrugs, leaning his head on your shoulder. “got you to myself though now, didn’t i dixon?”

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for not wanting to be in my cousin's life? This will be long, I'm sorry

I (f19, but this started at 15) have a rough relationship with my family, I don't have a better word to describe them as besides just not the best towards me. But the real issue now is that I don't want to be involved in my cousin's (f8, but this started at 5) life. This sounds very silly, I know, but let me explain. My cousin is physical in how she expresses herself towards me (she likes to throw things at me and hit me and bite me, and I can't do anything about it because I get in trouble if I do). I have a severe nut allergy and there have been multiple times she's been caught trying to smear peanut butter on me or in my mouth while I slept. She likes to tell me she wishes I'd just eat the peanut butter so she'd never have to see me again. She just hates me, honestly (I'm not sure why, I've never hated the kid, I'm not mean to her, none of us have been able to figure out why and when asked she just says she hates me because she hates me)

The house we lived in contained just me, her, my mother, and my uncle. She is not abused by either adult, before anyone asks, she's actually quite spoiled due to the fact that they can't discipline her in any way without risking her being taken away. And I don't hate her at all, I'm bitter about how she treats me, but I know she's only a little kid. However, I just don't like being treated that way. I recently moved out and I told my mother that I didn't want to be part of my cousin's life until she stopped treating me that way. (Info: My mother thinks she treats me this way because she's a kid so she can't vent her anger out on the adults and I was the only other kid she could vent it out on.) My mother thinks I'm being cruel and punishing my cousin, she says I'll regret this choice and that my cousin will be all I have one day so I shouldn't do this. I've tried to explain that I'm not doing it to punish my cousin, it's just not good for my mental health and I can't be around this behaviour anymore. Other family members and family friends have agreed with my mother, but my friends think my decision is right. Since moving out and not going through that every day, I've started to feel better about myself, my depression isn't as bad and I don't have as much anxiety when I go to sleep. That is kinda swaying my decision to me thinking I'm right for choosing this for myself, but I still worry my mother might be right and I might be ruining my cousin's mental health by leaving.

I want to add that I know I'm way older than her, and some of you might be wondering why I don't stand up to her, but I could never do anything to stop her. I spent many years in foster care due to issues with my family (my mother, specifically), and I know that even the littlest thing where I live can get your kid taken from you. If I even raised my voice at her to tell her to stop and she told someone, she could be taken away from my family and I can't do that to her, I know the horrors of foster care. I also have spent most of my life being abused and don't know how to protect myself or defend myself in situations like these. Please keep this in mind when/if you call me pathetic or stupid, trust me I know I am.

Please, I know a lot of you may think this is silly or dumb or bait, but I need to know aita for not wanting to be in my cousin's life?

Reasons I think I might be NTA: I think my decision is good for both of us and I believe I should put mental health first in this case as it can be dangerous in the future if I don't. I don't want to stay longer and end up hating her, she's just a kid and doesn't deserve to be hated.

Reasons I think I might be TA: This could be seen as punishing her, and she might hate me more for it. She's already started being meaner to other kids now that she can't vent it out on me and I'm an adult so I can take it better than one of her classmates could. She might think her behaviour drove me away and blame herself.

What are these acronyms?

[maddhatterreviews]

Amy Rose will be in Sonic 3, but not the way you think

Something people have been clamoring about Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is weather or not Amy will make her cinematic debut. And to be fair, Amy is important to Shadow's character arc and ultimately the reason he decides to help Sonic and the other in saving the day. So it's understandable people are eager to see the pink hedgehog in this third movie.

The thing is, while I was never against the idea of Amy showing up, my brain always kinda got stuck on the logistics of "But how the fuck does Amy get to Earth?". Does she just show up like Tails did? Why does she come to Earth? Did she somehow see the events of the last two movies and now she's in love with Sonic and came to Earth some how because fuck it?

It's why, when the trailer came out, I wasn't that surprised when it didn't show Amy at any point. Because I genuinely couldn't think of a way for her to show up that made sense, and wasn't derivative of what happened with Tails. But then I started to think about it, and with Gerald Robotnik alive and part of the story now, I realized how Amy could show up in this movie, and it's gonna be weird; so bear with and let me put y'all on game:

What if Amy Rose is Maria Robotnik?

Okay, so Gerald Robotnik is alive in this movie, right? And he's defiantly just as bonkers a Eggman, right? So hear me out: Gerald knows how to make anthropomorphic hedgehogs because he made Shadow. His entire motive for making Shadow in the first place was to keep Maria alive, which obviously didn't end up happening and that's what drove him nuts. So instead of trying to cure Maria of her decease, what if he used Maria's DNA and whatever process he used to create Shadow, to clone Maria as a Hedgehog.

But something doesn't go quite right so Maria doesn't remember she's Maria, so she comes up with the name Amy Rose to refer to herself. (I'm sure there's some explination for why she went with that involving flowers and shit) and Gerald is trying to get her to act more like Maria but it doesn't work and there's a lot of weird tension between the two that comes up when Eggman starts dealing with them.

And part of the cloning process not working the way Gerald wanted, she doesn't have all of Shadow's powers. She's fast enough to keep pace with Sonic and Shadow, but she doesn't have any Chaos powers or Shadow immortality.

And part of the Gerald and Shadow's plan isn't just revenge for what happened to the original Maria, but also doing something that will make Amy more like Maria. Possibly making her fully human again somehow.

but Amy, being her own person, sides with Sonic in stopping Gerald, and we can still have the scene in the Arc where Amy gets Shadow to help the good guys, just like in the game.

I obviously have no idea if this is actually going to happen, in fact it's more than likely not going to happen anything like this. But I couldn't help but think about this after seeing Gerald alive and teaming up with Eggman. I can just kinda imagine a little pink hedgehog walking into the scene after they hug and that just being a whole thing.

[iris-sistibly]

I look like shit right now, but hear me out: Episode 12 drove me NUTS!!!

📍For a moment, Hong Hae-in gave me a heart attack. I really thought that she wanted to spare Hyun-woo the heartache of her not being able to recognize him anymore and just went with Eun-seong. My brain cells weren't brain cell-ing, of course she had other reasons...duh. But it is really terrifying that she has moments when she can't recognize what's real and what isn't. I do however love the part when she knew that she was with the real Hyun-woo. In any scene or in any situation they've been, Hyun-woo radiates that kind of warmth that makes Hae-in feel relieved, secured, and loved. That right there is, "The heart recognizes what the mind can't."

📍I forgot to include this in my last post because I was in a hurry to finish it, but I laud Kim Soo Hyun for doing a great job during the final scene of episode 11. You can instantly recognize that something felt off with the way "Hyun-woo" called Hae-in, like I said earlier, the real Baek Hyun-woo radiates so much warmth, meanwhile the fake Hyun-woo was cold and I can say that he made me feel uncomfortable. What an amazing performance KSH!

📍Hyun-woo and Hae-in using their baby's due date as their pass codes just means that they still think about him/her. 🤧 Oh that baby could have been so loved by them had they been given the chance.

📍Eun-seong's delusion is worsening. When he was confessing all of his bullshit to Hae-in, I was like...so what? So what if he fell for her first? If he kept her necklace all these years, if he had "loved" her all this time? The point is, HAE-IN DOESN'T LOVE HIM AND DOESN'T WANT TO BE WITH HIM!

📍All the while, I thought that Eun-seong is a dangerous man. Turns out Mo Seul-hee is far more unhinged than him. You can see in Eun-seong's eyes that he was taken aback when his mother confessed to being the person behind the deaths of the people who abused him as a child. Bitch wasn't kidding when she said that she'd go as far as eliminating Hae-in for using him, and Eun-seong may be dumb but not-so-dumb to not know what Seul-hee is capable of. I still feel like he's going to betray his own mother to save Hae-in by either helping Hyun-woo or helping Hae-in in his own twisted way.

📍BAEKHONG IN THEIR MARRIED COUPLE ERA!!! I love that Hae-in can now freely say what she truly feels about Hyun-woo and the hubs gushing when she said that she'd still marry him in any lifetime.

📍The sunset proposal was the reason why I had to pause because I was bawling my eyes out, I kid you not. Hae-in wanting to be officially Mrs. Hyun-woo again so badly but stopped herself because she knew her condition was worsening and she doesn't want to burden him anymore. She wants to spend the rest of her life with him but it's far from possible, she wants to be the wife Hyun-woo deserves but the future holds no guarantee. She was torn between following what her heart wants and not wanting to rip Hyun-woo apart more than she already has (because of her illness). It was such a heartbreaking scene that's why I was crying so hard.

📍And then, the writer and the director decided to shift the scene to Aunt Beom-ja and (future) new husband, the part when they were looking for (future) new hubby's mother and they were kinda like too close to each other, I was smiling because they looked so cute together so you can imagine that I was smiling from ear to ear with tears still running down my face. Also, I did mention before that Aunt Beom-ja is a more unhinged version of Hae-in, actually...auntie and future new hubby are kinda like the older version of BaekHong, only crazier and more chaotic.

📍Da-hye finally realizing that she sided the wrong people. I'm just glad that she was able to get out safely and return to the Hongs. But I am so proud of Soo-cheol for manning up and defending Da-hye and baby Geon-u, he's really growing up 🥹.

📍But I didn't really expect that Hong Man-dae aka grandpa Hong would make such a huge sacrifice to save his family. He was an idiot for trusting Mo Seul-hee but I never wanted him dead. He didn't even get to see his family before passing (except Hae-in but it wasn't like a happy reunion) which was so fucking tragic. Though, I do hope that Papa Hong would finally have the courage to step-up as the head of the family, he's their pillar now and they need him more than ever.

📍Can we talk about the last clip for a bit? I know the show apparently loves to give us viewers cliffhangers and mind boggling shit but I'm overthinking rn. What if they found nothing in the panic room? Or Yoon Eun-seong found it first? This story is unpredictable, anything could happen, but what I do know is that Hae-in is gonna wear the ring Hyun-woo gave her in the next episode. Iykyk.

📍THE EPILOGUE!!! BaekHong has crossed paths many times already and in those times Hyun-woo has saved Hae-in. They're really meant for each other!!

[nyewclear]

Does Mr Nasty want a long term relationship with mc or would he be ok with just a fling/situationship?

Would he make a move if mc showed some interest in him or would they have to be very blunt with him?

these are all great questions!!!!! let’s tackle em one at a time :D

firstly, he would be okay with both honestly, it really depends on who he’s seeing, what energy they’re putting out, and how excited he is about seeing them. he loves a good fling because he likes to meet a lot of people— and it’s very easy for him to do so because he’s like… sexy drummer in a pop rock band. people approach him all the time and he’s a bit of a flirt when he wants to be. however, when he gets crushes on people its a different story. it’s possible for him to get crushes on people he’s fwb with, but A LOT of things have to slot into place with him for him to even start to consider someone as a long term partner, you get me? he can kiss and dip no problem, but it takes a lot of time for feelings to develop for him because he likes to ignore them until he physically can’t ignore the butterflies in his stomach anymore hahaha

let’s take his ex girlfriend ximena for example, the one who was kolia’s coworker. he met her while bringing lunch to kolia at work one day, and she’s very put together, classy, and beautiful. like, textbook office siren. kurou’s such a sucker for someone who’s put together. he would see her every time he went to give kolia lunch and they would trade small talk. he learned a lot about her in these small conversations, and she always seemed so smart and goal-oriented and successful and, fuck, she was really sexy HAHAHA it drove him nuts. he would walk past her cubicle on purpose just to see her. and that was the first time he’d felt that way in a looooong time. eventually, he couldn’t take it anymore and asked her out (notably while she was at work) and she thought that his confession was pathetic in a really cute way, so she took pity on him and let him take her out LMFAOOOOOOO the rest is history

but you see what i mean? she checked a lot of boxes for him in a very serendipitous way that the majority of his little flings don’t. he kinda just has these flings to make out with people really… but if mc checked enough of those boxes, he’d fall hard in the exact same way.

okay second part of the question now!!

kurou’s pretty spontaneous so he’d make a move either way actually. he loves when people are bold but he also really likes trying to sleuth out the situation himself. the “do they like me or do they not like me” debacle is very tantalizing to him bahahaha he likes a challenge. personally, he’s very blunt and forward with his feelings (if he doesn’t have a crush) so he appreciates someone who is the same way, but a shyer person is cute too because he can tease them about it and really drag it out of them bahahaha. but he’s not kixis, he wouldn’t just make a move out of nowhere. he needs a sign, no matter how small!!!

[golbrocklovely]

Your respond made me question if those “fans” will ever accept Sam’s new partner that is not Katrina (or Colby lol). The way i see it even Malia was more welcomed than Katelyn (although both of them had a cold start). I think nowadays i see more people loving Malia and actually accepting her, than hating on her. Thing that I fear Kateyn would not be ale to achieve if she stayed. And my only reason for that it’s because people felt too attached to Katrina, even people who supposedly “hated her” or claimed she is “using Sam” got used to her just being there and being Sam’s gf that i fear they will never let that go (especially that if i am not wrong Katrina is still single) and every other Sam’s new gf will be compared to Katrina and hated by the fandom, because for them “Katrina and Sam are clearly MADE for each other 😣”. I mean some people still act like she is Sam’s gf or like she is meant to come back, because “it’s her place”. So in that matter i kinda pity Sam.

i mean… that's kinda how i feel tbh lol

(another ramble session from me, sorry in advance)

the sam and kat thing is very odd to me, especially when you see fans say "he'll never do better than her". first and foremost, i get being upset that they ended, sure. but saying that sounds gross to me for some reason. like i think you can lift up kat and say she's gonna have a good life without him and will eventually find love without saying that he somehow is never gonna be happy again. that type of behavior and thought process is so childish. it's not like he was abusive, he broke up with her bc he just couldn't marry her and making her wait even longer would have been worse for their relationship.

while it's clear they aren't on the best of terms anymore, i think hating him (or her, bc god knows she gets hate too) is just weird. you don't have to hate either of them. their relationship didn't end in flames or bc they hate each other. you don't have to make it a versus all the time. there is no winner in this outcome.

as for katelyn and malia… the issue is messy. personally, i think both girls got the short end of the stick. they both got a crazy amount of hate (and malia still does) and i expected part of that to happen eventually when colby got a gf, but i think bc kat wasn't with sam anymore, it became like a shit storm instantly since it wasn't just colby getting a gf.

katelyn had so many lies spread about her in relation to kat it's not even funny. ppl were claiming they were friends before and thus she took sam from her (not true at all. they did possibly follow one another before hand, but their only connection was tess, who wasn't exactly bffls with kat). ppl claimed katelyn talked badly about kat, even tho all the clips i've seen have been not even remotely noteworthy, let alone something to throw hate at her for. i kinda think the reason why katelyn got a lot of hate is bc, as i've said countless times before on here, this fandom has an inability to critique sam. they will do everything in their power to not give him hell even tho they do it all the time to colby. so i weirdly think that bc this fandom couldn't be mad at sam for moving on too quickly from kat or for seemingly """replacing""" her, they chose katelyn to take their anger out on. but even that eventually wore itself thin and for the first time, i actually saw ppl genuinely hate on sam the same way they do colby. which was both refreshing and depressing all at the same time lol

i also think katelyn is just weird enough to be annoying to a lot of ppl, and bc of that, immediately she sucks. i obviously don't feel that way about her, but i can get why some wouldn't love her. in addition, i think she tried a bit too hard to be liked in this fandom and that drove ppl nuts. and she introduced colby to malia, which means she was public enemy #1 for a lot ppl. i mean, i literally heard someone full on dox her during a space on twitter and then call her a whore just bc she's dating sam. while the fandom wasn't in love with kat the moment they met her, they never went this far.

as for malia, i've seen some truly heinous shit said about her. like i'm talking fake dms with nudes (that obviously weren't hers), cheating allegations, fans making fun of her filler and boob job, fans calling her a whore and a slut for merely wanting to show off her body, she has no personality (even tho we've never even heard her speak so…. explain how you just know that), colby chose her over shea (which is just not true at all), the list goes on and on. i think the hate for her has calmed down a lot bc i think 1, she never tries to talk to fans except the occasional reply on a TikTok comment. i honestly think her not trying to befriend the fandom has worked out for her a lot more than katelyn's attempt at being our bestie. and 2, i think that bc colby shows her off (in a way that sam never did katelyn) we can see that colby is happy with malia. unless you're a hater; then bc they pose too much in pictures or *checks notes* never smile with one another that means they are faking it.

i do feel for sam, in a way, too. the thing is, i think out of the two of them, sam is the one that will speak up against the fandom, and he needs to do that. he needs to tell fans to chill the fuck out when it comes to his future significant others. like we cannot have a repeat next time he dates someone. it's just not gonna work out. but i also feel as if snc aren't gonna do that. i love them dearly, and idk who is in their ear telling them to do this (whether it be management or themselves) but them not sticking up for themselves or their gfs rubs me the wrong way. bc that's how you get a fandom like this that thinks hating on their gfs/themselves for a year straight is somehow okay. and god knows if i was dating one of them long term and they were just telling me to ignore the hate or not use an entire social media platform bc that's were a majority the hate was on… i would be going nuclear lol

like, it's either you tell your fans to calm down or i do. and since they ain't my fans, i don't have to be nice to them. so… pick your poison.

[woodypellets]

part 2

Before BitterGiggle could even run, the sheriff used two of his stars and pinned him by the shoulders onto a wall. “Oh we screwed up…” (the frown side said) “Wait! Toadster we can taAlk about thihihis!” The jester (mostly the green smiling side) squealed as toadster quickly spidering up his sides “Nahaha Cheheheater!” He quarreled. “I have no idea what your talking about! But this ought to teach you a lesson.” Toadster said with a grin on his face (wait his always grinning-) “NohoHO” He giggled out, kicking his legs against the wall. “Ya feeling sorry yet?” The sheriff asked teasingly. “You’ll…neveher…getthebestOFMEHEHEAHA” A shriek fills the room followed by more squeals and giggles as a pair of stubby hands dancing on both of his fluffy neck and tummy. It’s like a little order for the two sides. One on the for the left side and tummy on the other! “OhhohO thihIs is teheherrihibleheahA!” The jester boy giggled out. “Just like your jokes!” Toadster replied BitterGiggle didn’t respond but continued to laugh and giggle. Twisting his head over the sheriff’s hand that was on his neck and using his left arm to push his hand away from his stomach but it only causes his ler change spot more frequently that drives him nuts. “Hey ya know what’s really funny to me?” “WhaHAt??” “That you have not once said any word related to stop, and I can see that you haven’t really tried to defend or fight back.*” The first sentence alone completely got em flustered out, covering his face. The truth is, part of him hates it so much, but another part of him loves it (not talking about his frown and smiling sides). It was only within a matter of time this jester would completely break into crumbling bits! “Buddy it’s been almost 5m minutes, you sure you can still keep up the pace?” The toad concernedly questioned. “YEhes im SuhurEHehe, I wohohont SuhurehehehndEr HahA!” The jester replied despite that he is already a giggling mess. Kicking and flailing like a squealing child (after the new chapter I have no idea if he actually is one). Hearing this, Toadster already knew that he was more enjoying than getting punished. With that, he started to get all the weakest spots he knew on the poor jester. Laugh and giggle, squeals and shrieks. Tearing up a little, he couldn’t even think right at this point but laugh! BitterGiggle would be kneeling down on the ground already if it wasn’t for the Toadsted stars. Hear this you probably already know just how insane this drove him. “HAHANOHOAHANANAHAHA- EEEHEHEP!” Well it’s not his fault his neck and feet are super sensitive.;>

"SHEEHEHERIHIF PLEHEAHEASE HAHA!" he begged

"please what?"

Right before BitterGiggle was about to surrender to his ler… “Welp, I guess you just don’t know when to quit.” Toadster stop his wiggling hands and unpinned the panting jester who is still recovering from that torture. “And beside, continuing would only be to good for you two!” Again this made BitterGiggle more flustered who was already due to the whole situation, but let out a small chuckle. “Was it that obvious?” Admitting that it was kinda fun. “Once you get to know someone, yeah.” Giving him a small nudge on the shoulder. “Now…” “Wha-?” “GET ME A NEW PRISON, NOW” “AHH YES SIR”

End.

part 1: https://www.tumblr.com/woodypellets/750427234899263488/a?source=share

[ezlo-x]

while the oberworld story telling is so good. i feel like the memories fell flat besides one moment that you have yet to see but still. you have so much opportunity to develop these characters more c'mon Nintendo !!! damn.

Dragon Tears story is really not good there’s so much they could’ve developed, but I still only have collected 8 of the memories. I think what makes me sad is that it demotivated me to continue to play. I was really invested with the characters first and I was so eager and excited to know more about them. But then memory five happened and that one was my make it or break it tear memory. Idk how to explain it but it was kinda bad?? and it drove me nuts that Zelda SOMEONE FROM THE FAR FUTURE warned Rauru about Ganondorf’s intentions and he disregarded it. Like I get it they want the story to proceed but oh mygod

The overworld story is great its solid from how far I’ve gotten. Purah, Robbie, and Josha are great. There’s so much personality with other npcs like Cece, a big criticism I had w Hateno Village in botw is the lack of personality that place had and now look at it. The new sages so far to me Yunobo has the best character arc, he’s has so much personality.

I think my issue was is that I was playing it with rose-colored glasses. I was very excited to play this game it looked fun and it is fun. I wanted to have fun cuz in previous trailers before we got the final one it was nothing but showcasing the same thing over and over again. And the whole part where in one trailer you hear Ganondorf’s voice and I was so disappointed in his voice that I got sick badly lol. So when finally getting that final trailer I got excited cause we got new stuff we get to vaguely know about the story. It looks exciting! I hope it’s exciting! The only thing that I will say was what made take off those rose colored glasses was Ganondorf. Cause I knew he wasn’t going to be a good villain or character I wasn’t hoping for much but boy did they fumble the bag badly with him.

I am considering now that I know what I’m at least expecting with the story can restart the game. I don’t mind losing items and start over. I’m actually eager to play the Wind and Fire temple again since their build up to enter the temple and being inside the temple were so much fun. There are things gameplay wise that I enjoy about this game. I actually like the depths more than the sky islands, it might be cause its easier to explore than the sky islands lol but also there’s a lot of zonite down there. The fuse weapon mechanic is so satisfying when you create a strong weapon.

I hope with this I can just gloss over the dragon tear memories

[suekreandtheidiots]

There was an "Incorrect OC quotes" generator hype going on on IG a while ago and, of course, I couldn't not. 😂 I only just remembered that I wanted to take one particular quote PLUS a story reply from my friend Teo aka @teo-s-art-corner as an opportunity to ramble about some of the teenage gang a bit. The boys, to be precise. 😂

(I don't care if I'm shouting into the void here, that timeline gives me so much life, teenagers are hilarious. 😂 I also enjoy the feeling that writing them gives me, but that's for a different conversation!)

ANYHOO. Let's go!

"Fozzy is the most straightforward."

Yep. In a way, he is. Lance is very straightforward, too, as in "not afraid to speak his mind", but Fozzy has the tendency to just blurt out with whatever comes to his mind, without thinking. Lance is a liiittle more mindful about the things he says. He doesn't exactly have a filter either, he is just more "collected" in his choice of words, while Fozzy is just... BLAH, regardless of how dumb he sounds. 😂 He always appears a little "simpler" than others but that isn't at all the case: Fozzy is really intelligent. So. much. more. than he ever appears. I'm not saying he has the same academic brain that Lance has, but he's actually really clever... and calculating, of all things. That's part of why his parents were so desperate about him squandering a huge chunk of his youth and falling for sex, drugs and rock'n'roll instead. They knew that their son was a hundred percent aware what he was getting himself into there, they knew he knew he had the potential to do better. He just didn't care, he wanted to go nuts. It drove his parents mad. There's a certain darkness to Fozzy (at least to his younger version), too, that is hard to put into words... but it's definitely there. But yeah... unfiltered madness, for sure. 🤣

"Cal is oddly specific in his choice to commit violence."

Alright, this was a super fun sentiment (thanks Teo, I'm cackling again 😂) but I gotta say here that Cal really isn't one to randomly commit violence. 😂 Still, I always imagined him to have this bit of... hilarious randomness about him? Which makes this fitting. He just says weird and funny things at times, he's a delightful person, blessed with the kind of wit that makes people laugh. (Something I see in Ali, too, by the way. Both Cal and Ali have a bit of a male Lorelai Gilmore vibe to them, if I HAD to give an example.) So, when Cal blurts out with something like the above, he usually really doesn't want to punch people in the neck, it's just something randomly creative that comes to his mind and that he feels like sharing. 😂

"Mark is very polite."

He is. Mark is, indeed, very polite. A little calmer than his peers, too. I know I talked a little about him before, but I'll say it again: Despite all the weird crap, Mark was the most "progressive" of the gang in their time. Feminism, racism, ableism... pretty much anything regarding social injustice he had a better, clearer grasp of than his friends. The "male ego" wasn't really a thing for him, he knew how to properly apologise when he did or said something wrong, he was usually the one to call out sexist remarks towards the girls that most other boys usually tried to brush off as "Come on, it was a joke!". He sure had his flaws but Mark was a bit of a walking green flag. 😂 Girls felt safe around him, without actually being able to point out why. I still don't know what he does for a living nowadays but I really kinda see him working as an equal opportunities commissioner of a company or something. I don't know yet but he still has it in him, and he only got better over time. There's a reason Aimee stuck by his side. She saw all of it early on!

"Lance is seeing the bigger picture."

True. Lance's brain often goes where others don't. He is a pretty dominant person, too. I hate the term alpha-male for it's extremely negative connotation, Lance is aboslutely not that person, but he really is a bit of a natural leader; he just takes charge without thinking too much of it. He has major problems with authority, too. 😂 Sooo, seeing the bigger picture is a thing for him, mainly because he thinks that he has to, to stay in charge and protect his peers, but wanting to assert dominance for the sake of asserting/maintaining dominance also kinda is a thing for him. 🤣 It's hard to explain. He's just such a handful and I love him to pieces. 🤣

"Tim is wondering why he's still hanging out with these guys."

... yeah. 😂 I mean, Tim totally appreciates the friends he picks and the fun times he has with them, but I think what I failed to express so far is that Tim isn't actually always super cute and easygoing. He isn't exactly the Voice of Reason. He's more like the one who watches the stupidity unfold and who laughs when someone gets burned. 🤣 He's friend material in his own way, he values loyalty and he's kindhearted, too. He's blunt as fuck, though, and easily annoyed, too, which has always been a thing for him, not just because those weirdos tested his patience all the time. I know next to nothing about D&D but I always kinda saw him as this extremely annoyed healer of an adventuring party who sure does what he's there to do, but who often hasn't a whole lot of empathy to offer on top of that, especially not when the stupid outcome could have easily been prevented. 🤣 "Ah, she called you out on your shit? Good!", "Oh man, you have a hangover? Really? Those 38 shots were a bit too much, you think? Pf, lol, told you so. *carelessly tosses a pack of aspirin*" ... Tim was willing to stick around for anyone for sympathy, but he never tried to make excuses for anybody. Which made it easy for him to walk out on Cal, Fozzy (and Mark) when they planned the stupid prank on Lance. Being blunt and honest is one thing. Deliberately planning to cause harm and hurt was another. It was neither about demonising Cal nor protecting/coddling Lance, the whole thing was just something he couldn't have lived with, so he did the best he could think of and backed out.

Some additional thoughts:

I never wanted to create this little group as a mix of stereotypes, liiike... there isn't the designated "Goofball" or the "Stupid One" or the "Brainy One" or whatever else role there is that could be filled, so pleasepleaseplease always take these kinda things with a wee grain of salt! 😂 One of the parts I enjoy most about my own worldbuilding is how I want everyone to be humans in first place. Humans who don't always do what people expect them to, who are capable to surprise others, who have off days and also dull moments.

It's also why I don't really like answering questions like "Who is the most (insert adjective)?" ... like, sure, there are characters who have traits that shine brighter than their other traits, and I do enjoy a wee brush of stereotype here and there, too, of course, but I usually don't really think in certain categories and I really love keeping things and interactions as natural as possible. I just want to see people as a whole person and that is how I always treat my OCs, too!

[medicinemane]

Ok, we got a bit of tricky redstone, but it's the kind I really really enjoy (cause it's a spacial puzzle, not wiring)

So question one, doesn't that moon clock look good there? Answer, yes it does

Nice 4x4 space (with obstructed view, but nothing that can't be inferred) in a really central spot that looks super natural, and it kinda... uses up a little bit of that cave and gives it some interest where it used to be a blank wall

That's the perfect spot for a clock that tells you the moon phases, isn't it?

Well, you'll see that we're a little tight on space there. There's some wiggleroom on the other side but... the side in the picture? That piston used to be wall, so did that empty spot... I was gonna have to terrain the area around there anyway cause I hadn't yet, but I literally have to cover it up just to do this

So it's a question on how little can I cover? Can I find a way to leave that block above the hole in place and power the piston above the sculk despite it being there?

I don't know, that's the puzzle here, and for once it's a fun puzzle. Wiring when we're talking figuring out how to trigger all the inputs, that's fun for me. My hidden staircase, I basically braided 16 cords out of it, that part was super fun and satisfying... it was making it fire right that drove me nuts and took months

So this part, figuring out how to hook the power into these pistons initially... that's super fun

It's when I'm having to figure out how to hook the power in to all the spots I set up to put the power into that it's gonna get annoying to me cause then it's... then it's cable management

This is like... designing a chip we'll say just to try and fit it into a circuit board analogy, and that's a fun step, seeing what tiny little casing I can make for it... it's tediously soldering the whole thing onto a circuit board that makes me want to blow my brains out

But do you see how this is the fun part? This is the inventing phase... sure it's just gonna be a generic feedtape, and for that I'll probably look up "vertical piston feedtape minecraft"... but how to plug it in to this space... that takes being clever and seeing what concessions I can avoid giving to redstone physics

(If this was all I did with redstone and then I handed it over to a wiring master I'd actually love redstone so much and beg for products. My structural design for the hidden staircase is I'll be blunt... pretty genius, where as my wiring is more like... clever. It's really really good... but... it's probably really good in the way a science fair project can be good vs what a university lab can manage... but the structural design, that could be university lab tier)

[lord-pigeon]

A month late to finishing Dawntrail cause I was waiting for Certain Things to update, and honestly, it was alright? Obvious spoilers under the cut.

Nonsense rambling btw, don't expect a thesis there I'm just word vomiting

The strongest part was everything with Sphene, by and far. Zoraal Ja was a completely different character between Part 1 and Part 2 and people keep overlooking that to whine about Wuk Lamat. Ironically, I feel Wuk Lamat was the second strongest part of the expansion.

I came into the expansion as "WoL's funky summer vacation in not-Mexico" and that def helped my opinion about it, cause WoL is meant to be chilling while Wuk Lamat is having the character arc. Sooo I'll guess I'll start with the positives?

Wuk Lamat I felt had a significantly better arc than Lyse did. Probably helped by the fact I play in JP so I don't have the "she sounds so monotone all the time" issue people in ENG had. So you could actually hear her gradually grow in maturity when she goes from yelling 90% of the time to taking a lower tone and calming down.

I dunno, she has a very strong personality and I found her engaging. She was most of the fun I had in the first half, so I guess I got lucky there.

Second, obviously, was Sphene. Kinda Walmart Emet, kinda her own thing. I saw her final boss status coming from a mile away, but like, her background was my speed for an antagonist. Sad old robot you gotta put down cause she's too far gone, path to hell paved with good intentions. That kinda thing, very melancholic.

As for bad, well, uh, I guess mostly that the expansion felt like it was split in half? With two different writers for each half? Like Zoraal Ja of part 2 wasn't even close to Zoraal Ja of part 1, even their motivations were wildly different (inflict war to people who forgot it in peacetime to remind them of what peace is vs daddy inheritance issues)

Also where the shit did baby Garool Ja come from. Who is the mother. Did he just reproduce asexually cause they're lizards? Artificial creation? Kid literally showed up so suddenly out of Nowhere I deadass thought it was like a Miquella/Saint Trina situation where baby Garool was actually a manifestation of Zoraal's innocence/peace-loving nature.

But nope he's just deadass his kid? I guess? I might've missed something but god everything with him was so jarring it drove me fuckin' nuts

Also I do agree with the repetitive nature of the first half. Like, I had fun with it, but Yoshi, Yoshi I know padding when I see it. Aetheryte starvation? Huge areas? Get five bear's asses? Always talk to 3 people randomly sparsed around the said-large map? Running back and forth?

I see the padding you can't hide it from me.

Since everyone's comparing it to Stormblood, I'll do it too. Like I had recently redone Stormblood before Dawntrail came out on an alt (that's now my main l m a o) so I can kinda compare them easily.

Call me bias (<- incredibly bias) but Yotsuyu was a much more compelling first arc villain, while Sphene was more compelling on the latter half. And this is from a Zenos simp so take that as you will.

Day 500000 of me not being over his death still, my copium up until the end of the Zero patches was intense.

Soken didn't miss a single time tho, king of all time

Solid 7/10. If it was all about Sphene and the beginning was more cut down, and Zoraal was consistent, I'd probably have put it at an 8.5.

[icharchivist]

No, I get that

Sometimes you just want to be menace besties with a character

exactly. Like even when we talk GBF there's charas i'm more interested being friends with than lovers and all

and tbh it's also when some characters resonate with you on some level which also makes it different.

rambled a bit and all so i'm putting it under the cut but ahah

and like both Cloud and Aerith are in this category to me that i can feel back a bit of myself in either of them so seeing them just makes my heart full, all the pieces together again in a sense perhaps?

Like i got into ff7 when i was 12/13, (and back then i was much more obsessed over Zack and Tifa as characters) and a couple years later i lost all of my means to play the games, so i somewhat kinda shelved it in some part of my mind for years as something from the past (though i would casually often remind myself of plotpoints from the saga)

when the remake was announced, i was 20 and i saw a trailer popping around and it made me so excited i wanted to revisit the saga.

And by this point i've had changed a lot, grown and all, hell i was the age Cloud is in the main game lmao, and i've changed in ways where Cloud felt more relatable but Aerith felt more inspiring in a sense?

Like when i was younger i wanted to be as cheerful as Zack but i would feel myself more reserved as Tifa, but as I grew the wounds i carried made me connect with Cloud to a very intimate level, while being admirative of Aerith's cheerfulness and optimism despite the odds and it influenced more of my general behaviors with people.

Like even if Tifa and Cloud are more reserved they are so in different ways and for different reasons, and likewise Zack and Aerith are optimistic and cheerful in different way and different reasons, so i felt this shift as i grew.

And the ultimate irony is that i spent my teenagehood only ever wearing black clothes which drove my parents nuts lmao but by the time i was 20 i found myself drawn to pink and red clothes, and then when the remake was announced and i got back in the saga i realized that even before i came back to it i had a lot of my wardrobe that ends up being very Aerith-adjacent in term of styles

and i think that got to me like. The subtle ways you don't realize a story and specific characters had resonated with you so much that you felt comfort into elements that subconsciously reminded you of them even though you genuinely have no idea why.

and now i'm 28, tbh i thought i kinda outgrew the stuff that made me connect with Cloud but it's what watching the movie reminded me that actually, i'm stuck forever lmao, but it also reminds me of how those characters had me grow as a person, the stuff i took after them without realizing, the stuff that had me connect to them. Meanwhile Aerith kinda always stayed in the back of my mind because i think of her everytime i look at my dresses, and when i want to be cheerful and open to people i remember the ways Aerith is so especially.

So it's kinda a weird thing to properly express, which i think only really happen when a story has been with you for so many years at different stages of your life, shapping you as a person without even realizing it in a sense yaknow?

It feels like despite their absence in my mind they were here carrying me on my journey and i could only really see it once i bother looking back.

SO YEAH i'm very sappy about the ff7 cast, they've just been around for SO long in my life that they have meant different things to me at different time.

And all of this is why everytime i tie my hair up i make sure to put a ribbon in my hair, and that has been the case for 8 years now. Can't forget the stuff that pushes me forward, yaknow?

[catboy-beckett]

I'm going to argue with a lot of this.

Firstly, I don't know if there are people complaining that the MC should have learned to fight or anything that extreme; it feels like it might be a strawman but it's not beyond the realm of possibility that some people have extreme takes on the situation. But I am not going to argue that. Having a doormat for a protagonist or just a weak protagonist is fine. I will still however argue that MC's characterization is terrible, especially for a protagonist.

It sucks being placed in the body of a character who doesn't react to things in remotely the way you would, especially if you're given options and none of them are how you actually feel. When this discrepancy occurs in a game, it is not the end of the world BUT it must be accommodated. The player has to understand the motivations of the protagonist. When I tell an adventure-game character to walk left and he says "nah, I don't feel like it", this is infuriating and will only get more frustrating every time it happens. When he instead says "you want me to walk right next to the lion enclosure? Are you nuts??" this is perhaps still frustrating, but far less so because I understand how he feels.

Now, MC not arguing with Jin or Taiga or Romeo or any of the other characters who present a clear threat to her life is pretty understandable without any further explanation. Taiga pulls a gun, we intuitively understand that any further decisions made are out of fear of death and bodily harm. That doesn't need much communication. Jin threatens MC directly, that's even clearer. Romeo to my recollection doesn't make any direct threats, but by the time we're dealing with him we've seen him chase down Kaito and have every reason to believe he will resort to violence if talks don't go well. But you know what drove me nuts during the first Sinostra chapter? It wasn't either of the men with guns. It was Ritsu. A man with no history of violence, established quickly and immediately as a Follower Of The Law, who drags MC around and treats her (and by extension us) like garbage and makes unreasonable demands, and we're forced to deal with that.

There's a gap in understanding here that could be patched, but I'm not interested in anyone's theories, really. "Maybe she was willing to take any opportunity to investigate Sinostra where someone else takes the brunt of the danger," "maybe she was curious to see what would happen", "maybe she sincerely believed that she owed him a consulting fee because she's kinda dumb like that." These are all valid explanations that I would accept. The game gives us none of them. The result is that I as the player keep watching my avatar get dragged around and wondering "why is this happening to me?" with no answer, and that shit's annoying.

There are also, I should note, several parts of the game where the MC is given power. She's the Inspector, after all; by a certain point in the story, ghouls rely on her reports and she has a distinct opportunity to get ghouls in trouble for all the shit they do wrong. When she chooses not to do this for a reason the audience understands, like in the Jabberwock chapter, this is fine and reasonable. But often, it just isn't treated as an option, and that's frustrating when it's the option many players would choose if they could. Other avenues of indirectly protecting yourself are treated similarly.

There's this really egregious part in the Sinostra chapter where MC is asked about what happened, and her internal monologue says this:

This here is emblematic of the issue for me. What does she MEAN, "unsure whether I should"? Why would she be unsure of this? There's some internal conflict implied here, but I have no idea what it is, and there aren't enough context clues to guess. The most well-established character motivations that might apply here are a distrust of Darkwick and a fear of violence. The first would be a very silly concern considering Darkwick appointed MC the Official Tattletale and clearly has some investment in stopping the ghouls from doing this kind of shit. I'm not saying MC couldn't have irrational concerns here, I'm saying the player isn't likely to have come up with this concern so it wouldn't do to make us guess that's what she's thinking. The fear of violent repercussions is a more compelling source of conflict, but once again, "tattling might be more dangerous than staying quiet" is not a conclusion every player will arrive at intuitively. We've already been threatened, tied up, shot (which the MC later charitably describes as "shot at"), and pretty much have every reason to believe our lives are in danger now. The protagonist not taking any steps to change that, even potentially ineffectual ones like telling people what happened, is a decision that will feel irrational if we don't have sufficient character motivation behind it. Earlier in this scene, the MC gets to talk to Hyde, the advisor for Sinostra, and naturally she doesn't bring up that she was shot by one of his students at that point either.

This results in a feeling that I'm being forced into character decisions for a character with no consistency. Which in turn makes them feel less like character decisions and more like railroading.

To illustrate the point, here are some examples of games with pushover protagonists that I think pull it off significantly better:

Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines The protagonist is treated like a pawn, frequently bullied into doing main-line quests that they have plenty of reason not to want to do. This works even with the blank-slate protagonist through a number of means (the quest-reward system greatly aligns the desires of the player with the Things They Need To Do Anyway, multiple factions and characters the player might care about at any given time will be somehow tied to the next point on their questline, etc.) but the one that is most relevant here is the point where the player has the option to reject a main-line quest. Most of the other quests in this line simply have dialogue demonstrating you don't have a choice for various reasons, which works well enough. If you pointedly refuse to investigate the Elizabeth Dane, the quest-giver will resort to mind-controlling you into doing it. This may very well feel cheap, but abusing cheap tricks is well within character for Sebastian LaCroix and fits in just fine with how the player is meant to feel. You're helpless no matter how defiant you are, this world is full of people and creatures who can reduce you to nothing in an instant, and LaCroix is a cunt.

Final Fantasy X-2 (vague Normal Ending spoilers) Yuna is demonstrated repeatedly to have trouble saying no to helping people, even when their requests are ridiculous, dangerous, and/or completely irrelevant to Yuna's job or skillset. This is commented on by other characters, and is a cute justification for why so many missions are available to you, even though it's the player's choice to actually do them or not. She is repeatedly and consistently characterized in both games as self-sacrificing and kind and invested in the well-being of the people of her world. The only time her character has felt startlingly inconsistent is during one of the endings, where she actually discards the needs of somebody else and emphasizes her own freedom. In this case, an attempt to make the character less of a pushover was what led to her feeling unrealistic and frustrating.

Mystic Messenger A very similar faceless brunette dating sim protagonist, the Mystic Messenger MC isn't characterized very much at all--that is left up to the player. There are some small points in the game where I've felt forced into a box (maybe there are more in Another Story mode, I dunno, I'm still saving up hourglasses) but generally I find the protagonist just fine and reasonable. MM more or less takes the approach that "your choices are up to you, but there will be consequences." Refuse to go to the apartment? You get a bad ending before the prologue has even gotten started. Refuse to be a part of RFA? Jumin will threaten you, since you know too much now. Say whatever you like, but you won't get hearts if you don't engage, and if you don't get enough hearts by these specific points it's Bad Ending time again. The character is pushed into an unreasonable situation because you were, as the player; any version of your protagonist who didn't follow the structure of the game was swiftly eliminated. Maybe this doesn't objectively do much for characterization, but on an emotional level, it feels a lot more understandable.

None of these are quite similar enough to what TDB is going for that I think it should copy them, but I hope it at least demonstrated my sincere belief that getting-pushed-around-by-the-narrative type protagonists aren't inherently a problem. Things I think would fix the specific problems TDBMC has:

Allowing for the option of her trying things the player might reasonably want to do, only to have them fail or blow up in her face. (e.g. tell Darkwick staff about the murder threats/attempts and watch them be useless about it)

Having characters make it clear that there would be some consequence to the above choices, reasonably preventing her from making them in the first place. (e.g. ghouls on a mission pressuring her to lie about the results)

Giving her some internal narration that demonstrates a worldview or motivation or line of reasoning that justifies her choice (e.g. wanting to lie about how she got hurt due to feeling humiliated by the way Taiga treated her; this wouldn't be rational behaviour, but it would be understandable)

Some scenes have already done this! I like the way Leo's manipulation was handled for instance; we see repeatedly how the things he said to her got inside her head and shook her confidence regarding her place in the missions. If we had more of that, and less of "hmm should I tell someone about this? impossible to say" then I think she'd be a more compelling character and a more functional protagonist, and get a lot less hate.

Venting about people complaining about MC lol

Is2g everytime i see people whining about 'why can't the mc do anything for herself!!! She should be badass uwu' it's like they don't. Understand her narrative role or function. Or that she's a regular human with an artifact that doesn't do anything for her and she's not allowed to have another one and cannot remove the one she has.

She is SUPPOSED TO BE DEFENSELESS. She is your window into the world and story as a regular ass person! 'i would pick up a weapon--' no the fuck you would not because they would not give you a weapon because regulations say one artifact per person and your ring is your one. 'they're so mean to her why doesn't she stand up for herself!!' because she is a human and they are several times stronger than her physically and she is from a culture where politeness conformity and not making a fuss is kind of the norm and is kind of expected of her 'why isn't she doing anything for herself!' what is she supposed to do. Literally what do you want Basic Bitch Human With No Defenses Besides The People Around Her Who's Going To Turn Into A Creature In Ten Months And Has No Way Of Investigating Or Progressing On Her Own to do. She goes on a mission with them every week she barely even has time to go to classes. She is probably extremely stressed and exhausted. She is completely helpless by design. If you don't like it write a fanfic or find another series or something. MCs like this are meant to be windows into the story, a place you as an ordinary person can project yourself into an extraordinary situation it's not badass wish fulfilment where you're in control, especially not this early on. If she got out of line they would probably put her in containment, or worse she would get hurt and be More Useless and then you'd bitch and moan some more.

Things are allowed to not be to your taste! Things are allowed to not appeal to you!! You do not have to partake of them if it bothers you!!! There are things out there for you and if they don't exist you can make them!!!

[tiramisiyu]

【未定事件簿】 Tears of Themis: Main Story 6-26 Translation

Translation Masterlist | Video

Chapter 6 – Tiger’s Accomplice Ghost (Parts 1, 2): 6-1 / 6-3 / 6-5 / 6-7 / 6-9 / 6-11 / 6-13 / 6-15 ♦️ ♦️  6-16 / 6-18 / 6-20 / 6-22 / 6-24 / 6-26 / 6-27 / 6-28 / 6-29

Information on the Chapter title (helpful to know): Wikipedia | My notes

--

Abandoned Archive Library

Just when I wanted to get in touch with Zuo Ran about going to the archive library to investigate, Zuo Ran called me with perfect timing.

He had also been pondering the whole time about the location of the target, and with unplanned similarity, we thought about this archive library.

Zuo Ran: The people monitoring Fu Qiao tonight lost him. On his side of things, Leader Yan is dispatching people on search.

Zuo Ran: Leader Yan has also already dispatched people to rush towards the few suspicious art galleries nearby, and they’ll be investigating at the same time as us.

MC: If we can find Chen Hanzhang’s secret location one step ahead, then this case can be solved earlier.

Zuo Ran: Coming to a pitch-black place like this in the middle of the night – are you scared?

MC: Lawyer Zuo, you’ve forgotten – I’m not scared of ghosts to begin with.

At our law firm’s last team building exercise, Zuo Ran and I went to a haunted house together.

Hearing me say this, Zuo Ran relaxed and smiled, obviously also remembering the experience in the haunted house.

Zuo Ran: In a moment, follow me closely and walk behind me. You must be careful of what’s under your feet in particular.

MC: I understand.

I took flashlights out of my bag and handed one to Zuo Ran.

MC: I’ve brought two flashlights, so we can each have one. Let’s head out.

Zuo Ran led me to the abandoned archive library’s front courtyard. Here, the ground was piled thickly with fallen leaves, as well as all sorts of decorative garbage that nearby residents had tossed here.

I basically understood why the police ruled out this place after a simple search… Looking at the shattered glass windows on the outside and the useless door, this place really did not seem like a place to store important products.

--

Inside the Archive Library

The lighting in the archive library was better than we’d imagined. Light from the streets shone in from the street-facing windows, so we didn’t really need to turn on the flashlights.

MC: The first and second floors are completely deserted – they’re empty with only some abandoned furniture left.

Zuo Ran: The conditions on the third floor might not be that similar.

MC: Eh?

Following the stairs, I looked towards the third floor. At the same time, Zuo Ran turned on the flashlight and shone it towards the third-floor staircase opening.

There was an electronic password door that had been opened.

MC: This archive building was built at the beginning of last century, and it belonged to a private collector.

MC: Though the first and second floors are abandoned, it’s evident that the remaining furniture is in last century’s style.

MC: This electronic door is clearly a product of recent years.

Zuo Ran: It indicates that this place has been changed by someone.

Zuo Ran: Most of the old buildings of the north district are private properties, and some of the property owners are even foreigners, so the houses have sat idle for many years with no one to manage them.

Zuo Ran: In the past few years, cases about the occupation of old buildings by lawbreakers have also appeared. This may also be the case here.

MC: No wonder the police didn’t notice any suspicious locations from checking through the properties under Chen Hanzhang’s name.

MC: If she occupied an old building in the north district that seems like it has no inhabitants, the police wouldn’t be able to find it at all.

Zuo Ran: Let’s go up and look – careful on the stairs.

--

Zuo Ran walked in front of me with the flashlight on. We arrived at the stairway opening and carefully looked over that electronic password lock.

Zuo Ran: It doesn’t look like it was opened by force. The password lock is still operating like normal.

MC: Is there someone in the building right now? It doesn’t seem like it…

From a bird’s-eye view, this three-level building was in an “H” shape, and each level had four large rooms. If we used the staircase’s location as the centre, the locations of the four large rooms were northeast, northwest, southwest, and southeast.

Zuo Ran and I had looked in every corner of the first and second floors just now, and we didn’t notice a single person. The entire building was also completely quiet – you could even hear the sound of a pin drop. We didn’t hear movement sounds of anyone else.

Zuo Ran: The third-floor design isn’t the same as on lower floors.

Zuo Ran’s flashlight swept over the floor.

Zuo Ran: It seems like the floorboards here were given specific soundproofing treatment. The audiovisuals room at my house also has a similar setup.

MC: Which also means that, as we can’t hear sounds of movement upstairs, this door might have been ignored by someone who came before…

MC: Another possibility is that the visitor is still here and hasn’t left.

When I thought about this, I couldn’t help tensing up my back.

Zuo Ran: Don’t be afraid. I’m right beside you.

My slightly cold fingers suddenly fell in the middle of warmth – it was Zuo Ran, holding my hand.

MC: Lawyer Zuo…

Zuo Ran: Hold onto my hand… th-this way, it’ll be a little safer.

MC: Mhmm…

Like this, as I shone my flashlight, Zuo Ran led me onwards as I walked side-by-side with him…

The moonlight tonight shone brightly, passing through the window and spilling over Zuo Ran’s body, outlining his straight and handsome profile.

I originally thought that people like Zuo Ran would probably look cold with moonlight on them. But I never would’ve thought… that there would actually be a sliver of a different kind of warmth.

I had never looked at him from this angle, under moonlight like this. Inexplicably, at this moment, I wanted to keep looking at him like this…

Zuo Ran: Why have you been looking at me the whole time? Is there something on my face?

MC: There isn’t…

MC: It might be because it’s too quiet that I haven’t quite adapted…

Zuo Ran: Then talk a bit, although you must be somewhat quiet.

>Select: Face

Zuo Ran: If there’s time, would you like to go to the haunted house again?

MC: With you, Lawyer Zuo?

Zuo Ran: Of course.

MC: Sure then. I heard that the themed amusement park’s haunted house has changed to a new story recently, so it’s perfect timing for us to try it out.

Zuo Ran: Then let’s wait for the weekend.

 >Select: Neck

MC: Aside from cufflinks, tie clips and collar pins, it seems like I rarely see Lawyer Zuo wear jewelry.

Zuo Ran: Watches also count as jewelry, right?

MC: Oh right, they also count.

Zuo Ran: If I attend certain special occasions, I will dress up, and I’ll occasionally accessorize with jewelry.

MC: Could you give an example?

Zuo Ran: I participated in a costume party in university, and I wore earrings for it.

Zuo Ran: Mm… it felt a little uncomfortable, and I couldn’t really adapt to it.

 >Select: Hair

MC: Under the moonlight… it looks like your hair has been layered over with silver light.

Zuo Ran: Do you mean… a hair full for frost?

MC: …

Zuo Ran: Frost with moonlight is imagery that often appears in literature and movies.

Zuo Ran: What often follows this is a beautiful woman who hopes for return.

MC: Waiting? If it is a happy ending, it will be worth it no matter how long she waits.

Zuo Ran: We don’t know how many people can return before the moonlight runs out – only the moon rocks with longing, lighting the forests by the river…*

Zuo Ran: If it were me, I would not make the person waiting for me wait too long.

Zuo Ran: I would rather be the person waiting.

  TL Note: Please see the full translation of the poem that Zuo Ran recited a line from here! The translation I used also comes from this site.

 >Select: Ellipses

MC: Lawyer Zuo, it seems like there’s a room in front of us.

A door appeared in front of us.

Based on its position, this was the room in the northwest direction.

>Open door

Artwork Display Room

MC: Seems like this place… is a place for the collection of antiques and artwork.

Zuo Ran: This password lock is not turned on. Looks like this room was originally in use, but it was later abandoned.

MC: Lawyer Zuo, look at that crystal bust. Does it look like… Chen Hanzhang?

Most of these things in this room were placed in complete disorder. The hung pictures on the wall were crooked, and there were also piles of artwork and porcelain pieces on the ground.

Only this half-bodied crystal bust was placed safely in the display case.

Zuo Ran: It’s very much alike. You could say that it’s a perfect imitation.

MC: This expression really is… a perfect replication of Chen Hanzhang’s classic smile.

Proud, confident, and it even hid a bit of fierceness.

MC: Was this thing given to Chen Hanzhang?

Zuo Ran: It’s not very common to see half-bodied busts like this used as gifts.

Zuo Ran: Perhaps it has a special commemorative meaning.

When we turned the bust upside down, we saw two rows of words on the bottom.

Zuo Ran: “From the beginning to the end, regardless of how you change, you are still you…”

MC: On the bottom-right angle, are those numbers?

MC: It looks like someone deliberately ground it off.

On the bottom-right corner, there probably had been a long line of numbers originally, but aside from the first digit “1” and the last digit “4”, there was no way to identify the rest.

I touched the base of the bust, and felt that the side of the base had an uneven area.

MC: Rose?

I found that place and noticed that a four-petaled flower had been carved there, with the single English word “Rose” on the side.

MC: The rose has four petals?

Zuo Ran: Perhaps… this does not point to a rose in the general meaning.

MC: …

>Select: Hanging drawings

I shone my flashlight at the hanging drawings on the wall. I could only see that it was an oil painting, and I couldn’t distinguish who the creator was.

Zuo Ran: These drawings may have been purchased by Gu Wei.

MC: How did you know?

Zuo Ran: Look here. There is a row of little words on the bottom-right corner.

I sidled over and carefully looked them over, and only then did I see what the little words that Zuo Ran was talking about were.

MC: “Gu Wei, year of 2010 at Qinlun Auction House…”

MC: Lawyer Zuo, your eyesight is way too good – you were even able to see this with a glance.

Zuo Ran: I typically drink liver-cleansing, eye-clearing tea. Perhaps it was fruitful.

 >Select: Piles on the ground

MC: These drawings and porcelain works have been piled here like garbage. The porcelain’s all broken.

Zuo Ran: Regardless of who their past owner was, it’s obvious their new owner was not interested in them, even feeling disgust.

MC: There’s even a fairly sharp hammer left here. Looks like it was used when smashing the porcelain.

Zuo Ran: Careful, don’t get cut by the porcelain shards.

 >Select: Bust

MC: (If it were a present, who could it be that sent it to Chen Hanzhang? Gu Wei…?)

MC: (What exactly was the relationship between them like…?)

 >Select: Ellipses

Zuo Ran: We probably have found the right place – otherwise, why would this place have Chen Hanzhang’s bust.

MC: …

[Got Crystal Bust!]

MC: There aren’t any things like blackmail crime evidence or illegal drugs in this room. Let’s go somewhere else and see.

--

…

We continued to search on this floor.

>Select: Suit

MC: Will it be hard for you to walk around, wearing your suit here, Lawyer Zuo?

Zuo Ran: After returning home, I didn’t have time to change clothes before I came out again.

Zuo Ran: But it’s alright. If it hinders my movement later, I can take off the suit.

 >Select: Face

Zuo Ran: After getting off work and returning home earlier, did you already wash up?

MC: How did you know?

Zuo Ran: Hmm… the scent on your body should be that of shower gel.

MC: Mhmm, I can relax from taking a hot shower.

Zuo Ran: Working as my partner, you might often encounter these kinds of sudden situations, which will upset your original lifestyle.

Zuo Ran: Same for joining NXX.

MC: But it’ll also bring me different life experiences – I like that a lot.

Zuo Ran: Mhmm, I also like it a lot.

 >Select: Eyes

MC: Lawyer Zuo, you read so many books, yet you actually don’t wear glasses.

Zuo Ran: My mother works so much that she doesn’t have time for anything, yet she is able to make time to concern herself with my health, especially my eyesight.

MC: Eh?

Zuo Ran: My mother said, with an ice-cold personality like mine, there definitely wouldn’t be any girls who like me in the future.

Zuo Ran: If I also wear glasses and end up looking like an old fogey, it’ll be even more so…

MC: I didn’t think that Professor An was such a humorous person. Though she cared about the students in my impression of her, she always looked very serious.

Zuo Ran: My mother was actually joking around. It’s just that the time she spends interacting with me is little, and she doesn’t know how to express her concern.

 >Select: Ellipses

MC: (I’m walking through a building like this in the middle of the night, yet I actually don’t feel scared.)

A door appeared in front of us.

Based on its position, this was the room in the southwest direction.

>Open door

Drug Storage Room

This room also had not been locked, but on the door, the electronic lock’s indicator light was lit up, indicating that this place was not abandoned.

When we pushed open the door and entered, a familiar scent assaulted our senses.

MC: They’re the drugs!

Zuo Ran immediately took out his phone to take photos and sent the photo and archive library location to Yan Wei.

Zuo Ran: Be a little careful. We should do our utmost to not bump or break anything in here.

MC: Understood!

Just like if when people find a large stash of cash in a money-related case, where to avoid suspicion, every single person on the scene will avoid the stolen cash until the police arrive.

MC: Though the area here isn’t small, it seems like it hasn’t been filled with drugs.

>Select: Further cabinet

Zuo Ran: This row of drug cabinets has things on them. The scent seems to be coming from this direction.

MC: There are no marks on the drugs – it seems like we have no way to identify that they’re Chen Hanzhang’s.

Zuo Ran: Look at the logo on this shelf – it’s Wiley Financial’s.

MC: Now we’ve caught both the person and the goods!

 >Select: Nearer cabinet

MC: Looks like this row of drug cabinets is empty.

Zuo Ran: If this room was filled with drugs, then this would be a large case that would shock the entire nation.

Zuo Ran: Although, to be able to make so much storage space specifically for the drugs, Chen Hanzhang’s ambition is not small.

 >Select: Panel

MC: This is the control panel to control the room’s internal temperature, moisture, as well as oxygen levels.

MC: I originally thought that Chen Hanzhang was using the equipment that the archive room originally had. I didn’t think she’d install a completely new one.

Zuo Ran: This equipment has requirements for ventilation and humidity piping.

Zuo Ran: Aside from new houses, if old buildings want to install them, they must have reserved space to begin with.

Zuo Ran: It’s within reason for Chen Hanzhang to choose an abandoned archive library for modifications.

 >Select: Ellipses

Zuo Ran: Don’t go in yet. Wait until Leader Yan comes.

MC: Okay.

--

…

We continued to search on this floor.

>Select: Face

MC: Lawyer Zuo, are you a little too tired and slightly overheated recently? I see that your lips are peeling.

Zuo Ran: I…

Zuo Ran: That might be, I drink less water when going out on work.

MC: Tomorrow at work, I’ll buy you a lip balm from the downstairs convenience store. I know a really good brand.

Zuo Ran: Okay, thank you.

 >Select: Sleeve

MC: Aside from shooting and swimming, do you like other sports, Lawyer Zuo?

MC: I remember that during university, to stay fit and look good, lots of guys would learn things like mixed martial arts.

Zuo Ran: I’m not skilled at sports like these. Aside from shooting and swimming…

Zuo Ran: Does bridge count? An exercise of mental strength.

MC: Lawyer Zuo, you know how to play bridge?

Zuo Ran: When relaxing, I sometimes go to bridge clubs to play.

Zuo Ran: Playing cards actually comes second – what’s important is chatting with friends and relaxing.

MC: If there’s a chance, could you teach me? I’ve heard that bridge is very interesting.

Zuo Ran: Sure.

 >Select: Ellipses

MC: (I never would’ve thought that Lawyer Zuo knows how to play bridge.)

A door appeared in front of us.

Based on its position, this was the room in the southeast direction.

>Open door

 Special File Room

The door to the room was opened, but the door’s password lock was still working, and the electricity normal.

MC: Look, what’s that?

Facing the door was an indomitable-looking, transparent… closet?

I didn’t know how to describe this thing. It looked a little like a water tank or standing closet used by magicians to perform escape magic.

The closet had an electronic lock on it and was currently in locked state. The dashboard on the side displayed the oxygen levels in the closet.

The entire closet was partitioned into two parts, both different from each other. Both sides had a lever, and I didn’t know what they were used for.

MC: Lawyer Zuo, can you tell what this thing is used for?

Zuo Ran: I can’t imagine it.

Zuo Ran: Although there might be what we’re looking for in the file cabinets on these two sides.

>Select: Cabinets

Zuo Ran: Li Gang, 2 million, redeemed…

Zuo Ran: Xue Fan, 4.7 million, redeemed…

Zuo Ran: What’s placed here should be the case files of the “redeemed” people Qing Zhian talked about.

MC: There are only paper document records – there isn’t any other evidence… looks like the so-called blackmail leverage really was destroyed.

Zuo Ran: Whether it’s Gu Wei or Chen Hanzhang, once they’ve set up the rules, they must comply with them.

Zuo Ran: Otherwise, the Tiger’s Accomplice Ghosts might as well surrender to the police and go to jail, and the methods that they use to control the Ghosts would become invalid.

 >Select: Cabinets (2)

MC: Cheng Kaiyuan, August 20th, 2017, died from car crash…

I flipped through the materials on the second file cabinet. Here, all the records were of those who had already died.

Zuo Ran: There are only paper document records – looks like the related person’s physical evidence has already been destroyed.

Zuo Ran: For those who have passed, keeping their blackmail leverage is useless.

Dong—

Suddenly, a muffled sound came from outside.

MC: Someone’s there?

I lowered my voice.

Zuo Ran: Don’t panic.

We silently waited for a moment. No other sound came again.

MC: Maybe the wind knocked something over?

Zuo Ran: Act carefully, don’t lower your guard.

 >Select: Glass closet

MC: (What is this closet used for?)

MC: (From a safety perspective, I shouldn’t touch it.)

 >Select: Ellipses

Zuo Ran: Fu Qiao’s crime evidence is not here, and neither is Qing Zhian’s.

MC: Let’s keep searching.

--

…

We continued to search on this floor.

>Select: Tie

MC: Lawyer Zuo, when did you learn to tie your tie?

Zuo Ran: Why did you want to ask this? I remember it was… when I was in middle school.

MC: This early?

Zuo Ran: Mhmm, I participated in a school event, and it just so happened that the attire was dress shirt and tie.

MC: I noticed that I can tie a tie for myself, but when I tie it for others, I always get it wrong.

MC: When swapping directions, it seems like everything is different.

Zuo Ran: Perhaps you will get used to it after finding more chances to practice.

 >Select: Face

MC: Actually, Lawyer Zuo, when you smile, you really look especially handsome.

Zuo Ran: …

MC: If you typically smiled more, the colleagues at the law firm probably won’t fear you that much.

Zuo Ran: That’s also true.

 >Select: Ellipses

MC: In front, over there – that should be another room, right?

A door appeared in front of us.

Based on its position, this was the room in the northeast direction.

>Open door

MC: This door is closed – we need the password to open it.

Zuo Ran: Password… how many digits?

I looked at the password lock’s digit prompts.

MC: 1, 2, 3… it requires 12 digits. This design at the end… it feels like I’ve seen it somewhere.

Zuo Ran: It’s the four-petaled flower design on that crystal bust.

MC: Could the riddle’s answer be on the bust?

MC: Could the text on the bust be the riddle? Are the ground-off numbers the password?

Zuo Ran: It’s very possible.

MC: If it’s guessing riddles…

>Take a picture and send it to Xia Yan >Ask Zuo Ran

MC: Xia Yan is the most skilled when it comes to solving riddles. Let’s go to that display room and take a picture of the bust to send to Xia Yan.

Zuo Ran: No need – this riddle is very easy to solve.

 >Take a picture and send it to Xia Yan >Ask Zuo Ran

MC: Lawyer Zuo, do you have any ideas?

Zuo Ran: This riddle isn’t hard. I’ve already got the answer.

Zuo Ran: The answer to the riddle should be 1634 8208 9474. It just so happens to be the same as with the ground-off numbers – the first digit is 1 and the last digit is 4.

MC: Lawyer Zuo, how did you figure it out this quickly?

Zuo Ran: Have you heard of the four-leaf rose number?

Zuo Ran: It refers to a four-digit number. The sum of each digit to the fourth exponent equals the number itself.

Zuo Ran: There are three numbers like this. Individually, they are 1634, 8208 and 9474.

MC: So the four petals and Rose on the bust were hinting at the four-leaf rose numbers?

Zuo Ran: Not only that, but that poem-like text also meant this, and it also hinted at the order of the numbers.

Zuo Ran: “Regardless of how you change, you are still you” refers to exponents.

Zuo Ran: “From the beginning to the end” indicates that the order goes from small to large.

MC: Lawyer Zuo, you really are too amazing. Are you really a law student? Your science grades must also have been great.

Zuo Ran: They’re just things that I got interested in and read about for middle school math. Typically, I’m not able to use them, and they’re not worth bringing up.

Zuo Ran: I’ll input the password. You stand behind me, a little far away.

I knew that Zuo Ran was afraid that the password lock had other safety mechanisms…

I heeded his arrangement and stood behind him, although it was not too far – it was a distance where I could reinforce him at any time.

Beep beep beep—

Right after Zuo Ran pressed the confirmation button, a quiet sound came from the door lock.

Zuo Ran: It’s open.

We pushed open the door and looked in. This was a file room again.