#venting in the tags don't mind me!!

[safyresky]

😤😤😤

[sketchy-tour]

I can't see you. Do you see me? 👁️👁️

[bbnibini]

I find it so painfully heartbreaking that Solomon just...laughs off all the derision, the name-calling, and possibly even did "evil" things on purpose because it's expected of him at this point. (He had not always been like this as Thirteen pointed out before). There was a time when he was "innocent". When his soul sparkled. When it resembled the kind of soul everyone in these god forsaken (pun intended with spite) three realms seemed to associate with the ever loved MC. He's just...worryingly carefree. And because he's like that, he feels even more of a tragic character to me.

Sometimes it even seems that he himself would seemingly make up excuses on why he's hated. Oh, it's because I'm a sorcerer this. I might have won a war against Devildom single-handedly this. I have forgotten. But maybe, I did something bad, that. Hon, you were doing that to SURVIVE. You don't have to be a faultless person to deserve compassion. You don't have to be MC to deserve to be loved.

[ineffablefool]

gahhhh the last few weeks I have been starving for fics or art where Aziraphale is clearly, legitimately fat (with adoring attention paid to his physical features which are associated with said fatness) and also clearly, legitimately loved ("desired" would be okay but oh give me cherished, give me treasured and held dear and, again, adored)

and I know that this is one of those things where I should just be the change I want to see in the world, but the last few weeks I have also been [flops face-first onto bed and doesn't move for 45 minutes], so clearly that is not happening

[deoidesign]

I’m a trans man that recently got diagnosed with hyper mobile eds, so now seeing Steve makes me extra happy, because cool disabled ftm rep. Thanks for making the radical dude bro, he’s funky.

same disability (waving hand emoji)

Always extremely fulfilling to know my work makes people happy in some small way, it means a lot. Thank you for sharing with me

[2hoothoots]

i was having a chuckle to myself last night about Gristol, and how his plans are basically:

Restore Ford Cruller's memory

Find Maligula

???

Profit

but then... of course they are, right? this is Gristol we're talking about. Fatherland Follies drives home again and again that he's still operating on a child's logic, a warped and reductive version of the world that he never bothered to grow out of. both of his memory vaults center on the images of his childhood, this idealized version of the past that he clings to no matter what. and that's still how he remembers Maligula, too - as this saviour figure, who rushes in to help him when he's in trouble.

[ID: Two slides from Gristol's memory vault, Glory to Grulovia! Left: Gristol clings to Maligula's back as she summons waves to sweep away his assailants. Right: Gristol and Maligula waving from a balcony as the people cheer. Gzar Theodore brandishes a dagger in the background.]

like so much else, Maligula represents a return to this idyllic childhood - to the peace and simplicity of his youth, when he was free from worries and responsibilities. in his mind, he doesn't need to make any further plans - once Maligula's back, everything will go back to normal. Maligula will make everything better.

...is what i thought, but then i remembered this line:

[Screenshot source. ID: Gristol, in Truman's body, bows on his hands and knees in front of the newly-awaked Maligula. The caption reads: "Yes, High Priestess! I am here to correct the mistakes made by my father!"]

and that's kind of interesting, right?

to be clear: this happens directly after Maligula sees Helmut-in-Gristol's-body, and recognises him. her line before this is:

"Little Gzesaravich! Have you come to pay for your father's sins?"

my first thought was that Gristol hadn't expected to still be in Truman's body by the time he managed to find Maligula, and this was him trying to placate her and buy some time until he could explain the situation. but watching the cutscene back, that's clearly not what's happening here. Gristol is answering as himself, and his response of throwing himself to his knees before her is, as far as i can tell, genuine.

so what is going on here?

in Fatherland Follies, there's this line in the ride narration that stuck out to me:

"Why didn't the Gzar help Maligula in her time of need? No one knows, but historians agree - it is Gzar Theodore's biggest failure."

other lines mention Gzar Theodore's "mistake", and it's wording Gristol himself echoes in the screencap above. evidently, he believes that his father abandoned Maligula, leaving her to her fate at the hands of the Psychonauts, and it was that mistake that lead to them being driven out of the country - that mistake which he seeks to correct. maybe he even feels like he has a debt to repay to her for his family turning their backs on her all those years ago.

the 'High Priestess' thing, though - that's kinda weird, and threw me for a loop the first time i played the game. it took me until my second playthrough to connect the dots, and remember how the room in the Lady Luctopus - Gristol's room - was full of Delugionist scribblings and symbols.

[Screenshot source. ID: left, the walls of the hidden backroom in Gristol's hotel suite, covered in scrawlings of eyeballs and Maligula's name. Right, the pinboard from the hidden backroom. On its surface are photographs and newspaper clippings connected by pieces of string.]

i mean, look at this stuff! he had a whole conspiracy board and everything!

we learn very little about the Delugionists and their beliefs as a whole during the game, but i think drawing the connection here suggests two important things. one: that Gristol was in deep with this stuff. i don't know how he linked up with them - maybe via old family connections, or just good old-fashioned digging (we know he's skilled at worming his way into peoples' good graces, after all) - but it seems likely that he's begun to internalise their ideas, maybe even warping his own memories of events. and two: the Delugionists themselves are, if you'll pardon the pun, pretty far off the deep end.

like... i understand why PN2 didn't go heavy on the "mass-murderer cult worship" aspect of things, in the end, but man this is such a tantalising glimpse into the wider mythos around Maligula. Gristol is proud and haughty and thinks himself above everyone else; the fact that his first reaction seeing Maligula is to throw himself to the ground at her feet says so much about the way he's come to see her. he's not just trying to bring back Maligula, his childhood bodyguard. he's trying to bring back Maligula, the High Priestess of the deluge, the semi-mythical figure whose supporters believe even death couldn't stop. he doesn't even flinch at the way she confronts him, and maybe it's because he's bought in so completely to this deified figurehead, this idea of Maligula; more a living force of nature than a person. and it all comes back to the same place: an abdication of responsibility, not just to the person who protected him when he was little but to this avatar of floods and destruction. Maligula will make everything better.

i'd write more about my thoughts on the Delugionists but that'd be taking a hard turn into speculation, and this is already kind of long and rambling so i'd better end it here. but what an unexpected and evocative line, right? it's some of the only stuff we have to go off of regarding the Delugionists as a whole, but i think it does such a good job of hinting at the wider story - at teasing another layer to the mythos surrounding Maligula, one whose ripples we see throughout the game but which never quite breaches the surface.

[cremanata]

it’s my birthday !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[kuravix]

Why do people think Bonney has a crush on Sanji? Because she called him cool? Can a woman not compliment a man platonically?

A woman can like a man without being a love interest! She's not been swooning or blushing around him. She's a foodie, of course she's going to like a great chef like Sanji!

And why are people so intent on shipping Bonney when there's a strong chance she is actually a CHILD!

[poorly-drawn-slugcats]

birthday sluggy (it is NOT my birthday yet but i needed to draw them before i go hide)

[moe-broey]

Textpost redraw that only works in a modern setting, so. I gave them silly outfits (and a little bit of lore!)

Some zoom ins on the illusts!

And Lore

Moe is like. A SHUT-IN shut-in. So in any modern setting that isn't "Hey wanna visit my hometown for a sec (events so far have followed canon at least loosely)", it would have to meet Alfonse under Extremely Specific Circumstances.

And finally! Textpost under cut!

[vangbelsing]

Feeling a bit frustrated so I'm gonna vent a bit below the cut. I'm not trying to be negative or rain on any parades, so I'll preface this by saying I'm gonna vent about my grievances regarding companion romance in DATV and if you don't want to see that I'll add a cut so you don't have to read anything that'll be a party pooper for you.

I don't anticipate anyone to read through what is essentially me bellyaching, but in case you do, just please be aware that it's really just a vent about something most people seem excited for and I don't want to spoil the fun for anybody.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I've had this thought for awhile, and if I can be honest? I don't mean any negativity when I say this, and I hope the people that are enjoying this can have fun with it, but tbh I feel almost like I'm the only person in the fandom who just... does not care about all the shipping and companions getting together.

Like I'm aware it has been a thing since DA2 (I know Oghren gets with Felsi and a lot of companions flirt, especially in DA:A but idk if I'd count that as the same thing) and it's never bothered me overmuch, but it's just... Not what I care about. I think it can be cute in certain instances, like Sera and Dagna, (I don't see it much bc I'm usually the one romancing Sera but I think it's SOOOOO cute when it happens) and I think that the banter with Cole and Blackwall about his little crush on Josie is super fun, but those have never really made a big difference on character development imo.

And to be very honest, I hope it's like the last games where it's certain characters under certain circumstances. I know they said they've never had this many pairings, but I just... I'm not sure if I want it to be EVERY companion being able to get with every OTHER companion and that your game is always going to be chalk full of romance no matter what you do. Like I want it to be like with Dorian and Bull, where it can happen, but it's situational and depends on their exposure to each other out in the world.

I truly do not want to sound negative, because I don't hate romance. I understand that characters are a HUGE part of games and these games especially, and having some romance in there that's independent of the player has never bothered me. It can give another level of making characters feel more believable. But when it's every character getting with every character, and romance is implemented into every aspect, it sort of feels... Forced? It feels disingenuous, to me personally. I think it's just as unbelievable that every character is romantically compatible with absolutely everyone else as it is for the companions to only be attracted to the protagonist.

And while I wouldn't necessarily call myself aromantic, it is something that generally either disinterests me or can even make me feel uncomfortable when it's overtly pushed. Obviously, games are welcome to have content that is not intended for me, and I don't even dislike the fact that romance plays a part. In fact, when I romance characters, it's usually because I want to see how their story can develop and the way it can impact them as a character, or because I genuinely just enjoy them as a character. But I don't want that to be all that there is.

And I know that could read as hypocritical since I'm something of a selfshipper, but I think what bugs me isn't the romance being there, but the idea that it's going to be so??? Idk. It feels like it's almost a defining quality that they assume you're going to be actively engaging with, whether it's you romancing your Rook with a companion or you shipping the other characters together. And I do want to reiterate that I think the shipping and characters getting together is fine, it doesn't inherently bother me. But I don't like that it seems pretty deeply woven into most aspects of the game.

Like? What I specifically don't want is for the characters to be relatively bland if you strip away the romance, and that goes for their romance with Rook as well. I think that's my biggest fear, really. I just want the characters to be able to exist without those relationships, because I want to be able to exist without those relationships without feeling like I'm a black sheep for not engaging with them.

I just think games in general have gotten to the point where they basically don't think of aro or ace people at all. And while romance and aro and ace people can exist simultaneously, I just wish more spaces actively attempted to keep in mind that they will be there and that not everyone wants to be surrounded by those sorts of relationships.

It's easy enough to say "if you don't like romance, don't romance the characters", but when it's literally everywhere, it can feel a little alienating. I do wish there was some aro or ace rep in these games, because it gets to a point where it feels like that's the focal point of the game and you just have to deal with it.

Anyway, that's it. Sorry for the rant, and I mean it when I say I hope that people who are excited for this aspect of the game enjoy it. I just wish that, as someone who is exploring aromanticism, I wish that there were spaces that felt more accommodating for people like me that don't always want to interact too heavily with this kind of thing.

[crabussy]

I want to take a bite out of someone's arm but I'm too shy

[x-adoringvoid-x]

Apparently that's called the 'irresistible force paradox'

[vincent-sinclair-deserved-better]

hm

thinking of my blorbos but not in a "i love you you love me all is well" way but a "i love you hope you kill me" way lol

[whatitsemerald]

idk if im allowed to selfship myself with peepers if im a female, i just don't know???

[bloomingbluebell]

me, who started uni thinking i was entirely neurotypical and able-bodied but just lazy: i'm a failure for how long it's taking me to finish this degree. i'm a failure for being unable to get a job while i do so, much less handle it while i study. i don't deserve to take a semester off, i need to be doing something. i need to be able to support myself somehow. i'm failing at life

random voice in my head: you're not even 25 yet. most of your classmates are the same age as you. you can only handle so much and the threshold is much lower for you than for an able-bodied and -minded person. everyone deserves a break and should be able to take one without consequence and it's a shame that you don't feel you deserve it. the milestones you're worried about aren't real and even the one deadline you're worried about is 4 years in the future and your advisor told you not to worry about it anyways. deep breaths. it'll be alright.