#we don't use trees like this while we're in development

[abby-howard]

Scarlet Hollow decision tree

People occasionally ask to see a decision tree for Scarlet Hollow, so a while back I put one together for episodes 1-4! It’s not comprehensive, as most scenes at this point have at least some variation due to any number of tracked variables, but it accounts for most of the really major deviations.

For those who don’t want spoilers but would like to hear about how we kinda structure the game: I like to talk about it as more of a braid than a tree, which is not a new concept or anything, but I feel like it helps other narrative designers understand how to limit the absolute vastness that you can get with branching structures. The narrative branches off at decision nodes, but instead of continuing down significantly different routes, it comes back together at key moments. So there’s a single narrative throughline to the game-- events unfold in the town and you witness them in some capacity, but your perspective on them, who you’re with, the options available to you, all these are impacted by other choices you’ve made along the way, including the character traits you chose at the start of the game.

It’s not necessarily easier than doing routes, since it means Tony and I have to keep track of a ridiculous number of little variations including one-off dialogue choices players have made AND steering players to the important narrative moments can be tricky, but I think it makes for an interesting player experience! People get so excited when, say, a line at the end of Episode 4 calls back to something they said when they first met Tabitha at the beginning of Episode 1.

ANYWAY, HUGE SPOILERS UNDER THE CUT, do not proceed if you don’t want to know about basically everything that’s currently in the game!

Things start to get a little hard to read from here on out....

Episode four had to be broken into four images and looks like spaghetti

I’ll make another one of these for Episode 5 after it comes out sometime next year! (I know that’s a bit of a wait but it’ll be worth it >:D)

[fishnapple]

🔞 Channelled message:

The first time that they feel desire for you & their fantasies

(lover/partner/future spouse)

This is an old reading, I actually have this type of readings stashed away in my draft from months ago but could never find the right time to post them. So here is one of them. Enjoy.

Disclaimer : Contain mature contents. Minors (under 18y/o) do not interact.

This is a general reading meant for multiple people. Take only what resonates and leave out the rest.

Your feedback is much appreciated. If you find the reading resonated with you, leave a comment, I’d love to know 🎐

About me | Masterpost

Book a reading with me - KO-FI (→ personal reading)

AGATE

Are you generally this flirty and aggressive with other people or only with me? I'm worried. Other people shouldn't be able to witness this side of yours. Am I a possessive person by nature or I'm only like that towards you? I don't know anymore.

I was perfectly contented with my daily life, structure and routine bring peace to my mind. I could be a very repetitive person, don't find me boring, I won't be like that with you. Do you know why? You jolted me out of this safety shell and plunged me into a strange land by that playful and straightforward way of yours.

The moment you came closer to me with that broad smile and that heat, oh, that heat, I could feel it in my skin even when you were not touching me at all. Thanks to you, I've discovered that I have the hot for aggressive people, or it's just you. I imagined you grabbing me and bestowed me with a passionate kiss, then whispered into my ears how much you wanted me. It sent a shiver down my spine. I'm not gonna lie, I felt instantly aroused, I hope that I didn't make a fool of myself in front of you. Just know this, I will have no problem getting aroused whenever you initiate it.

You protested that it wasn't how you behave? Well, it's true, you weren't exactly that sexually aggressive towards me like that, not yet, not in the beginning. You probably were just having some fun, playing some games, tackling some creative projects, or recounting some fun stories while I looked at you and wished that passion of yours would be directed at me instead.

You were so brilliant, a walking flame. You awaken my desire like lightning striking down a tree. My mind went into fantasy land and imagined what it would be like, holding you in my arms, naked, both of us, our chests pressed against each other, touching that soft skin, both outside and inside. What we could discover about each other, what we could experience together. I wanted to be risky, to pour all of my desires on you, to taste you everywhere, to do it until we're both overwhelmed, to see where the limit is, and push through it.

Another thing that I have to confess is that at that time, that feeling was pure lust. I hadn't developed romantic feelings for you yet. But my desire for you will haunt me, I won't be able to decipher the reason. Until someday, when I finally looked deep into my feelings, after questioning it thoroughly, I will arrive at the conclusion, the inevitable, that you are the one for me.

Note: this person will develop sexual desire for you when they see you putting effort into something creative, when you were having fun, showing jest and passion for life, being assertive in a playful, flirty way. It may be a random moment, not a big event. That attitude will be a contrast to their usual way in life, so they will find it exhilarating and freeing. That will also affect their fantasies about you, wanting to be free, having no limit, indulging in each other, touching your deepest place. There could also be some exhibitionistic desire, somewhere a little open with the risk of being seen. Other than that, they don't really have any specific kink or particular fantasy. They are mostly go with the flow style.

FLOURITE

Does me saying I love your tears turns you off? Don't worry, I will never be the one that makes you cry, or at least I will try not to be one. We can cry together, you can cry in front of me. The sight of your tears will tear my heart open and let out this feeling that I myself wasn't aware of before.

I was really grateful that you chose to be open with me, telling me your pains that no one else had ever known. It's my honour. At that moment, I felt as if our hearts had been bridged, your emotions flowed into mine, I won't even know what was yours, what was mine. I will feel this rage inside, toward life, maybe? How could life give you so many pains like that. You were just yourself, yet people couldn't have the bravery to face that realness. Please don't ever dim your light for other people or for anything.

But that rage will be accompanied by desire. My desires are tied to my emotions. The more intense the emotion, the more intense my desire will be. I will feel this instinctive urge to protect you. Destruction and protection go hand in hand. I wanted to force all those painful memories out of you and burn them, to replace them with memories of me.

I felt a war inside me. I wanted to touch you softly, caressing every part of you, to tell every inch of you that it's okay, to wrap you with pleasure so much that those tears will be tears of pleasure (oh no, will that make me the one that makes you cry? I'm willing to be the offender then). But I also wanted to grab and take you into me, to push you so hard that we would become one, whatever I do, you still feel so distant to me. I got impatient.

But I won't act on that desire. I will be gentle, I will be the comfy bathtub that you drown yourself in after a long day. To be the warm water in the tub, lapping over you. Can you feel my heat? You don't need to do anything. Let me take care of you.

Note: This person will feel an intense desire to protect you and to soothe you. To them, emotions go hand in hand with sexual desire. So the moment that their emotions and yours are heightened will be the point where they feel sexual desire for you. At that time, you could be telling them about past pains of yours, likely from childhood, it related to being an individual, isolation, not fitting in, of loss. You will be crying, the tears will be the trigger.

This person has the ability to connect emotionally with other people. The connection of emotions will lead to the connection of bodies. They are gentle but have a more aggressive side to them, a little extreme. I feel like the moment they feel desire for you will lead to your first time with each other. The fantasies will stay in their head, but they won't act on them completely. It could also come as a surprise for you. You may not be fully aware of the extent that is their desire for you.

They have a liking for water and wetness, be it the water around you when you are having sex or the water coming from you. So they might like to give you oral, shower sex, licking, dripping, spilling. They will also like to talk to you to instil their own fantasies into your mind so that you will share the same fantasies for each other. They want to achieve oneness.

CARNELIAN

I suppose that I wasn't being honest with you. Hiding all my problems and weakness, my insecurities were many, you know, they weighted heavily on my mind. Every night, they would come in, haunting my sleep. Life is heavy to me, I'm a fearful person. I've never felt safe in this world. My foundation is lacking. It felt like I was living in a castle made from cardboard, ready to collapse at any moment. And how can I welcome another human being into this shabby castle of mine? That was how I thought about our relationship. I wasn't courageous enough, I let my demons whisper in my ears while you were there, caring, with the gentlest love that I've got.

It was until we had our first serious argument with the possibility of you leaving that I was awakened. It felt like hearing something exploded. I was disoriented, the first thought that sprang to my mind was to hold you, firmly, to drag you into my cardboard castle, to let you see it all, without care how it could collapse with both of us inside.

I thought that if I prepared enough, I would be confident, I would be able to show you our bright future together. But when will be enough? I'm ashamed that it had to take an argument for me to realise it, that my desire for you would be ignited in such a negative situation, human sure are weird creatures, don't you think?

No, I didn't act out that first thought, I just grabbed your hand and apologised, like a good and polite human. My heart was awakened, but that doesn't mean my mind would just quietly follow suit.

After that incident, I found myself thinking about it again and again. I would relive the argument but put an erotic twist to it. (TW: dubious consent) I imagine me being rough and acting all assertive. Without a second word, I would pull your turning back close to me and kiss your neck and shoulder from behind, arms caging you so tight, you would feel a little suffocated. Then, as I feel you getting softer, I would let my hands trace every inch of your body, with you still a little miffed but can't resist my touch. I imagined you being pleasured until you let out a soft moan, shaking in my arms.

Then I would turn your head around to face me and kiss you with my all, without being afraid that you would find out all my insecurities and all that unsightly parts of me.

Note: This person could be quite emotionally distant, afraid to commit because of their insecurities. They are restrained and tend to overthink everything, to the extent of being paranoid. They are in their head more than their heart, their heart is a dangerous place for them.

There will be a point where you are tired of the uncertainty and distance in this relationship. The situation would be when you go on a date with them, something not quiet right will happen, something small, but you will argue and the argument leads to a bigger issue. You will want to walk away. This is when they realise the possibility of losing you, like a Tower moment. They don't want that to happen, so they will grab your hand and apologise, explaining their problems. Some kind of commitments will be formed. And also the desire for you.

They have a more aggressive and earthy side to them that is hidden and only comes out in their fantasies. They would want to pleasure you from behind, making you feel their feelings for you through physical touch. The focus is on you. They imagine themselves to be more brave, to open their heart for you to see without a care in the world.

AMETHYST

Ah, our first kiss, our sweet, sweet, first kiss. I can still recall the taste of you exactly, just like being on that day again.

Do you remember it too? We even took a picture of us kissing, to solidify our memory together, a celebration for our love. I felt so warm, like a sun has found refugee inside me. The kiss transported me into a magical land, into our future together, our journey has started.

I will be thinking way far ahead, about how our wedding will be, where will our honeymoon be spent, how our first night as a married couple will be, how our kids would look like, how we would be worried about their future and finally have some rest together in the old age. I didn't know that I was such a planner, or was I a dreamer? No, I'm a magician, I will make our dreams come true. Yes, brace yourself and start looking forward to it.

I have a commitment kink. There, I've said it, loud and clear. The moment we solidify our commitment to each other (I like the word 'solidify', like heavy concrete that we could sit on) will be the moment all my passion broke free and come running to you.

Do you think our lifetime plan in my head is just some innocent planning? No, I'm a sucker for details. No detail of our life will escape my mind. Including our sex life. What kind of domestic life could be without the pleasure.

Just like when we were dating, we will continue on being smitten with each other well into our trembling-hands-and-hair-whitening era. You and I will make sure that passion is never lacking in our relationship.

We will talk about it a lot, seriously and flirtatiously, teasing each other, then sit down and discuss it, like a research project. We will try many different things, getting feedback from each other, then calibrating the system until it reaches perfection. We will also tell each other about our deepest fears and painful memories, then we will kiss each other better every time.

Let's grow together. Let's run our naked bodies along the seashore like little kids, collecting seashells, giggling then colliding into each other.

Let's have our late night debate about the metaphysical then tearing out clothes in the process.

Let's grow trees together in our garden, let's get dirty (literally) as we embrace each other (I can't help using 'each other', I also like this word) on the soft, damp earth. Then, many years later, we will embrace each other under the shade of our grown-up trees.

Note: There's this warm and bubbly, exited energy to this person. The moment you first kissed will be when they start imagining your life together. They get turned on by commitment and the future prospects of your relationship. When they're dating, they definitely have long-term commitment and marriage in mind.

They are quite cerebral, love to think, and plan ahead. But those thoughts don't just stay in their head. They got put into reality. They like to think about the relationship as a project to build and to perfect with their partner. But they are not rigid. They like spontaneity. They want to feel the pleasurable aspect of the relationship with their partner everywhere, to make memories, to celebrate the love. Everything can lead to sex. They seem to have a preference for the outdoor and nature.

ROSE QUARTZ

Hmm, do you have some kind of superpower? The kind that can lower other people's intelligence? I felt like a toddler learning to speak for the first time when I'm around you. And this mind of mine did not feel too well about that. I'm usually the one that people look up to. I can say with some confidence that I'm an intelligent person, but being in front of you? My intelligence seemed to take a strike and went for an infinite vacation. I don't think you've noticed this dilemma in me. Thanks goodness, at least I could still appear as a good enough debate opponent for you. What's with all this talk about intelligence anyway? Because I want to know the cause and effect of things. I want to know the cause of my desire for you and the effect of it.

To put it plain and simple, you challenged me mentally. Who would have thought that I could get turned on by debating about the present school system with you? Talking about vehicles turned me on, talking about religious matters turned me on (wait, that doesn't sound right). I know you didn't do it to rile me up. You simply share your view and ideas with me, innocently. But I also know, our debates turn you on too, you can't hide that twinkle in your eyes whenever I say something controversial or go against you view. We flirt by words, our words, they clash then kiss each other. Is 'arguing' in public considered a type of PDA?

I thought I was the absolute ruler of my own mind, sitting smugly on the pile of gold, getting praised by commoners, confident that no one can match me (I'm a vain and arrogant human being okay). Then the gate was blasted open. There stood you, alone, with that bazooka for a mouth and an equally smug face. I thought that you came to steal my gold, no, that wasn't the true horror, you came to tell me that my gold was fake. Ah, how I slipped and fell, face kissing the ground. How dare you? I had to bravely stand up and charge at you, to kiss you? (Eh, I didn't expect that twist. Is this some kind of cheesy romance web novel?). Don't take it the wrong way, it's not like I'm worshiping you or anything, I just want to get close to you to study you, to pull out all of your secrets, and then? To sit at your feet and admire them, maybe? While we are in the mood, may as well dress the parts. Let's turn ourselves into characters of our own novel. Let me regain some of my dignity in my fantasies. Let me be the teacher, and you be the student, nodding admiringly at my every word. Then, while I'm drunk in your adoration, you would turn all bratty and tease me, strip me of my dignity again.

Note: I don't have much to say about this person other than you may want to save up to buy lots of costumes later on.

This person is quite arrogant and used to being admired and put on pedestal by other people. But you won't be like that to them. You challenge their world view, kick them down the pedestal, and they like that. There could be a masochistic streak in them. Wanting to be put down, to be humbled. They will want to be lured into a trap by their partner and be tricked into submission (willingly, with consent, of course). They like you to act bratty while they pretend to be frustrated and have to give in to you.

They have fantasies about role-playing, could be related to medieval themes. I don't see any particular actions, just them liking the mental stimulation and talking back and forth. To them, pleasure comes from the mind.

OBSIDIAN

Do you know about the ducklings imprinting? About how in the early period of a duckling, they capture the image and sound of a moving being into their mind, permanently solidifying this being as the object for the duckling to follow? I was like that with you.

You came into my life during my most transforming period. I felt like I was born again, leaving behind all the bad memories and disappointments. I felt weak and lonely, lost in this new world, literally, I had to move to a new place, getting used to the new environment from the start. And you were there, gently walking side by side with me. It's bittersweet how I had to go through the darkest moment in my life to meet you, but it's all worth it. You made the pains feel like distant memories.

I still remember that moment perfectly. You came to me, asking if I had eaten. I said no, and you proceeded to cook a speedy warm meal for me. I wanted to cry, honestly. Never in my life had I ever thought that food could be such a multipurpose thing, a miraculous balm, a pouring melody, a comfy blanket, a word of love. I felt full and nourished, by you.

Let me put you on the pedestal a bit, let me see you through a rose coloured glasses, let me dream about you every time sleep comes to me, temporarily or eternally. Let me return the love equal to that you've given me, or even more than that. I want to give you my all, at the same time, I want to be all that you have, as you are mine.

Sometimes, I wished that there's only the two of us in this world. How I wanted to muffle all other noises, smear all other colours, air out all the scents so that the only remaining things are your voice, your colours, and your scent. Let me paint you. Though I can't be confident that there exists a kind of paint that can convey the brilliant of your skin, your eyes, your hair. It's frustrating how I can see you crystal clear in my mind yet unable to translate the image into the canvas. In this case, could you be my canvas and let me paint myself onto you?

Note: This person has a sensitive and artistic soul. They will meet you when they've just come out of a dark tunnel, starting a new life, moved to a new place. They will get attached to your kindness and warmth. I feel like the situation when they develop desire for you for the first time will be when you are comfortable with each other already. You could come to their place, cooked for them. They could see your care, which will trigger their emotional desire for you. Their physical desire is tied to their emotional desire.

They will want to serve you, to put you on pedestal and cater to your every desire. They could be a little possessive, wanting you for themselves. They want to have sex in somewhere secluded, private and quiet, with a sparse surrounding or even empty. All of their focus will be on you. They will want to stay silent to hear your moans, eyes fixing on you all the time, and breathing in your scents everywhere. Then after the sex, they want to paint you, on canvas, you could be their muse, or paint on you with their marks. It's like your existence in their mind and in front of their eyes are still not enough.

[strawglicks]

Thoughts on Flint's Previous Job

I've had thoughts about this since the beginning but i was a coward and never said anything, so the time has come to break my silence!!! Let's talk about Flint Bonpyre's previous work.

Flint used to be a member of the Fire Control Authority for 10 YEARS. This is the only employment history he has on record.

They mention this job in their personal statement as well, saying:

"hoping that my abilities could benefit C.O.G.S. Inc., and would be appreciated here in a way they weren't in my previous career. It's, um, apparently possible to burn down "too many" trees in a controlled burn...whoops..."

Flint feels that he wasn't appreciated at his old job, which, as a reminder, he worked at for 10 years straight. 10 years of feeling underappreciated.

They specialized in controlled burns but kept burning down too many trees. But the way they talk about it intrigues me. The use of the word "apparently" and the quotes around "too many" reads as if Flint doesn't actually believe they were in the wrong. They don't think there's a such thing as burning down "too many" trees. They wish they could burn as much as they like with no limitations, and is looking for some kind of position where this aggressive firepower will be praised rather than looked down on, hence "I'm hoping to just lend more firepower to help snuff out some of COGS Inc.'s more Toony problems".

Despite Flint thinking he was right, he still says "whoops" at the end of that statement. He's just used to apologizing whenever things go wrong instead of putting his foot down for what he believes. Flint doesn't want to correct what they did wrong in their previous position, because they don't think they did anything wrong. They just want a job that will encourage and appreciate their reckless arson with no limitations. COGS Inc. serves as that job, seeing as he is encouraged to burn as many toons as he pleases. His special Barnburner attack is also captioned as him "going all out", meaning he's pushing himself to his fullest potential there. He is flourishing in this job when he is able to burn toons.

I also think the amount of time Flint worked their old job plays a part here. Despite feeling underappreciated and never being encouraged to use their full potential, they stuck around for 10 years. I imagine, Flint being a doormat, simply put up with it all that time despite being unhappy.

Flint felt he'd been wronged by his previous job and sought out a position that would appreciate him.

While we're at it, we should speak on this bit of lore:

Despite the fact Flint likes setting things on fire, they panicked when they damaged company property. They're perfectly fine going all out on toons because they are actually ENCOURAGED to do so, but this is a different situation. The fact he started crying and was extremely apologetic shows how anxious they are about screwing up, especially when it might anger the company he works for. Not necessarily because he feels bad, but because it could get him in trouble. He could lose the respect and appreciation he's after. (this also reminds me of how he looks up to cosmo and wants respect from him yet has conflict with his satellites BUT thats another ramble for another day)

There's a huge possibility he picked up on this behavior due to his old job, where he was constantly screwing up and presumably being walked all over for a decade. This situation brought him back to that environment and it warranted an extreme reaction. Being underappreciated and potentially mistreated at your job for 10 years could definitely cause a high level of anxiety and doormat behavior. They've developed a habit to apologize constantly even if they don't feel bad in order to continue being respected by their higher-ups.

The day he walked out of that old job was probably a good one for him.

[nerdygaymormon]

I talked with my mother in law about disagreeing with the august policy and she kept faily neutral and said God made that policy and His children make the choice to stray from Him. While i believe the policy was inspired i dont believe it came from His mouth. I don't understand how transitioning is straying, it feels like a morally neutral act. How can God ask someone to sacrifice their emotional and mental well being to keep their good standing with Him? It feels backwards and manipulative if I'm being honest. Obedience is good but not if it comes at the cost of being miserable. I'm angry at the church as an institution and I believe it's failing it's queer and trans siblings. I suppose I do disagree with God.

You ask some really good questions. I want to add a few more for you to consider.

Are scriptures the "word of God" and does God actually speak these things to a human who hears it and writes it down precisely as God said it, or are these human interpretations of what they believe is God's will?

Is this policy leading people to be more loving and to do good to their neighbor?

Why would God make people gay or trans and then forbid them from being gay or trans?

The Book of Mormon teaches we're meant to have joy in life, then why does the LDS Church have policies to deny joy to queer people? Why are they singled out to be miserable for God?

If gender affirming care for trans people is "straying" from God, why is gender affirming care for cis people not? The medical procedures that trans people use were all originally developed for cis people. People get breast augmentations, hysterectomies, nose jobs, tummy tucks, face lifts, pec implants, lip filler, bbl's, hormone injections, puberty blockers, growth hormones, and on and on.

At the last General Conference, Elder Oaks put forth a unique idea about temporary and permanent commandments. I think it's his way of getting around the idea that church leaders in the past were wrong, but it brings up interesting questions, if this is temporary then am I required to obey even if I don't agree? If this is temporary, will I be punished in heaven after it is no longer in effect?

We're taught in Matthew 7 that “a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit.” If a policy is bringing forth bad results for a whole group of people, is it a 'good' policy?

Is it a coincidence that this step backwards with the August policy seems related to the bathroom bills and other anti-trans legislation that's recently been passed? If this is actually God's will then how come we didn't know it in 2020 when the last big revision to church policies regarding trans people was implemented?

What if a trans person feels they are inspired to pursue transitioning, should the church be punishing them for following where God is guiding them?

Does this policy sound like it's from a loving God?

That’s enough questions. I want to end with 3 points.

The August policy is just that, a policy, not a commandment or revelation or scripture. Policies are temporary and can be changed. A great example is the 2015 policy of exclusion regarding gay people, which was reversed less than 5 years later in 2019. How much better if it the 2015 policy had never been introduced and all that hurt had been avoided.

You're not disagreeing with God, you're disagreeing with whomever wrote and approved the latest policies.

People have a conscience, what the church calls the light of Christ, which influences people for good. If things being said by a church leader bother your conscience, pay attention to that.

[caligvlasaqvarivm]

I really love how you draw Karkat and Calliope. You've already talked about how the other relationships within the POABPCL, so I was wondering if you could talk about Callikar in more depth as well.

Heehee okay so the short reasoning is that first of all, Karkat is also highly reminiscent of Caliborn, so there's Calliope's natural attraction there. But also Calliope desperately wants to experience a flushed romance, and Karkat is a crazy person who can't keep his quadrants straight. Which, for Calliope, would actually be a plus instead of a minus????

But yeah, for the Caliborn similarities, apart from the grey text and (mostly) capital letters and general cantankerousness and candy red blood and random textual callbacks to shit Karkat says:

CG: OK I DON'T SEE HOW WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE BECOMING FRIENDS IF YOU RECOIL FROM MY OLIVE BRANCH LIKE I'M WIGGLING A GNARLED TREE MONSTER'S DICK IN YOUR DIRECTION. [...] uu: HOW ARE WE SUPPOSED TO BE BECOMING FRIENDS. IF YOU RECOIL FROM MY OLIVE BRANCH. uu: LIKE I'M FLAILING A WITHERED MUMMY'S SEVERED LIMB IN YOUR DIRECTION.

CG: THE FACT THAT YOU ARE DUMB CG: IS AN IMMUTABLE FACT I AM STATING FOR THE RECORD. CG: IT DOES NOT MEAN ANIMOSITY IS WHAT IS TAKING PLACE HERE. [...] uu: AND THE FACT THAT I MIGHT NOT CLuE YOu INTO YOuR FATE ALL THE TIME. uu: DuE TO MY AGGRAVATED APATHY OVER THE MATTER. uu: IS AN IMMuTABLE FACT. I AM STATING FOR THE RECORD. uu: IT DOES NOT MEAN THAT GIVING A SHIT IS WHAT IS TAKING PLACE HERE.

Did you know they both weirdly have a thing for right angles?

DAVE: i dont want to see your lines making any right angles do you understand KARKAT: IN MY MIND'S EYE I AM PICTURING A BEAUTIFUL LATTICE OF LINES AND COMPARTMENTS, INTERLOCKING WITH SUBLIME PRECISION AT NINETY DEGREE ANGLES. KARKAT: I IMAGINE THIS MODULAR RETICULATION AS AN ELEGANT VESSEL, IF YOU WILL, FOR THE GRAND SYNTHESIS OF OUR SHARED SHIPPING DREAMS.

So yeah, you know, they've got some similarities! Enough to fuel some initial cherubic romantic interest, I feel.

But obviously, cherubic romance is primarily - if not exclusively - pitch. Calliope expresses this in a way that makes it very much sound like it's a setup that her happy ending does, in fact, involve her finding a matesprit.

UU: thoUgh i trUly wish i were capable of those feelings. UU: perhaps the fact that i am not is why the topic fascinates me so. UU: and why i have been prone do indUlge in sUch... UU: fancifUl visUalizations. UU: of yoUr people's lovely bright red relationships. UU: they mUst be nice. u_u

Personally, I think that cherubs "can't experience redrom" the way humans "can't experience blackrom". In that, y'know. ;)

But let's move from Calliope's side from a moment and talk about Karkat. Hey, do y'all remember how he had a crush on a different Space player? (The fact that Karkat actually totally had a crush on Jade, and continued to think incredibly fondly of her for years after the fact, to the point of using one of her passwords as the password to his dream hive, gets lost in the melange of ~yaoi~ is honestly one of the reasons I'm not a fan of DaveKat).

CCG: I'M GOING TO VOMIT. CCG: I'M MAKING A MENTAL NOTE TO SLAP MYSELF THREE HOURS FROM NOW, FOR BEING ENOUGH OF A SAP TO START DEVELOPING RED FEELINGS FOR A DUMB ANNOYING HUMAN, IF I'M READING BETWEEN THE LINES CORRECTLY. FCG: I JUST SLAPPED MYSELF! I REMEMBERED MY LAME NOTE TO MYSELF FROM THREE HOURS AGO, AND THEN SLAPPED MYSELF SPECIFICALLY TO MOCK YOU. FCG: IT STINGS TOO, YOU'LL FEEL IT IN A WHILE. AND THEN THE GHOST OF PAST ME WILL CRY.

Hussie's commentary on this is also fucking hilarious, by the way:

First, by defending Jade like this, Future Karkat is virtually making the case to his own past self to give her a chance, and to try to acknowledge that his aggression toward her is masking romantic attraction. If that wasn't nuts enough, the altercation doubles as an actual confession of this to Jade, which she now has to bear in mind as she goes forward befriending this guy. Like most other shouting matches Karkat has with himself, it's a complete free-for-all of self-owns and eyebrow-raising psychological revelations. And yet, in the totality of this clusterfuck, it's probably about as sufficient as anything else he could have done to get her to start giving the friendship a chance. How do you sidle out of something like this? You don't. This miserable basket case needs all the help he can get.

But this is another example of Karkat's horrible problem with mixing his quadrants and sending out all sorts of mixed signals, which he lambastes himself for later RE: Terezi.

FCG: IS IT?? TELL ME, HOW MANY TIMES HAVE YOU TREATED HER IN A WAY THAT COULD BE OBJECTIVELY CONSTRUED AS A FORM OF BLACK SOLICITATION? CCG: THAT'S JUST CCG: NO, THAT'S HOW WE'VE ALWAYS ROLLED TOGETHER. IT'S LIKE CCG: SPIRITED PLATONIC CONTENTION. CCG: TOTALLY NORMAL TERRITORY IN A HEALTHY MATESPRITSHIP. FCG: YEAH, A *HEALTHY* ONE, NOT ONE INVOLVING A DEMENTED LOUDMOUTH WHO CAN'T KEEP HIS SHIT UNDER CONTROL. FCG: LET ME ASK YOU, HOW MUCH OF THAT ANIMOSITY IS INNOCENT "PLATONIC RAGE"? FCG: COULD IT BE THAT SUBCONSCIOUSLY YOU WANT TO PUSH THINGS WITH HER ONTO CALIGINOUS TURF, MAYBE SEE HOW THINGS WORK OUT THERE? FCG: SEE IF YOU CAN HAVE YOUR GRUB, AND CULL IT TOO?? FCG: THAT WAY YOU HAVE HER ALL TO YOURSELF!

And even his "confession" to jade has shades of this, as he basically forced her to auspicetize between himself and... himself. Just a really messy guy who can't keep his quadrants straight. I've already talked before about how this would be completely fine for Eridan, who is literally too bad at social shit to notice and is just happy for the attention, but... doesn't that seem like it would work for Calliope, whose fundamental attraction model is based in pitch?

And to really get into this, we should also talk about Karkat's taste in movies. The three posters he has hanging up in his room are for Serendipity, Hitch, and 50 First Dates. Between the three of them, it becomes really clear that Karkat is really into the idea of soul mates - of finding a romantic partner that just kind of perfectly clicks with you and all your idiosyncracies, with whom the romance is natural, and brings out the best in both partners.

Serendipity most obviously, as the entire movie is practically a treatise on destiny and fate (and also, if you're only going to watch one, watch this one - it gets namedropped twice in the comic and I genuinely think HS draws like 30% of its DNA from it). Hitch's A-plot couple is widely considered the worse one, but the B-plot couple turn out to be perfect for each other - all the guy's lame, embarrassing aspects just happen to be what she finds adorable, and he just needed a courage boost and chance to be noticed by her. And 50 First Dates features a guy in Hawaii who loves taking visiting tourists on whirlwind romances, but is terrified of commitment, meeting a girl who can't make new memories - functionally rendering every date their first from her perspective - and it's really sweet. It doesn't even make you want to punch Adam Sandler at all. Like, not even a little bit.

In any case, what this says to me is that, while he still needs to undergo character development to be ready for it, the romance Karkat should eventually end up with is one where he doesn't have to compromise who he is, warts and all.

A lot of Karkat's more common fandom pairings tend to downplay, or even outright forget about, how genuinely uncomfortable it is to experience Karkat's nutso vascillation. Even if the edge is taken off via moirallegiance, Karkat is still the sort of messy guy who tells his flushed crush to "set the table on [his] bulge for their candle light hate date." Jade clearly isn't a fan of being treated rudely, while Terezi eventually gets driven off by the mixed signals he puts off... but what if there was a species who primarily experiences pitch attraction, who would find Karkat's frequent dips into black-coded flirtation hot?

And also... Karkat is obviously Calliope's favorite character troll...I mean, she's got his symbol as her cufflinks. And also:

CG: I THINK THIS SUBJECT IS BEYOND A LOT OF PEOPLE'S GRASP BUT I KNOW A LOT ABOUT IT, NOBODY EVER REALLY WANTS TO TALK TO ME ABOUT IT THOUGH. AG: Whoa really? Oh no shit, REALLY???????? CG: OK, MOST PEOPLE WHO HAVEN'T HAD THEIR LOBE STEM CAUTERIZED ARE CAPABLE OF FEELING THE TWO PRIMARY EMOTIONS, HATE AND PITY. CG: PITY IS OF COURSE JUST THE TONED DOWN VERSION OF THE CENTRAL EMOTION, HATE. CG: AND ALL THE NUANCES OF PITY MANIFEST AS VARIOUS OTHER KINDS OF FEELINGS LIKE WHATEVER CHEMICAL REACTIONS TRIGGER MATING FONDESS OR THE MYSTERIOUS FORCES THAT ARE BEHIND MOIRALLEGIANCE.

And:

UU: actUally, i have written hUndreds of pages examining the striking differences between hUman and troll romance, as well as reprodUctive habits, as the comparison makes for a marveloUs case stUdy in xenobiocUltUral differences. UU: as long as i am sharing specUlation with yoU, perhaps yoU woUld like to read my essays? UU: i coUld even paste each page right here in sUccession, and allow yoU to read them back to back to back to back to back to back! ^u^ TT: Oh hell no. UU: ah. UU: yes, yoU're right of coUrse. i'm probably getting carried away as UsUal. UU: forgive my enthUsiasm, it's jUst that i so rarely have anyone to talk to who shares my passion for these matters.

They could both be SO ANNOYING about quadrants and romance together. It would be beautiful.

[adobe-outdesign]

Kung Fu Panda 4 Thoughts/Liveblog Thing

Just caught this at the theater for a grand total of five whole dollars, so I thought I'd do some quick opinions while it's fresh.

Non-spoiler opinion: It was Okay(TM), but the movies were considerably stronger as a trilogy. It's worth seeing one (1) time if you're a KFP fan (and really, who isn't), but I wouldn't bother paying full price for it or anything

SPOILERS FOR ALL 4 MOVIES UNDER THE CUT:

A list of things that slap:

The animation is stunning and fast-paced. Really loved the use of Chinese-style paint brush strokes to accentuate the action

Also I'll talk about the 5 later but I also really liked the animation change when describing where they are—all KFP movies have at least one animation shift and I'm glad this one kept up with it

Some of the fight scenes were super good, I liked the one that uses the tilting bar on a cliff in particular

(side note: the Missing Link did something similar, just on a ship. Go watch the Missing Link)

The Chameleon served straight cunt the entire time she was on screen and I kind of loved (almost) everything about her. Character design was incredible, voice was perfect, palace design was amazing, abilities were sick

Also the way she rides up chilling in a golden tree branch of all things? Fellas, we have no choice but to stan

Also I just appreciate the choice to both do a female villain for a change and to get a reptile in here after having only mammals and one (1) bird as villains previously

Speaking of character design there were a few really good ones in there, like a pangolin that moves Sonic the Hedgehog-style, a cool looking female boar, and a bunch of Komodo dragon henchmen. Good stuff

The jokes were a very mixed bag for me, some hit and some didn't. I will say that Zhen just going "that's great for you" in response to Shifu stating he's a red panda got me for some reason

If anyone hurts Po's gay dads I'm killing everyone in this room and then myself

Jack Black's cover of Baby One (1) More Time is unironically better than the original

A list of things that Do Not Slap:

Pacing/Plot:

This movie lacked a color scheme? KFP 1 was blue (also some gold), KFP 2 was red, KFP 3 was green. These colors weren't subtle either, there are entire scenes in each movie drenched in these colors and it was really obviously missing here

The whole first half the movie feels really breathless and too fast-paced. Apparently it was a studio mandate to have it not go over an hour and a half which is A) stupid and B) hurts the pacing

As much as I love Po's two gay dads we REALLY should not have been wasting time on their journey when the runtime is so tight

Also them tagging along felt off? Mr. Ping was worried sick about Po in KFP 2 but he doesn't tag alone because obviously he needs to let his son have his space. It's more in-character with Li Shan but it doesn't come across like he's talking Mr. Ping into it or something

In general there are so many plot points in this movie that feel under-developed. You could've made an entire movie out of the previous villains returning, Zhen and the Chameleon's relationship (see below), etc.

Po's Character:

People not knowing Po is the dragon warrior is weird, I'm pretty sure he would've been more well known than that

The entire thing with Po needing to give up his role as the Dragon Warrior doesn't really make sense? The Dragon Warrior is literally a made-up title. There's no need to have a Dragon Warrior because there is no such thing technically, it's why Oogway denied Tai Lung the title and then waited years and years to give it to Po. Like it's not a role that needs to be passed down, that's missing the entire point of the Everything

Also Po's only been like Dragon Warrior for a few years? I don't think we're ever given a time scale but it wasn't that long

The jokes about Shifu and Po having trouble with inner peace/mediating feels off given that was the entire plot of the second movie

It felt like Po regressed a bit character wise. He acts like he has no idea how to be a teacher in this movie but he already was a teacher by the end of the third, that was the entire point??

Also he seemed like he was more gullible in this movie but I could be wrong

Why is Po so impressed with Juniper city. He literally spent most of KFP 2 in Gongmen hello?? I think(?) Juniper is bigger but he shouldn't be acting like he has no idea what a city is

Zhen/Chameleon:

Zhen's character design doesn't match anything else, which is weird because most of the new characters in this film keep the distinct style in some form or another

Her wanted poster shows her with the bold markings KFP is known for and it looks SO much better

The plot twist with Zhen working for the villain was so obvious I did not realize it was supposed to be a twist at first

Also, the entire thing with Zhen was entirely unneeded? The Chameleon could've just just stood up and announced her plan to take over and Po would've shown up on her doorstep with the staff

I guess the idea is that Po needed to hand over the staff willingly for it to work? But if that's the case the Chameleon could've just impersonated Tigress or something and gotten it that way in like 1/3 of the time

Originally she was supposed to have kidnapped Shifu which would've been a much better plot point as it would've given Po extra motivation

The other problem with treating Zhen as a plot twist is that it hampers the relationship she has with the Chameleon effectively being her mom, which is FASCINATING. They had some really interesting chemistry together (the whole "stand up straight" thing as one example) and I could've seen it as a Mother Gospel from Tangled kind of deal, but we barely get any interaction between the two and it's like AAAAAAA

Fanfic writers fix this shit. I believe in you

I'll have to chew on it more but my pacing thought would actually be to start with Po finding out about the Chameleon's "take over everything" plan very early due to Shifu's kidnapping. He breaks into the lair like at the 1/3 mark or earlier and he meets Zhen inside which then leads into why she's doing what she's doing and the mother angle, etc etc blah blah

The Chameleon needed to just straight-up murder someone, comically shoving them down the stairs isn't good enough. I know stairs are Po's greatest enemy but I don't think that applies to everyone

Shen was allowed to stab someone on-screen so I think the Chameleon should be a allowed to strangle someone or something. as a treat

If violence was the concern just keep it off-screen like Master Rhino's death in KFP 2

The shapeshifter turning into a giant monster trope is overrated and I'm glad it was just used briefly here and not even for her defeat

Also the Chameleon's thing with her being rejected from Kung Fu because she's too small makes no sense b/c Mantis, which I'm pretty sure everyone's pointed out already. She does say "lowly" I think but was she ever poor? Could make a very interested parallel to Zhen if that was the case but it was never brought up again

I've heard some argue body image parallels w/ Po in KFP 1 but if that was the intent it's not explored, like, at all, which is a shame because it could've been an interesting angle

Also If they wanted a better excuse related to body image just say she was too frail instead of too small. I haven't owned chameleons but I've heard from people who have that they are very frail and very hard to keep alive, which would be a much better reason to turn her away

Cameos:

Yes I'm devoting an entire section to five second cameos don't judge me

I have mixed feelings on the Five not being present (save for the end cameos). On the one hand they are sorely missed but on the other hand they would've just made the plot bloat even worse

Lack of speaking was also bothersome. Part of me is glad they weren't recast with cheaper VAs because it's disrespectful to interchange them, but on the other hand that might've been better than just not having them speak and not paying anyone anyway

Tai Lung had all the best lines and was also the best used out of all the cameos, even if it would've been nice to have him on screen for longer. Also if they stuck with Shifu being kidnapped those two could've had some much-needed dialogue

Side note, while I don't think it contradicts anything from KFP 3 the spirit world having only kung fu masters in it feels off? It makes it seem so small and limited

Kai being there is weird. He's like. dead dead. Deader than dead. I guess you could argue that you can't kill something that's already dead but there's nothing even acknowledging this

Trying to take Shen's kung fu is really weird because the entire point of the fight with Master Rhino in KFP 2 is that he is not? a master?? like he's GOOD but he's not amazing, like if a master is like a 10/10 he's like an 8/10.

"The Chameleon has the powers of all my old nemesises!" WHAT'S SHEN'S POWER EXACTLY. HIS ONLY POWERS ARE GUN AND MOMMY/DADDY ISSUES

She does summon him way later than Tai Lung and Kai so maybe she was just camp spawning every single person she could think of regardless of skill level? she also uses his wings at one point so maybe she just wanted those, I don't think(?) there were other birds summoned

Though speaking of which she claimed she was using his wings but very clearly wasn't? not only were they black but they were raggedy and lacked the five longer feathers on the tips

Also Shen's model was super off, it looked way too fluffy and like an entire row of eyespots were missing from the edge of the train (which might have been a clipping error? unsure) it's been said the new models were made out of glue and popsical sticks and I believe it

Tai Lung has a habit of just like Grabbing anyone that's smaller than him and it amuses me

It's honestly really weird that everyone would just agree to go back into the spirit world willingly?

Like I think it works for Tai Lung because he's a noble person who just goes into a disassociative state and commits atrocities. Like I think he'd be willing to accept his death

Also it checks out for Shen because he killed himself and given his "dead belong in the past" mentality I can't imagine him wanting to stick around, he'd probably think it was unnatural

But Kai?? Kai was FURIOUS at being dragged back into the spirit world at the end of 3, like hell he'd just go quietly

Also I can see Tai Lung maybe respecting Po enough to bow to him but everyone else is pushing it unless they have therapists in the spirit world. Po offered Shen some nice advice at the end of KFP 2 and his response was to kill himself on the spot, I don't think him or Kai would be bowing

All of them were definitely in the middle of a mahjong match and were experiencing the equivalent of being woken up in the middle of a nap so they were just going along with things

Chameleon: I'm going to steal your kung fu

Everyone:

Misc:

I did like some of the more subtle callbacks. Stuff like Po seeing his reflection in the blade the way Shifu did or the "I can't even beat you to the stairs" scene were nice and not overly overt or in-your-face

If Po actively refers to himself as the "Kung Fu Panda" one more time I'm going to end it all

anyway that was not supposed to be a 12 page essay but it's too late now, goodbye

[beemovieerotica]

Hadestown is NOT bad explain yourself this instant

ok so. it felt very concept album, like it still had a ways to go until it was a fully fledged production. they had the idea of the railroad station and the whole mining town aesthetic, but it was kind of window dressing to the story and didn't really mean much beyond imparting vibes and accompanying the genre of music they chose.

there was the whole theme of industry and greed from hades which i guess was an attempt to create political relevance but it didn't fit snugly anywhere? we're supposed to just understand that hades is a bad man who is doing bad things because he's bad - and then this creates the predicaments that eurydice and persephone find themselves in.

so basically the industry & modernization didn't have a purpose in itself, it was just a set-up for other things to happen narratively. i don't think they had to stick with the original myth or anything like that at all, they can make hades whomever they want, but i feel like i had to fill in the gaps in my head for all the character motivations to understand why they were doing the things they did. the hades / eurydice bit just happened and then was never addressed again, it seemed like something they threw in just to say "look, the capitalist boss also uses people for sex" - again, just to make a point to the audience but it didn't mean anything in the story.

so it did click with "oh! hades is creating warmth and brightness down below because he misses persephone's warmth and brightness, but he's doing it in a way that is harsh and glaring and deeply misguided and destructive, and it deprives the surface of trees and it pollutes the living things that persephone cares so much about, so he's ultimately driving her away by trying to replace her..." but they...did not explore that. they did not get into the deeper meaning and themes behind what was happening in either song or dialogue. i found myself kind of taken out by some of the lyrics just at the simplicity / cliche, i was wondering if it would go deeper at all and it really didn't for me. and then persephone and hades made up instantly at the end? just with a hand hold and a couple of meaningful words / looks? like there was so much potential to have some gut punch moments of meaning and heartache and reconciliation between them, and it just didn't transpire, like they ran out of time at the end.

so they seemed to have gotten halfway through developing the characters; all i know about eurydice is that she was cold and hungry. and hungry and cold. orpheus was a little bit more of a person at least in terms of making him a "head in the clouds" character, but they wanted to use shortcuts to just get to the love story without spending time on it. i get that inclination because, yeah on one hand it's a classical myth and we can accept that they just fell in love and all of it unfolded from there...but if you're going to stage it and make a musical at all, then why not explore how they fell in love, who they were, and what they actually meant to each other? there was no dimension to it and it just relied on the audience's acceptance of "this is how things happened in the myth."

i'm not completely sure what was going on with the wall other than it being another appeal to topical politics---and i don't like pedantry in media analysis BUT they chose to craft all of this in a deliberate way and they established multiple times that their world worked this way, so i have to ask the question: if there are supernatural forces that keep people from going in and out of hell on a whim.........what's the point?

like they were hovering between the subtext of "shhh this is actually busywork to convince the people that their labor is valuable" and "actually we want to keep people from trying to leave because it sucks here" with the latter contradicting their established rules of the world; all while hades is textually saying "we don't want people taking what we have" but people COULD just kill themselves to get down there anyway and be allowed through the wall. which eurydice did. which all dead people get to do. which makes me circle back to the conclusion of, yeah, some of these songs / plot devices got thrown in as a "this is so relevant wink wink hi audience" moment rather than actually enriching or making sense in the world of the story.

specifically for the broadway production, i can count on one finger the number of times the set was used in an interesting way [the crack in the wall]. it was very black box theater and i'm not opposed to minimalism, but it only works if there's something very engaging and compelling going on with the characters and the performances themselves, and a lot of the blocking & dancing was just not...interesting to look at. they moved chairs and tables around. god i would have loved if the final moment between orpheus and eurydice actually used the original lines where they say "You looked back" / "I missed you" like it would have meant something but they just had this weird tendency throughout to not lean into full emotional dialogue.

tldr; i think the vibes and intentions were good but it was messy narratively and the depth of character development and songwriting wasn't there for me. i think the Fates served cunt at every turn and i loved them, though i would have liked them to be used much more to really deliver those gut punches i was expecting but didn't get from the story. i'm a snob. sorry.

[lych33dragoncookie]

alright so the main reason i wanted to make this blog; those new Wind Archer trailers.

I already had a lot to say about the first one, for... One big reason.

The fact we're going to the laboratorium is pretty exciting, but I did not expect for us to already catch a glimpse of the Ultimate Cookie. In fact, I had almost forgotten about that; I thought Matcha making MyCookie was more of a byproduct of the Beast cookies needing bodies to inhabit, but...

Well, I guess Dark Enchantress's original ambitions haven't left her. And she's really, really close to realizing her dreams; the dreams she carries on from White Lily Cookie.

It really makes me wonder how White Lily would react to these developments. To see her dreams realized, every bit as horrifying as she most likely knew they'd be, carried on by a part of herself. I really, really wanna see where they go with this.

On another note...

sorry, i just much prefer his Japanese VA HE'S BAAAAAAAACKKKKK~

You have... No idea how frustrated I was to see that the first Beast cookie to release was Mystic Flour and not him. And while it's not guaranteed we'll get him this time, either (even if i really hope we do)... Come on, it's just nice to have him back. He's a really, really fun antagonist. Sometimes, when all your antagonists have complex motives, believing that despite everything they've done, ultimately they're the ones in the right (with even Dark Enchantress only committing as much harm as she has as a response to the revelation that the world, on a fundamental level, was seemingly much more cruel, uncaring and pointless than she had ever thought; a desperate need to make a difference, no matter how many lives and pain it takes), it's incredibly nice to have that one villain, that one villain who doesn't try to find an excuse for what they do, having fun, not believing that they're doing everything that they do for some greater motive, but just to have fun, to make the entire world one big, brightly burning play area for them to toy with as long as they want, however they want. I love Shadow Milk, because he perfectly offsets the usual monologuing, self-righteous villainy we tend to see (And often enjoy, don't get me wrong, both Dark Enchantress and Mystic Flour have grown one me) with just pure, uncaring, show-stopping villainy for the sake of villainy.

He's manipulative, playful, silly, over the top, more concerned with putting on a show first and foremost than actually accomplishing his objectives; because you and I both know that he knows that he could probably just brute force his way into getting his soul jam back, into taking down the heroes without any opportunity for them to do anything about it. If he wanted to, he could very, very easily create an unwinnable scenario. But he doesn't. Because that's no fun.

And I absolutely adore him for it. Every single scene he's in is an absolute delight.

... Right, uh. Wind Archer.

I'm excited for him! It's been a while since we've gotten any Ovenbreak legendaries, and with Wind Archer in the game, it means we're likely very close to seeing Fire Spirit and Millennial Tree (Both pretty big faves for me, though Millie is the one that does unholy things to my brain just from looking at him). And honestly, this feels like a really, really good use for him! No beating around the bush, no overcomplicating anything, just going straight to the point and trying to stop the current threat at its root. He's going to fail, obviously. Even if he takes out the ultimate cookie, chances are it can just be rebuilt, and the beasts on an individual level would be way too much for him to handle. And with Shadow Milk having awoken... Yeah, he stands just about no chance. But, it will be very fun to see, methinks. It's also just a pretty natural fit; a protector of nature that hunts down anything that may disturb or corrupt said nature being sent to strike down what's pretty much a threat that's entirely artificial, unnatural, bodies made through forbidden, arcane magic and ethically dubious means, stumbling upon the culmination of someone's ambitions to create perfect life by artificial means. It works out really, really well, methinks.

But yeah that's my thoughts so far on the 2 Wind Archer update trailers, I'm actually really excited for where they're gonna take this, we've actually got some good plot progression going on and a lot of interesting writing ideas that while I don't fully trust the devs to execute perfectly, I do still really like and feel pretty hopeful for!

... Now just give me Shadow Milk and Millennial Tree and my life is yours. And Lychee, maybe. That one might take a bit. how are they even gonna do Longan in Kingdom. that's... quite a lot to try to adapt without either rehashing content or completely hijacking the plot. god i hope this doesn't mean they'll just stop at Lotus. I miss my dragons. Except not really because OB has been doing some good stuff with them.

Sorry for the really long post, but I wanted to dump some thoughts and have a sort of primer for the kinda stuff I wanna make for this blog.

Oh, and expect some shitposts along the way, too.

[themoodyestj]

https://walkergirlsposts.tumblr.com/post/763987617987657728/i-saw-a-post-from-jensen-about-misha-doing

Wow being enraged by Jensen not baby sitting Jared. Jensen I not Jareds father or baby sitter or Bodyguard. And you know Jensen always ignores the trolls and doesn't give them attention, something that Jareds still needs to learn and develop and no babe, I'm not hating on Jared, I don't hate anyone, he may not be my fave and I may not be a fan of his but I still genuinely respect him,I'm just saying the truth, I f Jared never ever had interected with the trolls in the first place, he wouldn't have been in this situation that he is now with so many loud trolls trolling him.

Look I 100% DO NOT AGREE WITH WHAT THOSE GIRLS DID, BECAUSE THEY WERE BEING ASSHOLES, HOWEVER, don't you guys think you are taking it way to far, its not even that Deep

"You guys"? I'm yet to voice an opinion about that. I don't know how many times do I have to say I'm not Walkergirl. I share some of her opinions, and some others I dont. WE intersect when we do, we diverge when we dont. We're both mature enough to know that's perfectly ok. So please, if anyone is wanting to use my inbox to throw insults at her, please stop. I am me, not Walkergirl. Those people would really be barking at the wrong tree. Now, without further ado, here's my opinion on the matter. Would I like to see Jensen support his friend? Yes, I would. What they did to Jared is awful and only comes to show the lack of backbone of many Hellers out there. That would be cherry on top and would make my day awesome. That would show loyalty from him, reinforce what he meant by saying "If you mess with Jared, you mess with me." Im sorry he didnt follow through, but...

Would i do it if I were in Jensen's place? Perhaps not. I don't know what kind of contracts and obligations he has and while perhaps i would support my friend privately, maybe i wouldnt stick out my neck in public, especially if I was being harrassed by Hellers and insane AAs. I would keep my public appearances to a minimum. Maybe there are things that are actually stopping him to come forward in social media, and we dont know whats happening backstage. So Im not that quick to judge him. I dont consider this a lack of loyalty. Maybe JDM has more freedom to come forward. Regarding Jensen's support to Misha's cause. I don't see it as a promise of loyalty as I dont see his silence to Jared as lack of loyalty, although I'm sure weasel Misha will try to paint it that way. This is saving face. This is bare minimum, considering the circumstances. I still believe Jenmish is strained, at best.

In all honesty, and knowing already this is going to piss some people off, I dont see Jensen taking stances for whatever in SM apart from what is "common courtesy". I don't think he is that strong or that free at the moment. Maybe it doesnt have to do with having a backbone or not, it's about mental availability. He's doing his thing and avoiding drama. He already has his vapid wife and crazy delulu fans to deal with, that's a lot already. He wants peace. That's all.

[psychhound]

ttrpgs in the classroom (part 1)

so as i mentioned briefly before, i've started teaching composition for college freshman (18yos) and as my school has a lot of instructor freedom, i've themed my class on games and specifically ttrpgs. we're reading and playing ttrpgs in class to talk about narrative, structure, audience, writing, etc

we played our first in-class game on friday and it went really well! so i wanted to do a little write up on how i taught it

the game:

we played the family tree by @rabbit-rays which is free/pwyw so i really recommend checking it out!! it's inspired by the radical face albums of the same name

the game is about creating generations of an interconnected social unit (they don't have to be a biological/adoptive family, just people who are socially and emotionally connected to each other) and coming up with stories about them and their relationships to each other. at the end of the game you should have a "family tree" of interwoven characters

the goal:

teach the students about personal narratives; genre, tone, and tropes; how to work collaboratively; how to focus in and scale back on things that aren't explicitly stated; how to develop story and ask why it matters

the methods:

we had five volunteers make a single round of characters for the family tree. the rest of the class determined the genre and tone they wanted for the game. we went around and made the five characters, and then went around again and made the connections between them. the final part of play was employing the bastards optional rule, and we had a sixth volunteer make a character who was still part of the story but was disconnected from the rest of the characters

at the end they all filled out a worksheet with the following questions:

What do you find interesting about the story we’re telling?

Do you think the story fits in the tone or genre the class agreed upon? Why or why not?

What other story does ours remind you of (TV show, movie, cartoon, book, comic, myth, etc)?

What is something you think is happening behind-the-scenes in this story?

What is one thing you think is happening on a bigger scale in this world?

on monday, when i introduce their first assignment, the personal narrative essay, we're going to use the characters they made to come up with examples of essay topics

the results:

it went really well!! i was a little nervous because they had been a quiet class so far (this was only our third day of class) and most of them had little experience with gaming and we had almost 0 ttrpg experience. this was almost everyones first experience playing a ttrpg or a collaborative and not competitive game

the students were a little nervous to come up with the genre and tone, but once they did, everyone agreed and liked it. the characters the students came up with expanded upon and fleshed out both the genre and the setting this was taking place in. everyone seemed excited about the characters the players were coming up with, and when it came time to make the connections, students other than the players asked if they could jump in and help flesh things out as well. everyone was very intrigued when i brought in the optional rule to have someone make a disconnected character, and while the student who got volunteered (one of the other students pointed to him so i asked if he would) was a little hesitant to participate, he ended up making a character everyone really liked

when we filled out the worksheet, i got a lot of interesting answers back, and we had some running themes in what else the students thought was happening in this world. most of the students thought the characters did fit the genre and tone and could explain why. i got back answers of more connections they thought were happening that hadnt been fleshed out and why the disconnected character was still an important part of the story

everyone was very disappointed we had to leave these characters because they had a good time playing

SO A BIG SUCCESS FOR OUR FIRST GAME!! i'll be back to report future ttrpgs we use and how!!

[balkanradfem]

My neighbour came to give me some gift apples for the holidays, and I had to explain to her that my apartment is cold because I turned off the heating in all rooms except the kitchen, to save on energy while my roommates were gone for the holidays. I put my mattress in the kitchen to sleep on the floor under the tree and the radiator.

She then came later to inform me that I should turn the heating back on, because we bills will be just the same, so there's no use saving, they charge us by the square meter. I reassured her that I already knew that, and didn't do it in order to lower my heating bill, but because I believe saving energy in any way is important, and because energy always comes at the cost to the environment, and I care for the environment so much I'm happy to do this even if it's just one drop in the ocean.

She frowned at me and told me I'm not doing anything, displeased with my naive spirit. I, in turn, remained sure that I'm doing the right thing, and my spirits still raised by the idea that I'm not wasting energy.

I actually have more reasons for doing it, and some of them are that I just wanna be used to and comfortable with sustainable living. People heating the entire house when they're not even using 80% of it, is a very recent, and wasteful development. People used to heat only one room in the house, and just sleep in that same room, next to the fireplace, because it made no sense wasting all that wood, fuel and effort, when they could stay warm and cozy right where they are.

Having my entire place heated up would not make me more happy than I am, it would make me forget that any energy is even necessary for heating, if it's spent so dismissively, like it's a normal thing to do. It makes me appreciate the warm kitchen so much, every time I step into my cooled down bedroom and experience how the building would feel without heating. How wonderful it is to have a room that is completely warm, in the times of the cold.

I am aware that if it gets below freezing, I need to turn the heating on just a little tiny bit, in order for the pipes to not have a chance to freeze over and burst, I know it can happen in the times of extreme cold. But it's not even below freezing right now, so I'm perfectly safe in enjoying my little sustainable ways.

I don't think we'll have enough energy to keep big establishments completely heated while empty, if we want to have a future on this planet, so why not go back to being used to limited heating? It's not something that takes away from happiness, even if it's a slightly less convenient way of life. And we're saving energy as we do it, just like we do when we don't leave the lights on, take quick showers, recycle, turn our electronics off. Heating takes burning fuel, and burning fuel emits carbon in the atmosphere, and creates leftover waste. It's a good thing to be aware where the energy is coming from, and to take only as much as we need to be happy and safe.

[anarchyatthesupermarket]

I want to yell about fic and chapter titling stuff for my necromancy au so like link to series and then spoilers under that

I don't know how much of this will make sense. It's last so my brain isn't working at %100 and I'm autistic so my brain also works in weird ways. I'm bad at articulating my thoughts like this so it all sounded so much better in my head but I had to try. I may add onto this as I get more thoughts about it.

first off, the title of the series itself: "Wait for me, I'm coming, wait, I'm coming with you". Hadestown is based on the greek tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice (my favorite myth). In both the myth and my fic it's a story about a character trying to get someone they love back thought for my necromancy au it's familial love. I also named this series when I didn't know if it was going to end well or not for Rae (I still don't know but shush, we're not going to talk about that).

The first fic: "I'd be the choiceless hope in grief that drove him unground" from Talk by Hozier references Orpheus and Eurydice. I don't have as much to say about this fic bc I wasn't putting as much thought into the chapter names when I wrote them. "Is this a bunker or a shallow grave" (Hollow Moon, The Crane Wives) references the fact that Rae was just pulled from a grave and how whenever he gets anxious those feelings bring up images of dirt/drowning/death. "Can we skip past the death-death cliches" (Touch, Sleeping at Last) is because that's the chapter where Centross dies but is also brought back to death, he gets to "skip" death.

Second fic: "Though I knew my heart would break" (Francesca, Hozier) is abour Everett and Raemond's death and Francesca by Hozier is about two lovers from Dante's Inferno who die together and then spend the rest of eternity together much like how Everett and Raemond are buried together in the same grave. It's a love song about not regretting the choices that brought them to the end/hell because she (Francesca) would do it all again if she ended up with her lover.

Third fic: "All I want is to flip a switch before something breaks that cannot be fixed" (Touch, Sleeping At Last). Again, partially bc this is a telling of what happened around Centross' death but from Fenris/Centross' pov so it felt right to use the same song. Also again, bringing Centross back to life is fixing something that broke.

Fourth fic: "What will you leave behind? Oh we all still die" (Willow Tree March, The Paper Kites) is about Rae trying to figure out his spot in Lodestar Grove in the aftermath of Centross's death. In this fic he talks to Centross and Momboo and his relationship with both of them has changed a lot, he's gotten closer to Centross while any hope of a friendship with Momboo has been left behind with Centross' death.

5th fic: "How long have you been harboring that venom" (My mind now, Paris Paloma) is referring to the venom/hatred Rae has developed for his magic. There's a line in the song ("was it a first offense?") which I feel like fits really well also to what's going on in Rae's mind at this time with what's happening with Momboo (she hates him so much for one thing that he did) and with himself (beating himself up over loosing control once in the library) while also trying to figure out if he (Rae) did something earlier to deserve being treated like he is.

6th fic: "All my love and terror balanced there between those eyes" (Abstract psychopomp, Hozer). Listen, I just love this song. I don't have a lot to say about Caspian's chapter ("the feeling came late, I'm still glad I met you") by itself but Aax's ("the memory hurts but does me no harm") makes me think about how in FableSMP Aax and Rae knew each other as children even though that isn't canon to this au and Fenris' ("the moment I knew I'd no choice but to love you") feels like Rae's finally accepting that he loves his boyfriends and he's happy and he took so long to figure it out ("the feeling came late") and he wants to treasure the time he has with them even though he's going to bring his family back which Rae is convinced will make Cas/Aax/Fenris/everyone hate him but he doesn't want to throw the present away because of the future ("I'm still glad I met you" even though it's going to end badly like a certain greek myth).

7th fic: "My mind has not been silent" (my mind now, Paris Paloma) is Rae telling Jamie about what happened with Momboo that's been unable to ever fully stop thinking about her words. It's also from the same song as fic #5 with mirror (ish) plot lines of someone close to Momboo finding Rae and talking to him as he's struggling with seeing himself as a monster though Rae tells Jamie what happened between him and Momboo but doesn't tell Fenris.

the 8th fic is just a bunch of short stories but I think the title "we're nothing but myths now" (Yeti, Paris Paloma) fics because it's going to be filled with one-shots of stuff that happened away from what's happening directly around Rae and often talking about stuff that happened before Fenris dug Rae up

#9: "Nothing lasts forever, some things aren't meant to be" (Hello My Old Heart, The Oh Hellos), even if Rae isn't constantly thinking about it in this fic there's this acceptance that he's going to bring back his family and the life he built with his friend's can't last. The mentions of rigor mortis, livor mortis, and adipocere return and there's the last time he gets to hang out with Athena, Jamie, Aax, Caspian, and Fenris bc Rae doesn't know if his relationships with them will survive what he has planned.

#10: "If I don't make it back from where I've gone just know I loved you all along" (Inkpot Gods, The Amazing Devil) is Rae going through with his plan despite his belief that he's going to loose his friends. He talks to Isla's grave but we never get to see Rae saying goodbye to his partners (unlike how he got to say goodbye to his family before their death). Maybe he wanted their last memories of him before they realize he's a monster to be good and happy? And in the end he doesn't make it back because bringing his family back proves to be too much.

[thelunarfairy]

A very long post about JSHK

I'm going to include a few photos so that it doesn't end up being 3 times longer than it should be hahaha, I'm going to rely on your memory on this one.

Then I had a sudden epiphany, and I've been thinking about JSHK's main timeline. You know, a summary of how the main story (without the branches) is developing.

If I were to summarize the story I would say it goes like this:

"An ordinary school with a tendency towards supernatural events and home to 7 mysteries. Each mystery protects a passage and each of them has two stories. One false (rumored) and one true. If you can uncover all the true stories, something will happen."

At the moment, there are only 3 stories left to be discovered, mystery number 1, number 3 and number 7. Considering that Hanako is one of the protagonists, he will probably be the last (even if it is not certain).

Now, we're in arc number 1, he seems to have a direct connection with the twins, especially Tsukasa, and that's who I want to talk about. Come with me and see how this boy's genius works.

So it doesn't get too long, I'll summarize.

Yashiro starts the story by invoking Hanako, Yashiro later reveals that the person who spoke about Hanako's rumor was Aoi, and we know that all the rumors she hears are from her best friend, so the person who spread the rumor about Hanako was probably Tsukasa (that's a hypothesis)

After they create the bond, she starts to be able to see the supernatural and becomes a piece on the board. Yousei was the result of a change in mokke rumors, his story served to show us how even creatures as cute as mokkes can turn into something monstrous like that. Remember that the one spreading the rumors is Tsukasa.

Tsukasa hand hahaha

After that, we have the arc of number 2. First we have the false story, what the rumors were talking about and Yako transformed into a new person, even though her essence is still there. His story came to further reinforce the power of rumors regarding the supernatural (whether mysteries or not) and how yorishiros, those who keep the true story, work. Remembering once again that the one who is spreading the rumors is Tsukasa.

Let's go ahead, right after the arch in number 2, we have the confession tree. A rumor that Aoi told Yashiro. This tree was extraordinarily peculiar because it didn't fit well into any context that linked to the main story, my mistake. Because it was because of this tree that Hanako made the false confession, Yashiro cried, and he apologized to her. Okay, but how does this fit in? It turns out that Hanako's gesture caught Yashiro's attention and made her interested in Hanako's past. Remembering once again that the one who is spreading the rumors is Tsukasa.

We have the exorcists arc, this arc talks more about Kou's development and the way he and Teru judge supernaturals. It is worth remembering that this is important in the future so that Kou can or cannot help Hanako, in addition to, of course, arousing distrust in us not only about Teru's attitude, but also how Hanako does not accept his own sin, finding it unjustifiable. (And to show us how underhanded Hanako is)

So moving forward, while Yashiro goes to the library to research Hanako-san, Sakura is there and talks about the Tsuchigomori library. I don't need to talk about Tsukasa here, right? The arc of number 5, it is simple and without much action, but it is important. In it we learn that you can only change the future in some circumstances and that Tsuchigomori has this ability that can be used at some point. Besides, of course, he lets Nene peek a little into the true story of number 7. This part of his story is important, I don't need to say, it's short but it reveals to us that there was something wrong in Hanako's life.

We follow Yashiro's dilemma about whether or not to continue alongside the bathroom ghost, when Kou convinces her to continue (do you realize the importance of the exorcists arc now? Kou judged that Hanako wasn't a bad ghost, but became suspicious because of what Teru and Hanako said, so he still didn't know what to think about him) If Kou hadn't had this conversation with her (he invited her to make the donuts with the intention of understanding why Yashiro was distant from Hanako) Yashiro would have left away from Hanako.

She and Hanako have a heart-to-heart on the roof when Tsukasa finally appears. His appearance happened right after Yashiro said that he likes Hanako, this could have several meanings, either because Hanako was falling in love and was failing his duty, or another specific objective of Tsukasa. Sakura had ordered the mokke to put the black crane in the donut bag, meaning Tsukasa already knew this was going to happen and chose to reveal himself at that moment.

While Hanako was in internal conflict because of Tsukasa's appearance, we entered the mermaid arc. Yashiro is tempted to definitively become a servant of the mermaid and break the bond with Hanako. Something that didn't happen because he heard her conversation with Tsuchigomori. He "fished" her right away. In this arc we see Yashiro and Hanako's relationship evolve, he asks her for patience because he is not ready to talk about his own past, and she accepts. This arc is important so as not to make us think "why doesn't he just say it?" XD The bond of trust between them grows here. We later see that Tsukasa kills one of the fish and the Mermaid starts to fear the world of the living and gives up on Yashiro (at least for now) so the arc also served to show that the mermaid will no longer disturb her.

So, we meet Mitsuba for the first time. Initially as an ordinary ghost he reveals to us a small part of his past (so that we can quickly empathize with him) then, when he befriends Kou, Tsukasa appears angry and destroys him (he apparently already had this intention) perhaps because Mitsuba had to do something that Tsukasa wants but the "real" Mitsuba wasn't living up to his expectations. And why am I saying this? Mitsuba is a frequent character, he has a connection with the protagonists and has a lot of screen time, in addition to that Tsukasa is always around him, and he was not discarded after being destroyed, that is, he is an important character who will have a key moment in the plot in the future. Knowing this, I imagine that Tsukasa wanted to remake Mitsuba so that he would have no memories and thus not interfere with Tsukasa's plans. (whatever it is)

Moving on, we go straight to the tea party, where Yashiro was purposely kidnapped by Tsukasa. You already know what the point of this arc was. Tsukasa wanted to send Yashiro nowhere, and she went with Natsuhiko to make sure she went to the right door. Natsuhiko conveniently gets pulled by one of Tsukasa's toys (I already talked about it here and here) so that Nene is alone and goes back to the past to get Amane's key.

Could Tsukasa have used his Kokujoudai to take her there? He could, but apparently he doesn't use them when he doesn't want to attract Hanako's attention. I don't know if you noticed but… Let me give you an example, when Tsukasa attacked Mitsuba he used the joudais, at the same time Hanako's Hakujoudai alerted him about Tsukasa. So, there may be a connection (it's a hypothesis) Tsukasa didn't want Hanako to get in the way so he didn't send her using the joudais

Following this, we have the first arc of the clock where we meet Mirai and discover that Akane is one of the seven. This arc is important not only for that, but to show us that in the future the school will be destroyed (given its state when Mirai moves a few rooms forward into the future) and that Yashiro will die. Hanako was forced to reveal this. We later see that Hanako realizes that her time is running out and begins to think about possibilities to save her. I've been wondering, who released Mirai from the boundary?

Ahead we have the arc of number 3, the return of Mitsuba. This arc showed us how strong Tsukasa is and that even though he has this strength he is unable to remove Yorishiro's seal. Then we see Mitsuba transform into the new number 3. It's important to know this, it was revealed to us that supernaturals can eat each other to become stronger and that the Mystery Seats can be acquired this way, in addition to of course, we reveal that Tsukasa is happy to see that Yashiro is alive and shows us that he has bigger plans for Mitsuba.

It's worth remembering that in this arc we see Yako talking about how rumors can change the form of the supernatural, but even so they continue to have the same essence as the original. Hanako runs his finger over his own seal, which could mean that he identified himself and that he probably went through this previously.

So let's move on to the festival arc where Yashiro meets young Amane. It wasn't very clear if it was actually a dream or if she managed to return to the past (I imagine it's the second option because Amane writes that he wants to see her in the future and little Tsukasa in the red house says he wants to go to that festival with Amane) Yashiro was probably taken to his past because they were holding hands when she was hit. In this arc we have this small interaction between them, and I imagine that this affected Amane more than Yashiro (since she believed it was a dream) and he changed his initial request, he was to be an astronaut and he wished to see Nene again. In other words, changing the future.

Moving on, we have the comedic zombie chapter. Initially we have the naive feeling that he doesn't have a direct connection with previous events, but he does. This entire chapter served to show us that Yashiro has a unique ability to purify, she did this to all the students in the school at once. Remembering that in Tsukasa's first appearance she hurts him when she throws the juice (?) from her bottle at him. In other words, as Teru had said, Yashiro is a special girl.

So, after all this fuss is over, let's move on to arc number 4. The perfect world created at Tsukasa's behest. His initial goal (apparently) was to force Yashiro to kill Amane and Kou to kill Mitsuba, but let's face it Tsukasa was just waiting for an opportunity to force a wish on Shijima and for Yashiro to remove her yorishiro. Did you realize that Hanako didn't tell her to remove yorishiro from number 4? Suddenly Tsukasa appears and says that she will fulfill Shijima's wish, and he sends Yashiro along. After all, he managed to get Yashiro to take off the seal and earned payment for the wish. He probably asked Shijima to make those flyers Sakura was wearing at the festival with petals that go into the eye (it's a hypothesis) Tsukasa was doing that while we were focused on how Hanako wanted to save Yashiro's life.

Let's go to the next arc, here we have a dispute between Teru and Akane about who will get the best grade, I don't need to say that he did this to force Akane to do what he wants, right? He asked that if Kou asked him for a favor in the future, he would do it. It means Teru has something in mind.

The arc of number 6… This arc is so long hahaha but it was important to show us about a part of the Minamoto's past (and to show us that they are not as good as they seem) in addition to the life of one of the young women who they were sacrificed in the name of God. Ah, yes of course, this "God". The arc of number 6 has an important connection with the past, about the village, about families, about Kannagis, about how human cruelty can be bigger than that of supernaturals. Furthermore, we clearly see Tsukasa taking advantage of this, as Natsuhiko stayed with Kou while Tsukasa and Sakura planned for Yashiro to remove the seal from number 6. It's worth remembering that they took the opportunity to show Nene what happens when you don't remove the seal, so we have the revelation that Tsukasa is Hanako's yorishiro. So in short, if Yashiro doesn't remove Tsukasa's seal, Hanako will have to destroy him.

Sumire and Hakubo's arc is very important, it reveals important pieces for the future and how things happened in the past. Their relationship reveals to us that the love between a human and a supernatural may not be the way we expect. Because if a supernatural loves a human, his way of showing love is by devouring her? I'm not going to go into depth about this because this post is already too long, the important thing is that you understand the reasoning.

So we have separation. Something planned by Hanako. He apparently made a request to God to grant Yashiro's wish since he needed a sacrifice (Aoi) number 6 was actually performing the ceremony with her (same as in the village). We don't know if that's actually the case, but that's what everything indicates since Hanako doesn't have that power. The most interesting thing during the entire time when the doors of the supernatural were all (almost) closed is how Teru was committed to making everything return to "normal".

Don't you think it's strange that soon he who hates supernaturals was committed to making everything go back to the way it was? Ah, it was because of Aoi…. Tell me, do you honestly believe that Teru likes her? Isn't it a bit…sudden? A silly excuse to distract Akane and the others from revealing what he really wants? Then. Teru makes his art at this moment, which leads us to

Red house, remember that we are still in the arc of number 6. Well this part clearly exists to show us not only a small snippet about the twins' past but also about Mitsuba's connection with the house and Tsukasa (since they found the photo from the red house at Mitsuba's house) We have many revelations here, most of them explicit, that is, I don't need to mention it, but the most important revelation is that Tsukasa can float through the flow of time and that he was working together with the creature. In addition to, of course, the great possibility that Yashiro and Kou have changed the twins' fate. Everything in this part is extremely important, even the house's fear of fire, as the house disappeared in flames (which indicates that on the day/night of the twins' death the fire was present).

Then, the reunion of Nene and Hanako (still in the arc of number 6). Here we see Tsukasa's impatience, he appears (on purpose) after the two kiss and sends Yashiro to remove the seal from number 6. We've already talked about this, haven't we? Then we have the moment when Sakura reveals some things to Yashiro to gain his trust (at least a little), and also about Tsukasa, while talking to Sakura he says that Amane was irritated but that in the end he would do the job. Hanako didn't go to the boundary of number 6, he sent Hakujoudai, which means he was doing something elsewhere and therefore couldn't go get Yashiro himself, that is, he was obeying Tsukasa.

So, we have the end of the arc of number 6 with him leaving after the destruction of his boundary and we enter the redemption chapters. You know, those calmer, calmer chapters where the characters make up or discuss something from the past. It's the fireworks chapter. Where Kou makes peace with Teru and Yashiro with Aoi, and of course, Nene and Kou have a shallow and quick conversation with Hanako about how wrong what he did was (although he doesn't think so and doesn't guarantee he won't do it again) .

In the midst of all this, we have Mitsuba and Kou's reunion. Do you know why these chapters were important? Here we discover that Mitsuba is a "cannibal" since he is a supernatural and he usually eats similar ones. He is in the acceptance process, but has made it clear that this bothers him. Not only that, but it shows us that Kou is quite compassionate and that he will not follow his family's principles, after all he is protecting and taking care of a supernatural (Mitsuba) let's add that in the arc of number 6 there were some moments that were not shown to us between the two and Natsuhiko, who talks about how a human can become a supernatural. Even Kou's absence in that arc had a basis, but I won't delve into that.

Finally (for now) the current arc, the arc of number 1 this time more related to his yorishiro. I'm not going to go into depth on this one because it's in development and we have little information.

In any case, after the arc of number 1, there will be 3 and 7 left, as I said previously, or, one of the hypotheses is that the three can develop together because they are both connected. Did you notice Tsukasa's great influence on most of the events and on all his genius in connecting things? It's spectacular. It's like he's weaving every moment between his fingers. I was particularly amazed by this boy's intellectual capacity.

If that's the case, sure, but that's what everything indicates. I know there are important points that I didn't mention, but this post is too long. In short, Tsukasa is committed to showing us the true story of the school's mysteries, despite him being responsible for spreading the false ones, and each mystery has its own particular way of showing us. Maybe the story of number 7 will still take a while to arrive, in addition to numbers 1 and 3, we have the story of the minamoto, Yashiro's family, Natsuhiko and Sakura….. Ahhh it's going to be a long journey and I'm going to love following it .

If you read this far you are a warrior, thank you for that because this post gave me a lot of work to do hahahaha a lot of text to write what my little head was thinking x_x hahaha

Anyway, I hope you liked it.

[xenodelic]

Been trying to find a way to explain this for a while. For us, we are physically nonhuman (for non-psychosis reasons), AND we have clinical lycanthropy, as a result of already being physically nonhuman.

We were born physically nonhuman, for a multitude of reasons. Some of it being genetic: the body's ancestors were lycanthropes. That lineage goes back at the very least to Old Norse times. Their lycanthropy was similar to berserkers - they fully shifted in the midst of battle, in an instinct-driven fury. But the wolf-like traits persisted even outside of battle, and became more dominant over the course of their lifetime.

This lines up with how our body changes over time. Our body hair / fur gets thicker and darker, and grows faster than even most cis men we know (despite us being a trans man). Our teeth have grown sharper, our nails / claws grow fast and point at the ends, etc. (We even grew a second set of underdeveloped nipples during puberty that we weren't born with).

We're also something of a changeling. The baby growing in our mother's womb was not going to survive without intervention. So a fae prince gifted the developing child with 6 souls, that of Lupine Eldertrees. They are wolf-like tree beasts, that formed the foundation of our system from the very beginning. Their influence is found in all of us.

The physical aspect of our lycanthropy is so apparent that pretty much every single system member who fronts recognizes the body as lycanthropic. And then, whatever their form is (i.e. angel, demon, alien, etc) will be overlaid on top of the lycan form. Regardless of the fact that we all have wildly different identities and forms, the lycan form always come first because that's simply what our body is.

Ultimately, though, regardless of any other reason, we are physically a lycanthrope. We are certain that truth, in and of itself, is not a delusion. Its not a pathology, its a coherent assessment of all our understanding of our physical form.

So, where does the clinical lycanthropy come into play for us? Well, for much of our life we've been forced into denial about our nonhumanity. We've been punished for expressing it and taught to suppress it. We became convinced that it couldn't be real.

It was the dissonance between the truth of our physical body and the lies we were taught to believe, that caused the symptoms of clinical lycanthropy. Shifts became more painful than they needed to be, we would black out and behave more aggressively, we would run away in fear and try to hide from the world. Our lycanthropy became pathological and interwoven with trauma responses.

So again, its not the fact that we're physically nonhuman that made us a clinical lycanthrope, it was the denial of it. It was suppressing our true self that caused the delusions of fear and pain and uncontrollable rage.

As we become more accepting of the nature of our body, our self-image stabilizes. Our shifts are more predictable, less painful, and they don't make us afraid or send us into a defensive frenzy. And its because we accepted that we are physically nonhuman, not because of being reality checked and convinced to believe we're actually human. The ladder is what caused all that needless suffering in the first place.

[aita-blorbos]

(technically a follow-up to aita for using my brother's depression against him in an argument, still fanfic)

AITA for almost killing my sister (again)?

It has been brought to my attention that my brother has posted to this page, and was overwhelmingly voted as the one in the wrong. As the... ugh. victim, per-say, I have to thank you for coming to my defense, even if he had a point. I will give a brief update; he has apologized for his behaviour and given me a bracelet he made out of a beetle's wings as a piece offering. It is... sufficient. I like watching the colours change with the light.

However, with recent developments, I'm beginning to think I did not deserve that apology.

It followed after an abrupt stop to the train I(M), M(F), N(M), and S(NB) were taking to reach our next destination, W(NB). We had discovered a large creature tore up the tracks, leaving us to have to walk on foot. This is a very large inconvenience for our travel group, as aside from my siblings and I, I have also tamed three lizards, and we also have a colony of what is quite likely hundreds of slugcats, including some pups, so it is safe to say we were not thrilled about this discovery.

Well. After a long while of walking, we found the beast that forced us out of the train. Gigantic, towering even above the trees, and very, very aggressive. Despite everyone trying their hardest, we could barely leave a scratch on it because of its plating. We were all convinced most of the group would die.

But I had an idea. For context, when it was just M and I traveling alone with just a few other slugcats with us, we got into a precarious situation which I would rather not think about, so I won't be describing it. We discovered that day that our bodies are capable of emitting electrical shocks. They are very powerful, but stun us. I figured if all four of us electrocuted the beast at the same time, we would be able to get it down... And we did.

The aftermath of the battle is a blur, I was barely conscious. It had begun raining, and everyone began rushing into shelters. Eventually I was safely placed inside one, along with N and S... but M wasn't there. She didn't make it into a shelter, and seeing this, S's slugcat H ran out into the rain to protect her as much as she could. Apparently, she was fighting going inside of the shelter, digging her feet into the ground and thrashing around in a panic. The rain terrifies her. I should have expected it, but I didn't know the rain would be here so soon.

We all assumed she was dead. S was still unconscious for hours after the shelter doors closed. N held onto me and zoned out the whole night. I... well, that's not important.

We ran out to look for M the next day, and found her along with the remains of H. We saw only one flower by them, presumably from H... so we assumed the worst. But then she made a noise. We quickly carried her somewhere safe and now we're trying to figure out what to do regarding her critical condition.

M is alive, but barely conscious. She is not registering anything we say and is suffering from extreme water damage. Furthermore, this will likely cause a significant relapse in her work towards healing from her traumas... and I am entirely responsible for it. It was my suggestion to electrocute the beast, it was me who gave her such an unbearable fear of the rain. I have almost killed my sister for a second time, and while neither N or S will admit it, they have to know it was my fault as well.

M will try to comfort me when she wakes up, I know she will. She wants me to forgive myself for my past actions so that we can move on... I can't do it. I don't know why she can still love me after all that I've done, and continue to do.

I already know the answer to this question, but I feel I should ask for opinions here since N has done so himself. AITA?

[tamelee]

Hiiii 🥰 If yin HAD to choose some couples for the Next Gen which one would you choose? Personally I think Shikatema was a okay, but I don’t have any ideas for the others

Hi!~💕 Oh uhm-

No one really, I'd be happy to eradicate it all.

Obviously Naruto and Sasuke should've figured their shit out. Both internally and externally and then say; take it or leave it' to the entire village and system. You either going to get two gay-men leading the village and a new system because their bond was the entire answer against war or nothing at all and then just... die ig while Naruto sleeps his years away and Sasuke is stuck in a damn tree 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

Otherwise.... (aka, 'Boruto' meetings be like;) Shitpost (don't take me seriously);

Naruto and Gaara although it probably won't last long. Naruto'd probably settle for some black-haired girl and make her cut her hair so it reminds him of Sasuke if he squints really hard and doesn't think about it and covers his ears, oh wait-

Charasuke and Dark Naruto, fem version. Menma and Zetsu. Since non of it is Canon anyway, Sasuke and his pet lizard from the filler story. They seemed to have an 'okay' connection, yeah? Well, ShikaTema is fine, it's understandable and predicted. I don't even know who Kiba, Shino, Lee or Choji are with lmao. I can look it up, but... I really don't even remember :') I think one of them is with the Kumo girl, right? Sai and Kumo girl would've been better though. They can argue about loyalty and stuff. Wouldn't she kinda think it was hot how he stopped her fist from plunging into Naruto's 'refusing to talk about Sasuke's face?' That's the extend of their development, but it's 'Boruto', the bar is low here. Or.. if we ignore the homophobia for a second, Sai and Gaara. I mean whatever. Size matters obviously to Sai and Gaara had huge bde before his questionable haircut (no I don't think him becoming Kazekage made him weak) and I also don't think Gaara's lack of expressive emotion currently would be too overwhelming for someone that doesn't understand them much. Not a lot of energy in that relationship though but Gaara is very beautiful to draw let's be honest but the lack of eyebrow does make it challenging. Or Sai and Deidara. A bit difficult because one isn't there, but still, just throwing it out there. Or even Kankuro would be good. Gosh, Sai has so many options... and then he ended up with someone he thought was ugly ;-; (Ino is very beautiful though so he's wrong, but still.) Idk, I think Kiba should've married a cat-girl or the blonde one from Kumo. Lee should be with someone that appreciates effort especially now that his effort is proven absolutely worthless -.- and is seen as a loser again which destroyed the poor guy. Well, I wouldn't have minded Tenten, but... GaaLee 👌👀? Aren't they both single fathers? Or? Idk. Maybe Sai Gaara and Lee together, why not. Throw the Shi guy from Kumo in there also, he kinda looks like blonde Sai. Even Naruto thought he was handsome as he used him for inspiration for his sexy reversed harem Jutsu.  Actually, Tenten and Kotetsu would've been a good surprise. It makes no sense Canon-wise and I don't think it even works age-wise, but I approve otherwise and they're both weaponized. I rhyme and reason. Ino and Suigetsu. Okay, hear me out. He can water all her plants. That's all, that's it. Sakura and Kankuro? I mean, by 'Boruto's low standards, they could've made it work and they'd even have history. And fine, even Sasori could've been interesting a little. Or that girl from the Sound from the beginning. Or the guy. Or Kimimaro. Or Kabuto. We're not too difficult here, pick one, but I guess some are dead though. Everyone but Sasuke ffs. Obviously Neji should've lived. Well I'm okay with Tenten or even Lee, but it doesn't make too much sense to me. Actually, let's ship him with Haku for no other reason than them looking good together. Or Neji and Juugo, maybe Juugo'd be able to set the bird free iykwim. I'd say Hinata and her beloved 'Oro-chan'. (Yes she called him that in some novel.) Both creepy as hell. Except one of them is somewhat likable and it ain't Hinata. But age-wise that doesn't work. Or, maybe someone can make her a Mecha Naruto, that's a bit more appropriate. Not much, but still. I'm sure she has the money and I don't think she really minds because she knows Naruto as much as she'd know a robot version of him. I see no difference there. OR, Kankuro's puppet. That way she can always walk next to the one she 'loves' as it follows her anyway with some basic puppet training and have the sentimental wood around for comfort when she reminisces about the time she thought Naruto wasn't gay. No need to be shy either as it doesn't say much. Then Naruto can visit tree-Sasuke in peace without a creepy face glancing up at him from behind it only to be ignored anyway. 

Or maybe a lousy Daimyo because we can't have any less than a Hero or royalty for the princess, of course. CHOJI ACTUALLY should've married the daughter from the ramen stand. Idk her age though.. Or the owner of the BBQ restaurant? If he didn't already. Or, it would've been good if there was a younger version of Tsunade, I think they'd get along. Akamaru and one of Kakashi's dogs- sorry, Ninken. I think Pakkun is too old maybe. Idk what he's into. Maybe Punpun? Am I missing anyone? Oh lmao, Shino ;-; He would've been good with Fu, Jinchuriki of the 7-tails, the flying bug thing. Guess that's not possible either, but we can't have them single and focussing on the world either so... we gotta create imaginary filler babies somehow. Karin with that other guy who emphasized with her during her confession-thing. I mean, what other reason do you need. That's true love right there.  Kakashi and Shizune? Kakashi and Iruka? Kakashi and Gai? Kakashi and Genma? Kakashi and Obit- oh no. Kakashi and secret-ANBU waifu? Kakashi and actress of the movie adaptation of his ero-novel? Kakashi living his best aro life?

I mean, we could always create a card game if you will and match whatever comes up first. There'd be no difference really.