#this system shit confusing

[tuxedokit-sys-selfships]

👨‍👨‍👦‍👦 for Sam

👨‍👨‍👦‍👦 = would you like to rasie a family with your f/o? (if you aren't already)

yes but also i think that would be disastrous <3333 that kid would have the most hectic childhood ever, and chances are theyd grow up to be just as chaotic as max, considering he would also be their dad

[rhiangalaxy]

SQH's trying his best guys 😔 Mini-comic chosen by this week's poll!

[ID: A Scum Villain Comic. Panel one shows Shang Qinghua sitting down at his desk looking at Plant!Shen Yuan (at about 4-5 years old) with a nervous and contemplating look as SY happily draws. SQH thinks "Fuck idk how to interact with him...but I have to somehow check if he's also a transmigrator...." It then shows Chibi!SQH saying with a smile "Yuan'er! You've made an amazing drawing. You should try drawing Pikachu."

Panel two has all characters drawn in chibi style. SY looks up at SQH with a teary :< expression as a caption pointing to him states "Doesn't know what that is but doesn't want to admit it." SQH with a now very nervous/horrified expression hastily says "Don't worry about it actually! Draw whatever you want!" as he thinks "Oh god Shen-Shixiong's gonna kill me." End ID]

[divinerapturesys]

If u rp and u also have did, it’s never just as simple as “I’m really in character now” is it

[ray935sworld]

I'm gonna hold your hand while I say this - if you think an existing, loved and respected system for somthing should be changed because it could be confusing for new fans I do not think you are aware that you hold the power to literally research every information you get. You can spend literally 1 minute researching the rider and checking their championships on Wikipedia. It's not that hard. It's not much. It's not too much to ask.

When you get into a new sport or field, you will get confused at first. You will read information that was written for an audience already familiar with the subject. You cannot expect people, blogs, journalists, news papers, social media admins, to explain the absolute basics over and over and over again. It would be annoy for them and fans familiar with the subject. (and yes for you too after understanding the system)

Research comes with being interested in new stuff. It's normal. It's part of the learning progress. So do your fucking research. Ask fan who have been into it for longer. Respect the established way and do not demand a change because it's "confusing" just because you don't know how to use the internet and expect that everything is written so you can understand with little to no context.

That's not how this works.

[shizunitis]

Luo Binghe & Tianlang-Jun: Origins. And a Bit of Projection.

Disclaimer: This is basically just a collection of quotes from The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System, Volume 3, accompanied by (adjective) thoughts, and then even more relevant quotes listed at the end. If I could, I’d paste the entirety of Chapter 18.

“As expected, I can’t bring myself to hate humans.” — Vol. 3, Chapter 21: Always Together

I will always be conflicted on the topic of Tianlang-jun, and it annoys me. There is so much I could say about him, and so little I can successfully articulate. He is, to me, more confounding, complex and tragic than Shen Jiu.

He’s pitiful and awe-inspiring, wicked and affable, cunning and wide-eyed in his curiousity. He is a compelling, heartbreaking character. He alternates between emotionless wisdom and mournful apathy. I admire how his knees don’t buckle under the weight of his grief, but how he crumbles at the barest hint of hope. How rage claws at him and, still, he can’t figure out how to make it stick.

I empathise with him. I understand him.

But then, in the distance, Luo Binghe's indifferent voice disturbs the silence, causing me to drop my drink onto the floor and this post onto your screen:

“He’s not my father.”

It’s an interesting exercise, exploring their relationship in reconciliation fics. To see them interact (semi-)honestly, watch them take turns filling up the chasm between them. It’s wonderful. Every fic I’ve read centred around them was a delightful read that I still think about.

However. I cannot see Tianlang-Jun, as I understand him, as Luo Binghe’s father. And not just because of the 3rd Novel’s events.

But because Binghe had hoped for something; he did have that wide-eyed wonder. He did hold one last window open, for the sake of an improbability he couldn’t quite, just yet, dismiss.

It’s what (most) orphaned and/or adopted childred do.

Though Luo Binghe had never said a word about it before, Shen Qingqiu knew that he harbored some fantasies about his birth parents. […] In fact, he’d always secretly fantasized about whether his parents might still be alive, and how well they’d treat him, and how they’d never let him suffer the mildest slight. — Vol. 3, Chapter 17: Tianlang

It is the most human thing; to want to be helped, accepted, invited by those given to you. A family is given to you. Whether you believe it an act of the divine, of nature, of coincidence, it isn’t something you fight for. It’s the first and, arguably, only thing you don’t have to fight for in life.

Depending on a multitude of factors, that can be a blessing or a curse; but where there is room for interpretation, questions left unanswered, most childred—Binghe included—will turn to their imagination, and try to make sense of it. Usually, to comfort themselves, to reassure themselves that surely, if their family could, they would have.

And, yeah. Most likely, if the Palace Master had gotten punted into the Sun like he fucking deserved, they would have. But does it matter?

In the face of a bleak reality, what comfort is a could-have-been?

He liked to call Luo Binghe “that son of mine,” but he didn’t seem to possess any concept of fatherly affection. […] Luo Binghe was in fact…someone who was unloved by even his own parents. — Vol. 3, Chapter 15: Holy Mausoleum

What use are good intentions to an abandoned child? What consolation is it, to say, They gave birth to you, when that child has seen no evidence of their care? Does it dry their tears, that their mother can’t be here, but she surely would have wished to be? That their father would protect them, if only he knew of them?

(And don’t make me tell you about the visceral horror I felt reading the Origins chapter. I’ve yet to make my peace with it. MXTX, Airplane, whoever: you’ve ruined me.)

The washerwoman was and continues to be, to Binghe, his only mother. And I would argue, that’s healthy. Even independent of his other traumas (Abyss, Shizun’s betrayal, Xin Mo’s influence, living on the streets, etc, holy shit Binghe) Luo Binghe will not accept anyone else as his mother.

“Who is this Su Xiyan?” Luo Binghe asked coldly. “My mother was a mere washerwoman.” — Vol. 3, Chapter 18: Origins.

It may seem callous. It probably even is! But it is a healthy line he’d drawn by his own initiative. It’s what helps him, what he feels he needs to do in order to do right by his mother, and his own heart.

And! Tianlang-Jun doesn’t seem to give much of a shit, either!

Won’t, probably, even in the future, once the dust will have settled. He is exhausted, weary with carrying the corpse of his love, the loss of his nephew. Whatever goodwill he shows, it’s a perfunctory sort, because he can’t afford more.

So. Uhh.

Tianlang-Jun is not a character I can love, nor one I can hate. Usually, I can’t help but be inclined to love complex characters. Like them, too—though that’s more of an action-based thing rather than just said character’s personality.

But with Tianlang-Jun, I’m stuck whichever way I turn. If I want to love/like him, I’m drawn back by Binghe’s pain and disappointment. If I try to hate/dislike him, I’m drawn back by his own history and grief.

In conclusion:

I don't know! I'm not really trying to, like, prove anything. I still love the aforementioned TLJ & LBH fics, I still love their dynamic. I started walking and ended up exactly in the same space. This, perhaps, could be considered a Heavenly Demon Family Mobius Strip!

I'm not really trying to say anything. It just… makes me feel conflicted, and angry, and whenever I allow myself to think about it a bit more, sad.

But.

However!

Alas.

Nonetheless, even.

As a reader and—on my better days—a writer, all I can say is:

As promised/threatened: some selected passages, for your reading pleasure:

So, it looked like neither the father nor the cousin had any intention of acknowledging Luo Binghe. — Chapter 15: Holy Mausoleum

He liked to call Luo Binghe “that son of mine,” but he didn’t seem to possess any concept of fatherly affection. — Chapter 15: Holy Mausoleum

Tianlang-Jun lifted his hand, took a look at Luo Binghe’s snow-pale face, and commented indifferently, “He looks like his mother.” “His eyes look like yours,” came a chill voice from the side. — Chapter 15: Holy Mausoleum

The faint hopes and dreams Luo Binghe had held in his heart for many years had been mercilessly pulverized into so much dust. […] [Tianlang-Jun] refused to speak a single word of their relationship and had been utterly ruthless back in the Holy Mausoleum. […] To his parents, Luo Binghe was an unwanted child. — Chapter 18: Origins

“If he was my father, why didn’t he bring it up earlier? Why not tell me?” The most Tianlang-Jun had said was that single line he offered while beating up Luo Binghe, devoid of either praise or criticism: “He looks like his mother.” He looks like his mother. What of it? But that was all. There was nothing more. — Chapter 18: Origins

Luo Binghe was indifferent. “He’s not my father.” […] Luo Binghe shook his head. It was unclear what he was stubbornly clinging to, but he repeated, “He’s not my father.” — Chapter 18: Origins

Luo Binghe raised his smiling face, his eyes shining brightly. “Mother was the kindest person in all the world to me.” — Chapter 19: Shen Jiu

[akimojo]

i've seen a lot of dumb ff13 takes, but "why didn't the party just kill barthandelus and leave" has to be the stupidest one to date oh my god

[golvio]

Okay, so 1000xRESIST fuckin’ rules and you should play it if you haven’t already.

[nonsensisystem]

This is completely random and triggered by the most irrelevant post on my dash ever but I am genuinely so upset about how Frozen just straight up infected and took over Norway in the World Showcase in Epcot like I hate it I hate it so much.

Like no the World Showcase was intended to be a showcase of ACTUAL cultural diversity and you've gone and fucking bastardized it with a Frozen filter in NORWAY. Completely stripped it of its historic Norway folklore, the viking vibes of the Maelstrom and the shops and Olaf's fucking winter wonderland whatever the fuck like NO.

When I went to the World Showcase it was because I loved the genuine connections with other cultures around the world. I LIVED in the Asian cultures because it was the closest I could get to my heritage since my mom was so disconnected from it and didn't pass any of it down to me. You don't see Mulan pasted all over China, it has a cultural theater and a garden and a shop full of cultural knick knacks and traditional clothes and traditional food without a Disney-themed whatever name slapped onto it. They have a Chinese acrobatics show in the plaza there that's phenomenal to see!

The Middle East area was so small and on thin fucking ice because it lumped such a huge cultural spectrum into one little space to share but like! The bazaar and such was still a cool experience! Not an Aladdin reference in sight!

Japan has a rotating museum exhibit on culture that last time I was there talked a lot about kawaii culture and the shop had an oyster opening thing that taught you about Japanese pearl exports and a section about kimono and a taiko show and just!

Then Frozen fucking came along and took over Norway and now it's not Norway anymore, it's Frozenland!

It doesn't even stop there, it's spreading to all the other countries too and it makes me so sad! Ratatouille is infecting France and Encanto is infecting Latin America (which is ALREADY on thin fucking ice for similar cultural Lumping problems) and it just makes me so sad tbh...

It's like yes, I know that these films are big representations for particular cultures but I don't think they should be touted as THE representation of their associated cultures in the WORLD SHOWCASE. The cultures there should be allowed to speak for them-fucking-selves...! If you wanted Disney animation franchise stuff, you got that shit in Magic Kingdom or Hollywood Studios or the REST of Epcot where it belonged!

-Kokki

[ratbastarddotfuck]

just discovered that I seem to have been kicked from a server I spent more or less a decade building? like I was the founding member. must've happened overnight, cause I was looking at it just yesterday.

I've been relatively inactive for the last year or so because I decided I could no longer casually interact with someone who used to be my best friend, but I did still have other friends in there and I would occasionally check in on them through the server. we'd also never kicked anyone for inactivity like this before; people have been inactive for years that we kept around in case they wanted to come say hi.

really I'm just confused about who made this decision/when or how it was made, why nobody bothered to message me about it? ten years and some of the most important connections of my life. these people kept me alive when I first moved out of home. and I'm just kicked without warning? what did I fucking do?

[voids-ghost]

In Dark and Mind

The others might not remember, but Phantasm does, on some level. A mysterious group of strangers passing by, one smelling of mint… is that why they can’t remember what happened that night?

No, but they don’t know that.

Phantasm half remembers Perci, and sees Ramos. They don’t handle it great.

The "Mid-Tone/Minted One" is Ramos from @vulpixisananimal . Surprising no one who has followed me the last few days, not-quite me is attacking more of her OC's.

Semi-follow up to this. No idea where in the blinding Universe this would take place in her canon if at all... but eh. Fanfic of fanfic. The cycle of inspiration and creativity continues.

Also, see here for Phantasm (and Luna's) abilities. We can't draw people, so guess you just have to guess at what Claire/ISAT-ified Ms. Hostess looks like in Realspace (hint: darkless hair, half-moon glasses, probably long sleeves and a skirt).

CW: Thoughts of violence, brief mention of blood, bit of spiraling, following people to a location and breaking into their room, but honestly this is pretty tame by the standards of this game.

(Claire, aka Ms. Hostess) <Phantasm> {Luna}

(Claire sighed as she waited for the cup of tea in front of her to cool. The little café was noisy, and she wasn’t really sure what she was doing here. It was more money being spent, and it wasn’t as though she had anyone with her. And as welcoming as people were here, it still felt awkward. But her head had been hurting for days now, and the idea of cooking her own food made her want to cry. Yes yes, how mature of her, but everyone burnt out sometimes, right? Her eyes scanned the menu from behind half moon glasses as she tried to figure out what to eat. Maybe crepes? Something sweet sounded good, but chamomile already was sweet. Maybe savory, then.)

(The smell of chamomile was a balm on her soul. It was a little early for the sleepiest of teas, but too late for anything caffeinated, and the only other option was mint. Normally, she adored mint, but for whatever reason, she’d developed a sudden aversion.)

(How unfortunate, then, that someone apparently stunk of it.)

<Their heart spiked as a group walked out. A large group. An older Ka Buan woman, a broad-shouldered man, a shorter one with mid-tone hair, a darkless one, a Housemaiden, a darker skinned one with a hat, and a child with an even bigger hat. Clustered together, it was impossible to tell which one of them stunk of mint or why, but it didn’t sit right.>

<Plus those faces, why did they look blinding familiar? Surely they’d remember such an odd bunch, but there was a hole in them. A hole where something had been ripped out. It was a familiar pain, familiar like a rotten tooth you never had the money to pull so just lived with. But the context was new, was wrong, like they’d sprouted another tooth through their blinding arm or something.>

(She should just leave it. Leave them. Just go home and pretend this didn’t happen.)

<But something was STOLEN! The ache was still there! It had to be their fault, it HAD to be! Were these people why their head hurt? Why they’d woken up with a bloody nose and pain that didn’t cease?>

{There could be any number of reasons, we’d been working ourselves half to death with that deadline. It’s probably just stress, so let’s just ignore them and get some crepes-}

<SHUT! UP!>

(She threw down enough coins to pay for the tea,) <equipping their Memory of Neglect: It’s your nature to go unseen. No one would see them, even when they needed it. Might as well use that. They didn’t need food, they needed answers, needed to know, needed safety revenge!>

<It was getting late, but that was whatever. The dark was nice. Less people, less work, less eyes on them. Even their Memory wasn’t perfect; start enough of a ruckus, and even the most blind people would eventually pay attention, but not the good kind. No, it was safer to be alone…>

<And even safer to be armed.>

<Phantasm equipped: Sharp Rock. Just like you! Can do either scissors or rock damage, whichever hurts worse.>

(Something was wrong. Something was wrong wrong wrong wrong-)

{It’s okay, we’re okay. Come snuggle up. Just get some rest. Okay? Let’s just go home.}

(No! She couldn’t. Something was wrong. Her chest felt tight, adrenaline flooding her system. Her head hurt even worse than before, and her breaths were tight. But hey, a little more exercise couldn’t hurt, right? It might run off some stress!)

{Food would work better.}

(She knew she should eat, but she wasn’t hungry. Instead, she just turned the rock over and over in her hands. It had a nice feel to it, though she had to be careful of the point.)

<They slipped into the inn. Just keep walking like you owned the place, no one would question it.>

(She just wanted to talk to them. Maybe they knew something? About… mint?)

<It watched from a distance as the group split off, pretending to look at room numbers. They’d been actually lost enough to know what being lost looked like. The pale one spared a glance their way, and for a moment, the Ka Buan stared too closely, but their eyes glazed over and they both looked away.>

(The Universe was good at averting eyes, when it needed to. And she wasn’t much to look at anyways.)

<The group started splitting up, and they walked by, taking a deep breath. That one. Mid-tone. Looked harmless, but that never meant anything. The group just shuffled politely aside to let them pass.>

<Soon the hallway cleared. Room 102 for Minty. They looked around. Once. Twice. Stuff the rock in your pocket, that’ll be suspicious. No one here? Listen for footsteps… No? Good.>

<Phantasm Equipped: Memory of Escape: they can’t keep you here forever. It was more for getting out of places, but technically getting into a room was getting out of a hallway. Right? They hoped it worked that way.>

<Now let’s see… is that lock pickable? Well, not if all they had was a rock. Any pins? No? Of course not, that’d be too easy. Blinding->

Creeeeeak! “Go ahead and unpack, I’ll- oof!” <The older of the hat siblings(?) ran right into them.> “Crab, sorry!”

“’S fine,” <they murmured, barely paying attention as they switched hurriedly back to Memory of Neglect. Don’t look at them don’t look at them don’t look at them->

<The hatted one moved away… and there on the ground was her key. Thank you, Universe! They waited until she left, until they were alone, to steel themselves. To numb themselves. Don’t let them in, don’t let them rattle you, don’t let them pull tricks this time…>

<There was a familiar feeling of wavery, half-existence as they became Untouchable. It wasn’t the best shield, but would keep that mint off of them, if only a bit. This time, they’d win.>

<This time, they’d be ready!>

<Their heart surged, starting their Spiral *ATT up! DEF down!* as they switched to Memory of Phantasm Volatile, but always ready for a fight!, pulling their Sharp Rock as they unlocked the door, slamming it shut behind them. There was no time to waste, no time to hold back. Fast, fast, this would be fast! They held the stone above their head as they rushed the Minted One, channeling Rock Craft as they decided to Go For the Throat—- >

———

Cliffhanger. Or not. “Teehee,” as the Loops say.

[lynaferns]

Why tf are the tags censored???

Who does that?

Do people think this is tiktok or what?

[jofoe]

YOU ARE HIM. I AM NOT. I give up (I'm too high)

[purple-space-aliens]

been too quiet

[vampiriccollective]

I….. what do you mean the head mod told someone to put a trigger warning for ROMANCE in the comments under a community post. WHAT

Im sorry what in the 2020 discord server is this

[catwouthats]

Me when I finally found labels that suit me but a shit ton of people are saying it doesn’t exist/it “invalidates others”

[whumpy-wyrms]

this man’s hair is changing without my permission again